456 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

It did. People drop dead all the time.

We’re pretty complex machines, and stuff breaks.

[max.bravo]

Sudden deaths are on the rise. In the fully vaccinated only.
https://www.spectato...affles-doctors/

[sebberry]

Just another case of a fully vaccinated individual dying suddenly with no known cause. This definitely happened all the time before 90% of the population took the experimental gene therapy. Nothing to see here.

 

I think the right response is something along the lines of 'condolences to his family'. 

[sebberry]

Sudden deaths are on the rise. In the fully vaccinated only.
https://www.spectato...affles-doctors/

 

Can we please keep this in the covid thread?

[Redd42]

Perhaps things will change now, now that he’s passed. 

 

Change how? He seemed to get a lot of praise from all the various tourist agencies he collaborated with.

[Mike K.]

We’ll have to wait and see.

The Coho is unique, one of a kind. If a bigger operator takes control, and it sounds like that’s been a potentiality already, it will likely yield many changes.

[Victoria Watcher]

Maybe it can be the Royal Bay commuter ferry.

[Mike K.]

From the province:

People are invited to provide input on what the Belleville Terminal needs as public engagement for the proposed Belleville Terminal Redevelopment Project gets underway.

Belleville Terminal has served as Victoria’s marine gateway to Washington state since 1924.

People can participate online from Sept. 20 to Oct. 20, 2022, by viewing the project boards and completing the survey here: https://www.engage.g...levilleterminal

People are also invited to an open house on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022, from 2-8 p.m. at the Victoria Conference Centre to learn more about the project. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask the project team questions and to complete the engagement survey on site. People can find more information about the open house on the project website here: www.gov.bc.ca/bellevilleterminal

The project, which is anticipated to generate $$257 million a year in visitor expenditures and support up to 3,200 regional jobs in 20 years, is an economic opportunity that will benefit the region for decades. Some work planned to modernize the Belleville Terminal facilities and operations includes:

building a new pre-clearance terminal building to comply with the required safety and pre-clearance border control measures under the Canada-US Land, Rail, Marine, and Air Transport Preclearance Agreement;
replacing aging and inadequate infrastructure, including the wharf facilities;
building a new commercial goods processing facility; and
maximizing capacity to be adaptable to changes in security and user requirements.
Feedback gathered will support the Province’s business-case submission and inform the detailed design phase if the project is approved.

The Belleville Terminal is an international marine gateway for goods, services and passengers in Victoria’s Inner Harbour. In 2019, the terminal processed more than 680,000 passengers and supported approximately 2,200 jobs.

[Victoria Watcher]

It’s probably pretty woeful in terms of a “goods” terminal though. And probably does not need to be upgraded as such either.

[Mike K.]

Yes. It’s not ideal for freight traffic. Could you imagine even ten semi trucks unloading onto Belleville? That’d cause traffic chaos at busy periods. I don’t know if the CBP could even handle them.

[Victoria Watcher]

Where would they be coming from? That’s the thing. Not a lot of trade between Forks, WA and Vancouver Island.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 September 2022 - 08:57 AM.

[vortoozo]

There are commercial vehicles that use the ferry.

[Fox]

As someone who regularly takes the Coho, it seems to work pretty decently as it is.  The survey asks you to rank improvements such as bike repair stations and bike/ev charging stations.

[Victoria Watcher]

There are commercial vehicles that use the ferry.

There certainly are. But it’s pretty minimal.

[Victoria Watcher]

Currently, the Clipper and Coho, which travel from Victoria to Seattle and Port Angeles, respectively, operate from separate docks.

 

The existing Belleville Street facility no longer complies with the Canada-U.S. Land, Rail, Marine, and Air Transport Pre-clearance Agreement because it doesn’t have space for isolation rooms for questioning and searching of passengers heading to the U.S.

 

If that is not rectified, U.S. Customs and Border Protection could leave the Island, leading to possible shutdown or reductions in services like the Clipper and Coho, which could mean big tourism losses.

 

In 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, the facility processed just over 680,000 travellers, who generated an estimated $174 million in direct spending in the province.

 

The tenants of the proposed terminal — Black Ball Ferry and FRS Clipper — say they’re in favour of a new building but still need details about the impact any deal and disruption might have on their operations and bottom line, as well as their expected financial contribution and the tax implications.

 

“It can’t come at any cost,” said Black Ball president Ryan Burles.

 

The ministry said it aims to have the business case approved in the spring, noting feedback and submissions from Indigenous groups, the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations and other stakeholders will shape the business case and contribute to the project design.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...answers-6053629

[Nparker]

How many decades now has a new terminal been discussed?

[kungfucious]

nparker: im not sure entirely, but i think it can backdated till the 1990's when PMii left.

everybody:
in finally updating the belleville st terminal, why spend all that money just to do ONLY those things (freight processing, border clearance)?

while you are at it, why not make something more permanent and spectacular demolishing the coho and clipper buildings and incorporating them into something bigger with the original terminal building?

from my couch, this just sounds like spending too much money for too little wow and another great opportunity about to be wasted. with any redevelopment, i hope they make it a priority to add a link to the causeway making a continuous route to laurel pointe.

im fully aware there are security considerations, but its just money. taxpayer money to boot, so theres a pretty good fx rate for that

[Nparker]

...this just sounds like spending too much money for too little wow and another great opportunity about to be wasted...

That sounds about right to me. Wasting opportunities has been pretty much the modus operandi for much of Victoria's inner harbour waterfront for the past 50 years (and then some).

[dasmo]

It is 100% the opportunity to do something great. We now know money doesn’t matter. At this point what’s a billion or two.

[lanforod]

This is 1/3rd the cost of what a fancy new museum was to cost too. Seems like it really should be much more than what is planned for this cost.