Photo of naked girl had a major impact
Re: “Stop using photos for shock value,” letter, July 2.
I subscribe to a newspaper to get news. Bad things happen and I want to know about them. Photographic images have the greatest impact; I’m all in favour of the “shock value.”
The picture of the naked girl in Vietnam with napalm bomb burns to her back had an enormous impact on the conclusion of the Vietnam war.
Michael Rogers
Nanaimo
Images tell us what is really going on
Re: “Stop using photos for shock value,” letter, July 2.
I disagree with the letter on the use of shock photographs.
I was abroad in several war zones where images tell the real story.
Would she rather have pictures of politicians kissing each other or the unmanipulated facts that show what’s really happening?
James Cooper
Former news photo stringer
Victoria
Seeking new life forms in our own city
Re: “Victoria eyes forever rentals, landlords say no way,” July 5.
I find it perplexing that governments spend billions of dollars sending probes into outer space, searching for signs of alien life and exploring distant black holes, when simply sitting through one Victoria city council meeting would accumulate more than enough data on both those subjects.
Barrie Moen
Oak Bay
Why don’t we listen to those who know?
Re: “Victoria eyes forever rentals, landlords say no way,” July 5.
It is bad policy after bad policy, and the end result will be no new rental buildings and run-down older rental buildings.
Victoria’s mayor and council are so far off base builders and developers are leaving the city. Expecting 20 per cent of new buildings to be subsidized housing makes projects financially impossible.
The mayor and council engaged outside professional advice at a cost to taxpayers and then ignored that advice.
Now even the consideration of restricting existing purpose-built buildings to rentals forever will send investors and developers running to anyplace but Victoria, and they will not return.
The mayor states that 61 per cent of the people living in Victoria are renters. That should be a clear enough number to indicate that what Victoria really needs is more options for affordable ownership of a home.
That helps to stabilize people’s living situation, and also opens up more rental units as people transition from living in a rental unit to living in a home they actually own.
If mayor and council really want to solve the affordable housing situation they must stop what they are doing and work with builders, developers, the financial industry — and listen to what they say.
Richard C. Meagher
Victoria
We need more affordable housing
Re: “Council’s move will discourage new housing,” editorial, July 2.
The editorial in praise of developers, suggesting they will meet all housing needs in the city, if the council will just get out of their way, is wishful thinking, and naïve, to say the least.
Developers could care less about affordable housing. Their only interest is to make money for themselves and their investors. It is up the the mayor and council to look at the bigger picture of creating affordable housing for the citizens and respond to the electorate petitions.
Creating affordable housing is not just a municipal affair — the provincial and federal levels of government have the resources to make it happen.
Why not build a highrise of 100 per cent affordable housing? Non-profits and provincial and federal governments have the resources to do that.
Money laundering — through luxury cars, casinos, and the real estate industry — is being investigated in B.C. Developers and high end buyers currently don’t have to report their money sources, and this has led to affordable housing being torn down to make way for high-end developments.
The city doesn’t need any more of this type of development. It needs affordable housing for the citizens who live and work here.
William Tate
Victoria
Affordable housing decision has merit
Several letter-writers and the Times Colonist have expressed fear that asking for 20 per cent affordable housing will drive away developers, presumably to other municipalities here or perhaps elsewhere.
It has been my observation, as an affordable housing advocate for some years on the Westshore, that developers looking to build high-end housing will frequently use this ploy to get councils to agree with their demands, which they often did.
What I see displayed here is a fear that the interests of a small group of well-financed developers building for what one can assume will be largely well-heeled buyers from Calgary, Toronto or overseas — largely non-residents — are more important than the hundreds, if not thousands of Victoria residents who can not afford to buy, or often rent here because of the high cost of both.
It is also common knowledge that upscaling building owners frequently “renovate” their rentals here for sale, thus lowering local rental stock and increasing homelessness, couch surfing and people with skills that could be used by local businesses having to leave the region.
There was a good reason why the Victoria Foundation, in its Vital Signs report last year, listed the first two highest local concerns of their annual survey as cost of living and housing.
And do we really want our lovely region unable to adequately house its own citizens, forcing them to line up and wait, often for years, for whatever affordable subsidized housing might be available to them and their families?
Council has crafted a flexible policy that has been well thought through and offers a good solution to this major local problem.
David Stott
Victoria
U.K. council houses could provide the lead
Why are we relying on the charity of others to do what should be done by our multiple layers of government? Why should “for profit” companies have to take a hit? They are in many ways very generous, but it doesn’t make business sense.
The United Kingdom has council houses. These are well-built houses and apartments that provide secure tenancies and healthy homes for working families. The local governments used the land they owned near schools and jobs.
They came after many unsuccessful attempts by private companies to provide affordable housing had failed.
Could we at least consider it? After all, a stable home prevents so many social issues later in life, which in turn save costs for our health and supports systems.
Wendy Wardle
Cadboro Bay
Peer-informed process offers best solutions
Re: “Victoria councillor: Addictions task force excluding residents, businesses,” July 2.
I’d like to suggest some alternatives to this headline. Perhaps: “Task force to include people with lived experience, expertise, and understanding of the issues” or “City aims to keep people alive and become safer and more inclusive” or “Peer-informed task force to create local responses to mental health and overdose crisis.”
Cities across North America are on the forefront of the overdose epidemic. Gaps in mental health supports, combined with the housing crisis make already devastating realities much worse.
Victoria has been deeply affected by these concurrent crises, there is a perceptible strain to our community fabric, and the city has been called to act.
A peer-informed mental health and addictions task force and strategy (now termed community wellness peer-informed task force and strategy) was one of the highest-ranked items amongst the public within our strategic plan.
Ultimately, it is a community wellness strategy and there is necessarily a role for everyone in it. The work will engage a wide range of community partners, including all residents and businesses, and provide months for public engagement and comment.
That said, I stand by the peer-informed process.
Research and experience have clearly identified that the best solutions involve those who are directly affected. Understanding the perspective of people who use substances and who live with mental illness is essential to the success of the task force and resulting strategy.
Coun. Sarah Potts
Victoria
