What did you think of this discussion?
The discussions were excellent mostly because of their content but also because they were advanced so thoughtfully and reasonably by folk who knew what they were talking about. Although they didn't know each other that well, everyone tried to ensure the tenor of the meeting was to listen hard as well as to advance viewpoints.

Are there any ideas that came out of this discussion that
surprised you?
I was not very surprised about what was discussed seeing as we were asked to address the future. With the various problems advancing on mankind and their gravity it is easy to become very depressed but the panel to a man(woman) pointed out the sorts of positive changes that could be made to mitigate many of these concerns. You will remember the old definition of an
optimist as "someone who doesn't understand what he reads in the newspaper". The surprise was that everyone agreed about increasing density of housing etc., developing attractive mass transit systems and the need to learn from Europe how to cope with dense populations.

Did this discussion in any way change your outlook or perception of the Okanagan's future?
It gave me some cause for hope because the generation perhaps two generations after my own are so well informed as to what we need to do to keep the Okanagan liveable. The question is can they persuade the politicians fast enough to reverse some of the worst cases of poorly thought and executed development so that the planners have good alternatives to work with.

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