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Affordable housing is the key ingredient

Re: “To help downtown, start with affordable housing,” letter, April 26.

Great minds think alike! (OK, small ones seldom differ.)

I was astounded to find my thoughts so eloquently delineated by this letter. My critique, however, would be more focused on those, including some MLAs, who bleat on endlessly about “lock them up” when addressing the issue of prolific and violent offenders and bail. Where are we to put them?

The frightened masses who visit the downtown core and see the troubles, fume about clearing the streets, “make the police do their jobs,” and “off to the prisons with such riffraff.” Of course I disagree.

Starting with building affordable housing seems so much more enlightened and all the reasons outlined in the letter remain right on the mark.

In addition, our overflowing jails were also a problem in the recent past. The answer was less incarceration especially for the poor, homeless and members of the Indigenous community. The result was some fairness but continuing stress in urban cores.

Let’s try affordable housing, four houses per city lot and nineplexes on corner lots in Saanich! Just not in my backyard!

The moral of the story is you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. But it has been on my mind.

Max Miller

Saanich

Compassion means helping people in need

Re: “To help downtown, start with affordable housing,” letter, April 26.

I think most of us agree that people living on the street need compassion and help. However, this does not involve allowing them to sleep on the sidewalks, commit criminal acts, destroy local businesses, intimidate passersby, take over parks, or simply overdose in their tents. That’s not compassion, as many social justice advocates seem to think. That’s cruelty.

And in spite of the massive and spectacular failure of our “housing first” strategy, people still think the “homeless” crisis can be solved by providing free homes.

Facilities to house the homeless rapidly become crime invested, extremely violent places where not even the police will venture without back up. The residents’ addiction and mental health issues are unresolved – because they will not voluntarily accept treatment. It’s just out of sight, so somehow we feel better. “Housing” them did nothing. It may have made it worse.

And yet, we can never openly question the absurd ideology which has led us here. Utter the words “job” or “personal responsibility,” or “mandatory medical treatment” when talking about street people, and the woke mob will attempt to pillory you in the public square of social media.

You will be verbally attacked, insulted and intimidated for contradicting their orthodoxy, in an attempt to silence you. We need to start pushing back.

Numerous locations in the U.S. are finding the solution may involve some tough love. Arrest, detain, and provide mandatory medical treatment.

Provide consequences for criminal behaviour, including significant jail time. Stop rewarding and enabling self-destructive behavior. Provide secure, locked down treatment centers – not free hotel rooms.

I sincerely hope that, should I ever find myself addicted to drugs and living on the sidewalk, someone would have the fortitude to remove me from the situation – by legal force or even physical force if necessary – and get me the help I needed.

That is what true compassion looks like. Our street population is comprised of human beings with much potential. They deserve nothing less.

Richard Brunt

Victoria

Building collapses: some fiction, some fact

News reports about the highrise with problems in Langford caused me to reflect on the television program Endeavour.

I have been a long time fan of Inspector Morse and the companion series of Lewis and Endeavour so I paused and asked myself if history was to repeat itself, both in story and in fact?

I found the actual Endeavour program I had seen — Degüello, series 6, episode 4 — and then another search took me to a BBC story, Ronan Point: A Fifty-Year Building Problem. Ronan Point was a building in London that partly collapsed in 1968, two months after it was opened.

The Endeavour program had a story line where a residential tower shows early signs of faulty construction, with its ultimate destruction and implications of the cause.

I look forward to some answers from the independent engineering assessments that will need to be undertaken.

Gary Walmsley

Victoria

Please, no statue of a slave owner

Re: “Instead of losing a statue, add a second,” letter, April 25.

The letter expresses displeasure that Sir John A. Macdonald’s statue was removed from outside Victoria City Hall a few years ago, and suggests that instead a statue of Maquinna should have been added.

The letter praises Macdonald for being Canada’s first prime minister, but acknowledges his abysmal treatment of Indigenous people. He then gives the Walt Disney version of Maquinna as a savvy ruler and negotiator between Spanish and English fleets on voyages of discovery.

