Victoria鈥檚 problems turn听away visitors
I have been visiting beautiful Victoria for decades and enjoying the weather, the gardens and the people.
However, I have noticed a decline in the city鈥檚 quaintness and beauty 鈥� an increase in homeless people, beggars on the street, and people struggling with illegal drug addiction. It鈥檚 a turn-off to residents and tourists alike.
Victoria has taken on a seediness that I wouldn鈥檛 have recognized a few years ago. Cruise ships advertise 鈥渜uaint,鈥� not 鈥渉omelessness.鈥�
It鈥檚 disgusting to walk down Pandora. And frightening. Evil-smelling. And sad.
Yesterday, I saw a man half-undressed lying, perhaps unconscious, on the sidewalk; another shooting up against the brick wall of a church; and dozens of others in various states of drug-induced stupor.
There鈥檚 plenty of leering and begging and abusive language, as well.
It鈥檚 unacceptable. I don鈥檛 understand how you allow it. I do feel sorry for these people and I understand the clinics that help them are downtown and are no doubt doing their best to deal with the problems.
Of course there is mental illness. So 鈥� deal with it! In a manner that helps the homeless, drug addicts, mentally ill and the tourists, families, and shopkeepers.
Suggestions: move the help centres to areas that tourists and children don鈥檛 populate. Additional steps 鈥� look at Finland for an example on how to deal with homelessness. Help the homeless 鈥� fight mental illness and drug addiction.
Keep it off the streets!
Terry Angell
Tucson, Arizona
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We all seem to know how听to run the city
There is an old adage that asks: Did you ever notice that everyone knows how to handle grief, except the one who is grieving? The letters to the editor bring to mind a paraphrase: Did you ever notice how everyone seems to know how to run the city except, apparently, those we elected to do just that?
W. Paul Hansen
Oak Bay
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91原创 Street changes? Put it to the people
May we please, please, please have a poll where people vote on the soon-to-be implemented 91原创 Street madness. Before it is too late.
Jack (Jacques) Sages
Victoria
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Questions about McTavish, bus lanes
Re: 鈥�The science behind designing our roads,鈥� Aug. 23.
Driving instructor Steve Wallace鈥檚 column is one of my must-read articles in Friday鈥檚 TC. Imagine my surprise, then, when he cited the McTavish 鈥渟paghetti鈥� interchange as a good example of traffic engineering design.
Well, I beg to differ. When I drive to the airport nowadays, I make sure I have my copilot helping me navigate the array of wiggly 鈥渟paghetti鈥� arrows to all the on-off ramps. And heave a sigh of relief once the manoeuvre is completed.
For years before that boondoggle, I had no trouble heading to the airport at a well-marked interchange: move into the left-turn lane and wait for the green arrow. So simple.
Wallace says the new-fangled engineering marvel 鈥渉as reduced the crash rate by half.鈥� From how many, and over what period?
Let鈥檚 make sure the same designers don鈥檛 get their hands on the proposed interchange update at Keating Cross Road.
I have great respect for traffic engineers, especially when they have to deal with our bike-addicted councillors. Still and all, those experts sometimes make booboos. To wit: Why did no one 鈥� among all those traffic engineers and councillors 鈥� notice that slow-moving bicyclists were being permitted to share the buses-only fast lanes on Douglas?
Ross Smith
Victoria
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We are all pedestrians,听too
I have read with interest the many letters about bike lanes, both for and against, over the past several months. But one party has been ignored in the back and forth 鈥� the pedestrian.
The state of many of the sidewalks in downtown Victoria is abysmal, yet that gets no attention. The block of Fort Street between Blanshard and Douglas must be a nightmare for anyone who has mobility challenges.
Perhaps it鈥檚 time that council took a step back from its fixation on bike lanes and spent some tax dollars on sidewalk repairs that would be benefit all who visit the downtown core.
We are not all cyclists, we are not all motorists, but we are all pedestrians. We deserve respect.
Melissa Hunter
Victoria
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A great concept, but听bad听execution
The debate about the bike lanes has been happening regularly in these letters. Some praise council and some express frustration and criticism.
Some of those in favour of the bike lanes seem to think that the criticism of council is simply due to the existence of the bike lanes. This may be the case for some, but in theory I was in favour of the lanes.
However, it is the execution that brings my criticism. Council has not thought things through and there have been many forseeable mistakes made.
Pandora鈥檚 lane forcing blind and disabled bus passengers to cross the bike lane awkwardly, the horrible new intersection on Wharf outlined by others, the increased cost, the difficulty for buses and emergency vehicles, among others.
Despite these problems, council pushes on.
I wish they would just slow down and consider things more carefully, making less mistakes and causing less problems. This council seems to make too many rushed decisions and that is the real reason for complaint.
Even if you like the lanes you should still be able to recognize that they aren鈥檛 perfect and we can all expect better of those making the decisions.
Joshua McKee
Victoria
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Bike lanes driving听people听away
There is a segment of the population outside the Capital Regional District who can and once did (BBL, before bike lanes) contribute to the life and economy of Victoria.
We are seniors who live in Cobble Hill. BBL, we would often drive to Victoria, sometimes to attend medical specialist appointments and incidentally make time to check out Capital Iron, the Market in the former Bay site, the book stores on Fort Street, the features in the Imax Theatre.
We would shop, eat, take a drive around Beacon Hill Park and enjoy having a day out in Victoria.
ABL (after bike lanes) we keep our requisite appointments, press 鈥淭ake me Home鈥� on our GPS and get the hell out of Victoria with the most possible dispatch. Mass transit would do nothing for us and the many other potential visitors from outside the region.
If the powers that be in Victoria in want to keep their city as an exclusive preserve for their cyclists and other inner city residents who don鈥檛 drive or look for parking spaces, they are doing a great job.
Our next move will be to request our physicians in the Cowichan Valley to refrain from making referrals to Victoria specialists, such that we never have a reason to drive there.
We have long ago encouraged our visitors from outside B.C. to use the Nanaimo Airport and the Duke Point ferry, so that they can avoid Victoria, as do we.
Victoria, keep your previously lovely and welcoming city to yourselves. Enjoy your splendid isolation.
Fare thee well, Victoria!
Carol Teichrob
Cobble Hill
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Time for clean energy at听Ogden Point
No matter what the new area name is, the piers at Ogden Point are Pollution Central in Victoria.
Every day that a cruise ship is running its engines to produce its own electricity, it produces enough carbon dioxide and other compounds to be the equivalent of thousands of cars idling. One hundred kilometres of new bike paths in Victoria will never have the same impact on pollution.
If the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority really wanted to make a long-term commitment to maintaining and revitalizing the downtown core, it should invest in shore-based electrical power hookups for the cruise ships.
This would drastically reduce that pollution and generate more revenues for B.C. Hydro. This energy is clean and renewable.
It would seem to a win-win-win no-brainer. If something along these lines is not included in the long term project (hopefully sooner than later), then one must question what the intentions of the harbour authority really are.
David Hogg
Victoria
