Re: “Hundreds battle sludge-site ‘bullying,’ ” March 24.
Why is Victoria’s government so weak in dealing with regional bodies?
It made a weak appeal for finance for the Johnson Street Bridge, and it responded weakly when the region asked for bus lanes on Douglas Street. The familiar weakness has resurfaced with the Capital Regional District plan to put a biosolids plant on the doorstep of Victoria West. One Victoria member of the district’s sewage committee is our mayor, who stands mute above the fray. Another lives not in Victoria, but in Saanich. The tally is not Victoria 4 and Saanich 5, but effectively 2 and 6. Since West Shore members usually vote en bloc on such matters, Victoria has been marginalized.
As for Victoria West, we are weak because we have no government. Our once-vacant lands made us fertile ground for Victoria’s new housing developments, but the taxes have flowed downtown to city hall. At least Esquimalt gets to keep its own.
Colwood’s Royal Bay was once considered a good site for a sewage-treatment plant. The plant was taken off the drawing board in favour of a marina and luxury condos. The cement and gravel operation there moved opportunistically to our Bay Street, from where its trucks radiate to batter our streets and bridges. History repeats.
David Bodenberg
Victoria West
