Oak Bay ban on gas equipment impractical
Oak Bay Coun. Tara Ney rallies up the South Oak Bay Garden Gnome Guild, waves a petition of 700 signatures (of unknown origin) at a population of 19,000, promotes a ban on gas-powered lawn equipment, and the Oak Bay council collapses like a cheap tent and leaves the constituents of North Oak Bay in the lurch.
Battery-driven equipment and rakes are fine if you have a postage-stamp lot, but totally impractical in the large oak-tree-dominated lots of North Oak Bay. Raking leaves all day every day during the fall rather than running a gas blower for 20 minutes twice a week to clean them up is just stupid. Cutting a large lawn with a battery-powered lawn mower that sputters out every 20 minutes and needs recharging is both impractical and silly, unless one has nothing but time on their hands.
This tempest started with a noise complaint, so why not just ban lawn equipment use after 4 or 5 p.m. I guess that’s not good enough in this age of local councils preferring to ignore the majority of their constituents in favour of greasing the wheels of a minority that supports their cause.
This authoritarian decision will take a toll on the landscapers who ply their trade in Oak Bay, and one would be foolish to simply accept that battery-powered equipment will get better and less expensive. As for cord power, who wants to drag a cord around a large, unorthodox lot? That can be dangerous. Go green electric if you want to, and maybe invest in the slave trade associated with lithium mining while you are at it. Nothing hypocritical about that.
I am aware this is a First World problem; however, I now know who not to vote for in the next municipal election. As Trudeau the elder tried to say, the state has no business in the garden beds of the nation. Take heed, Oak Bay council.
Barrie Moen
Oak Bay
Look for the upside in local real estate
Having to pay more for an older one-bedroom rather than a newer townhouse is frustrating and disappointing for sure. But that one-bedroom could become a source of rental income.
Using leverage on increased value in the future (and hopefully increased income) may allow a family to buy something more suitable and rent out the less suitable unit.
I overpaid for my family home in 2012. Ten years later, I live in a waterfront home and rent out the one that I “overpaid” for to other families needing affordable housing.
In 1994 I moved from overpriced Vancouver (that I loved) to under-priced Victoria … and fell in love with Victoria! Maybe overpriced Victoria will force others to move to new areas they will fall in love with too!
When one “door” closes, another always opens.
Barry Andruschak
Cadboro Bay
Support subsidized or free bus service
There are many reasons to bring in free bus service. Having fewer cars on the road increases the certainty of keeping planet Earth’s temperature from rising over 1.5 C; for many low-income workers, the bus keeps essential workers moving; in that vein if we offer free bus service this could help as an income support and reducing incidents of having to skip meals in order to buy a bus ticket; more frequent and later bus service protects women who work shifts.
When we consider those wealthy sorts who can avoid paying fair taxes by putting their money in offshore bank accounts, providing free bus service for the reasons above is just a drop in the country’s budget.
Lynn Martin
Victoria
In the system, and in the system again
As I was watching CHEK news regarding the new Westshore Community Health Centre, the anchor said that people needed to be registered with the Health Connect Registry.
My wife registered both her and myself back on Nov. 8, 2021. Upon the anchor’s comments, I tried checking our status through the Health Connect Registry.
The website did not provide any option to update or check our profiles other than phoning 811, where I constantly reached the voicemail, and then was redirected back to the original options, but never to a live person.
The only option on the website was “Please register” to get on list for family doctors. I went through the process, incorrectly assuming that once I entered my Personal Health Number, I would get a message that I was previously registered (along with wife).
However, it let me complete the registration and received a confirmation and new Client ID number.
My Client ID is a unique number given to each person on the Health Connect Registry. The Health Connect Registry team uses the Client ID to help identify every person on the list and to connect you to a family doctor or nurse practitioner.
Why would a government-run website allow people to register more than once? How would they keep track of a person who registers 25 times, for example?
We all have a unique number — our Personal Health Number, which is required on the registration. In my thinking that would be the number that would distinguish me from any other person on the registry and once I am registered, that would be it.
Suki Johal
View Royal
Geographic literacy would help the orcas
The endangered southern resident orcas might not know it, but a handful of municipalities on the South Coast have helped them out by declaring this the Year of the Salish Sea, an idea led by a group of Simon Fraser University students, that begins on World Oceans Day, June 8, and continues until next June.
We protect what we love, and we love what we know. Yet there’s a lack of geographic literacy among residents in B.C. and Washington state regarding the Salish Sea despite its marine ecosystems supporting coastal communities’ economies, well-being and the overall health of the regional environment, including absorbing atmospheric carbon.
It’s ironic that we have to leverage the constructs of individual jurisdictions to increase awareness about the interconnectedness of the Salish Sea watershed.
Imagine if other coastal municipalities, like Victoria and others on the Island, and even those into Washington state, gave a boost to the local ocean their residents enjoy while helping to increase climate literacy? Communities around the region adopting this proclamation will bring urgency and awareness to improve the health and management of this transboundary body of water — so it can be a priority for everyone.
Christianne Wilhelmson
Executive director, Georgia Strait Alliance
All single-use plastic bags should be banned
Oak Bay will phase out single-use plastic bags by late November. It will join Victoria, Saanich and Esquimalt in helping to reduce plastic waste in our community and landfills.
This is great, but much more needs to be done to reduce plastic waste. As a next step, all cities should simply stop giving away free plastic bags for dog owners to use to pick up excrement from their dogs.
These are single-use plastic bags that need to be eliminated. As a minimum they should be replaced with paper bags.
Roger Cyr
Victoria
Put museum treasures on display for a while
It is sad to have to say goodbye to the Royal B.C. Museum. To look at the building, you wonder why it needs to be replaced. It’s beautiful. But that’s on the outside.
Inside, we are told,the bones of the building has been declared unsafe. That is what is sad. Everything gets old and wears out eventually, and sometimes it goes beyond what is practical to repair.
The first reaction on hearing this news was one of shock, but then it is something that needs to be addressed. We don’t want the safety of our citizens, our children, our visitors to be put at risk being inside an unsafe building during a catastrophic event. If that is a possibility in a seismic hazard zone, the thought of this is actually quite scary.
What of all those priceless artifacts inside? What will become of them as they are also put into jeopardy? Removing them to a safe storage facility never to be seen again for a long time, though practical, seems extreme.
For many of the older generation, that’s it. For the younger ones, it’s tragic not being able to see our history for real. School bus loads of children are ushered through all these exhibits daily.
Perhaps to take the sting out of this situation, some of these precious items could be put on display for all to see in various venues and keep them circulating. An admission charge would be levied to offset some of the expenses, but at least the museum contents will be seen during construction of the new building.
That would be much better for the public to accept rather that squirrelling them away in tight containers never to see the light of day for many years.
E.C. Jewsbury
Saanich
Preserve that fine 1960s architecture
In spite of all the correspondence to the editor against demolishing the Royal B.C. Museum, I am saddened by the government’s intractable position to go blindly ahead with the wanton destruction of one of Victoria’s finest buildings.
The museum is an outstanding example of 1960s architecture and a link to that period in time. It is part of Victoria’s history. If we keep on tearing down anything over 50 years old, there will be no record of our past left.
Imagine if London or Cambridge or Paris, or any of the lovely old towns we love to visit in Europe, had done the same. Would anyone want to see them?
Because we are a young country, not valuing what we do have in the way of heritage is very shortsighted. Preserving Victoria’s history is having the sense to hold on to buildings that have plenty of life left in them, are well designed and a link to our past in a meaningful way; ergo the Royal B.C. Museum.
Jan M’Ghee
Sidney
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