No shortage of apartments for rent
It is incorrect to assume that the rental problem in Victoria will be resolved by building more high-rise market rentals.
I live in James Bay and work downtown. There is no shortage of bachelor, one- and two-bedroom units available for rent. Almost every apartment building in James Bay has “for rent” signs in front of them.
This is also the case for downtown apartment buildings. Even prime location rental buildings on Dallas Road or those adjacent to Beacon Hill Park have units available for rent.
A high-rise apartment building on Dallas at Menzies has a one-bedroom and bachelor apartment listed for rent since March.
The rental crisis is a problem of affordability. All these suites remain vacant because people can’t afford the rental rates of $2,100 for a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom is $2,700.
The push to build more and more market rentals in Victoria will not resolve the rental crisis in this city. Since no developer is willing to take on the prospect of building below-market rentals, the problem seems insurmountable.
However, I question the rapid development of more and more new market rental buildings when the available stock remains unrented.
Wendy Welch
Victoria
More information needed on candidates
Further to Esquimalt Coun. Tim Morrison’s proposal of a ward system for School District 61 trustee elections, I believe his suggestion is worthy of serious consideration.
Morrison also noted his frustration with the 2022 election in trying to find information on a very long list of candidates before casting his vote. I expect most voters, including me, experienced the same frustration.
I offer up a suggestion to the leadership of SD 61 for the 2026 election to help inform voters about all candidates. It would see candidates submit a one-page overview of their top issues, information on themselves, and what they have to offer if elected.
Here is a suggested framework:
What are your top three issues?
What is your background? (Education and work experience; governance experience; examples of accomplishments.)
What might you add to the board? (Relevant skills; strongest areas of contribution; experience as a team player.)
If SD 61 makes this candidate information available on its website for all eligible candidates, it would be an immense help to the voting public. It may result in greater voter participation and a stronger school board.
Bill Wellburn
Saanich
Nuclear plants are actually quite safe
Re: “Nuclear energy is a terrible idea,” letter, Sept. 28.
It was good to see this important subject being raised again. However, the letter includes serious errors,
The Fukushima disaster should be kept in mind accurately. The earthquake did not damage the reactor – just the power lines running to the reactor to operate the cooling system.
The tsunami did not damage the reactor – just flooded the back-up power supply. Then the reactor overheated and the disaster occurred.
The back-up generators were placed below sea level just a short distance from the sea. That was extremely foolish.
If those generators had been placed in a waterproof building, we would never have heard the word “Fukushima”.
The types of reactors being considered now are much smaller. These have been in constant use since 1961 in about 300 ships.
There have been no incidents to suggest that they are “dangerous and risky.” In addition, it would only take a few years to select one of the “off the shelf” designs and put it into production.
The waste is a serious matter but much smaller than most people think. A nuclear plant does not consume fuel in the same way that fossil fuel is consumed.
A typical small reactor would use about a truckload of fuel that would last a decade or more until it became too weak.
The original fuel is condensed from radioactive ore that has been in the earth for billions of years. The weakened fuel can be diluted with the non-ore material from the mines and put back underground. The time taken for it to fully decay is trivial compared with the time that it has already existed.
The pollution from coal-fired power plants kills at least a million people a year. Nuclear plants are much safer.
David Stocks
Saanich
Nuclear energy is a great way to make electricity
Re: “Nuclear energy is a terrible idea,” letter, Sept. 28.
We could build CANDU reactors in B.C., just as Canada builds them overseas, and, despite fearmongering claims, they are extraordinarily safe.
Canada is a world-renowned expert in nuclear energy technology. As an added bonus, the nuclear waste the letter-writer is concerned about can be used by CANDU reactors; indeed, these reactors can use as fuel material that is otherwise considered “nuclear waste,” so it pays on both ends.
They managed to put a CANDU nuclear power plant in Pickering, Ont. in 1971 and no Three Mile Islands/Fukushimas have happened to it, so I guess we can put them literally anywhere.
It’s a great way to produce electricity without carbon emissions or damming more rivers. So what if it takes 25 years to build? That’s not a reason not to start at all.
April J. Gibson
Duncan
Stop giving away taxpayers’ money
It’s election time, and of course we have all these people standing up there telling us how good they are and what they are going to do for us. And of course, pledging to do all these things for us.
Reduce our taxes, build new hospital towers, give us annual rebates, build more housing. Even make it heaps easier for first time buyers to buy one of them by paying part of the price. But where are these people going to get all this extra money?
I guess, we are already $85 billion in debt, so what’s another two or three or 10 billion more going to matter.
We don’t have enough money to maintain all the infrastructure as we should
We don’t have enough money for the schools and teachers and teachers aids that we desperately need.
We don’t have enough judges, and look how the courts are held up because we don’t have enough sheriffs.
Hospitals are needed, and doctors and nurses and new equipment for these hospitals. Not enough money for all of this. We depend on the donations from all the good people of the province to build a new children’s hospital. It shouldn’t have to be that way.
Housing is in such a terrible state and we don’t seem to be able to fix it.
So, more money is needed. We either start to pay more taxes, or, maybe we could restructure the way we pay these taxes. Why is it that the lower and middle earners pay all the taxes and the upper earners pay little or none. How come the people earning the millions can, legally, get away with paying very little or nothing.
Maybe if everyone paid their fair share, we could maybe pay for some of these much-needed things.
Just one more thought. Maybe if we spent our money better and stopped giving it away. That might help too.
Lyall Eriksen
Colwood
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