UVic’s pool decision ignores important uses
There are additional points regarding the McKinnon Pool closure at the University of Victoria.
This closure follows the April closure of the McKinnon Building’s weight room, which meant that students paying the mandatory $99 a semester athletics fee will now have to pay an additional $93 a semester for a CARSA membership for gym access.
Closing the pool means students are taking yet another blow to the value of their athletics fee.
The pool closure affects not just students but staff and retirees, such as my father, who has been using the facility for decades and will likely be forced to drive to Saanich Commonwealth Place for a decent lap pool.
The closure also affects the UVic Submarine Racing Club, an engineering design team I am a member of that races human-powered submarines internationally.
Without McKinnon Pool, testing designs will incur significant costs due to renting community pool space and transporting the submarine off campus.
UVic’s statement about the closure seems to neglect all of this.
Most egregiously, UVic had plans to build a new indoor pool as part of Phase 2 for the CARSA complex in 2015, when it closed the Ian Stewart Complex outdoor pool.
At that time, they said there was no timeline for Phase 2 as McKinnon Pool was still in good shape.
How is it possible that UVic has spent the last nine years letting McKinnon Pool degrade while making no plans to open the new pool at CARSA?
Alexander Darby
Saanich
After Olympic success, the hammer cage goes
At the Paris Olympics, Canadians cheered Ethan Katzberg who won gold in the hammer throwing event.
Ethan used the hammer-throwing cage at Lambrick Park Secondary School when he was a student participating in Island events.
The cage is slated to be torn down next week, even though it is the only facility of its kind on lower Vancouver Island.
The cage requires repair, but when it is gone, there is nothing for future athletes to use, nowhere to dream or encourage their ambitions.
I ask School District 61 to reconsider.
Stop the destruction of the only hammer-throwing cage on lower Vancouver Island.
Commence repairs on the Lambrick Park Secondary School cage so it may be used in September by students inspired by Ethan Katzberg’s success.
Let’s avoid a decision that seems dumber than a bag of hammers.
Roberta Enwright
Saanich
Infrastructure is behind high bicycling rate
While it’s true, as a recent commentary pointed out, that Victoria ranks near the top in North America in terms of the proportion of commuters who walk or cycle to work, I don’t entirely agree with the reasons cited for this.
The commentary mentions our year-round mild climate as one factor, but this has been found to have surprisingly little impact on active transportation.
While Victoria and Vancouver rank first and third among all 41 Canadian metro areas for commuting by active transportation, the other three cities in the top five — Kingston, Halifax, and Montreal — all have much harsher winters, while Abbotsford — with a climate not too dissimilar from Victoria’s — ranked near the bottom.
The same lack of relationship between climate and active transportation can be found in other countries.
In the United States, cities in the Southeast, which have mild winters, also have the lowest rates of walking and cycling. In Europe, rates of walking and cycling are higher in many northern European cities such as Amsterdam or Copenhagen than they are in most southern European cities with much milder winters.
The commentary mentions higher population density, which does indeed make it easier to get around by walking and cycling.
However, it doesn’t mention what repeated studies have found to be the most important factor affecting active transportation: the provision of safe facilities and the creation of an overall attractive environment for walking and cycling.
Victoria has a growing number of all ages and abilities cycling routes, along with improvements in sidewalks, crosswalks and other pedestrian facilities that make it safer, easier and more comfortable to get around on foot or on bike.
Victoria also has a relative lack of large arterial roads and highways with fast-moving traffic, which can act as barriers to walking or cycling.
I’m often shocked at how hostile the environment is for walking or cycling in most American cities — forcing virtually everyone to get around by car.
I’m so thankful that Victoria has embraced a more balanced approach to its transportation system, and one that gives much higher priority to pedestrians and cyclists.
Steven Murray
Victoria
B.C. NDP responsible for downtown woes
Considering how the NDP orchestrates a false governance reality upon the democratic wishes of Victoria’s regional population by dismissing a regional governance review as voted on and declared by the previous Clark government, it is painful to see them create so much damage to Victoria’s core area.
To further entrench full denial of the existence of regionalism and the social equity it represents is painful to watch.
More Pandora dollars, for example, to a tiny core government detached from its own core partners through no fault of its own.
Their world shouldn’t even exist, but that would require a province respecting why personal freedom works so well in the Commonwealth.
That is due to all other provinces in Canada respecting their oversight authority over municipalities, not selling out to bureaucracies and so much self-interest.
There should be a day of protest at the legislature for all regional citizens to protest the fact the NDP has no right to impose their perverse inventions of society upon area citizens.
And on behalf of the vast majority of regional citizens beyond Victoria and Saanich who voted for a governance review, I would protest all monies the NDP spends in the region on a reality that is of their doing versus people’s doing.
John Vickers
Miramichi, N.B.
Think of the people living in risky areas
The suggestion in a recent letter that wildfires caused by lightning strikes be allowed to burn out of control and “man should simply pack a bag and move along” is unbelievably arrogant.
I’m sure that from a comfortable home in a big city it is safe to make such pronouncements, but it might surprise the writer to know that many regular hard-working people live in places that are vulnerable to these fires.
Perhaps the nice folks in Jasper or Lytton could educate the letter-writer on how difficult it is to, as he put it, simply pack a bag and move on.
The letter shows a stunning lack of empathy for what it must be like to lose everything to a fire.
Len Dafoe
Nanoose Bay
We all need to act to help the homeless
Re: “Saanich must help with homelessness,” letter, August 8.
Yes, indeed, other jurisdictions need to step up help for the homeless — and not just Saanich, but also Oak Bay and Esquimalt.
And Vancouver, and Edmonton, and Winnipeg….
Michael Faulkner
View Royal
We don’t need to invite more problems
Re: “Saanich must help with homelessness,” letter, August 8.
That’s what we don’t need — to open another can of worms and invite all the druggies and homeless from across Canada, and what’s left in downtown Victoria, out to the outlying areas.
The more we cater to them, the more will come. Bleeding hearts and irresponsible politicians are what got us to where we are — tent encampments, open drug use, and lots of crime all over what was once a beautiful city.
Mike Butler
Saanich
What is sewage treatment doing?
I have a question. Why are there multiple beach closures after we have invested so much money on a sewage treatment plant?
Maureen Koch
Victoria
Particulate pollution needs government action
Re: “Ultrafine particles linked to 1,100 deaths per year in Montreal and Toronto,” Aug. 8.
I was disappointed that the article was on page A7, not on the front page below a large headline.
The announcement was the stunning news from research that people across Canada in communities near industrial activities are dying from pollution arising from long-term exposure to the ultra-fine particles known as UFPS.
To quote from the article, it was “found that people, especially who are living in areas with higher levels of these particles have a higher risk of mortality overall as well as mortality from respiratory and cardiovascular cause.”
I hope the appropriate government agencies will respond with policies for all industries across Canada to reduce emission sources of these particles.
Can it be 100 years ago that doctors fought to convince governments that coal dust was causing lung disease in miners?
Malcolm Oakes
Duncan
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