Scared of downtown? Then try volunteering
I saw a poll asking if people feel safe downtown Victoria, and the overwhelming majority said they don’t. I assume this fear is of the unhoused population that live in the downtown core.
These discriminatory opinions are part of the problem. I’m not going to claim to have a solution, but these negative attitudes do not help by any means.
The overwhelming majority of unhoused people are not dangerous and are not out to get you. They are no different than people who have housing. Most of them are people who have been through serious trauma and unimaginable situations.
It is a miracle some of them are still alive after what they have been through. Anyone could find themselves in their situation. It could be your son, your daughter, or even you.
I suggest that people who feel scared in the downtown core volunteer at Our Place, Victoria Cool Aid Society, or one of the other similar organizations that Victoria is lucky to have.
You will learn that most people that you fear are just as nice as people who have homes. This will limit your fear, help some people who need it greatly, assist in building a stronger community, and you might even make some new friends.
Michael S.I. Brcic
lawyer and former outreach worker
Langford
Victoria Labour Council, do better next time
I have long thought the four-year municipal election cycle is too long. Council terms were two years, then pushed to three years, and now four years.
The main problem is that most citizens do not vote in municipal elections, consequently a four-year term is simply too long.
If the province is not going to change council elections to three-year cycles it should introduce a recall procedure to deal with the recent example of Victoria council members simply voting themselves an instant 25 per cent increase.
The present council is primarily composed of public sector workers with the majority of Victoria private sector workers largely disenfranchised.
We are a proud union city with the Victoria Labour Council effectively mandating our last several councils. Please, VLC, in the next election choose a slate of candidates who will serve in the long noble union tradition of humble dedication to the health and welfare of our city, not their own bank accounts.
Patrick Skillings
Victoria
How did South Fairfield offend city council?
As a resident of South Fairfield I feel the need to apologize for, presumably, and unknowingly, offending Victoria city council. They have punished us repeatedly by:
1. Closing off Clover Point to through traffic and inserting gigantic picnic tables that are hardly (never) ever used.
2. Destroying the Dallas Road green space and turning it into a mud bath. The fences stop people from straying, but don’t have much impact on the dogs.
3. Keeping us cornered in South Fairfield by construction projects (Cook Street), complicated bike lanes and horrifically long traffic lights at Fort, Yates and Fernwood.
Have they not punished us enough by sending everybody’s effluent to our neighbourhood, wafting delightful odours over us on warm, light easterly breezes.
Please, city council have pity on us. Sadly, a splash park in Centennial Square is not going to appease us.
Jill Robertson
Victoria
Careful cherry-picking of the remuneration report
The recent self-serving vote by Victoria city council to increase their remuneration is rightly generating public outrage.
Coun. Jeremy Caradonna tries valiantly to cobble together a justification to give himself and his council colleagues a 25 per cent raise midway through his contract with Victoria voters.
He fails.
Unfortunately he cherry-picks the part of the MNP report that says remuneration should be addressed, but he omits the report’s actual recommendation, that is to “establish a policy that specifies an ongoing cycle for review” for future councils.
Nowhere does the report recommend that council grant itself a raise mid-term in their mandate.
In fact, it characterizes such a move as awkward and “potentially causing public concern.” It sure got that right.
Valerie Sovran
Victoria
A downtown that’s friendly for families
Don’t we want kids and families coming downtown? The Victoria Gym Club offers affordable classes that draw hundreds of families with children of all ages to Store Street and Pembroke.
Here they get quality instruction in recreational gymnastics. Years ago, club management set up a well-endowed gymnastics centre in an very old brick building — this is an old gem of a facility but parking is a challenge.
Bus service is do-able to several blocks away, but kids aged three and older come from all over, and the practicality of that means many are too young to be dropped off.
One has to park and escort children right in. It is mainly moms and dads trying to park in the area for 90 minutes. There really are no restaurants or stores competing.
For some reason, rather than optimizing access to this facility, this industrial area has new sidewalks on one side with “pocket parking” of only two or three cars per pocket.
The whole street could be simple angle parking for many more vehicles. Moreover, here are no crosswalks supporting the pedestrian activity of this rather dangerous corner, and no speed reduction signs or children-crossing signs can be found.
Instead, the same traffic officer is a regular in the area and thrives on ticketing parents’ vehicles that overlap onto red curbs.
It would be fantastic if the officer could be reassigned to control traffic there 3:30-5:15 p.m., slow trucks turning into the blind corner or assist families crossing.
A pedestrian light, signs, several crosswalks, and painting some red curbs white where there is no reason not to, would be a cheap but very good start.
Sandra Hartley
Victoria
Saanich should confirm that users are residents
As a Saanich resident who has used the garden waste centre, I was disappointed but not really against the introduction of a user fee.
I get it: For us to have services, we have to pay somehow. However, I would like to see Saanich checking IDs for the people bringing waste into the centre regardless whether they charge a fee or not.
I suspect that we are going to be subsidizing people from outside Saanich using the facility.
The $10 fee will be nothing to a landscape company that passes that cost onto customers but can make more of an impact to someone like me who is on a fixed income and does my own yard work to save money.
I’ve only been asked for ID once in the dozens of trips I have taken to the facility. Saanich, tighten up the procedures please.
Karin Nelson
Saanich
Not all seniors can ride bicycles
I am a healthy, active senior who last got on a bike 30 years ago and am much too mindful of my intact limbs ever to get on one again.
The youngsters on Victoria council, who apparently think they will be forever young and fit, don’t seem to realize that their aim to eliminate cars and substitute bikes as a means of transportation for all is full-blown ageism.
A car is an essential for seniors who would like to participate in social activities and are not mobile enough or hardy enough to ride a bike or use the bus system, which is expensive and inconvenient for most of the city.
I am an amateur musician and carrying my violin and viola around town to rehearsals on a bicycle or bus would be absolutely prohibitive.
Carpooling is obviously a help. But someone has to drive.
Of course there are seniors who happily bicycle all the time and that is wonderful for them, but please give the rest of us a break and allow us to keep our cars (hopefully electric) and places to park them.
Growing old is adventure enough without having to defend our freedom to drive cars.
Gwen Isaacs
Victoria
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