Alix Goolden Hall has become a fortress
I suspect a lot of taxpayers in Victoria are scratching their heads at the city’s purchase of Hermann’s Jazz Club.
I’ll not get into the fact that the city has paid considerably over the July 2023 assessed value of the building or whether the building has any architectural significance.
Mayor Marianne Alto is quoted as saying that “the purchase reflects the city’s commitment to preserving and investing in music spaces downtown.” I imagine this came as quite the surprise to the folks at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, just a few blocks away.
Not so long ago the VCM’s Alix Goolden Performance Hall was a busy venue for a wide variety of musical performances. I believe it was regularly rented by local and out of town musical acts.
It can accommodate a large audience and has excellent acoustics and sightlines.
These days it mostly appears to host conservatory related recitals. I imagine that without the Pandora Avenue entrance the allowable seating capacity in the hall is greatly reduced.
This is, of course, due to the city’s continuing toleration of the antics on Pandora. The conservatory has become a kind of fortress. Folks are permitted to camp directly on the sidewalk in front of the hall’s main entrance. I have to wonder why that is even permitted.
If city hall is interested in promoting music and music performing spaces downtown, perhaps they should be giving more support to the VCM by prohibiting any camping on the sidewalk directly in front of their concert hall and perhaps providing a police presence on night’s when the hall is being used.
Harold Gillis
Victoria
Enjoy the money, while it lasts
Re: “Councillors’ pay increase is wrong on many levels,” commentary, March 20.
Bravo to Coun. Marg Gardiner for standing up and calling out the “group of five” councillors for their non-transparent, self-serving greediness and corrupt practice in voting themselves a massive, ill-deserved salary increase.
These five councillors should be ashamed of themselves for they not only don’t deserve a pay raise, they clearly orchestrated it and rushed it through with zero transparency or advance notice.
In what world does anyone get a 25 per cent raise, let alone give it to themselves?! It’s appalling behaviour by elected officials.
Gardiner nails it by pointing out that if these five just stayed in their own lane and dedicated themselves to what they were elected to do and put their fanciful ideas and pet projects aside, then the salary they signed up under is absolutely in keeping with the job of a councillor.
They knew the wage coming in, tough luck if it doesn’t pay off their student loans or fix their financial situations, if you don’t like the wages, there’s the door!
Another shameful and egregious lack of accountability and responsibility from this council, save for the ones that voted against it.
If this decision isn’t reversed or nullified, I hope they enjoy the remaining two years of fleecing the electorate, because they most definitely will be voted out in 2026.
Rick Anthony
Victoria
Compensation is fair, let’s stop the debates
I have a contrary opinion to many of the letters published about the 25% salary increase for Victoria councillors.
Twenty-five percent is a huge jump but because of the low starting point it doesn’t result in a huge amount in dollars paid to our council.
The compensation question should have been addressed by previous councils if they had only had the courage to keep their compensation in line with the increasing cost of living in Victoria.
Now we are in catch-up mode and the flak falls on the current council to endure. Keep in mind that a consultant’s report recommended this significant increase and that this didn’t just come out of the blue and only results in their increased pay putting them back in the middle of the pack compared to other cities of similar size in the province.
$60,000 is not a large amount of money for anyone working in this city and particularly for the amount of work involved in providing governance to the capital city.
If we don’t compensate our representatives appropriately we will end up being represented by the wealthy who will graciously do the job for a dollar but perhaps make their decisions in ways that compensate them in other ways.
Or we will end up with people who are living on a pension and can afford to do the job for free but without experiencing life in the way that younger working people are and we will lose that perspective.
Let us tie future compensation increases to the cost of living and end these destructive debates.
Terry Wickstrom
Victoria
Unionized staff have been given a target
For many years as a trade unionist and representative of working people in jobs based in the Victoria region I learned to live with the mantra “Never begrudge others what you cannot negotiate for yourself.”
Actually, I thought it up.
So it is incredibly difficult for me to chastise or denigrate city councillors for their unmitigated gall in slurping up a 25 per cent pay raise at the municipal trough. Please note the mantra includes the word “negotiate” so it does not really apply in this instance.
Granting themselves this remuneration is a whole different bargain. It’s unseemly!
The one benefit of these shenanigans is that it now allows the union staff of all municipalities to use this figure as a measuring stick for their next negotiations. We certainly can’t begrudge them that.
Max Miller
Saanich
Thanks to a councillor who was not corrupted
Re: “Councillors’ pay increase is wrong on many levels,” commentary, March 20.
Victoria Coun. Marg Gardiner, how do we clone her?
I was pleasantly shocked by her honesty and belief in what she was elected for. It is nice to see that there are people that don’t get corrupted by the system.
I hope the people of Victoria appreciate her, as it has seemed to me that no matter the country or level of government, people who seem to care get involved and, within one term, politician becomes synonymous with crook.
Dan Bewsher
Langford
Patients in hallways pose a serious risk
Re: “Saanich man, 87, spent nine days in hallways at Victoria General Hospital,” March 20.
It was disheartening to read of Eric Roberts spending nine days as a hallway patient at Victoria General Hospital, with the lack of privacy, dignity and respect.
This is unsettling on so many levels. I understand that patients and equipment in hallways is a serious contravention of the national fire code, and is putting patients and staff at risk.
In a fire, you need to be able to evacuate and move people quickly. The View Royal fire chief is aware of hallway patients at VGH, which is in his jurisdiction.
Roberts spoke of the nursing care as generally good. I can only imagine what the nursing staff are going through. They are overworked and understaffed and have been so for quite awhile.
Recently the provincial government established new nurse-to-patient ratios, one nurse to four patients. I wonder when it will be implemented as now some nurses are dealing with a one-to-seven ratio.
Something has to be done.
Joe Hronek
Colwood
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