51 replies to this topic

[duvaroo]

Alan Lowe will be making an annoucement about his "future" this afternoon at 1:30. Any guesses about what his plans might be?

[VicHockeyFan]

I thought the radio said he was going to make a statement about "the future" today.

[amor de cosmos]

when is his term up? does he have to finish his term? Stephane Dion says there's a federal election coming up in the new year; maybe Lowe will be the Liberal candidate in Victoria.

[duvaroo]

I believe the next municipal election is 2008

[amor de cosmos]

I bet Victoria will have a new mayor next year.

[duvaroo]

And I suspect Victoria will have a new candidate running for the Federal Liberals to try and oust Denise Savoie. But that's been rumoured for months, so I could be way off base on that one.

[duvaroo]

He says he wont' be running for mayor next year, and said he hasn't made any decisions on his future political career. Which leads me to believe we haven't seen the last of him.

[mat]

TC just released this -

http://www.canada.co...e91cdce&k=12432

Mat

[Rorschach]

I can't help but believe this is related to the investigation of the Victoria Chief of Police. I'm thinking the Chief is going to try and justify his expense account spending by claiming Lowe approved or ratified the most questionable expenses that triggered the probe. I'm not saying this is a fact, only a possibility.

Scotland Yard's top-level anti-terrorism cheif quit today over a similar expense account scandal that sounded just like what Victoria's chief is going through, i.e. charging up dinners and drinks on the government credit card.

Regardless, I think the chief will be taking down the mayor with him. I guess we'll be finding out for sure soon.

[Caramia]

When he started as Mayor I didn't like him at all, but now I actually think he's been an awesome mayor. You look at some of the changes that have taken place under Lowe, and they have moved our city forward quite a bit. That can't have been easy in the Victoria context.

[Mike K.]

So that settles that. He had a decent run, all things considered, but near the end of his third term his indecisive or even rash decisions left many of his supporters bewildered and unwilling to support him for a fourth term. This last term effectively eroded much of the die-hard support he carried with him from his second term.

I just updated the 2008 candidate list. Looks like Dean Fortin, rumoured for a while now to be chasing after the mayors chair, is the only potential candidate. Any word on Isitt's nth attempt for the position?

[Mike K.]

You know, the more I think about it, the more I believe Lowe has chosen to distance himself from municipal politics over the major issues facing our region that could prove disastrous for any local politician sticking their neck out.

Who in their right mind will want to be mayor when the proverbial sh*t hits the fan with our growing homeless and drug using population issues, the growing dissatisfaction with policing, the pending taxes for the sewage treatment plants, and so on. The next three+ years will be anything but a smooth ride.

[G-Man]

I'll bet we hear that he is running for the liberals any day now...

I wouldn't bet him to be very lucky there though.

Or maybe he just wants to be an architect again.

So he promised last year to have a library in Centennial Square as one of his legacies he better get working!!!!

[VicHockeyFan]

You know, the more I think about it, the more I believe Lowe has chosen to distance himself from municipal politics over the major issues facing our region that could prove disastrous for any local politician sticking their neck out.

Who in their right mind will want to be mayor when the proverbial sh*t hits the fan with our growing homeless and drug using population issues, the growing dissatisfaction with policing, the pending taxes for the sewage treatment plants, and so on. The next three+ years will be anything but a smooth ride.

No one will want to be Mayor when this sewage thing happens.

[aastra]

...at a time of when new development is taking place at an unprecedented rate but social issues continue to plague the city.

Yet another unsubstantiated reference to "unprecedented" development. T'ain't true. They need to remove this bit from the local journalism playbook.

But that's a good point about how the social issues still persist, despite the unprecedented development. I was convinced that building a couple of condo towers on the Y-lot would snuff out the drug problem in no time. Looks like I was naive.

[Ms. B. Havin]

Isn't there some name philosopher-logicians give to this sort of mistake (the linking of 2 events or things, which aren't related, but get related as though there's a causal relationship)?

The something-something fallacy?

[aastra]

Most signigicant is the underway revitalization of the moribund but historic Bay building which is being transformed into luxury condominiums.

Luxury condominiums. Is there any other kind?

Have they installed the solid gold bathtubs yet?

I really wish Victoria's media people would get to know somebody who actually owns a condo in Victoria. Go in for a minute, have a look around. That sort of thing.

[Ms. B. Havin]

All Victoria condos are owned by out-of-town investors who shoot-to-kill any intruders. That's why real Victorians have never seen the inside of a condo.

[aastra]

I think she was merely meaning to describe the highlights & lowlights of Mr. Lowe's time in office. The implied (or, if you will, inferred) connection was not intended.

"...at a time when courteous driving is taking place at an unprecedented rate but hordes of raccoons continue to plague the city."

[aastra]

...But being the downtown to 12 other surrounding muncipalities in the capital region - population 353,700 - it has its share of social issues, homelessness and drug use being top of the list.

Good gravy! Somebody should send Carolyn Heiman a Christmas card! She gets it! She really gets it!