11779 replies to this topic

[57WestHills]

A coat half in a bag, and a pile of brown leaves... Our big problems to discuss today. This page of VV discussion sure highlights what a great life we have here!

Edited by 57WestHills, 28 December 2018 - 06:01 PM.

[Nparker]

A coat half in a bag, and a pile of brown leaves...

Neither of which would be issues at all if the CoV had its priorities straight.

[57WestHills]

I cannot tell if that's sarcasm or not? 

[Cassidy]

isn't uplands overhead wire-free? they buried them alongside the combined sewer/stormwater pipe.  

Not 100% wire-free:

https://www.google.c...!7i13312!8i6656

 

Rather clever of them though, where the wires aren't run underground, they ran the power lines at the back of residents properties, thus making them (almost) invisible from the street (and definitely a huge hassle for Hydro to service).

Edited by Cassidy, 28 December 2018 - 06:49 PM.

[Nparker]

Neither of which would be issues at all if the CoV had its priorities straight.

I cannot tell if that's sarcasm or not? 

It is not. Fewer poet laureates, musical handrails and early morning statue removals might free up funds for better leaf removal. And don't even get me started on the uselessness of the 'single use' plastic bag ban.

[Mike K.]

Courtesy of Helps' blog, here's the City of Victoria ask of oil producers, including states, to pony up for Victoria's climate change costs.

 

Note the one in bold. Yeah, the one where there's literally no money available to maintain social order and where citizens are literally starving. Yes, Victoria wants their money. Oh, and money from the Saudi's, too.

 

BHP Billiton Limited

BP p.l.c
Chevron
Coal India Limited
Conoco Philips
CONSOL Energy Inc
Exxon Mobil
Gazprom
Iraq National Oil Company
Kuwait Petroleum Corp
Murray Engery Corporation
National Iranian Oil Company
Peabody Energy
PEMEX
PetroChina (CNPC)
Petroelos de Venezuala
Royal Dutch Shell plc
Saudi Aramco
Sonatrach
Total SA

[Nparker]

I bet they're quivering in their boots and getting ready to send big cheques to Lisa & Co.

[Nparker]

If virtue signalling was an energy source the CRD could be illuminated for 10,000 years on the activities of the CoV council alone.

[Cassidy]

With a new bridge, new bike lanes and new pool to be paid off, the money has to come from somewhere!

 

Better Venezuela I guess ... than more local parking fines and higher taxes for Victoria property owners. 

[mbjj]

On CFAX yesterday the hosts were literally guffawing over Venezuela. And yes, I do think endless piles of filthy leaves is a problem. The grass underneath them dies rendering boulevards a muddy mess in winter and a grassless space in summer. The city is a mess. The poor maintenance is reflective of them not giving a damn and spending too much energy on telling us how to live.

[Awaiting Juno]

Why focus on things well within your mandate as a city (leaf removal, road maintenance, policing & bylaw enforcement, etc) when you can focus on other things so ridiculously outside of the mandate (housing, climate change, childcare)?

 

I'm not against the city taking reasonable measures to do what it can to lessen it's environmental impact - however, virtue signalling and making changes that impose large costs for relatively marginal gains for even more marginal populations is not a shining example of good governance. 

[jonny]

The absurdity of all of this is that the City of Victoria would literally not exist in it's present form if it were not for fossil fuels.

We live on an island, for heaven sakes. Our goods do not arrive here on sailboats.

Hopefully Lisa never needs a ride in a diesel powered ambulance to a fossil fuel guzzling hospital. She can send her thank you note to the energy industry.

[jonny]

Reminds me of the time Alberta threatened to turn off the TM pipeline and then BC threatened to sue them if they turned it off.

"We hate oil!"

"Hey, you can't take away our oil!!"

This Province is really dumb sometimes. We're quickly becoming a laughing stock.

[Victoria Watcher]

we need to try to stop giving victoria so much weight in the media around here.  it's neither the largest in municipality in physical size and population (and is indeed only 25% of the population) it contains poorest or second-poorest population with the lowest home-ownership possibly in the english part of our entire country.  maybe it's not so surprising that we elect strange and poor politicians in the cov.  

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 29 December 2018 - 10:46 AM.

[G-Man]

we need to try to stop giving victoria so much weight in the media around here. it's neither the largest in municipality in physical size and population (and is indeed only 25% of the population) it contains poorest or second-poorest population with the lowest home-ownership possibly in the english part of our entire country. maybe it's not so surprising that we elect strange and poor politicians in the cov.

Please explain how home ownership factors into your equation above on voice of population to be listened to?

[Mike K.]

This all stems from the mayor reading a book about the impact mayors can have on “change.” Helps referenced that book multiple times and the result is a relentless pursuit of change and redirecting social norms within her turf.

That being said, the City asking Venezuela for money to pay for climate change is an embarrassment I can’t help but think is yet another candidate for a national laughing stock series of media articles.

[Mike K.]

Please explain how home ownership factors into your equation above on voice of population to be listened to?

Homeowners tend to be more conservative regarding municipal expenses as they feel the immediate effect of said expenses through municipal taxation increases, the rise in municipal service fees and the introduction of new fees (like the new road sweeping fee).

Homeowners also tend to be more critical of wasteful government practices and generally react positively to practicality in lieu of extravagance, and practicality isn’t the driving force behind many of the CoV’s most recent major projects.

[Mike K.]

In a nutshell, the City of Victoria has shown it cares naught for the rising costs facing homeowners, but calls rising rental rates a “crisis.”

Councillor Isitt just earlier this month labelled landlords as untrustworthy while calling for immediate covenants on rental stock.

Meanwhile Councillor Young has pointed out that the City is wrong to be so heavily focused on rental housing and should instead also focus on homeownership opportunities.

[Victoria Watcher]

Please explain how home ownership factors into your equation above on voice of population to be listened to?

 

poor people and renters tend to vote more to the left.  in terms of who to listen to i'm not sure why cov gets all the media coverage except because it shares the name of the region with its own name.  if all you changed was the name of victoria to saanich and vice versa i bet what was formerly saanich would now get 75 or 85% of the media coverage.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 29 December 2018 - 12:13 PM.

[spanky123]

 

I just heard Helps on CFAX and when the bike lane challenge by the blind was brought up, she seemed quite dismissive and said, well we followed international standards. Also when asked about disposable coffee cups being banned, she was banging on that in Berlin you have to buy a reusable cup for one euro.

 

I have been to Berlin many times and have never had to pay an extra euro to get a coffee cup. Some cafe's offer a reusable plastic cup that you pay a euro deposit for and then can get a refund later but it is not mandatory and has nothing to do with anything being banned. I sometimes wonder if Helps just makes things up to support her point of view or just doesn't bother to validate what her friends email her.