Learn about bike safety from other jurisdictions
Re: “CRD is allowing speeds that are dangerous,” letter, June 12.
In Calgary, you gotta have a bell.
In 1994, I was a member of the Esquimalt Cycling Task Force that initiated discussions on the creation of the E&N Rail Trail as a reasonably flat route for all what we now call active transportation users to enjoy and use. E methods of transport were not widely available at that time.
Regarding Etiquette on our trails … I went to Calgary a few years ago and, for their trails, there is a bylaw that all cyclists and other non-pedestrians must have a warning device such as a bell and must use it before passing a pedestrian.
The rental bikes would also have to have a bell as they would be illegal otherwise. I now have a bell and do use it here. Maybe we need a similar bylaw.
Regardless, the rules of the trails need to be the same as the rules of the road, namely you must wait to pass until it is safe to do so.
I do not favour banning a particular group of users as bans typically do not work. Let’s look at the solutions other communities have used and come up with our own solution so all can continue to enjoy this amenity.
Walt Hundleby
Esquimalt
We all need to do better on our trails
I read all the letters complaining about users of the Galloping Goose Trail. Here are some of the complaints, and a couple of my own.
E-bikers are a menace. Lycra-clad bikers are a menace. Pedestrians glued to their phones and walking onto the Goose without looking are a menace.
People with dogs not under control are a menace. People blasting music so loud that they cannot hear anything else are a menace.
We are all guilty. We need to wake up.
Judy Phillips
Victoria
Victoria hits a foul ball with its Lions deal
I am disappointed in the City of Victoria’s oversight during the planning of the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Lions’ “Touchdown Pacific” event, which disregarded the needs of our local baseball team, the Victoria HarbourCats.
Our family has experienced the HarbourCats’ positive impact on our community. It is perplexing that the city would overlook such a valued community partner when planning the football event.
Proper planning could have easily accommodated both events. However, the city should have known that its commitment to a three-week lead time for the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Lions event would disrupt its major tenant right at the apex of the baseball season. In doing so, it will deprive sporting fans of playoff baseball.
The city could have accommodated our local teams with better planning.
It is unfortunate that the city gave priority to a one-time event over a longstanding community partner, turning a potential community benefit into a disappointment.
Ted Noakes
Victoria
Animal investigations do not seem fair
Re: “Two different versions of a canine altercation,” letter, May 29.
Once again, we hear of a vicious dog attack — only to have the dog and its owner completely exonerated.
A few months ago in Oak Bay a geriatric cat was attacked on her owners’ private property by two dogs, then dragged onto an adjacent lane and killed in full view of her horrified owners.
The dog owner was shouting that she could not control the dogs (a violation of Oak Bay’s animal bylaw).
Once contacted by the cat’s owners, animal control requested written statements from them, as well as one from a nearby witness. Those statements were provided in meticulous detail within two to three hours of the attack.
Animal control interviewed the dog owner first, a full 24 hours after the attack. The officer drew his final conclusion before speaking with the cat’s owners.
That conclusion was that the timid, 10-year-old, eight-pound cat provoked the attack by jumping onto the dogs’ heads. The cat and her owners never had a chance.
The May 9 attack on the 11-year-old boxer in Montague Park bears alarming similarities.
Rather than conduct a fair and equitable investigation, animal control simply went with the version of the pit bull’s owner: that the docile, elderly boxer had initiated the attack. End of story.
No matter that the boxer and her owner were badly bitten by the pit bull.
Is this considered appropriate, legitimate protocol for animal control investigations?
Jennifer MacLeod
Victoria
Destroying lives with no consequences
Re: “A quick explanation of no-fault benefits,” letter, June 11.
Give money to bad drivers who cause accidents and destroy the lives of others. Great idea!
Drive your boat up onto the rocks and hurt yourself. No problem, you get money for that, too.
Welcome to the NDP world where no one must bear the consequences for their negligent conduct.
Money for everyone.
David R. Schneider
Saanich
Insurance problems under a dictatorship
Re: “No-fault insurances a sign of bigger issues,” letter, June 7.
Well said! A lot of us are getting tired of the dictatorship the NDP leadership has become!
Mary Godlonton
Saanich
How Kevin Falcon dropped the ball
The trend of BC United MLAs defecting to the Conservatives, coupled with the abysmal polling numbers of the former, confirm that Kevin Falcon’s strategy of playing the mushy middle is a failure.
Falcon’s thwarted ambition is a harbinger of the shifting political landscape in British Columbia, where soon we will be able to stop referring to the BC United as the “Official Opposition.”
Jason Gibson
Saanich
The pendulum always swings both ways
Re: “Government is making construction more expensive,” commentary, June 12.
It’s always somebody’s else’s — the other party’s — fault, isn’t it?
Remember next door? The high cost of living was the Democrats’ fault (those sniffy Commie intellectuals who didn’t even see the little guy), and then Little Donnie took the helm for four years and guess what? High costs didn’t collapse and the little guy still got the short end.
Things are drifting rightward in many state/province and national jurisdictions. The reasons are a bit hard to determine. Maybe it’s just the “normal” swing of the pendulum.
Trust me, though: as right- and extreme right-wing political leaderships take the reins and actually have to deliver beneficial policy instead of ideological bombast, it will lead to one place only: “Oh, how soon can we re-elect a liberal, centre-left government? These Conservatives are socially repressive and they haven’t solved a practical problem!”
Gene Miller
Victoria
Another big-tent party for business interests
Re: “Provincial politicians need to decide where their loyalties lie,” editorial, June 7.
The editorial reads like a checklist for BC United MLAs to justify crossing the aisle. As noted, “Change can come quickly in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ politics.”
Surely with the help of us loyal readers yet another big tent party representing business interests could be created.
Yes, I am talking about TC United.
No need for policy, just continue to follow the “anyone but the NDP” playbook and throw in some “anti-woke” rhetoric to appear relevant.
Mark R. Fetterly
Victoria
Put both sports where they belong
Starlight Stadium was built for soccer and football games. The HarbourCats baseball diamond was built for baseball games.
Why has it been suggested that the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Lions play football at the baseball diamond and the HarbourCats play baseball at the football field?
Let’s save a lot of money and effort and play these games in the appropriate sports venues, use some common sense please.
Joan Atherton
Royal Oak
Cooking with electricity to be featured in July
Re: “Converting from natural gas too pricey for ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ restaurants, says report,” May 30.
Existing restaurants are exempt from the Zero Carbon Step Code and this is for new builds only.
Having said that, if restaurateurs were astute, they would go with clean 21st century technology now with the clean energy saving efficiency of induction cooking.
Induction cooking is becoming the preferred choice for gourmet chefs like the five spotlighted in this free downloadable cookbook, Induction Eats: Kitchen Inspirations from Five Gourmet Chefs put out by B2E Build to Electrification.
One of the featured chefs, executive chef Ken Nakano from the Victoria Aura Restaurant and Patio will be the special guest judge at View Royal’s Power Play: Get the Buzz on Everything Electric event on July 28 at the Scottish Community Centre.
There will be an induction cook-off between Colwood Mayor Doug Kobayashi and View Royal Mayor Sid Tobias. Also, Nakano extols the virtues of induction cooking for its precision, efficiency and for the health and safety of his staff.
As evidence mounts that gas stoves are bad for human health, a growing number of professional chefs say electric even makes for a better cooking experience by drastically reducing the temperature in the kitchen.
If you think converting from natural gas to electric is pricey, have you seen the latest bill for the cost of our forest fires, droughts, atmospheric rivers and heat domes?
Jane Devonshire
Victoria
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