550 replies to this topic

[Rob Randall]

This could also go in the homeless thread but I will be on A-Channel news at 5 p.m. talking about the View/Vancouver St. Bottle Depot. Apparently, residents of The Wave are the latest to complain--mainly about the social issues surrounding the property. Lately, the area around the bottle depot has become a hang-out for street people, many of whom probably have been kicked out of the Downtown core.

[Mike K.]

Are there people squatting in the parking lot off of View just behind The Wave?

[aastra]

...the area around the bottle depot has become a hang-out for street people, many of whom probably have been kicked out of the Downtown core.

So how far did the street people have to walk to get from downtown to View/Vancouver? Did they use the steps between London Drugs and Zambri's there? Or did they just come around the corner past Frontrunners?

[jklymak]

Apparently, residents of The Wave are the latest to complain--mainly about the social issues surrounding the property. Lately, the area around the bottle depot has become a hang-out for street people, many of whom probably have been kicked out of the Downtown core.

I'm curious who complained about what? The Wave is over 2.5 blocks from the Bottle Depot. I live in the Wave and certainly didn't complain, nor am I aware of any discussion amongst residents to lodge a complaint.

I wasn't aware of any squatting in that lot off View. Seems the folks in the Chelsea would be in a far better place to see what is going on in that lot than people in the Wave.

[Galvanized]

A bottle depot and a liquor store across the street to each other might have something to do with the increase of the street population. The Bay Centre liquor store closure has displaced a few and some can be quite loud.

[Rob Randall]

After being bumped from both the Monday and Tuesday newscasts, the bottle depot story will run tonight at 5 as the second item. The story's focus is more on the social aspects than the noise, I believe.

There has been a dramatic increase in the last year of street people in the fringe areas of Downtown, including here in Harris Green. Whether it's a general increase or displacement from the Downtown core I don't know.

There wasn't any mass protest movement within the Wave, just a few people that caught the attention of the media. The people in the Regents Park towers across the street are silent because they've given up fighting after years of complaining. They've been told by the City Planning Department that the depot fits the existing zoning, therefore end of story.

I'm still unsure about what thread this should go under.

[G-Man]

The homeless bottle collectors do conduct a valuable environmental service collecting what everyone else is too lazy to recycle.

[jklymak]

Thanks for the clarification Rob.

We walk by the bottle depot quite often, and while I admit that I don't stop and chat to the folks who hang out there, I've never had an issue with any of them. Very rarely there is some hollering, but the noise from the 24-hr party people who live near us is far more noticeable (and not really that bad). I'd far rather people squeak by scavenging than breaking into cars or mugging.

[Rob Randall]

They aren't dangerous but they do use their neighbour's doorways as a toilet and that's not acceptable.

The City representative said that the depot conforms to the noise bylaw but that is only because they only consider "continuous" noise--that would be like music or a noisy air conditioner that produced a constant, steady output of noise. Intermittent noise, like bottle smashing can't qualify, unless more than one bottle was smashed per second. I believe that under the bylaw I could open up a blacksmithing shop in a residential area.

The bylaw relating to the bottle depot specifically states that the noise level "must not exceed that of a laundromat". Anyone who has walked by the depot must laugh knowing that requirement.

The Harris Green guidelines specify the types of commercial activity allowed: doctor's offices, care homes, retail, restaurants, theatres, day care etcetera. The bottle depot is light industrial even though the City reclassified it as "retail" in order to sneak it into Harris Green. The bylaw also says depots will be "operated similar to a retail store with all storage and compaction enclosed in premises..."
This is not a NIMBY issue--I just want the Bottle Depot to conform to the bylaw that was crafted especially for them.

[Ms. B. Havin]

There - I've said this myself (having lived in lots of other cities), and here's someone returned from a trip to NYC who agrees: Too many sirens (in Victoria!)

Too many sirens
Times Colonist
January 28, 2009

I just returned from my first trip to New York as part of the Ken Lavigne tour and was amazed at how quiet the city was, considering the amount of traffic. The one thing that stood out was the way that sirens were not blaring constantly, but with intermittent blasts. I live close to Blanshard and can hear every siren that goes by, and have often wondered why, at 3:30 a.m., the sirens need to run full blast.

Krista Voitchovsky
Victoria

[aastra]

If memory serves me, the police cruiser that caused that terrible accident at the Blanshard and Fort Street intersection a few years back was using lights but no siren. Is that right?

[Ms. B. Havin]

Don't know. Do you think this might be why Vic. emergency vehicle operators are so ...err, assiduous in applying the sirens?

Seriously, they're over the top most of the time. Dead of night, middle of the day - no matter. Three, four emergency vehicles, all of them going full blast full time. It wouldn't be so bad if it always were for total emergencies, but often it isn't.

[mat]

Don't know. Do you think this might be why Vic. emergency vehicle operators are so ...err, assiduous in applying the sirens?

Seriously, they're over the top most of the time. Dead of night, middle of the day - no matter. Three, four emergency vehicles, all of them going full blast full time. It wouldn't be so bad if it always were for total emergencies, but often it isn't.

