Tea marketing plan a good strategy
The story about the DNA tea sting in Tuesday’s Times Colonist was a fascinating read, and kudos to the undercover police and all police agencies involved in successfully obtaining the DNA that led to the conviction of the killer of a 13-year-old girl.
The “tea marketing” idea was brilliant. I wonder if Meghan McDermott, policy director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, who considered the method of obtaining the DNA “unacceptable and reprehensible,” would have felt the same way if the 13-year-old was a relative of hers.
I consider myself to be a civil libertarian, but still applaud this police work. Well done!
Ted Daly
Saanichton
All dogs are capable of killing sheep
Dogs being shot for attacking sheep can be a very emotional issue for both sides.
If you try to understand the sheep owner’s side, I’m sure you will find this was not the first time his or a neighbour’s flock was attacked, sometimes with heart-wrenching results.
Here on Saltspring Island, some years ago, I came home one snowy afternoon to find the aftermath of such an attack on our little flock of 20 sheep.
Four dead, two so badly injured I had to put them down, and four more wounded but survived, and the rest severely traumatized. The snow only highlighted the grim reality of the attack. My children have never forgotten that day.
All dogs, even smaller ones, are capable of killing sheep. When they are chased, sheep can become so traumatized they can become paralyzed with fear and will stand and allow the attack to continue to its ultimate end.
This is spoken from experience. Please, if you love your dog as I love mine, it is your responsibility to never let it have the opportunity run free.
All dogs have a wild side and it is up to us to keep them safe. As it is up to the farmer to keep his livestock safe.
John D. Elliott
Saltspring Island
Address root causes of the risks we face
The insurance industry has illustrated that, for all its accumulation of risk-savvy data, it is run by short-sighted and narrowly focused humans, no different than the rest of us.
Instead of refusing to insure the root cause of all the present threats to their overall business, namely the fossil fuel industries, they wait until they can no longer make an assured profit at affordable rates from the bulk of their clients.
Authorized rate hikes of 15 and 17 per cent for vehicles in some American states, and 30 or maybe the 40 per cent threatened for California housing are going to reduce their clientele there.
Such hikes are now making their way north into Canada.
These are a reflection of the damage from flood and fire and other extreme weather events impacting our infrastructure with increasing frequency and severity.
At the same time, general warming is expected to introduce more diseases, not only to trees, other plants and animals, but to humans as well. Some of the last will arrive via our food sources and the nature of our industrialized agricultural systems. It will further raise our health-care costs and proscribe our activities.
Will we begin to address first causes to cure our difficulties instead of sticking bandages on the multiplying symptoms?
Glynne Evans
Saanich
Roundhouse proposal has many problems
Let’s not kid ourselves that the Roundhouse proposal will solve housing affordability. A commercial enterprise must make a profit.
Cost of labour and materials always pushes size higher and bigger. More now than in the past.
It’s not hard to see those multiple tall buildings shading the small public area for most of the year. Who is going to want to spend time in a chilly wind tunnel?
And I don’t see a parking facility. The current penchant to reduce parking (resident and visitor) in new developments and offer free bike parking is “lovely” but is it reasonable?
We know that the site is basically a rock. How much blasting will allow for an appropriate number of spaces?
A recent letter forecast chaos. I would add boring monotony in terms of style and character.
Architecture is a fascinating endeavour that can offer beauty, utility and light to everyone. There should be sight lines to the water where possible.
Perhaps glassed public spaces on the ground floor of some towers. Back to the drawing board, please.
B.I. Bysouth
Victoria
Roundhouse buildings would be too high
Why such excessive heights hiding the wonderful E&N Railway Roundhouse National Historic Site, blocking out many of the views of iconic buildings?
Why so many buildings with ceiling heights averaging 13 feet when 10 feet would be perfectly adequate when creating some semblance of affordable housing?
Even if you allow 15-foot ceilings in the first three storeys to accommodate foyers, stores, etc., the average ceiling height on the remaining floors runs to 13 feet. Why?
Why are all the buildings, but two, 23 to 32 storeys in an area where the local area plan allows only up to 22 storeys?
This is insensitive development that ignores the context of the site it is proposed for — and only at the public hearing do we learn these buildings might be in conflict with the Harbour Air traffic.
Council must address the Roundhouse height issue.
Bob June
Victoria
No place to park, and taxes go higher
Hey Victoria council: Glad to see you’ve drained off all those on-street parking spots near the museum. And you really fixed up Clover Point, where we would have enjoyed the recent wind and waves, if only there was some place to park.
We’d hate for our mobility-challenged family members to have the convenience of parking close to our destination. For us, riding our bikes is not an option.
Add to that an anticipated huge tax hike to support your various “initiatives” and we must say, “Mission Accomplished.”
If only we could remember what the mission was. Well, one thing you have succeeded in doing: You have confirmed my suspicion that not everyone is good at what they do.
Mike Mitchell
Saanich
Body cameras do not reduce violence
It is well past time that we stop holding out the illusion that police-worn body cameras have anything to do with transparency or accountability for police. They do not. Neither do they reduce police violence. They are not a reform as some hope them to be.
Criminological research finds that, at best, the results of bodycam use are contradictory or even paradoxical. Studies show that in some jurisdictions police violence even goes up after the introduction of body cameras.
Reasons for their ineffectiveness are many. They do not show what the police do. They are positioned on police and show the officer’s perspective. They can be turned off and on.
Even more, there are questions about privacy, since uninvolved people can be captured in recordings. There are also questions about what happens with recorded data.
One thing we do know that they contribute to is even greater increases in police funding. The City of Vancouver initially allocated $200,000 for its pilot program, but that number has already risen to $307,000, before the pilot project even got underway.
Police should be honest that body cameras are largely about surveillance and evidence gathering. Their claims should be assessed critically based on the large body of research evidence. We need to look elsewhere when it comes to reducing police violence or seeking accountability for policing.
Dr. Jeff Shantz
Department of Criminology
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Surrey
Function over form makes housing sense
While I don’t deny that most of the recent high rises are fairly bland in their design, Victoria council putting function ahead of form is the correct approach, as all the construction creates both housing and jobs.
Why do you think Victoria has a very low unemployment rate? As well, the increased density adds more eyes and ears on the street, which lowers the crime rate and increases the liveliness and vibrancy of the city.
The writer comparing Victoria to either Barcelona or Paris is risible, though, as it’s a tiny fraction of the size of either city, especially Paris.
It’s fine for the writer to criticize the less than utopian approach of the architects, developers and city but what would he suggest we do with the 7,000 or so people who move here every year?
Carew Martin
Victoria
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