There is a much darker side of history pertaining to Maquinna of the Nootka Band that is well-documented in an autobiography written over 200 years ago by John R. Jewitt.

His best-seller of the day was entitled, Journal Kept At Nootka Sound, and was about being a crew-member on the British fur-trader “Boston” that called at Nootka Sound, a prominent port in 1803.

Following a dispute over payment, Maquinna led warriors to behead 25 crew members; Jewitt and one other survivor were then kept as slaves by Maquinna for almost three years before they escaped on another trading ship.

Maquinna also captured territory from other bands, holding captives as slaves; would the letter-writer reconsider adding another statue that honours a murderous slaveowner, and perhaps accept the reality that Truth and Reconciliation is multi-sided.

Bernie Smith

Parksville

No children? Maybe it is a blessing

Re: “Think of what will be missed with that lifestyle,” letter, April 25.

The letter writer gives a good point regarding the fact about having children, compared to living a double income life without kids.

What if the double income earners are only receiving minimum wage, or have a huge debt load after getting an education?

What if they do not have immediate family members to step in for babysitting or daycare? Having a child in 2023 is very expensive, and not to be taken frivolously.

If you have a child, there is no guarantee they will be there when you get old.

No matter how much you admire your child, or how proud you are of them, having them there for you when you get old is a crapshoot.

How many mothers and fathers are put into senior’s residences, and their children only visit on weekends? How many only get visits on special occasions?

Senior advocates will attest that the biggest problem in our society is the complacency towards the elderly. And it all begins at home.

If parents raise their children, and they are fortunate to have them as caregivers in their old age, then they have won the life lottery.

The final caveat is the tragedy of not having children. Sometimes, it is not one’s choice, but a reality, that not everyone can have a child to be there for them when they get old..

Seniors have become the biggest demographic of Canada’s population. Before anyone thinks about having children, they should think about the folks who raised them, and be there for them more than just weekends.

For those who have never had children, and have no one for elder care, be happy you didn’t have your sixteen-year-old child telling you she/he hates you.

Sometimes not having a child is a blessing.

Mur Meadows

Victoria

A wonderful life even without kids

Re: “Think of what will be missed with that lifestyle,” letter, April 25.

As a person who is a DINK (dual income, no kids), I believe that I have had a very rich life without having children.

The writer feels that you need to have children to look after you in your old age. This is a huge burden to put on your child.

There are many people who struggle with working full time, looking after their own children as well as feeling obligated to look after ageing parents.

Unless you are in an extremely rural area, there are buses and taxis as well as a network of friends who would take us to appointments etc. I hope that the main reason to have children is not to look after you in your old age!

Yes, I have not experienced the joy of sharing achievements of my children, but I have nieces that fill that gap, as well as many of the young people who I have coached and mentored through my years of supervisory and management positions.

Yes, as DINKs we’ve selfishly had money to spend on wonderful vacations instead of dealing with the many inevitable stresses that children cause for an entire lifetime.

Instead of driving our children to various activities and sitting on the sidelines we had the time to engage in many activities that have kept us fit and healthy.

We are now in the 70s and able to go for long walks, ski, cycle and even go to Zumba classes. We enjoy a very active, social and productive lifestyle.

One final note is that not having children has a huge positive impact on the environment!

Lesley Ellis

Victoria

Questions about all that black clothing

What is the appeal with black ­clothing? Ninety per cent of clothing seems to be mainly black everywhere you go: In the bank yesterday on both sides of the counter; students walking across in a crosswalk (like a uniform); looking down a row at church, all the ladies in black slacks (what happened to colourful skirts, tops and dresses?); some boys/men only own black t-shirts and jackets.

Let’s hope little children aren’t dressed in it yet.

It doesn’t seem to matter if black is becoming, or the overall effect.

What happened to colours, especially now it is spring, a time to display cheerful uplifting colors to represent the season, and make you feel good.

Anyone with an explanation please comment. It almost seems an easy maybe lazy way to choose one’s clothing even if another color is more complimentary.

E.V. Surerus

Victoria

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