Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Politicians’ time shift to skirt Colwood Crawl draws tide of outrage

Capital Regional District director Mike Hicks wasn’t prepared for the wave of angry emails generated by his decision to change the start time of a committee meeting to avoid the Colwood Crawl.
RS200702_00246331.jpg
Juan de Fuca Electoral Area director Mike Hicks at a public hearing.

Capital Regional District director Mike Hicks wasn’t prepared for the wave of angry emails generated by his decision to change the start time of a committee meeting to avoid the Colwood Crawl.

“People are angry,” said Hicks, director for the Juan de Fuca electoral area, after the Times Colonist reported his reason for rescheduling the CRD’s regional parks committee meeting to 10 a.m. from 9:30 a.m.

“I’m getting hate mail and all sorts of stuff,” Hicks said. “They’re upset with me moving the meeting, thinking it is for my elitism or for personal gain as a politician or whatever. I even got criticized for screwing up the Johnson Street Bridge. It’s been an eye-opener.”

Hicks, who commutes from Sooke to attend meetings at the CRD headquarters on Fisgard Street, decided, after consulting with other committee members and CRD chairwoman Barb Desjardins, to push back the meeting start to make it possible for some West Shore directors, himself included, to get in on time.

Hicks said he sympathizes with residents who are stuck in traffic every morning, but was surprised by the reaction.

People don’t understand why the change was made, he said.

“People seem to think I arrogantly moved a meeting to make my life [easier] or so I could get up later in the morning or something. That’s not the case at all. The case is it’s a practical solution to do my job better.”

Several readers commenting on the story on the Times Colonist Facebook page ridiculed Hicks and said he should simply get up earlier.

Others called for a commuter train or high-occupancy-vehicle lanes.

Hicks said his family situation is such that it falls to him to drive his 13-year-old to school in the morning. That means he can’t leave Sooke until 8:30 a.m. and that simply doesn’t leave enough time to make a 9:30 a.m. committee meeting, he said.

“And I’m chair of the committee, which I take fairly seriously. I have to be here at least 10 minutes early to go over the agenda and talk to the general manager and all that sort of stuff. So it’s the only way I can do my job properly,” Hicks said.

The scheduling change was also made in anticipation of congestion getting worse as work begins on the McKenzie interchange, he said.

“I don’t blame anyone for raking me up and down the coals — rightly so. There’s frustration with the traffic problem getting into work,” Hicks said.

“It exemplifies the problem of commuting from the West Shore to Victoria. There’s no question about it.”

bcleverley@timescolonist.com