As a former paramedic, and CGA cox, there is an issue with your statement - units, whether they are police, fire or ambulance get calls (radio, cell) based on what the dispatcher feels is priority - so a high priority call will see any unit with lights and sirens, dodging traffic, making noise. If a unit calls for immediate backup - expect many to respond high speed, and loudly - and that happens quite often - ie, an ambulance unit needing crowd control.

911 life in danger - Protocol is 15 minutes from receipt of a 911 call - in urban areas for 'patient unresponsive' 6 minutes for a paramedic unit.

You may lament over 2am sirens as fire, police and ambulance respond to a 911 call. They are dispatched on best information by well trained, and hard working men and women (mostly women) who are doing a night shift (while you are in bed). Imagine if you had an emergency downtown, at rush hour, and how that ambulance, police or fire truck has to navigate the road.

On a side note to this - a few days ago on Shelbourne an Ambulance came screaming up behind a line of cars (we were in that line). Not only did every car, in both lanes, pull over and provide a path but a Victoria Taxi driver actually drove into the oncoming lane and blocked north bound traffic so the ambulance could do a left onto Bay and into Jubilee - now that takes guts.

[Holden West]

I think there was a case 5 or ten years ago when a police car without sirens was racing to a call and it smashed into another car.

[mat]

I think there was a case 5 or ten years ago when a police car without sirens was racing to a call and it smashed into another car.

There have been a few of those, locally, and throughout BC in the last decade. In most cases it was police, in a rural area, (read RCMP) responding to an urgent back up of another officer - in which case they will 'charge', and damn the consequences.

Even with full lights and dolby surround sound sirens, the unexpected can happen - a pedestrian with Ipod headphones steps into the street, a driver 'anticipates' an emergency vehicle movement and ends up blocking the path, or emergency vehicles fail to communicate, and hit each other.

All EV drivers go through a course, and believe me it is quite intense. While it does teach rules, law, and practical driving - it really comes down to maturity and experience with local conditions to respond to any emergency call, safely and timely.

[Holden West]

Ambulance speed contributed to fatal crash

Bill Cleverley Times Colonist
May 13, 2005

Speed definitely was a contributing factor to the accident that killed Kin Tung Wong, 23, of Victoria when an ambulance slammed into his car two years ago, coroner Rose Stanton has found.

However, Stanton has ruled the death accidental and made no recommendations in her Judgment of Inquiry into the death.

Wong was turning left from Hillside Avenue onto Graham Street about 2 p.m. on Feb. 7, 2003, when the ambulance hit his car. He died of his injuries at the scene. One of the two paramedics in the ambulance received a minor cut on his head.

The ambulance was headed west on Hillside with lights and sirens on. Traffic had stopped on both sides of the street to allow the ambulance to pass, and cars were pulling over to the curb lane in front of it as it approached Graham Street. The ambulance crossed to the eastbound lane and struck Wong's car as he turned left.

Both the ambulance driver and Wong were wearing seat-belts at the time, and both airbags deployed in the ambulance. Both vehicles were mechanically sound and weather and road conditions were not a factor, Stanton's report says.

"Analysis of the ambulance's data recorder revealed speeds as high as 100 km/h and as low as 81 km/h when the brake lights first came on, and 86 km/h at the time of the collision two seconds later," the report says.

Stanton says that Wong's speed could not be determined, but witnesses said he used his left-turn signal and turned cautiously. A routine screening for alcohol was negative.

Stanton says it seems likely that Wong did not hear the sirens.

"One witness suggests he was playing music too loud in his car and a compact disc in his car included a song with a siren-like sound in the background. However, other witnesses did not report hearing music before, during or after the collision."

The Motor Vehicle Act allows emergency vehicles to exceed the speed limit, drive through red lights and past stop signs without stopping, disregard rules and traffic signals provided the actions are necessary for the performance of duties and that they are done with due regard for safety.

B.C. Ambulance Service policy says the use of lights and sirens and speeding may be done only when it is deemed necessary to reduce health risks to the patient or in circumstances when public safety is at risk, Stanton said.

[Koru]

Funny bout this whole discussion, from my crane I can see 2 firehalls, 1 ambulance station and multiple old age homes. And I see both fire and ambulance vehicles roaring by on a daily basis with no vehicles around full EV functions going...I was just watching an Ambulance speeding down the Quadra hill, lights and sirens going full tilt, without a car in site...and then a fire truck roaring down Fairfield from Blanshard, lights and sirens and no vehicles in site?!...excessive I tend to agree, while at the same time Mat does raise some very distinctive points. I think maturity tends to be a large factor in the usage of EV functions.

[aastra]

I think there was a case 5 or ten years ago when a police car without sirens was racing to a call and it smashed into another car.

This was the fatal crash at Fort and Blanshard that I mentioned.

[VicHockeyFan]

About 20 years ago two police cars collided heading to the same call. After that incident, they stopped the practice of turning all lights red down Douglas. The police used to be able to tell the dispatcher to "red the north (set of) lights" or "red the south (set of) lights" to turn them red in all directions.

[aastra]

That was at Fisgard and Douglas, yes?