What is going on with Langford council?
The articles about Triway Mobile Home Park, and other neighbourhoods in Langford looks like something is amiss with mayor and council in Langford. The land being bought by developer Jim Hartshorne will be almost completely covered in buildings, paving, people, and cars.
Triway was marketed as a mobile home park, but apparently the best affordable housing available doesn’t have a large enough tax base to satisfy Langford. Never mind those 106 residents, they’re only seniors on fixed incomes.
And how can the city afford expensive Christmas decorations but can’t afford to livestream their meetings? It appears they have taken advantage of the pandemic to push controversial zoning through, ignoring public input and their taxpayers’ wishes.
Langford is allowing so many mega buildings built right up to the sidewalks, there is no room left to widen streets, leave trees or green space. Every square inch of developable land is being filled in, making Langford the new Colwood Crawl.
It’s time to shake things up at Langford City Hall, and get some accountability from the mayor and his cohorts working together to build on every available inch of this once enjoyable city.
Wendie O’Neill
Langford
Stop virus first, then deal with economy
Re: “Nothing is more important right now than rebuilding the economy,” Lawrie McFarlane, Dec. 13.
I beg to differ. How about everyone cooperating to stop the spread of COVID-19 and saving lives?
Wilma Sayer
Courtenay
What kind of city are our actions creating?
Re: “Councillors rejected much needed housing” and “Scare developers out of Victoria.”
One letter writer says the city needs more accommodation of all standards and levels. Really? We hear about empty luxury suites, and high-end homes left vacant because their owners don’t live here. I haven’t noticed any wealthy homeless people.
The other writer says affordable housing is an “immature dream.” But in the same day’s paper, we read about the loss of affordable housing for 100 people in Langford, and for residents of 21 apartments on Cook Street. When he mentions developers losing money, does he mean going into debt — or just not making the huge profits now expected?
Homelessness is at epic proportions, and poised to worsen quickly. Renovictions are still legal. Despite the worsening pandemic, the government is again permitting evictions. Businesses are suffering, employees are being laid off. Rents can rise several hundred dollars between tenants. They’re already unreachable for all but the upwardly mobile.
Builders could instead explore their sense of civic responsibility, reduce expectations for awhile, and figure out how to help deliver the desperately needed affordable housing that would make Victoria a more pleasant and healthy place for all.
That would be more constructive than ridiculing city councillors who have noticed we have a big problem and want to solve it.
Huge social problems are created when people choose to leave suites vacant, offer only high-paying, short-term rentals, or low-paying jobs, or squeeze the most concessions out of city council and offer only the most token social benefits in return. We can all take responsibility.
Grace Wyatt
Duncan
Wellburn’s is a Victoria landmark
I always admire the Wellburn’s Grocery Store facade and hoped it would be saved.
Living on Balmoral Street as a young girl, I have memories of walking to the store with my grandma, always seeing Mr. Wellburn in his store and getting our groceries. It’s a beautiful building and I was thrilled to read/see the facade and 50 per cent of the building to be preserved!
Cheryl Robinson
Victoria
Stats show builders are welcome here
A letter-writer claims that city council is scaring away developers from building in Victoria. Has he been downtown recently? Victoria is in the midst of an unprecedented condo boom.
The writer says to “look at the numbers.” OK, let’s do that. According to CMHC data, the city of Victoria has seen 5,337 housing starts over the past eight years.
That’s second only to Langford’s 6,639 starts over the same period, which is impressive given that Langford has much more vacant land to develop.
In fact, during five of the past eight years, Victoria recorded more housing starts than Langford. Victoria had twice as many housing starts as larger and more populous Saanich, more than three times as many as Colwood, four times as many as Sooke, 13 times as many as Esquimalt, and 17 times as many as Oak Bay.
Given its lack of buildable land, Victoria has done far more than its fair share of providing housing for the region, and it certainly doesn’t appear to be “scaring away” developers.
Steven Murray
Victoria
Humility helps in describing vote
Re: “Stephen Andrew tops polls in Victoria byelection, wins council seat’ “Dec. 13.
