We are already paying for yard waste disposal
I am insulted by Saanich Coun. Colin Plant’s statement that charging for yard waste disposal “will mean an adjustment for people who have been used to a ‘free’ service — the drop-off service was covered by taxes.”
Yes, the service is covered by taxes — and so are the bike lanes. I don’t use the bike lanes but I still pay for them through my taxes.
People using the bike lanes do not pay a user fee for this “free” service, regardless if they pay taxes.
Taxpayers using any public funded service should not be made to pay twice. Can’t we find some piece of the eight-per-cent-plus property tax increase we have been promised, to continue what has proven to be a useful service?
One solution is to provide larger green curbside bins but Saanich councillors are kidding themselves if they think that any home gardener can fit all of their green waste into their curbside bins.
While we do our best to compost what we can, space for most home gardeners can be an issue.
If I could compost all the waste in my garden, I would, but it isn’t possible. So I take my surplus green waste to the yard, where it can be processed to decompose into a useful garden product.
Once a year, I “buy back” the decomposed product to use on my garden, usually from a private company.
I can see a scene unfold at city hall with angry, pitchfork carrying villagers protesting the cutback of services along with the annual tax hike. Good grief, does nothing ever change!?
But perhaps more likely, if people have to pay a user fee for this not-free service, I see more than old sofas and mattresses deposited along the sides of the roads in our municipality.
And who pays for the cleanup?
Mary Godlonton
Saanich
Already giving free labour, now we have to pay
We are property owners in Saanich. On our boulevard there are large cedar trees. They belong to Saanich.
These trees continually drop their foliage, cones, seeds and branches which cover our yard, the boulevard and the street. We continually clean up this debris and have been doing so for more than 34 years.
In the fall it is almost a daily chore. After our many windstorms we also rake up and fill the back of our small pickup truck with anywhere from three to 10 bags of debris.
We do this for free and have never charged a fee to Saanich for cleaning up their trees. We then take these bags to the Saanich yard – our labour, our gas.
Now Saanich wants to charge us to get rid of their debris. Property taxes are going up 7.9 per cent. Water rates are set to go up 6.13 per cent, sewer rates up by 4.25 per cent and garbage collection rates up 7.89 per cent.
How much more can Saanich property owners afford? Saanich needs to look at this policy again or provide those of us looking after their trees with multiple free green bins.
We would then be more than happy to continue to be responsible property owners and continue to provide our free labour.
Val and Murray Smith
Saanich
Carbon tax is making life more expensive
Very disappointed that Premier David Eby refused to go along with the other premiers who are against the carbon tax.
As I write this gasoline is $1.929 and according to the government web site carbon tax on gasoline will be 17 cents per litre. I don’t expect gas prices will drop especially now that summer is approaching.
Home heating oil will have an increase of 20 cents per litre. My oil tank has a one thousand litre capacity. Filling it will cost an additional $200!
Two questions. Where is the money going? Nobody can give a straight answer.
Secondly, why is the premier driving us to the poor house?
William Jesse
Victoria
Pay attention to vulnerable users
Re: “Twin highway bridges to get $35M upgrade,” March 16.
The provincial government has once again announced improvements to road infrastructure without recognizing the needs of vulnerable road users.
They are good at saying how important the needs of the vulnerable road users are — recently they update the Motor Vehicle act to create a new road user category of vulnerable road user — but while their words sound good, on the ground they are once again lacking.
For some unfathomable reason they accept cycling lanes and paved shoulders as equal. Their own Motor Vehicle Act makes it clear they are not and often judges will rule against a cyclist for using a paved shoulder as a cycling lane.
The just announced infrastructure improvements near the Trans-Canada Highway are a good example of their doing nothing for vulnerable road users.
The announcement states “The Highway 1-Colquitz River Bridge Widening Project will widen and seismically retrofit both existing two-lane bridges over Burnside Road on Highway 1. A bus-on-shoulder lane will be added to each bridge, connecting and extending the bus lanes in both directions.”
They do not mention cyclists and vulnerable road users. Some may feel the Galloping Goose is good enough, but it can not serve the needs of all vulnerable road users in the area.
