This Week I Heard: Mission, Kelowna
Week four of Teresa May's 1,000 Conversations Tour in the Mission, Kelowna — the week the wildfires came close: what 74 residents said about fire preparedness, evacuation and growth, water, mental health, and transit.
Before anything else: this was the week the fires came close. My thoughts are with everyone who packed a bag, everyone still watching an alert, and the crews who have been working in this heat. Nothing below matters as much as that.
I spoke with 74 residents this week — two coffee sessions in the Mission, one back in Glenmore, plus a grand opening where I got to talk with a lot of people over the course of three hours.
Running total: 190 / 1,000 conversations · 4 / 13 neighbourhoods
What I heard most
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Fire — and what we do before the next one. It was the first thing on almost everyone’s mind. Not just this fire, but the pattern: how fast it moves, how little warning there is, and whether we’re doing enough ahead of time. People asked about prevention, about FireSmart building standards, about what a city can actually do. Some of this is provincial. Some of it isn’t — how we build, where we build, and what we require of new construction are decisions made right here.
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Can we get out? This was the one that stopped me. For three weeks people have been telling me the roads haven’t kept up with the growth. This week they said it differently: if this neighbourhood had to evacuate, where does everybody go? Growth planning and emergency planning are the same conversation, and I’m not sure we’ve been treating them that way.
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Water. Right behind fire. Farmers are being asked to use less while still growing a crop; households are being asked to conserve; and the city keeps adding people. Residents want to know somebody is doing that math for the long term.
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Mental health services. Raised again, and framed by residents themselves as the root of what they see on the street. People aren’t asking for enforcement alone — they’re asking for the services that stop the problem from starting.
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Transit and cycling. Waits are too long for buses to be a real option for most people. The bike network gets genuine praise — “people love it” — and they want the gaps finished so it’s safe end to end.
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“How do we find out what’s going on?” Third neighbourhood in a row. People don’t know the City posts its meetings, publishes its budget, or sends email updates. I keep pointing people to it at the table, and I keep thinking: the information shouldn’t be this hard to stumble into.
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Support the people who build businesses here. Residents are proud of Kelowna’s entrepreneurial streak and want more behind it — real support and resources.
What people love
The thing I heard over and over: it’s a big city that still feels like a small community. People don’t just live here for the lake and the climate; they live here because it’s a place where you still know people. That’s worth protecting as we grow.
What surprised me
Given the week, honestly nothing surprised me. But something did stay with me. I asked one gentleman what he’d change at City Hall, and he said: “Listen to the people!” That’s it. That’s the whole answer.
That’s what this tour is. One hundred and ninety conversations in, the thing people want most isn’t complicated. They want to be heard, and they want to believe that someone wrote it down.
Thank you to everyone who took the time this week, especially with so much else going on. Stay safe out there, follow the official alerts, and check on your neighbours.
Next week I’ll be in a few different areas:
- Wednesday, August 19, 8:00–10:00 a.m. — Bean Scene (Landmark), 100–1615 Dickson Ave
- Friday, August 21, 9:00–11:00 a.m. — Craft 42 Roasters, 2280 Leckie Road
Can’t make it? Share your thoughts anytime at teresamay.ca/1000.
Teresa