Fix the Pat Bay Highway with overpasses
I have been driving the Pat Bay Highway from Victoria to North Saanich and back every working day for 15 years. It used to be a 25-minute trip either way, with minimal backups if one avoided catching the 4:30 p.m. ferry traffic clot coming home.
Recently, this has changed into a daily 45-minute crawl with traffic regularly backed up for kilometres on either side of the four highway stoplights encountered. This I attribute to someone messing with the light timing and duration.
Observations at the Mount Newton Cross Road intersection indicate that highway traffic lights at the time were on a two-minute, 40-second cycle. That is, traffic flows for one minute and 20 seconds, and is then stopped for one minute 20 seconds to one minute 40 seconds depending on the number of left-turning vehicles.
Clearly, having traffic on a major highway brought to a standstill more than twenty times and for more than thirty minutes in each hour is not working.
There have been several studies of this corridor over the years, all indicating the need for grade-separated crossings at these intersections. But instead we will soon have a fancy doo-dah bus stop at Mount Newton, somewhat in the middle of nowhere, with the buses stuck way back in the lineups with the rest of us.
Also, next time repaving out there, one might wedge a couple of loonies under one end of the asphalt spreader to provide some crown to eliminate the numerous pools of standing water.
Perhaps the Highways Ministry could also clean out the plugged-up median drainage slots, now growing a nice little grass garden every couple of metres, before the hydroplaning season claims more victims.
And fix that canoe-practice pond, regularly covering the southbound lanes adjacent to the rowing club.
Yes, the Gateway to Victoria, with far too many closed gates.
Ray Morgan
Victoria
We are doing just fine under the monarchy
Re: “Is the Crown really a unifying force in Canada?” commentary, Oct. 22.
In my humble opinion, it definitely is just that. The Crown unifies the entire Commonwealth of Nations, giving many disparate and distinct cultures a common bond.
I assume other cultures emigrate to Canada because they like what they see and don’t come with the expectation that we are going to change our laws, culture or way of life to emulate the laws and culture they have left behind.
Maintaining their particular cultural habits and celebrations is fine and totally within their right to enjoy life in Canada. However, if I emigrate to China, the Netherlands or even the United States I choose to go there because I prefer their way of life, not with the intention of changing it or expecting them to change their laws or system of government to suit my personal beliefs or emotional attachments.
Our system of a constitutional monarchy has served us very well.
Observing the outpouring of patriotism and love for our late Queen and affection and good wishes toward the future reign of our new King Charles, plus the chaos of the current, elected British government (which the King has the right to dissolve) only serves to strengthen my belief that we are doing just fine under our present system.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Jacquelyn Ross
Coombs
We are the envy of the world, so why change?
Re: “Is the Crown really a unifying force in Canada?” commentary, Oct. 22.
The commentary argues that a monarchy rooted in the colonial European past is not relevant in multicultural Canada today.
What form of government should we adapt instead? Surely not a republican form, which is equally rooted in the colonial past. After all, educated white men rooted in European culture formulated the republican model in 18th-century America and France.
The more important question is: “What form of government will best preserve our democracy?” Would becoming a parliamentary republic and appointing a 91原创 as president equally ensure our freedoms?
It hasn’t in many countries. Once a head of state becomes political, persons wanting power often move in. Look at all the republics that have lost their democracies to autocrats, dictators and oligarchies.
A monarch as our head of state who lives across the ocean and serves in a centuries-old democratic tradition blocks interests that might want to become our head of state for their own purposes.
We have a great country, not perfect, but the envy of many who move here from all over the world. Why would we want to change our government for so-called national pride and theoretical ideas and risk losing what we have?
J. Cole Walton
Chemainus
Esquimalt’s police costs a cautionary tale
Re: “Esquimalt has to pay for new police staff, B.C. rules,” Oct. 21.
During the leadup to the Saanich municipal election, amalgamation was a frequent topic. Many candidates offered amalgamation of emergency services as a measure to reduce Saanich residents’ tax burden. It sounds like a great idea — centralize services and reduce overhead — but Esquimalt offers a cautionary tale.
Esquimalt’s mayor and council logically concluded that with a low crime rate and declining calls for service, their residents were not well served by added police resources and the associated cost burden. Last week it was decided they had no choice.
Residents of the Capital Regional District: What is it worth to you to be able to decide what services are right for your community?
Shaun Cembella
Saanich
Political will needed to solve downtown issues
Sunday’s front-page article about downtown Victoria’s street problems makes me even more concerned than I already was. I really sympathize with Chief Del Manak and his capable police force when the tail is obviously still wagging the dog on these issues.
I would like to refer your readers to an excellent 55-minute documentary, 91原创 is Dying, released Oct. 5 on Youtube by Aaron Gunn. Their problems are similar to ours but on a larger scale.
91原创 has seen the light, turfed out its weak councillors and brought in a whole new group with incoming mayor Ken Sim who promises 100 new officers on the street ASAP. Victoria has replaced the previous crowd with a similar slate so it is going to be business as usual, unfortunately.
Our downtown is going to bear the brunt of this. As tent dwellers, particularly the bad ones, find doing business in 91原创 too onerous, many of them will move to Victoria.
We need to get ready for the onslaught, and our political leaders are totally unprepared to do so.
Nick Gudewill
Victoria
Sacrifices needed now to save our future
Democracy is in itself a hugely ethically attractive construct, to which we should all pay allegiance. However, its practicality is being brought into question as we react to the probabilities of a sixth extinction manufactured in crucial aspects by human action.
The toleration and open-mindedness implicit in a meaningful democracy hobbles fast, thorough response, as is necessary in existential crises such as we are now experiencing.
There is a temptation amongst many to wish for a more authoritarian process so what must be done immediately, actually happens.
But whether it will or not depends on the authority. The recent record in authoritarian regimes is as mixed as amongst the more democratic ones, and different egalitarian or technical development metrics are far from conclusive either.
In Canada, it might be worth asking: What do our government’s leaders really want to do that is essential to our pulling our weight to overcome the dire threat with which human and other sentient species are now confronted? It cannot be achieved by supporting fossil-fuel businesses or pipelines.
But in this democracy, at this time, do our governments believe, and is it true, that the public won’t willingly make living-standard sacrifices now to optimize wellbeing later, and prevent much greater misery and depletion of life’s abundant variety in the not-too-distant future?
Each one of us must make it pointedly clear which is our priority. That is the minimal essential for democracy, including, particularly now, between elections. Contact all representatives directly.
Glynne Evans
Saanich
Additional problems from fake terror
Re: “Enough real terror without Halloween,” letters, Oct. 22.
The letter makes a good point.
Additionally, these horrible images/models can trigger tragic memories for those who suffer from PTSD.
Bill Yearwood
Victoria
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