Edmonton has better negotiators
Victoria is planning to build a pool complex containing two pools, two hot tubs, a sauna, a fitness studio and multi-purpose rooms (for meetings, etc.). It will be an 8,600-square-metre rec centre.
It will cost at least $209 million. Overruns guaranteed.
Edmonton is building a 16,600-square-metre world class triathlon training centre with an indoor velodrome, running track, fitness centre, bouldering wall, gymnasiums and multi-purpose rooms.
It will be a designated world-class cycling facility able to hold world cups, junior world championships and other cycling events. It is on time and on-budget.
This at a cost of $153 million. For an extra $41 million, they have a complete re-fit of a 50-year-old aquatic centre and rec centre.
Still under the $209 milion we are asked to pay for a simple pool and rec centre.
They are both using the same architects. I think Edmonton has much better negotiators.
M.D. (David) Hansen
Victoria
Admissions policy is discriminatory
A story recently published in the Times Colonist documented the Shake la Cabine festival in a suburb of Montreal, the organizers of which thought they could engage in discriminatory pricing.
They set out that BIPOC attendees would be admitted free, while all others (white people) were required to pay $25 admission.
The response was swift and furious. The initiative was condemned as discriminatory and unlawful; opinions supporting that view were voiced by lawyers and legal professors. The organizers cancelled the function rather than amend their ideologically driven discriminatory pricing practice.
Contrast that to Victoria where, only days earlier, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria announced an exhibit, “The Beauty of Mending.”
The admission fee for that exhibit was published as “$15 (free for visitors 25 and under, Indigenous peoples and support workers).
Yet despite very similar circumstances regarding race-based admissions policy, I have seen no outcry in the Victoria area. My contact with the gallery CEO resulted in a dismissal of my concerns.
All racial discrimination is always wrong. There is and can be no “good racial discrimination,” or “bad racial discrimination,” depending on the target of the discriminatory practice.
Rob Angus
Victoria
Include options for transportation
Re: “Wishful thinking about transportation,” letter, Dec. 14.
I tire of the endless number of complaints, bemoaning the current state of affairs on our roadways. Slower speed limits, fewer lanes and the widely detested and completely unnecessary, hazardous bike lanes. Gimme a break.
It’s called planning for the future. In the mid 1970s, concrete barriers placed on the highways (in places) to prevent head-on collisions were widely disliked. Not even noticed now.
The one-way debacle downtown in the mid 1970s was also fun to watch. The hue and cry over that was amazing. Today, a fact of life.
Not every improvement is lauded when first introduced. Bus lanes, bike lanes and slower speeds are more about planning for the future, than trying to inconvenience Victorians.
You can’t dynamite most Victorians out of their car — the use of an automobile, a deity-given right.
In the past 50 years, the population of the city has doubled. The number of cars on the road has tripled and the number of lanes is shrinking. What do you think is going to happen in the next 50 years?
I do not agree with all the transportation changes being made, but we may have to get used to the fact that it takes longer to get around our fair city. There are alternatives to your car.
I am retired, take the bus downtown on occasion, use cabs on occasion and cycle three times more miles than I drive.
Granted not everyone can ride a bike or wants to. But there are enough of us that including optional transportation corridors for non-car drivers is good urban planning.
Jay Bowles
Esquimalt
Christmas Revue a great production
My wife and I recently attended the 16th annual Christmas Revue, A Yellow Point Christmas, held at the McPherson Theatre.
We wish to congratulate the cast and crew on a magical production. What joy in dire times. With both original and traditional lyrics, the music, singing, dance, costumes and choreography was first class. The show even included audience interaction and participation. There was a sea of smiles as the audience seemed almost reluctant to leave.
Thank you for a Christmas gift for all ages.
Ian MacLean
Victoria
Syrian community gives a hint of what’s next
What a joyous sight to see our local Syrian community singing and dancing and cheering at Maffeo-Sutton Park on Sunday to celebrate the end of Assad’s ruthless and corrupt dictatorship.
