Special thanks for our ample supply of water
Victoria has just experienced a record period of drought, and has been identified as the driest city in Canada. And yet at the end of that period our reservoir was still 70 per cent full. How fortunate we are, after such a drought, to have an ample supply of what is possibly the cleanest and least treated drinking water of any city in the world.
Is it possible to identify, recognize and honour those who, a decade or so ago, conceived of, advocated for, designed and constructed the raised dam which serves us so well today? Thank you.
John Dewey
Victoria
Rejecting the Games helps everyone
I think the B.C. government made a sensible decision in declining to support a bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics.
Faced with a health-care crisis in our hospitals and on our streets, a severe lack of affordable housing and climate disasters piled one upon another, British Columbians cannot afford to spend billions on a two-week sporting event.
Portraying the decision as a rejection of reconciliation, however, is as disingenuous as it is unreasonable.
Truth is, investing in mental health supports, affordable housing, social justice, health care and climate mitigation will benefit every British Columbian, including First Nations peoples who are disproportionately affected by all these crises.
British Columbians now need to work together to hold our government accountable, thereby ensuring that the monies saved are invested for the greater good, not just for the benefit of a few.
Mike Ward
Duncan
Olympics decision helps climate-change fight
Finally a small step toward tackling global climate change, even if that was not the primary goal of the province’s decision.
The Olympic Games have a huge associated carbon footprint resulting from mass travel by participants and observers from around the globe, and I think this should be of concern to all of us.
Any new Olympic construction not geared toward reassignment to existing community needs and use, after the three weeks of the Games are over, are a waste of resources and tax money that could be used elsewhere.
Would you sign a mortgage agreement without knowing the interest rate charged or the amount of dollars you are signing for?
Mike Wilkinson
Duncan
Water as a deterrent is not a new idea
In the 1960s I worked at the Bay in downtown Vancouver. That corner became a gathering place for the much-reviled “hippies.” The Bay responded by having the windows washed almost constantly with lots of spray. It worked. I don’t recall any controversy.
Fran Kordoski
Victoria
After a job well done, Helps has earned thanks
Eight years in the public eye is an extraordinary feat for an introvert. Kudos to you, Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, for that accomplishment and others, particularly the bike lanes.
You certainly brought Victoria kicking and screaming into the 21st century with those. Thank you for a difficult job well done. Enjoy plenty of peace and quiet. You have earned it.
Joy Robinson
Victoria
Governance report had little impact in Victoria
Stan Bartlett of the Grumpy Taxpayer$ wrote about the City of Victoria’s governance review, and implies that the public “acknowledged” the report’s criticisms of Victoria’s governance at the ballot box. I see scant evidence of that.
Stephen Andrew, the mayoral candidate who brought up the governance review frequently during his campaign, was soundly defeated by Marianne Alto, who was endorsed by Mayor Lisa Helps.
Likewise, of the eight candidates who ran under the Better Victoria banner, which made governance one of its main issues, only three were elected and all three finished below the five council candidates endorsed by Helps.
A much better example of where the voters repudiated the old mayor and council because of poor governance practices would be Langford, where Stew Young and has slate of candidates were all defeated by the Langford Now slate, which campaigned on more open, transparent governance and community engagement.
Susanne Deacon
Victoria
Lengthy delays in billing for ambulance visit
As an elderly resident of a care home in Victoria, I am fortunate to receive excellent care, including all the prescribed COVID vaccine doses. Despite this, in April I contracted the disease and, according to policy, was quarantined in my room for six days.
During the third night I developed a choking sensation and, according to policy, an ambulance was called. The night attendant was informed that no ambulance was available and, policy again, my next of kin was informed to take me to hospital emergency.
By the time my wife arrived some two hours later, an ambulance and paramedic team plus nurse had arrived. I received excellent treatment and investigation on the spot, and it was jointly decided that I could survive without hospital admission. Happily, this has proved to be the case and, I have now been almost restored to my former level of ill health.
In late October, some six months later, I have received a bill for $50 for this service from the ambulance service. I have no complaint regarding this sum for such excellent service and care. However, on relating this story to a fellow patient, I was informed they had received the same bill that same day for the same service rendered in March.
I have no idea how many similar stories exist, but I suspect that they are legion. Our provincial government may have been sitting on substantial sums while the workers in the ambulance services have been complaining about their lack of support. One can not imagine any viable business surviving such delays in billing.
William Davis
Victoria
Make Richardson a one-way street
Re: “A fix to the St. Charles obstacle course,” letter, Oct. 29.
As a resident of St. Charles I agree that something has to be done to control the traffic on this street. Frustrated and angry drivers piling up nine and 10 deep waiting to get their turn to pass a bottleneck and therefore not allowing residents to enter the street from their driveways is a sore point from both sides.
May I suggest (hopefully this council will listen) that Richardson be opened one-way into the city and, if no other choice, Rockland and St. Charles for the homeward bound. In other words a semi-one-way system that would not cost us a great deal to make a few changes on Richardson, therefore keeping traffic on Richardson at 50 per cent of the old traffic system and alleviating the crush on narrow St. Charles.
With winter driving conditions starting fairly soon, there are bound to be crashes in the present configuration.
James M. Scott
Victoria
If you want to go faster, find another way
Re: “A fix to the St. Charles obstacle course,” letter, Oct. 29.
