City jumps the shark with the Hermann’s deal
Hermann’s saved by taxpayers — to what end? The non-conforming lower level is a restaurant/ “jazz club.” The upper venue, a liquor primary, has had a succession of many failed operators.
The City of Victoria is now in a conflict of interest with every liquor licensed operator in the city. This isn’t some theatre venue where they hold an occasional play and have a bar to serve guests.
The city can no longer pass judgment on who should or who should not get a liquor licence in the city. Nor should it be able to dictate serving hours of any other licensed establishment in the city.
By purchasing a nightclub and non-conforming restaurant they put themselves right in the middle of the competition, and therefore should be ineligible to be making those kinds of decisions in the future.
The city now has a financial bias. Non-conforming, rundown, and some might say a bit of a safety hazard. Sounds like a recipe for a great investment, City of Victoria style.
If there was a venue in this town, which there are many, that felt it was profitable, or to break even, to hold these types of events you would know about it. There’s none.
For the $3.9 million that they paid for that building they could’ve got something much nicer and much more user-friendly.
I say this with some knowledge of the industry, having owned several nightclubs.
Doug Coulson
Saanich
Victoria city council keeps seniors sharp
Elders are sometimes told to do puzzles to keep their brains sharp. Instead, I drive downtown.
Going in, I encounter intriguing mazes and interesting labyrinths and, if I’m lucky, the annual construction-cone slalom on Cook Street. I get a patience test on upper Fort.
Coming home, I pass floating bus-stops, cars parked oddly in the middle of the thoroughfare, little grey concrete curbs meant to keep me in line, and sometimes, as a welcome surprise, a new lump of yellow concrete in the middle of the street close to an intersection.
My ancient brain is always more alert because of this workout, yet also strangely traffic-calmed. Thank you, Victoria city council, for your deep consideration of the elderly in your planning of the New Victoria.
Douglas Porteous
Victoria
80th anniversary of The Great Escape
It was 80 years ago, on the night and into the early morning of March 24-25, 1944, that 76 Allied air force officers crawled through a narrow tunnel and escaped a Nazi prisoner of war camp in Germany.
It was the largest mass escape of Allied POWs in the Second World War.
Clothed in various styles and carrying forged identification, these men set off in different directions, in groups or pairs or on their own, in the hope of returning to Allied territory or at least forcing the Nazis to use valuable resources of men and materiel to recapture them.
A total of 73 of the officers were recaptured by the Nazis and, in retribution, 50 of the men were executed by the Gestapo, including the following six Canadians:
Flying Officer Henry J. Birkland, Spearhill, Man.
Flying Officer Gordon A. Kidder, St. Catharines, Ont.
Flight Lieutenant Patrick W. Langford, Edmonton, Alta.
Flight Lieutenant George E. McGill, Toronto, Ont.
Flight Lieutenant James C. Wernham, Winnipeg, Man.
Flight Lieutenant George W. Wiley, Windsor, Ont.
On March 24, 2024, please take a moment to remember the sacrifice of these men.
Ted Krasowski
Victoria
How we can deal with a lack of summer rains
We are hearing a lot about how severe the drought and forest fire season could be this summer but nothing about how to reduce our use of water.
Before we get to the point where we have severe water restrictions, I would like to see the different levels of B.C. government, provincial and municipal, engage with the public about simple measures such as not running the water tap while brushing teeth; getting wet in a shower and turning it off while lathering up for a short rinse off; not flushing the toilet for every “pee”; saving scarce water for flowers instead of grass, and even using grey water for the garden, limiting vehicle washing, etc.
We can all do our part and act responsibly to conserve water without affecting our lifestyle.
Richard Dean
Sidney
Saanich yard waste fee raises many concerns
With Saanich planning to charge for yard waste disposal, I can see people dropping waste on the side of the road due to this fee.
Or people will start to put garden waste in the garbage can; it’s cheaper.
What they are calling a flat fee — $10 for a car and $15 for a truck — is not a flat fee. I shouldn’t have to pay more because all I own is a truck. If a person can fit the same amount of waste in a car as a truck, then the fee should be the same.
How will the fee be collected? Not everyone carries cash, so the attendant would have to have a handheld device to collect the fee.
These units are not free, and the attendant will require more than one when the first one fails. These units also work on radio signals, so Saanich will have to upgrade the wifi to ensure the handheld units work effectively. This all costs money.
A large number of residents of other municipalities dump their waste at Saanich. Years ago, we had to provide proof of residence and we were given a sticker for the windshield. How are the staff going to police this issue?
Most of the time there is only one attendant. Saanich will have to hire more attendants to monitor and collect the fees — more taxpayers’ money.
Saanich should have just increased the amount on my property taxes and ensure that it’s only Saanich residents who are using the facility.
Gary C. Mason
Saanich
Billed as a resolution, it has been anything but
Re: “U.S. ambassador talks protocol, treaties and softwood lumber,” March 15.
It is ironic that the Free Trade Agreement (the NAFTA precursor) propagated by the recently departed Brian Mulroney and sold to British Columbians as the final resolution of the constant unfair and punitive U.S. softwood lumber tariffs, has been such a total and absolute failure in that regard.
Dave Nonen
Victoria
Caledonia Place helps the community
As direct neighbours of Caledonia Place (formerly known as Tiny Town) we were pleased to hear of the recent decision to extend its existence for another two years.
It is a drop in the bucket of the housing crisis, but it will at least temporarily house 30 individuals who are without housing.
Although some neighbours have had some difficulties with Tiny Town, we actually felt it reduced problems. We are further pleased to hear of the motion that aims to look for solutions through a collaborative approach.
Time will tell, but this sounds like a good way to build community.
Sue Brown and Fernand Magnin
Victoria
A quick way to get $10-a-day daycare
The B.C. government has a plan for everyone to have access to $10-a-day daycare for children.
This has not been achieved for everyone and many are struggling to find affordable care for their children.
One way I think that might work to have $10-a-day daycare for everyone who requires it is to immediately allow for any payments more than $10 a day to qualify for tax credits, so the net cost is $10 a day.
This way $10 a day child care is instantly available for everyone. The government would have incentive get their plan in place faster to recover the tax revenue that they will lose through tax credits for costs above $10 a day.
Mark Stitt
View Royal
Bus, rail better than highway, bridge
I couldn’t agree more with the suggestions by Tsartlip First Nation elder Carl Olsen to increase transit and, critically, restoring rail as an alternative to widening the Malahat Highway through Goldstream Park.
Transit, and rail, working together with integrated schedules and fares, is a far more environmentally including fisheries-friendly means of improving transportation than expanding a destructive, expensive highway.
The same goes for the proposed (and thankfully rejected) Saanich Inlet bridge and its accompanying roads.
These highway options, as we have seen elsewhere on the Island, will only become more congested, resulting in demands for even more highways, because they lead to life-giving, open-space-obliterating and costly-to-service sprawl.
Do we really need to extend the Colwood Crawl over and north of the Malahat? Let’s go bus and train instead.
Brendan Read
Victoria
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