Cyclists usually lose when in a collision
Re: “Pedestrian asks: How do I stay safe from cyclists?,” commentary, July 21.
I am 86 years old and have been cycling for 72 years, and am, in fact, still a daily cyclist. Speaking purely from my own experience, I have observed that the vast majority of interactions between cyclists and pedestrians is courteous and civil.
During my early cycling career, I collided with a pedestrian due to a mutual misunderstanding. After two, maybe three somersaults, I landed flat on my back with the wind driven out of me. I gradually became aware of the “collidee” anxiously bending over me and solicitously inquiring if I was all right.
As a fellow senior, I sympathize with Wharton’s concerns, but suggest he should not worry overmuch. In practice, I have found that a cyclist in collision with just about anything comes off the worse — quite the motivation to avoid collisions, believe me.
Paul O’Carroll
Victoria
No system in place to handle waste plastic
Re: “Plastic shopping bags are useful, not evil,” commentary, July 21.
If people trouble to do the research, the paper, fabric or polyethylene alternatives to the bad-boy plastic bags being singled out for banning are not benign. Each option comes with its own environmental hazards. Some are greater than the flimsy plastic used in the manufacture of single-use bags.
Robert Matthews reminds readers that every pound of re-used plastic is a pound that does not use up a natural resource. He goes on to state that it is up to all of us to become informed and manage our waste plastics properly.
Here is where his argument breaks down — not because it is flawed per se, but because there is no system in place to deal with such waste plastic. This is also true for Styrofoam, which can be recycled and re-used. Unfortunately, the facilities for doing so do not exist.
I would suggest that instead of a bandwagon ban on plastics in our communities, that our city, provincial and federal governments come together to create and subsidize the infrastructure necessary for people to do the right thing.
Done properly, there is a real potential to generate a revenue stream as plastic can even be turned into fuel. Most citizens would properly dispose of plastic and all other recyclables given any convenient means to do so.
Much as I willingly pay for cleaning products for my home, I would happily pay a little more in taxes to fund ventures designed to keep the natural world pristine.
Lynda Grace Philippsen
Victoria
Recycling plastic is not the answer
Re: “Plastic shopping bags are useful, not evil,” commentary, July 21.
Being useful doesn’t stop a thing from being evil! Murder is useful. War is useful: both help control over-population, but they are still evil.
Because a thing is an “industrial marvel” does not mean it should go on being an industrial marvel! Of course we don’t go to beaches to discard our plastic: nonetheless, our beaches are littered with bits of plastic, much of which has been carelessly left there by Canadians, and yes, granted, more by coffee cups, condoms, lighters, and random bits and pieces than plastic bags.
Because some things are worse for the environment doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ban those that are less so.
Also, recycling plastic is not the answer to the world’s plastic problem. Plastics are recycled into more plastic, which can be recycled into even more plastic. How does this help? Banning plastic shopping bags is a start, and it’s a plan that’s pretty painless to carry out.
And we must make a start — and not soon, but now — if change is to occur.
Anne Swannell
Victoria
Thank those who clean the Island’s beaches
Re: “Plastic shopping bags are useful, not evil,” commentary, July 21.
The beaches surrounding the Victoria area likely are very clean because of the efforts of environmental organizations such as the Surfriders, who, minimally, try to keep plastics from harming wildlife and boost Canada’s image as a clean country.
Thankfully, they conduct several cleanups per year. However, in more remote locations, West Coast beaches are far from clean and some of the plastics derive from Canadian sources.
Annually, tonnes of plastics and debris fill Vancouver Island beaches, washing up into the high tide and spray zone.
Plastic bottles, straws, fishing nets, Styrofoam and other plastics products land on the shores, especially along the west central and west north coast of the island.
Many environmental groups, such as the B.C. Marine Trails, Ocean Legacy or the Rugged Coast Research Group, target beaches with higher concentrations of debris. It’s a co-operative effort driven by a lot of conscientious volunteers.
It’s hard work and is highly co-ordinated with safety plans and arrangement of transportation.
Many volunteers paddle from one location to another and spend several days picking up plastics or weeding them out of the high tide or spray zone.
The super sacks will later be picked up by the Uchuck, a small coastal freighter, and dropped off at Gold River. The plastics and debris will be recycled and some of it reused or made into plastic pellets in a plant located in Vancouver.
Only a small portion of plastics in Canada is recycled. The rest lies in landfills and some of it makes it back to the ocean and populates our beaches as waste.
Paul Grey
President, B.C. Marine Trails
Small plastic bags are on the beach every day
Re: “Plastic shopping bags are useful, not evil,” commentary, July 21.
I walk my dogs every day at Slack Point in Ladysmith and every day I fill at least one bag with litter from the beach. There are almost always plastic bags among the assortment of garbage that I pick up.
I think the main plus for banning the bags is changing people’s thought patterns in relation to our disposable society.
Hopefully people will start reusing bags that they didn’t think of reusing previously. A good example from my life: I never used to reuse the bags I got to put bulk nuts, etc. in at the store. Now I take my old one in and refill it.
It’s small steps that slowly add up. We didn’t get here overnight and we won’t fix things that quickly either.
Mary Fox
Ladysmith
From plastic bags to tobacco?
