Martin Mars bomber belongs in Port Alberni
Why is Greater Victoria vying for the Martin Mars water bomber that has been part of Port Alberni’s heritage for more than 50 years?
Surely the B.C. government can step in and make this plane a viable tourist attraction in its home town.
Located on water or on the vacant mill property on land, this would boost Port Alberni’s profile as a tourist destination.
Many communities north of Victoria need tourists. Victoria, with 250-plus cruise ships, The Butchart Gardens, and more, can do without yet another tourist attraction.
There are 400,000-plus residents north of the Malahat, including Nanaimo with a population of 110,000 who are largely ignored unless the news is negative.
The government should make this happen between the Coulson Group and Port Alberni rather than pandering to a group of deep pockets in Victoria once again.
The Martin Mars is part of Port Alberni. It should not be sitting in North Saanich to entertain the locals and still more unneeded tourists.
Ken Mack
Nanaimo
Flying spaceships might be the answer
When you consider how the NDP has defied the wishes of voters for years by dismissing regionalism as an opportunity of social equity and infrastructure growth for Greater Victoria, it is always a little laughable when you have local politicians plotting a Jetson’s transportation future as they sit in their small and relatively isolated municipalities.
Yet, reading headlines, not too long ago we were envisioning enjoying our morning Google News read on the West Shore, ferries zipping into the Inner Harbour and now more fantastical transportation fantasies with rail.
Since it’s sort of a party where the NDP has ensured there is no operating municipal framework to make such wishes real, I’ll throw flying spaceships into the mix.
Take you from downtown Langford to Government and Douglas in 29 seconds once launched, you just touch the lower level of the atmosphere, that is about it.
John Vickers
Miramichi, N.B.
Greek playwrights gave best examples of hubris
Re: “Hubris leads to disaster once again,” column, July 2.
Geoff Johnson is incorrect in attributing William Shakespeare’s Hamlet as the most effective example of hubris.
It is the ancient Greek playwrights, Aeschylus, Euripides and especially Sophocles in his work Oedipus Rex as well as in Aristotle’s Poetics, which exemplify the disastrous qualities of hubris, or overweening pride.
Oedipus Rex tells the story of his murder of his father (Laius ) and marriage to his mother (Jocasta ) and then Oedipus’s blinding himself as a metaphor for being unable to see his parentage.
Sigmund Freud, psychoanalyst, labelled this “The Oedipus Complex.”
The Greek gods strike down those who exhibit such qualities as unjustified and overbearing pride. Usually by a sudden and horrible death. Or by a living death, as in the case of Oedipus.
Margot Todd
Victoria
Reducing greenhouse gases is top priority
As increasingly hotter weather events occur, human use of fossil fuels will tend to pump more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere for each unit of fuel processed by refinement.
This is because heat expands the methane and other gases, and the resulting pressure has to be relieved by releasing or flaring the gases. (Flaring is the better of the two, especially in the shorter run, but still results in CO2 release from the methane burning.)
The end result is a steepening curve of harmful emissions for health and climate, even if production does not rise.
The only viable treatment is to shut down production as quickly as we can, remembering that it is not only domestic heating and transportation by fossil fuels that has to be drastically reduced, but also industrial processes, prominently including plastic production, which in its many forms is proving chemically toxic as well as dangerous to digestive and respiratory passages, and the unwanted entangling of animals.
Fortunately, less harmful materials and processes are available in ceramics, glass, bamboos, food waste fibres, perhaps a few common metals, along with reuse and recycle, with the help of renewable energy sources including such as wind, current, solar and geothermal.
To preserve our health and lives, it would take extra care in shaping the economy by our consumer habits, and transferring our support to a political party with the determined will to stop industries from peddling fracked gas, oil and old growth. The urgent priority should be clear.
Glynne Evans
Saanich
Opponents are not always NIMBYs
I think we can all agree that the death threats and abusive messages Victoria Coun. Jeremy Caradonna has received are unacceptable.
In my opinion, however, Caradonna is missing the point in regard to why so many people are upset by the “missing middle” version of urban densification.
Most of my acquaintances in the detached single-family neighbourhood in which I live are not resistant to any and every form of densification. They are not NIMBYs as Caradonna seemed to imply when he said that his opponents “feel under assault in their comfortable, single-family-home lifestyle.”
What they object to is a weakly regulated housing industry in which there is little or no obligation to consult with neighbours, and nothing to compel developers to do anything other than aim for the biggest and most profitable forms of housing — luxury homes.
Recent real estate listings suggest that those fears are being validated — profound inflation of property values and proposed construction of homes that most Victorians can’t afford.
What we need is government intervention to facilitate supply for low- and middle-income families and individuals already here in Victoria, not luxury condos for wealthy people from out of town.
Here are my three suggestions for how Caradonna and other members of Victoria council could reduce the level of polarization on missing middle and other civic issues:
1. Realize that you need to represent all residents of the city, not just the ones you are politically aligned with.
2. Be open to changing your position on issues based on credible new information.
3. Never assume that a handful of threatening or abusive people represent or typify those who may disagree with you on an issue.
Jack Sutcliffe
Victoria
A simple message: Down with sarcasm!
I would like to applaud Victoria Coun. Jeremy Caradonna on his brave crusade against “sarcasm and all this stuff.”
I would also like to support the council for its decision to remove the fountain from Centennial Square. For too long, this aquatic travesty has haunted the lives of our community.
A modest improvement would involve extending the entire area into a meeting place similar to the Thingvellir in Iceland (or if it is easier for you to envision — an Entmoot).
For seven consecutive days every year, all interested Victoria residents will assemble to make decisions on important matters (such as the need for leashing children in public parks, the addition of six more traffic lights on the blue bridge, or whether lawn bowling greens should be set aside as homeless theme parks that could serve as tourist attractions).
All decisions would be final for at least a year and be implemented by existing city staff. Any issues not decided must lay dormant. Of course, this new democratic vision will eliminate the need for councillors such as Caradonna. The mayor will remain for ribbon-cutting and other important civic duties.
Clive Jones
Victoria
Leash mandate seems odd in this rural village
I live in London, England, one of the world’s most densely-populated cities and known for its beautiful parks.
There is no dog-leash requirement in any of the Royal Parks. Whether it be beautiful Hyde Park or the more rugged Hampstead Heath, pets (and owners alike) are able to exercise and enjoy nature untethered.
Sensitive areas with birds and wildlife are well delineated and owners take great responsibility for their furry friends. It’s a wonderful thing and speaks to personal freedom in our society.
How a rural, sparsely-populated village like Saanich can impose a leash mandate is beyond me.
Paul Davis
London, England
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