I can’t help but wonder if our local American ex-pats might hold a similar celebration in just over four years.
Dave Kirk
Nanaimo
Paint the bike curbs so drivers can see
Now that Victoria city hall has gone all in on bike lanes, narrowing roadways and throttling traffic flows in the interests of bicycle safety, perhaps they could take one additional step to improve vehicle safety: paint the concrete bike curbs fluorescent colours so they are visible at night in the driving rain.
Friday night (in heavy rains) we saw a vehicle high-centred on a poorly visible bike curb. The driver might not think to sue the city for the damages, but that is a possibility.
The city has not adequately considered safety issues for vehicles that arise when traffic lanes are narrowed and poorly visible obstructions are scattered throughout formerly clear roadways.
Darcy Houston
Victoria
Union executive still getting paid
I feel for the 91原创 postal workers on strike. I have been on strike myself, and even though you feel that you are doing something meaningful, what is the cost?
A month’s wages, that no matter how large an increase you will never get back. The cost of stress to yourself and family.
The only winner is the union executive, they get paid regardless of how long the members are out.
Ask the corporation to install communal mailboxes which a lot of communities have; this would alleviate a lot of issues.
My Christmas wish for you is that the government mandates you back to work and they actually do something meaningful.
Michael Holmes
Langford
It’s safe to force postal workers back
Regarding the postal strike, it’s not hard to connect the dots:
• Trudeau federal Liberals must avoid losing a non-confidence vote
• They depend on support from Jagmeet Singh’s federal NDP
• Federal NDP are solid union supporters
• NDP will not support the Liberals to avoid losing a non-confidence vote if they force postal workers back to work
• Parliament now on Christmas break so no non-confidence vote is possible
• Federal Liberals announce forcing postal workers back to work
• To appease voters, federal Liberals introduce GST holiday costing billions
Seldom mentioned, but some federal MPs will not qualify for pensions if this government does not survive the full term.
Merry Christmas!
Peter Daniel
Victoria
After those raises, a hiring freeze
Premier David Eby announced a hiring freeze last week in “core government” not long after he gave all his people substantial raises after they squeezed a win on the election.
He said “people are struggling with their budgets and we understand that, so is the government.”
Right, he understands that — but he still gave all his MLAs raises. I hope all the people who voted NDP are happy, only just shy of four more years before the next election.
How many millions more will he put the province in the hole by then? What happened to the days, years ago, when politicians had at least some credibility?
Larry Zilinsky
Saanich
Put paramedics on motorcycles
It’s reassuring to see Island Health team up with the ambulance services and equip paramedics with minivans to improve services.
But a further improvement could be implemented by following Australia and the United Kingdom by introducing paramedics on motorbikes who can often be seen weaving in and out traffic at a much faster pace especially in stalled traffic, enhancing response time considerably.
Equipped with necessary life-saving equipment including defibrillators these paramedics are able to help save lives well in advance of the ambulance arriving.
These paramedics could advance our ambulance service into a more modern efficient service.
Robin Chown
North Saanich
We are living with past failures
The electorate do not realize that all the ills they place at the feet of recently elected governments are the result of policies enacted over the previous 30 years.
Federal and provincial governments have reduced taxes on business and upper income earners, and have privatized many services.
To finance these measures, supposed to stimulate the economy, public services have been hugely reduced. Thus there has been no affordable housing built in the past 30 years.
There is a chronic shortage of doctors, and nurses. There are totally inadequate services for those struggling with addictions, mental illness or poverty. We do not even give citizens enough money for food!
The failure of the economic policies over the past 30-plus years is clear. Our current governments are having to deal with the policy failures, but are not responsible for their enactment.
Sadly it seems that the electorate is leaning toward a doubling down on these failed economic policies as politicians exploit our unhappiness, without reminding us of how these conditions came to pass.
Bert Slater
North Saanich
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