On behalf of all the many obstacles on the St. Charles “obstacle course” (between Fort Street and the Ross Bay Cemetery), I would like to ask anyone who uses St. Charles as a shortcut to the graveyard to please slow down. We’ve installed speed bumps and signs to remind you to slow down, but for some reason drivers keep looking for ways to get there even faster.
Rockland is an old high-density neighbourhood with narrow blind intersecting lanes 120-plus years old. All those big old houses are full of apartments and people who get visitors. (Obstacles.)
We also have high-density assisted living with many older obstacles and their obstacle caretakers who might take cigarette breaks on the street. We have families with kids who post signs on St. Charles reminding drivers to slow down. All obstacles.
St. Charles is part of Rockland’s historic walk, so expect many obstacles on foot as well, or with extra obstacles on leash. There’s also at least one movie being shot on St. Charles with trucks of props. (Obstacles.)
True: Eliminating parking could speed up traffic on our street, but speed’s not what we really need. We’re not obstacles for you to get around, I’m sorry.
The real solution is even easier. Just slow down. The big red double-decker bus drives slowly while telling stories on this same street without a problem. They just go slow and yield to every obstacle they meet. There are alternate faster routes on Cook, Rockland, etc. if you really need to save precious seconds.
Garnet Brown
Rockland
Absurd to compare Victoria with London
Re: “In London, blocking streets has been a failure,” letter, Oct. 29.
A comparison was made about Victoria’s policy for cyclists and an editorial in The Times of London about similar arrangements in various boroughs of that city.
Any new scheme will face problems and over time might need to be reconsidered, but that doesn’t make it a failure. If authorities had taken notice of the outrage in correspondence to the editor of The Times in an earlier era, “infernal contraptions that frighten the horses,” horseless carriages, might have disappeared as a fad.
That being said, the comparison of Greater London with Greater Victoria is absurd. Far more congestion is caused in the centre of Victoria by construction work than cycle lanes, and the potholes are so pronounced in places traffic is reduced to a crawl simply to save the shock absorbers.
Victoria is blessed with wide, well-lit streets that should easily accommodate cycle lanes. London does not have that luxury. It has 20 times the population living in three times the area, and driving 2.6 million cars on roads that at times make Fan Tan Alley look like a good-sized thoroughfare.
Justin Aldhouse
Victoria
Eby needs to work hard, and appoint Appadurai
Premier-designate David Eby comes to office with a powerful track record, scoring successes on human rights, administrative law, civil liberties and justice issues. His promise of actions on health, housing, justice, and climate issues in the first 100 days are most laudatory.
Eby also understands that we can no longer ignore the major environmental issues facing us all. It has become clear that the pre-COVID paradigm of limitless growth no longer applies.
We must address head-on such issues as deforestation, climate change, biodiversity declines, plastics pollution, water (drought/flooding), overpopulation, eco-justice and food security as rapidly as possible. Short-term Band-Aid solutions are not enough. Both foresight and farsight are required, if we are to survive.
The recent local elections show that a sizable and growing proportion of the B.C. electorate understand and support the idea that progressive environmental changes are required now.
Eby can look to organizations such as WE-CAN (www.westcoastclimateaction.ca) and Creatively United (creativelyunited.org) and individuals such as Trevor Hancock (retired UVic professor, senior scholar and TC columnist) for help to find solutions for the environmental issues.
And politically, Eby would be smart to appoint Anjali Appadurai as minister of the environment. She would compliment Eby’s social skills with her environmental ones.
Thor Henrich
Victoria
Abufeira proves that downtown can be better
I have just spent much of the day wandering around the Saturday markets in downtown Abufeira, Portugal, an area many times the size of the Victoria’s downtown shopping and tourism core centred on Government Street.
I did not encounter one homeless person, one example of drug abuse, one instance of anti-social aggression, not even any voices raised in anger. The worst thing I saw was a cyclist using bad judgment in attempting to ride through an area that was too congested with pedestrians. However, no one even seemed to express hostility toward her.
Is this because there are no homeless, mentally ill, drug-addicted or irredeemably criminal individuals in Portugal?
Certainly not. It is because Portuguese society, a definite leftist, socialist form of government, has not conceded that misfortune in life is an excuse to behave in a socially detrimental fashion in the public arena. People who are unable or unwilling to conform to proper behaviour are not tolerated in public by the Portuguese populace.
What an incredible eye-opener. Victoria and other Canadian cities should wake up and take notice.
Michel Murray
Saanich
It’s nice to have bonds, but who can afford them?
Re: “Canadians will be able to buy bonds to support Ukraine,” Oct. 29.
While its commendable that the Trudeau government wants to assist Ukraine by allowing Canadians to buy bonds, it begs an interesting question.
With more and more Canadians struggling to make ends meet on a daily basis, never mind trying to put food on the table, where do they think folks are going to come up with the money to buy these bonds?
Shirley Waldon
Victoria
With taxes and interest rates, hard to pay more
Re: “Canadians will be able to buy bonds to support Ukraine,” Oct. 29.
Sovereignty bonds? Five-year maturity rate?
Who can afford these with our back-breaking taxes and massive interest rates?
Tough enough to cover what I have to now.
Dewane Ollech
Victoria
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