Blue chairs near Johnson聽Street Bridge
I live in Vic West and often use the Songhees Walkway into the city centre.
The blue chairs which are situated in the viewing area just before the pedestrian-only walkway provide a welcome opportunity for users to enjoy our scenic and active harbour.
Kudos to the person(s) at City Hall for this creative idea for citizens and visitors alike.
David Glen
Victoria
Not enough doctors to聽go聽around
First we had a suggestion that only doctors should prescribe cigarettes, then an article urging GPs to treat alcohol-related issues. My concern regarding both these issues is where to we find enough doctors?
It is not like the old days when people had family doctors, and the doctor knew you and your family and could monitor your health and know about your life.
Today鈥檚 visit to a doctor is at a drop-in clinic or emergency at the hospital, possibly with less attention to you than your mechanic gives to your car!
The other challenge is if cigarettes are by prescription, how can it be morally right for the government to tax them like they do now?
Eleanor Randell
Victoria
Check average speed to make the Malahat safer
Having read about the recent crackdown on speeding motorists on the Malahat I am even more convinced of the need for a permanent solution.
This would be achieved through the installation of average speed cameras which would automatically check the speed of all drivers passing along that route.
Anyone breaking the speed limit would automatically be issued with a ticket and persistent offenders would suffer the consequences they deserve, such as driving bans and fines.
This system has been used in the U.K for many years to eradicate speeding in highway construction zones and it works.
To those who say this would infringe their civil liberties I say saving lives is more important and if you are driving to the speed limit you have nothing to fear.
Tony Boardman
Esquimalt
Great risks if we don鈥檛 have a Malahat option
One has to shake their head, in both frustration and disbelief, at the conclusions of the recent report on possible alternative routes for the Malahat. There wasn鈥檛 one word about risk to the life and health of Greater Victoria residents due to a major blockage of the Trans-Canada Highway in the aftermath of the coming 9.0 megathrust earthquake. This is not a hypothetical scenario 鈥� it is a certainty.
When this event happens, we can be assured that the Malahat will be blocked by major rockslides at multiple points. Simultaneously, other infrastructure like ferry terminals and the airport will be out of commission.
A greater metropolitan area of nearly 400,000 people will be in desperate need of assistance, with no way in or out. This is magnitudes more serious than just an occasional inconvenience of a blocked highway due to an accident.
Many seriously injured people will likely die in the aftermath of such a calamity because the only ground route out of the city will be impassable. Does this not change the cost-benefit calculus at all?
It is short-sighted and irresponsible to ignore this eventuality, not least among 鈥渆nvironmentalists鈥� who are adamantly against an alternate route because it would remove a few second-growth trees. Preventing untold deaths following the coming megathrust earthquake should trump saving a few trees.
Kevin Bishop
Saanich
Escaped Atlantic salmon will find a way to live
After the recent escape of 20,000 Atlantic salmon from a fish farm, the company reassures us that these are farmed animals that will be unable to forage for food or escape predators.
This is, of course, nonsense. Fish are not bears, wolves or cougars who depend on their mothers to teach them how to survive. Thousands of years of evolution have given them the genetic make-up to succeed.
In B.C. thousands of trout are farm raised and fed pellets in hatcheries from eggs to adult size and released into our local lakes. We do not find thousands of starved, dead trout floating a few months later.
Despite their farmed status, they quickly learn to feed on insects and small fish and avoid predators. Anglers do quite well using artificial flies and lures that mimic baitfish.
Unfortunately, the escaped Atlantic salmon can be expected to compete successfully with our wild salmon.
Joel Newman
Victoria
Another example of ICBC鈥檚 blame game
Re: 鈥淚CBC deeply sorry for blaming Sarah Beckett for crash that killed her,鈥� Dec. 20.
The reports regarding ICBC and Const. Sarah Beckett brought back a similar process that I experienced when I was involved in a car accident almost 10 years ago.
It had been noted both on the RCMP report and witness statements that the oncoming vehicle had crossed the centre line and hit my car. On the RCMP report it was also noted that the other driver was driving under the influence of alcohol.
It was, therefore, a complete surprise when I received a letter from ICBC through my lawyer that stated that I was the one at fault. This was fought and found in my favour.聽聽
I鈥檓 pleased that ICBC is reviewing its procedures, which given my experience have obviously been in place for some time.
It is little wonder that people turn to lawyers to be represented when dealing with ICBC. Maybe a change in procedure will decrease the cost overruns that ICBC is experiencing.聽
Bev Dobbyn
Colwood
Try a new approach to聽fill聽council spot
The election of councillor Laurel Collins to MP left a $175,000 gap for Victoria taxpayers. But rather than curtail any of the current methods to maximize our democratic voting and reduce election spending, city council ought to take this opportunity to implement a preferential, ranked voting for the candidates that want to be considered for this council vacancy.
Why not try this out on an experimental basis? This innovation might increase voter turnout and increase voter satisfaction with the result.
Rey Carr
Victoria
No tea, please, we聽want聽to聽fight
My husband and I used to buy season鈥檚 tickets to the Cougars and Salsa when Victoria鈥檚 hockey teams actually played hockey.
I told my grandkids how much fun it was so when the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre opened I took them to a Royals game.
I was frisked at the door and told to pour out the thermos of tea I had brought. I felt like a criminal.
About five minutes into the game the gloves came off and the players started fighting each other and pulling their shirts off. This kept up and we left at the first intermission. Never went again.
Mary Lowther
Mesachie Lake
Garbage attracts bears, so use it as a lure
There is a fairly simple solution to keeping bears from coming down the mountain. One only needs to use the 鈥淏ring the Mountain to Mohammad鈥� philosophy.
Conservation officers commandeer a couple of helicopters once a week, fill it with stinky garbage, drop it on top of the mountain and Bob鈥檚 your uncle!
Bob Beckwith
Victoria
Boris Johnson鈥檚 win a聽case for a better system
Re: 鈥淯.K. election reveals a new working-class revolution,鈥� column, Dec. 22.
Lawrie McFarlane鈥檚 thought-provoking column overlooked a critical point: the unfair First Past the Post voting system (which Canada also uses) skewed the results, as usual.
About 52.7 per cent of voters chose either 鈥渞emain in the EU鈥� or 鈥渉ave another referendum鈥� candidates, yet the pro-Brexit Conservative Party (with 43.6 per cent of votes) bizarrely received 56.2 per cent of the seats. Such a false majority government with 100 per cent of the power reveals a typical anti-democratic result.
McFarlane鈥檚 analysis would be much more nuanced if the U.K. had used a fair and proportional voting system, which would also have given voters more nuanced choices.
Constance More
Langford
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鈥� Mail: Letters to the editor, Times 91原创, 2621聽Douglas St., Victoria, B.C. V8T 4M2.
