Municipalities, work together on signs
May I suggest the following inventory of permissible extraordinary traffic signs.
Each city/district/municipality (including the Capital Regional District) will receive the following inventory:
Road Closed: 8
No Parking due to construction/ construction zone: 24
No Parking (unspecified): 24
Tow Zone, no parking: 12
No Parking (special event): 12
Red traffic cones: 36
Detour (with attachable/changeable arrows): 24
No more than this number is permitted in use at any one time in each city/district/municipality.
It will be the responsibility of the various engineering and permitting departments to coordinate all projects so that there will be no need of any more signs at any one time.
With the exception of the areas where these signs are in use, all public roadways and parking will be maintained to be open to all types of traffic.
Geoffrey Robards
Oak Bay
Football game a success, but some fixes needed
Touchdown Pacific was a success from Ship Point events to the Royal Athletic Park game.
About 15,000 passionate fans packed the stadium, and the Fan Zone was a great idea with big screens, beer and food.
However, there need to be major improvements in the areas of providing triple the number of portapotties and places to buy a beer.
Fans on the north stands were squished in uncomfortably for the prices charged.
Luckily, the weather was fine and helped this event pump $20 million into the local economy.
Victoria should certainly make this an annual event.
The Lions won — and remember, they are a provincial team and should not play all games at ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Place.
Even Nathan Rourke got a cool home coming with his great-grandmother attending. She loved that experience.
Well done, Victoria.
Gregor Campbell
Victoria
After the opportunities their parents had
As a young person born and raised in Victoria, trying to build a life here is incredibly frustrating. It is exhausting to be constantly inundated with anti-development rhetoric, mostly from privileged homeowners sitting on hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in home equity.
This entitlement is baffling, especially for the young single mother working two jobs or the recent graduate struggling to find a decent job and a place to rent that doesn’t require 50% of their income.
Life is incredibly frustrating for the majority of young people who for the first time, are not doing as well as their parents.
The social fabric that once supported upward mobility is unravelling. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for Canadians aged 15-34.
We’re more anxious, burdened with student debt, and are facing home prices that have skyrocketed over 318% from 2000 to 2021, while wages have grown by only 65%.
We are faced with more precarious employment and earn less than previous generations did at our age.
On top of that, we are left to deal with the consequences of short-term decision making made by older generations, especially concerning the climate and housing.
We are not asking for special treatment; we are simply asking for the same opportunities that our parents and grandparents had.
Jordan Ellis
Victoria
Please call NDP centrist, not ‘far left’
Re: “Kevin Falcon: He sacrificed for the greater good,” editorial, Aug. 31.
I was dismayed by the editorial praising Kevin Falcon and his dissolution of the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ United campaign. I expect my local paper to be factually accurate and provide credible context for readers, not regurgitate partisan misinformation and campaign rhetoric.
Rather than fawning over Falcon, it would be more truthful to lay the health-care crisis at his feet, following the Liberals’ 15 years of budget constraints despite a burgeoning, aging population, which laid the foundation for the dire situation we find ourselves in today.
It also is more accurate to cite the global fallout from the pandemic rather than blaming the NDP for the state of the economy — giant complex issues like this and the housing crisis are far outside the ability of any one provincial government to reverse, and in fact, on housing, the current administration has done more to respond than any other in the country.
Calling the NDP “far left” is absurd given their record of subsidization to business and industry — their Keynesian model of capitalism featuring minor investments in social programs and public infrastructure projects is at most centrist. And though the only free enterprise party with any presence in the past seven elections over 30 years has been the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Liberals, the editorial states that “once again” two right-wing parties risked splitting the vote.
Of course it is the role of your editorials to express an opinion, but please be more factual and measured. You have a responsibility to help create a more informed electorate, which is essential for a healthy democracy.
Sarah Hinke
Victoria
Every government should regulate businesses
It is becoming a bit tiresome to hear both BC United and the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Conservatives painting themselves as the only “free enterprise” parties in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, as if the current NDP were nothing more than a gang of raging socialists from a previous century.
From my viewpoint, the current supporters of the NDP include many small and large business owners, and I haven’t heard any calls from the party to nationalize any sectors of the economy for decades.
Every political party appears to support some form of free enterprise in its various guises, and there aren’t any socialist hordes banging at the gates that we need John Rustad or Kevin Falcon to protect us from.
As someone clinging to the middle of the political spectrum, I hope we can all recognize that certain goods and services can be produced in either the private, public or voluntary sectors, and good governance today is figuring out which sector can do it most effectively and efficiently.
At the very least, we should expect any government to regulate all businesses in this province so that they don’t pollute, treat their workers fairly and pay their taxes.
Jamie Alley
Saanich
Wrong to thwart the democratic process
Re: “Kevin Falcon: He sacrificed for the greater good,” editorial, Aug. 31.
The dilemma the right-of-centre parties faced in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ with more than two players in the election game is real. It is also a fact of life, especially since we do not have proportional representation.
I recall back in the early 1950s when the Liberal and Conservative parties, both closely tied to their federal counterparts, introduced the single transferable vote system in an attempt to thwart the rising CCF — now NDP — from taking office.
In this system, everyone was allowed a second preferential vote, which would be used if their first choice came last. They assumed that all Tories would put Liberal as their second choice and the Liberals would do the same.
Alas, it backfired for them as both traditional party members put the new Social Credit party as their second choice, and W.A.C. Bennett’s party got the most seats, although not a complete majority.
My grandmother Tilly Rolston was involved with this at the time, as she quit the Tories, as did Bennett beforehand, and sat as an independent. (One of her reasons was that the Conservative premier refused to consider her for the cabinet as she was a woman!)
Personally, I give thanks to most political leaders, regardless of their stripe, for all the work they do to ensure democracy functions in this country.
That includes Kevin Falcon. However, the editorial states that he did this “for the greater good.”
What was the greater good? Stacking the deck so one party gets eliminated even though they get the most votes by party?
ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ voters indicated in a referendum that they did not want proportional representation at this time, so your editorial is thwarting the democratic process as we now have it in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½
Disappointing.
Barry Rolston
Victoria
It’s wrong to charge for bus rides to school
Re: “Tens of thousands of capital region students head back to school,” Sept. 3.
Yes, it’s a wonderful day as students return back to our classrooms. Two short paragraphs in the article that have negative implications caught my eye.
Charging $300 per student rider (in the Sooke district) borders on the outrageous. Education is a right, and that includes the right to get to the nearest public school.
This is a cost that should never be borne by the riders. No more need be said.
Robert Milan
Victoria
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