I've read that so far the money put into this ice jam has totalled over 1.7 million. I wonder how much money could have been saved if this company had been called in the early days of this problem. Pretty scary when ordinary citizens can come up with better solutions than our Civic leaders and "ice" experts.

It points out several things that many people have been aware of for some time:

1. Exclusion is a not the best approach when it comes to "problem" solving. It appears to me that there has been exclusion of at least one group of affected people who are smart enough to run major businesses in the decision making process so should have been more close to the decisions which affect their businesses.

2. “Experts” have to stay on top of latest developments in order to keep the title of “expert”. Most “expert” professionals these days include the internet as part of their “literature search” component when they are into assembling information towards problem solving. Experiential information must be supplemented by continuous access to information and the internet allows “experts’ to do that.

3. The public has access to the same information the “experts” do. The internet is a public accessible tool even though there are some specialty sites which one must pay for or pay to get download specific scientific articles. Thus Heidi could seek the information and find it without an engineering degree or decades of engineering experience.

4. So, going back to point one. The second group kept out of the decision making group are the residents. As Heidi has so nicely shown, residents to can contribute to decision making, not only about their particular properties, but also how to solve the ice problem.

5. Blogs can be fun, but blogs can also be very beneficial. The internet is providing opportunities for virtual groups to get together to not only bitch about problems, but also to try to do something about problems. What has been going on is a brainstorming sessions of sorts, not unlike what may even have happened within that inner sanctum of City Hall administration. The result was Heidi’s find.

Ha ha, I love it !

Heidi for Mayor ! Heidi for Mayor !

:-)

Hells Bells!
Heidi for Premier,when you consider all the support we have seen from the politicians on this!!

Google for mayor ;)

Ben, if the machine comes, you have to get a photo-op for 250 with Heidi sitting at the controls of the machine !

That came out bad.. I meant because I used google, one of the best search engines in my opinion. It's a shame but books are going out of style. The internet is the most powerful tool out there.

The find is great and Heidi deserves all the accolades for that.

A solution to the immediate problem worth further investigation has been found. The next steps are also clear. The operators have to come and look at the site so see whether the machine can clear the jam enough to get water flowing for the rest of the winter.

If they think they can, then the machine has to get here. Once it gets to work, the weather has to cooperate as well.

The real time to celebrate is when the machine has created a channel, or assisted in creating a channel, and the ice jam is bridged with steady, uninterrupted water flow into the Fraser.

Without that happening, the “expert” engineers can simply shrug their shoulders and say: “We told you that you have to wait it out.”

The other thing to keep in mind is that even if the machine cannot do what it looks like it should be able to do, it may be able to help when the warmer weather holds at the end of February and beginning of March and the machine will be able to get the water flowing a couple of weeks sooner to help everyone get back to a more normal life, whether residences or businesses.

Of course, by that time the machine may also have its regular customers to go to to make their springtime breakup less risky.

The internet put Encyclopedia Britannica out of business. Even electronic versions are archaic the minute they are burned to disc.

If this machine does indeed come here, and it works, the city should pay Heidi a consultants fee. The so-called "experts" did nothing.

The machine better hurry. This isn't a tame river like the St Francois River. The Nechako is in a valley that it carved out. Right now the Nechako is busy scrapping a new channel under the ice and moving lots of material out. The ice pressure bundles on top are forcing the water speed to increase under the ice, and that's all the water needs to move lots of material.

We have to worry if the City is in charge of this ice jam and not the federal or provincial governments. They are more than likely not going to get this piece of machinery here in time, since we all know they will hire a consultant to hire a consultant to check this company out. By the time the ice breaker gets here, it will be spring and it will clear on its own. But pay Heidi anyway, they will probably use her find next time.

good point Big Shooter....

Heidi The Hero!!

By the way, great point about "exclusion" Owl. The people in control want to retain their control, but are the least capable of dealing with the issue.

That's typical of any bureaucracy.