You are so right Martini. Maybe this "governance" issue is exactly that-not enough inclusion of the paddlers. The tricky part is knowing where to begin, and then wrestling control from the current powers that be. It could be painful, but your suggestion might be the best solution to this mess. It would be interesting to know what other cities do.
I'm just not sure how we go about doing it - the wrestling away control bit. I'm not even sure how the current powers came to power. It's all very mysterious. I don't know if you were at the information meeting last week but one comment that I found interesting was if you wanted to become involved on the board you basically had to give up paddling. That makes zero sense to me. Shouldn't the organization be run by paddlers for paddlers. I understand the City has concerns with governance and how the ADBRF was run but surely those concerns could be addressed with a proper organizational structure. It makes no sense to me that the organization should be run be people who have no stake in it. I get the sense that too many people have seen the festival as an opportunity to make money, when really it should be about the paddling. Its very frustrating.
