Taking student boarders can help everyone
Re: “Victoria-area students desperate for housing,” Aug. 24.
I was a mature student with three children and a mortgage to pay attending university in the early 1970s in Edmonton. I had an extra bedroom and decided to rent it out to a university student to help out with the costs.
I included board as I was already cooking for the four of us. However, just a room with access to the kitchen would have been sufficient.
I screened the applicants and laid out rules that had to be followed, which is a very important step, before the student moved in to avoid any later misunderstandings.
For example: No company allowed, pick up after yourself, no loud music, or whatever the homeowner deems to be important.
It was a win-win for all concerned for the four years that we had students. Met nice people, exposed my children to those from different cultures, and helped out those desperate for a place to live.
There are so many people with an extra room or two who could offer up a place to a desperate financially strapped student. In fact, renting the room could come with an obligation for the student to help out a bit.
Many seniors need a hand with a bit of yard or housework or just to have someone in the house to help keep an eye out for them.
It could be a win-win for many households in the Greater Victoria area and the increasingly desperate students without a roof over their heads.
Yvonne Andre
Campbell River
Maybe students could use downtown office space
Re: “Victoria-area students desperate for housing,” Aug. 24.
Might I suggest that students, singly, in pairs or in small groups, look into renting empty office space? The website spacelist.ca lists office spaces, such as 323 square feet for just over $2,600 a month.
For that, three students would get heat, electricity, wifi, shared washroom access and some office furniture. Add futons, a microwave and a bar fridge and they’re in business.
They’d also get a secure building and, if they’re downtown, easy access to public transportation, a variety of eating options, entertainment amenities and more.
Surely there are some enterprising young people out there, who either already have friends or who could find each other through social media, who could make a good pitch to the landlord.
Yes, they’d possibly be seasonal, but businesses either fail or move on to bigger spaces all the time; the risk factor is a given for landlords. With the housing market as tight as it is, isn’t it worth some investigation?
Lorraine Lindsay
Saanich
Vendors on trails — a naysayer writes
Re: “Saanich considers pop-up shops on Galloping Goose and Lochside trails,” Aug. 24.
We don’t go on the Galloping Goose or the Lochside Trail to get a coffee or a snack, and if I’m riding my bike I carry the essentials to repair a tire or hydrate myself.
So obviously I’m not a fan of Saanich copying Victoria by allowing vendors on trails and in parks. Neither is my five-year-old grandson, who loves to explore the trails and byways.
I’m really not sure why we need that level of convenience when it begins the loss of access to nature for which we built the parks and trails for in the first place.
We already tend to avoid Dallas Road because of the various vendors. We want to hear the sea, not the fans and generators of the food trucks. We like to smell the salt air, not the cooking exhaust.
A recent poll on CHEK News found that 72 per cent of the respondents did not want vendors on the bike paths and trails.
This article didn’t include a single comment from one of those naysayers — instead we got an ad for Saanich municipality.
Nigel Beattie
Victoria
Keep the food trucks away from Lochside Trail
Re: “Saanich considers pop-up shops on Galloping Goose and Lochside trails,” Aug. 24.
Locating food trucks, mini coffee shops or other such “amenities” on the Lochside Trail is a terrible idea. It will increase litter and the potential for collisions between bicycles or bicycles and pedestrians at congested spots.
Moreover, this pathway offers an escape from the urban landscape and opportunity to enjoy natural sights, sounds and, yes, smells.
If I want a coffee, sandwich or french fries, I can bring some along from home or pick up them at a neighbourhood shop before I start my trek. All this takes is a smidgen of planning.
Surely, commercial activities belong in commercial areas, not on the trail.
Hannah Wells
Cordova Bay
Let’s try to correct the shortage of doctors
Re: “Physicians trained abroad face hard way home,” Aug. 20.
Thank you for sharing the story of a young Canadian physician trained outside of Canada and practising in the U.S.
It is unfortunate to see that in the midst of a huge shortage of trained physicians, the licensing bodies are putting up barriers and not finding easy workable solutions for doctors who want to practise in B.C.
The anomalies in granting practice licences in different parts of Canada are inconsistent. Each province sets up its on standards to admit foreign-trained doctors.
The question is, if a trained physician is good enough to practise in Quebec, Ontario, Atlantic provinces and in the United States, why are they not good enough to work in B.C.? Why there are more barriers in our province?
We have a dire shortage of trained physicians and many B.C. residents are without a family physician.
The problem stated by the young doctor also highlights a second related problem about taking care of elderly parents by their children. We are running out of care homes and elderly care options.
In that situation, if younger medical professionals move back to their family homes, it will relieve pressure on the system.
I think it is time to develop a co-ordinated approach with the licensing authorities and the provincial government to find a practical solution.
Mano Sandhu
Victoria
Many thanks after a medical emergency
To the gentleman who helped my husband in a medical emergency at the White Spot in Saanichton, to the manager of the White Spot and to the ambulance workers, a big thank you.
Your kindness will never be forgotten.
June Perry
Esquimalt
Nothing will be done, and people will die
Re: “To fix health care, we need people with knowledge in charge,” commentary, Aug. 20.
Dr. A. Donald Milliken has hit the nail on the head, almost.
With all the studies and reports that have been done over the past 30 years, the politicians of this province, who after all are the people in charge, have all the knowledge they need to put Milliken’s plan into action.
What they lack is the political courage to act on any of it because of the cost, which translates into raising taxes. There are many challenges in today’s world and they all need funding.
It’s a shame that the politicians think their pay package is at the top of that list. But health care could arguably be placed there instead. The reality is that until the electorate demands a change, it will be a long time coming.
If the government would appoint a panel of experts, such as Milliken, to put together an overall plan based on the numerous studies and recommendations already with us with the costs involved to implement the plan and the additional costs to the taxpayer whether by direct premium or taxes and then put it to the voters in a referendum at the next election, we would know just how serious we as a society are about health care.
My guess is that such a simplistic idea will be met with much opposition claiming it’s too complicated. So we’ll all just go on complaining while the government pretends it’s doing something while people suffer and die needlessly.
Jack Trueman
Brentwood Bay
Candidates should live where they run
Re: “Look to Ontario rules for municipal elections,” letter, Aug. 20.
It should be cast in stone that candidates who are vying for council positions reside in the respective community.
If you don’t have a “pony in the race,” no point in betting on the race. If you don’t live in the municipality that you represent on the council, no point in overly concerning yourself with council decisions that impact that area. After all, no skin off your nose. You don’t live there.
Human nature, except for the truly altruistic, tends toward self-interest. Therefore, it makes complete sense to ensure council representatives truly represent the area to which they are elected.
Dawn Devereaux
Victoria
Scrap the new bike lane, and cancel the plan
Saanich has decided to spend $500,000 removing two lanes of traffic on Tillicum Road, replacing them with bike lanes that will do nothing but increase commute times for tens of thousands. All for the convenience of a couple of hundred cyclists.
Saanich already put in a useless bike lane on the Tillicum road bridge that nobody uses. Most bikes stay in the traffic lane regardless. It was ineffective and a huge waste of money.
There was no public input on the matter, and there wasn’t on this either. I haven’t heard of any data that justifies removing two lanes of traffic on one of the busiest roads in the community.
The public was not informed beforehand (which I felt was done on purpose). We should cancel plans to add these bike lanes and remove the one not being used on the Tillicum road bridge.
Colby Watt
Saanich
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