Norm Ryder
Victoria
Nesting time is upon us yet again
The crows are out gathering twigs for their nests to protect their young, which means people need to be a little more cautious as the crows instinctively swoop at passersby they feel may be a threat.
Let’s give the birds room to survive and concentrate on cleaning up our own tent cities.
James Cooper
Victoria
Ignorance, fear, and book censorship
For those who support the removal of literature from schools (not infrequently by those who’ve never read the books) I would challenge them to read these books.
And then, to read the Bible. It is a book filled with horrific “moral” parables that no one today would sanction:
“A father who would kill his son to prove his devotion to God,” is but one.
Have these people so little respect and confidence in their own children that they believe their kids will adopt a different lifestyle according to something they’ve read?
These books frequently conclude with a wisdom, a point for discussion.
Ignorance and fear have never been positive teacher.
Sally Barker
North Saanich
This legislation won’t fix anything
The proposed short-term rental legislation will do nothing to improve the real estate market in the Victoria area for first-time home buyers.
Current prices for houses and condos are already way above what younger buyers can afford and by bringing in these new laws it will cripple the tourism industry especially in the winter months.
The daily rates for hotels in Victoria are all over $300 per night — how many people can afford this? Many short-term rentals are in the $125 to $160 price range and this is way more palatable for families coming to visit Victoria.
The government does not realize that if many condos come on the market, they will be sold to people from Vancouver or Toronto, which does nothing for a young couple who are trying to live on the Island.
It is just the way it is now. Restricting foreign buyers should have been done 25 years ago, but it was not and it is now likely too late to fix this with bad legislation which hurts tourism.
It is all smoke and mirrors.
Bryan Taylor
Victoria
Advance choice needed while we can
The intent of this letter is to elevate the profile of the necessity for individuals to have the legal ability to make an “advance request for medical assistance in dying.”
My wife and I worked as health care professionals for 40 years and are approaching the end of our lives. We have completed “Advance Directives” and “Representation Agreements” for our health care.
We are now becoming increasingly anxious as our health and mental capacity deteriorates and would like to legally make an “Advance Request for MAID.”
One year ago, the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying presented its report and recommendations to the government.
Recommendation 21 states that “The Criminal Code be amended to allow for advance request for MAID following a diagnosis of a serious and incurable medical condition, disease, or disorder leading to incapacity.”
We would like our government to act on this recommendation before it is too late for us and others who would like the same choice.
This would allay our anxiety of losing the mental capacity to legally make this decision at the appropriate time and give the physician the legal right to perform a medically assisted death for patients who make such a choice.
We recognize that this is an individual decision and we are speaking only of our desire to have the ability to make that decision.
We are not advocating that this be a decision for everyone, but that everyone should be given the choice.
Richard Baxter F.R.C.P.C
Victoria
A police presence would deter bullies
When I was in Grades 9 and 10 in the late 1950s, I was bullied constantly. Having a police presence may have deterred the bullies and/or would have afforded me an a chance to stop the bullying by reporting it to trusted presence.
Another way to look at this is: kids who fear police presence may have reason to fear them because of criminal activity by themselves or their family/friends!
Bill Thomas
Langford
Not all who ski are guzzling fossil fuels
A March 11 letter suggested that many who downhill ski are fossil-fuel guzzling, jet-setting world travellers willing to go to the ends of the earth to find ever-diminishing snow in a climate catastrophe. That is only partly true.
I am of modest means, live in a small apartment, am vegan, and do 99 per cent of my urban travel by bike. Last week, I enjoyed a fabulous four-night vacation in Courtenay in order to ski at Mount Washington.
The whole trip was done by public transit. One can even make a weekend day-trip to the mountain on the ski bus, which leaves downtown Victoria at a gruelling 5 a.m. and gets you back into town mid-evening.
It’s uplifting, even just once a year, to ski in real mountains with real chairlifts. There are hills for all levels of expertise.
My impression is that many of the experienced skiers grew up in a ski town. They didn’t live in Saskatoon and fly to the Alps every winter.
Anne Hansen
Victoria
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