A commentary by a disgruntled resident of James Bay.
Attention James Bay residents! Referendum of separation or cease and desist?
Could either of these actions possibly force the City of Victoria leaders from further destroying our charming community of James Bay?
Following the last two civic elections, we’ve continued to observe a total lack of vision on the part of our mayor, councillors and city planner. As a James Bay resident, I am continually disheartened by the lack of vision, knowledge, research and discussions before implementing the irrational and pet projects that are forced upon us by a self-serving mayor and council.
James Bay is a charming community with easy access to downtown. Thousands of tourists from around the world arrive at Victoria International Airport and the ferry terminal at Swartz Bay. Many of those tourists come to James Bay to visit the Parliament Buildings, Imax Theatre, Royal B.C. Museum, Beacon Hill Park, Fisherman’s Wharf and the waterfront in James Bay.
How important is the community of James Bay to Victoria?
In 2019 the Ogden Point cruise-ship terminal welcomed 709,042 passengers and 294,956 cruise-ship staff members onto our roads, sidewalks, paths, restaurants and parks. For those passengers and crew who aren’t walking, they are grabbing tour and shuttle buses, pedicabs, antique touring cars, cabs, horsedrawn carriages (with six to 20 passengers), and anything else that turns up. That means more than one million people come into our area during cruise season alone.
The Coho ferry from Port Angeles brought in more than 470,000 tourists and thousands of semi-trailers, vans, RVs, fifth wheelers and cars. Besides these two mega-people-movers, we also have Helijet, which flies between here and the mainland, and the harbour ferries, that move people along the waterway. No other area within Greater Victoria has this many visitors arriving and moving around in it.
What has this wonderful city administration done for James Bay?
Firstly: The 500-metre concrete balustrade was removed and replaced with a pathetic, extremely ineffective, steel-and-cable fence that allows all debris onto the walkway for possible injuries and allows children, etc., to fall into the ocean.
The walkway now needs to be closed during windy winter weather. This wasn’t a positive addition.
Secondly: The addition of the expanded Dallas Road walkway, seating area and bike lanes forced the road to be narrowed and will utterly destroy the movement of local traffic once the 1.5 million cruise-ship visitors arrive.
How are those tourists travelling on our 20-passenger horsedrawn carriages, the Tally-Ho carriage tours, shuttle buses, the 56-passenger tour buses, pedicabs, antique cars going to have a safe and relaxing trip along this route?
The gridlock and road rage and lack of safety for the horses will be disastrous. Let’s just pop in the factor of a possible tsunami or earthquake – now what happens? With all the earthquakes and possible tsunamis, how are people going to leave James Bay quickly or at all?
Victoria sits directly atop a fault line, the Leech River fault, that can cause highly destructive shallow earthquakes. Victoria is also imperiled by “inslab” earthquakes — small slips from deep within the subduction zone that can radiate upwards.
James Bay is the most affected area in the city, as it’s surrounded on three sides by water and at sea level. Has that ever entered the minds of anyone working at City Hall, or have they decided to simply toss the James Bay folks into the “deep end,” so to speak.
There is another utterly catastrophic plan to put bike lanes on two north-south routes, Government Street and Montreal Street. Two east-west options, Superior Street and Michigan Street, are also being considered for bikes.
What is wrong with City Hall? Have they ever thought about the safety of anyone other than the few cyclists living here?
Most residents in James Bay are seniors. We drive cars to buy groceries, go to medical appointments, go shopping, drive along Dallas Road to enjoy the scenery and stop at our storm-watch location, Clover Point, which City Hall is determined to destroy.
Superior Street is our most important exiting road in case of an emergency – so don’t screw it up, as has been done to other streets.
Go away, City Hall. Leave us alone.
