New Grande Prairie Blog

I had an email yesterday announcing a new Grande Prairie based blog:

"Hi Bill, I am a regular reader of your blog, I am the same Donna who has commented from time to time. I am also the person who expressed concern at last year's public town hall meeting at Maude Clifford school, about the littering problem in Grande Prairie. Well, it turns out that complaining about the litter to my husband and friends isn't really accomplishing anything, so I started a blog the other day. I already feel much better about the situation, like I'm actually doing something about it. So I wanted to let you in on it since you are someone who also blogs, and you may also have valuable input on the issues I choose to discuss, since some solutions will no-doubt involve working with the City. If you feel inclined, would you mind forwarding the link to anyone you know that might be interested? I am not on Facebook, but am planning to send the link to friends and people I am acquainted with around the community - but other than that, I'm not sure how to go about getting people on board. Grande Prairie: Project Clean & Green

Before I started my blog, I googled "grande prairie clean green" first, to see if anyone else had already started something like it, because why re-invent the wheel? Now that my blog is published, if you google the same words, my blog is the first hit that comes up - how cool is that?

Well I am on a mission and have no idea where it will take me, but I have high hopes and am pretty enthusiastic about it. Hope you like my site! Let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas."

Good for you Donna, it's great to see people taking action on the issues that are important to them! I've added Grande Prairie: Project Clean & Green to the Worthwhile Blogs section on the right hand side of the site - stop by and encourage Donna in her efforts to get the word out on how important it is that we all take a hand in keeping our city clean!

Welcome to TwentyTen!

Happy New Year, after a little of a holiday hiatus I'm back at the keyboard.

First things first, lets start this year, and decade off right by getting our pronunciation straight from day one.

Now that we've got that out of the way I wanted to point out a couple of additions to the site:

First, We have a new Grande Prairie based blog ... welcome Bungalow 56! The writer attended a Blogging for Beginners course I put on a the library in November and since then her blog has exploded with great posts and great pictures. You'll find Bungalow 56 in the Worthwhile Blogs at the bottom right of the site.

Second, I've added a new feature that automatically generates recommendations on related posts. I hope this will encourage readers to check back in to the three hundred and twenty odd posts I've done over the last three years. I think this is a helpful addition, you'll see it pop up at the bottom of each post. (Thanks to Bungalow 56 for the idea!)

Medicine Hat Alderman Blogging

While posting my note about Calgary Alderman Diane Colley-Urquhart's blog and I noticed another muniblog that I found a while ago.

Medicine Hat Alderman Ty Schneider is also running a blog. Ty's blog is called: My View From Council. It looks like although he's fairly new to blogging he's posting pretty regular updates. Ty focuses a lot on the price of Natural Gas - which isn't surprising considering the City of Medicine Hat owns it's own natural gas company. (I hear that there a was a time "back in the day" where GP could have set up the same thing but the council of the day decided against it - too bad.)

Anyhow, in my continuing search for local government politicians on the web I'll be adding his blog to the Worthwhile Blogs section on the right side of the page.

Check out Ty's blog to see what's happening in municipal politics in Medicine Hat.

Enjoy!

Calgary Alderman Blogging

Following along with some Alberta municipal mentions on Twitter I found the blog site of Calgary Alderman Diane Colley-Urquhart. Calgary is split up into wards and Diane represents the Glenmore area.

It looks like Diane has only recently started blogging, with 2 posts in July and 2 in August.

So, in my continuing search for local government politicians on the web I'll be adding her blog to the Worthwhile Blogs section on the right side of the page.

Check out Diane's blog to see what's happening in municipal politics from down south, in Calgary Glenmore.

Enjoy!

Alderman Wong Joins The Blogosphere!

I just found out today that another of my colleagues on GP council has started blogging! Alderman Dan Wong has just started a blog of his own.

Dan said his blog is going to be a mix of personal thoughts and council notes. From his first three posts you can tell that Dan will likely cover a lot of territory with his posts.

So it's nice to be able to add fellow Grande Prairie council member Dan Wong and his blog to the Worthwhile Blogs section on the right side of the page. Scroll down and you'll find Dan's Blog in the Muniblogs section along with Leslie from Peace River and the guys from Crowsnest Pass; Gary Taje and Dean Ward.

Check out Dan's blog to see another perspective of what it's like to be an Alderman in Grande Prairie.

Welcome to the blogosphere Dan!

Great Site: Discover The Peace Country

Every now and then I pop in to Google to see if there are any new local blogs providing information on Grande Prairie. There haven't been too many lately but there is one great site that I've neglected to mention.

Although not exactly a blog (ok, not a blog at all really) DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com is a great site that has tons of information on the whole Peace Region. My friend Ken has been running the site for at least eight years. In addition to on going updates on GP's business news he's also travelled the area and provides great information on many parks and recreation areas.

Ken has a media background so the information is detailed and he has some great photo galleries. Most recently he's put up galleries covering Street Performer's and the Canada Day Parade. (see if you can spot me on my bike in the Canada Day gallery).

So, pop on over to Discover The Peace Country - it's a great resource and I've added it to the Worthwhile Sites section on the right hand side of this page.

Something Is Going On In Crowsnest Pass

A little while ago that I noticed Councillor Gary Taje from Crowsnest Pass was blogging - well something must be up in the Alberta Rockies because I've just been contacted by another councillor from "the Pass" who is blogging.

Dean Ward sent me a note last week introducing himself and his blog. Dean is into his second term on council down there and while he doesn't have a lot of postings so far the ones he has are pretty neat. (I might copy his Affordable Housing post, substituting GP numbers of course)

So, as I like to do when I find Alberta municipal politicians blogs .... I'll be adding Dean's blog Crowsnest Pass Home to the Worthwhile Blogs section on the right side of the page.