Re: “Plastic shopping bags are useful, not evil,” commentary, July 21.
Good grief! What next? An editorial about the benefits of smoking?
Van M. Buchanan
Victoria
Glum times indeed for pro-amalgamation forces
When you consider the previous Liberal provincial government announced it would undertake a regional amalgamation review following the result of the 2014 governance survey (75.1 per cent of 88 per cent of regional representation voted yes to unity review questions) and when you also consider that then-Opposition MLA Carole James proclaimed she supported such a review, that we would now have a situation where the prospect of addressing regional governance in Victoria has never looked so glum.
The NDP government, in its haste to respect community powers over local autonomy, have thrown out the baby with the bathwater.
So what if Esquimalt voters voted by a 2-1 margin on a clear amalgamation review question. So what if multiple mayors wrote the province asking the previous government to respect voter wishes for such a review.
How can the NDP be proud of not doing its job, on what is the fundamental responsibility of provincial oversight?
To see them take pride in what amounts to literally no leadership whatsoever (even when community democracy requests it) is discouraging! Area residents deserve more than to be left with governance by headlines of the day whereby the NDP operates as schoolyard enforcer.
How visionless can a region get?
John Vickers
Toronto
Let individuals make their own choices
Re: “The case for taxing sugary drinks,” commentary, July 21.
The proposal to tax sugary drinks does not just stop with their consumption.
Individuals should be free to make choices and accept the consequences of their actions. This is after all, the Information Age.
One would assume that most of us, by now, understand the implications inherent in the food we consume. Our government currently requires most food to be labelled for content (in both official languages).
To be continuously bombarded by people who are not only determined to make every decision for us but who, additionally, make value judgements on those of us who do not comply with their ideas is contrary to the foundation of our society.
Furthermore, it is becoming almost universal that ideas are proposed with no thought of the total implications.
That the writer would sacrifice a Type 1 diabetic’s immediate needs for the long-term choices made by Type 2 diabetics is worrisome in light of her position as manager of research and public policy in the department of science and policy at Diabetes Canada in Ottawa.
Lavonne Huneck
Cobble Hill
Councillors should represent wards
Re: “Little difference with a ward system,” letter, July 20.
There is a huge difference with a ward system. Greater Victoria would do well to get moving to amalgamation, plus creating a ward system would allow a more equitable form of representation.
The letter writer had as an example all the City of Victoria candidates in his imagined polling stations set up as wards.
In the ward system, each ward has its own separate list of candidates from which a councillor is elected. So, for example, Ben Isitt would not be listed as a candidate in each ward, only the one he has committed to.
This means each ward has a councillor who will represent and is accountable to their riding according to the specific ward electorate.
Out of curiosity, I would like to see a map of where all of our councillors reside, names redacted of course.
Nana Spence
Victoria
Where is the outrage over Mullen’s summer trip?
Re: “When MLAs don’t sit, what are they doing?” editorial, July 19.
The editorial noted a lack of legislative oversight on government business, which is not helped by the low number of actual days the House sits during the year.
Alan Mullen, the Speaker’s chief of staff, is on a trip across Canada and some U.S. states to collect “evidence” into infractions committed by Gary Lenz, the former sergeant-at-arms. This seems bizarre, especially since Lenz was cleared by a retired Supreme Court of Canada chief justice.
Would not the computer and phone be a more economical and timely method to get information?
Because our MLAs are not sitting, this matter seems to be under the radar.
I am surprised by the lack of public outrage about this undertaking of Speaker Darryl Plecas and his chief of staff.
Julie Sabiston
Lantzville
When the spec tax meets strata council bylaws
The advertised purpose of the speculation tax is to make more housing available.
When I tried to sublet my condo, the strata council denied my right to do so.
I had an excellent tenant ready to sign a lease agreement, but my request to lease was denied by the strata council as it is prohibited in the rental section of our strata bylaws.
I have lost the chance to lease to a very desirable tenant and my chance to gain an exemption from the tax. I have contacted the government about this problem but have received no answer.
How can I comply with the rules of the speculation tax when they are in conflict with the rental restriction section of my condo bylaws?
Robert S. Boehm
Victoria
Esquimalt Lagoon needs to be protected
If Colwood really cares about the Esquimalt Lagoon and adjacent Coburg Peninsula, it should reconsider what it does there from A to Z.
The lagoon and the peninsula are a valuable but very degraded natural area with an uncertain future, in light of rising sea levels and a growing human population.
Thirty beach parties organized on the peninsula on Fridays and Saturdays between May 31 and Sept. 7, for a fifth year, are accelerating the degradation of the area, which needs thoughtful care, not all-out overuse.
I urge Colwood to join several other municipalities in the Capital Regional District that are busy restoring and enhancing their natural areas seriously and preparing them for an uncertain future.
Esquimalt Lagoon is an extraordinary asset for Greater Victoria, not to mention one of Canada’s historic migratory bird sanctuaries since Dec. 12, 1931.
Jacques Sirois
Victoria
Send us your letters
• Email: letters@timescolonist.com
Letters should be no longer than 250 words and may be edited for length, legality or clarity. Include your full name, address and telephone number. Copyright of letters or other material accepted for publication remains with the author, but the publisher and its licensees may freely reproduce them in print, electronic and other forms.