So Stephen Andrew won the byelection, and immediately he tried to spin it as “an overwhelming majority … I think it’s an overwhelming referendum on the fact that Victorians want a change at the council table.”
No, this is not an “overwhelming majority.” It’s not an “overwhelming” anything, but nice try.
The total voter turnout in Victoria for this byelection (which was postponed once, and conducted in the midst of the second wave of a pandemic) was 12,327, a mere 17.5 per cent of registered voters. Andrew got 6,937 votes, which means a shade fewer than 10 per cent of the eligible voters of Victoria voted for him.
For comparison, this is almost 2,200 fewer votes than Andrew got when he ran for city council in October 2018, when voter turnout was 43.5 per cent.
All of the four losing New Council slate candidates in 2018 got more votes than Andrew got this time. Perhaps he should approach his new position with a little bit of humility.
Rob Rao
Vic West
No vaccine for this ‘spendemic’
Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com chose “pandemic” as the word of the year for 2020.
A new word under consideration for 2021 is “spendemic.” The meaning is clear … overspending by both people and governments.
A symptom of “spendemic” by governments is when the leader of a country utters such nonsensical statements as “Budgets balance themselves” and “We are spending the money so you don’t have to.”
The spending necessary for the COVID-19 pandemic has overtaken other spending concerns.
With luck we will overcome COVID-19. Unfortunately, there is no leadership to overcome “spendemic,” nor is there a vaccine.
Ed Bird
Victoria
Give vaccine doses to younger people
In a recent letter, a senior asked if she is the only one who feels seniors should not be at the front of the line for vaccinations. She is not alone. My wife and I, both seniors, feel the same way, and wonder if the majority feels like that but are afraid to say it.
I think if you ask any 75-year-old grandparent, they would say give my doses to my children and theirs, not to me.
A character in the brilliant movie A Prairie Home Companion said “the death of an old man is not a tragedy,” and I think it is time more of us thought of that, and consider rethinking vaccine priorities.
Mike Marshall
Nanoose Bay
Not ready to go to the end of the line
Seniors who wish to pass on their vaccine status are to be commended.
Hopefully they are aware that those over 80 would be a thousand or more times more vulnerable to die than those half their age or less.
The numbers are meaningless if your personal wishes are so inclined.
What worries some is the temptation of officialdom to relegate a person’s worth according to age. At this time revenues are stretched to cover old age pensions and health services loaded by the Boomer Bubble. A situation ripe for temporary fixes.
Creeping around the edges of this subject is the recent Assisted Dying legislation.
What next? More wealth confiscation is almost certain. Maybe a COVID-19 lottery, a euthanasia bonus scheme or expiry-dated age passports.
It is often a very short step for the voluntary to become mandatory.
As someone greedily selfish for the gift of whatever years I have remaining, I pray that the COVID mortality count remains within my age group.
A voluntary contribution towards a vaccination acceleration fund might be acceptable but some of us are not quite yet ready to go to the end of the line, thank you.
Russell Thompson
Victoria
No Merry Christmas for disabled people
While we all complain about not being able to have Christmas with loved ones due to COVID-19, people in B.C. with disabilities have far greater problems on their mind.
Now with sweeping powers, Premier John Horgan is about to claw back the support that he offered to people on disability, in spite of B.C. having one of the better economies in the country.
When the pandemic hit, Horgan did the right thing by raising rates by $300 per month. Even Alberta, which has been hit hard in the last few years, treats people with disabilities far better than the Horgan government intends to, and the cost of living is much higher here.
Our disabled are living on rates that were set in the 1990s. Is it any wonder that we see them begging for money on the streets?
This cutback is sure to contribute to homelessness.
I was happier with the government before the election. You can be sure that Sonia Fursteneau would have voiced her opinion and would not have allowed Horgan to cut back on the most needy.
This reminds me of when the Liberal government tried to cut back summer camp for kids of parents on various forms of disability. The public outcry was so severe that the order was reversed within a week.
Let’s stop complaining about what we cannot have and cannot do for Christmas and focus on those who need our help most at the moment.
Connie Lebeau
Victoria
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