After you've visited Dean and Gary in Crowsnest Pass, don't forget to visit Leslie in Peace River.

Enjoy!

Crowsnest Pass Councillor Blogging

It's interesting what you notice when scanning who visits your page. I keep stats of how many people visit here (just over 10,000 since I started last year!) and where they came from. I noticed someone come in a couple times from a blog by Gary Taje so I thought I'd check out his site.

Turns out that Gary is a council member in Crowsnest Pass and it looks like he's been blogging for a while but has really kicked it into another gear for 2008.

So, in my continuing search for local government politicians on the web I'll be adding his blog to the Worthwhile Blogs section on the right side of the page.

Check out Gary's blog to see what's happening in Crowsnest Pass - I hear they are freedom-loving mountain people down there.

Enjoy!

Why I Love The Internet

This post isn't about city business or local issues so if that's what you are looking for please feel free to skip on past. If you like a good story about the power of the internet with a little humour and a David vs Goliath undertone (I know I like them) then read the story linked in the quote below....

"The letter accuses me of interfering with and misappropriating Ed Stelmach’s personality (I’m really not sure where Ed Stelmach’s personality is, but I certainly didn’t take it)."

Here's the media attention this has attracted.

Lessons I think this should reinforce:

1. It doesn't have to cost a lot to get broad media attention for your cause (you just have to be smart).

2. There are still those who don't understand how quickly stories and ideas spread through the internet. (and they can look silly trying to swim against the current)

3. It's worthwhile to register a domain name if you think there's a remote chance you might use it. (especially if you are a public figure)

Just in case anyone out there any big ideas - I already own billgiven.ca, .com, .net and .org ... they all point to this site.

Oh, by the way, I'm reading Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams right now. It's subtitle is "How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything"

Peace River Councillor Blogging

Leslie Ayre-Jaschke is a newly elected council member in Peace River. We've spoken over email a few times and I've checked out her blog more than once to see what was happening during the election.

After visiting so many times I don't know how it's taken me so long to do this but today I'm adding her blog to the Worthwhile Blogs section on the right side of the page.

Check out Leslie's blog to see what's happening in Peace River and experience it all through the eyes of a newly elected, first-time politician.

Enjoy!

Judging A Person By Their Plastic

My friend and fellow Grande Prairie blogger, GP Conservative, is taking a critical look at the election signs that have popped up everywhere. In fact, he's even rating them!

So far he's covered Lorne Radbourne, Dave Story and Yad Minhas in Part One and then Wayne Ayling, Dwight Logan, Dan Wong and Elroy Diemert in Part Two.

He hasn't made it to my sign yet but from his comments I have a feeling I'm not going to do too well. What do you think? How do all the election signs stack up to one another?

Who's on top the of ratings? You have to check out GPConservaive's site to find out.

Now on Muniblogs.com

"Hi Bill,

I came across your site last night while searching for Municipal Blogs in Canada. I recently launched MuniBlogs.com to highlight blogging Municipal Councillors and officials from across Canada. I've added your feed to the site's main page, the Alberta section and have created a Grande Prairie page. I have also created a 2007 Alberta Municipal Elections section. Let me know if your current blog is also going to be your election site or whether you're going to have a different site. I'll add your feed to the Election section as well.

My main goal with MUNIBlogs is to help highlight people such as yourself who are using the internet and blogging to actively engage with their residents.

Regards,
Paul Synnott
MUNIBlogs.com

Hey Paul, thanks! I've added MuniBlogs.com to the Worthwhile Blogs section on the right hand side of the site. Pop by and have a look at some of the others taking about municipal politics in Canada.

New GP Based Blog

We have a new Grande Prairie based blog ... welcome GPconservative!

It's great to see more local people choosing to enter the fray. In fact, if you know of a blogger based out of Grande Prairie please let me know.

You'll find GPconservative in the Worthwhile Blogs at the bottom right of the site.

Edmonton Municipal Politics Blog

I checked in with daveberta this morning and noticed that he had a story on a new blog focusing on Edmonton city politics. From the looks of it this is a recently started blog but it has a lot of potential!

It's great to see more people talking about local government! So far, by my tally that now makes two Alberta cities who have thier own blogs covering local issues: Medicine Hat and Edmonton. I'm not including GP and this blog because the other two are run by residents and not politicians (that I know of).

So, two out of 16 cities in Alberta, there's a loooong ways to go.

If you know of any other local government blogs pass them on to me so I can highlight them here and add them to the list of Worthwhile Blogs.

Budget Comments

Ok, I know you're looking for more comment on the budget. Well, check out daveberta he has another insightful look at what he calls a "band-aid budget".

This Blog is Progressive

Just a quick note that my blog as been accepted as a Progressive Bloggers affiliate!

If you're looking for some great comment on politics in Canada and the future of our country check them out. I've added the badge and link in Worthwhile Blogs and you can find out more about Progressive Bloggers here .

Friends - Meet the Trydals

I just found out last night that my friends Chris & Jenn Trydal have a blog of thier own and what's the point of having a blog if you can't link to your firends?

The best part of their blog is that there are lot's of pictures of Mason and very few of Chris. ; )

I'm adding them to the Worthwhile Blogs section right next to Wade.

Welcome to Wade Nellis

I just posted a link to the Wade Nellis blog in the Wothwhile Blogs section. Wade is a buddy of mine here in GP and he has, shall we say a very diverse range of interests, so his blog should always have something interesting to check out.

Having said that, I take no responsibility for any thing Wade posts - you're on your own over there! ; )

Welcome Wade!