674 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

First Langford is now thinking why didn't they run a mayor candidate.

 

Now a guy that lives and works in Saanich has the top job.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 15 October 2022 - 09:03 PM.

[dasmo]

Ha!

[Mike K.]

I don't think people recognized when they voted against Stew Young, that they were voting for a Saanich resident.

[Nparker]

Are you suggesting the electorate is uninformed?

[spanky123]

First Langford is now thinking why didn't they run a mayor candidate.

 

Now a guy that lives and works in Saanich has the top job.

 

Doesn't matter, they own council. 

 

I suspect Stew will retire to his home in Vegas and the others will disappear. Lots of stuff for the new council to deal with.

Edited by spanky123, 15 October 2022 - 09:11 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Doesn't matter, they own council. 

 

I suspect Stu will retire to his home in Vegas and the others will disappear. Lots of stuff for the new council to deal with.

 

It's Stew.

 

Maybe the new guy will propose a Saanich/Langford merger.  That would be something.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 15 October 2022 - 09:08 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Sooke is a wrap:

 

[spanky123]

It's Stew.

 

Maybe the new guy will propose a Saanich/Langford merger.  That would be something.

 

I think that the 'new guy' will be dealing with a poopstorm of open issues not the least of which is a lawsuit from Centurion over Danbrook One and the City's involvement. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Does it really take over 2 hours to count the votes in Highlands?  

[Nparker]

Does it really take over 2 hours to count the votes in Highlands?  

Isn't every resident of the Highlands on its council anyway?

[Jables]

Oof with Stew’s embarrassing concession speech on CFAX I’m glad he’s out. He sounds like a baby.

Current council got complacent and they’re gone. Here’s to change!

[Redd42]

Oof with Stew’s embarrassing concession speech on CFAX I’m glad he’s out. He sounds like a baby.

Current council got complacent and they’re gone. Here’s to change!

 

Trumpian. Which is to say, yup, a big baby.

[Redd42]

It's Stew.

 

Maybe the new guy will propose a Saanich/Langford merger.  That would be something.

 Hasn't "Stew" spent most of his time in Vegas recently any way? At least Saanich is closer than Vegas.

[Victoria Watcher]

Does it really take over 2 hours to count the votes in Highlands?  

 

[Victoria Watcher]

 

 

What would you say are the main issues facing Metchosin right now?

We're surrounded by development on all sides. We are a rural community and we must remain a rural farming, small business, low-density community. That's one of the challenges. Another challenge that we've had was bylaw enforcement, and then what has come up in the last few months is affordable housing, and asking if it’s suitable for there to be affordable housing in Metchosin.  

Probably the biggest issue everybody's worried about is our finances. We need to shift our priorities because we have a certain amount in surplus, but we have policing costs now because we are 5,076 people instead of below 5,000. So we are responsible for 70% of the policing costs and that's probably to the tune of about $1.1 million per year.

Do have ideas on where that financing can come from?

We can't just say okay, “We've got policing costs of $1.1 million, we're going to shove that on the back of the taxpayers.” That's completely unfair and uncalled for. What we can do is shift around our priorities in the short term. For instance, do we need to repave road roads to the tune of a half a million dollars for a small stretch of road? I say no, the roads are good. Why can't we just maintain some of those roads that are wearing a bit thin with a crack sealer? For instance, Rocky Point Road didn't need to be repaved. And now people are going faster than ever on that stretch. We could have saved $500,000. And that's half of the policing costs.

 

_______________________________

 

Metchosin is known for wanting to preserve its rural farming heritage, which means keeping land open, but Metchosin property values are also among the highest in the South Island and there is a housing crisis. What's your approach on how to balance those needs for Metchosinites?

Yeah, this is a difficult one. So Metchosin is a rural community; under the regional growth strategy, Metchosin and other rural communities are expected to provide 5% of the housing for the district.  Metchosin Land Use Bylaw 259 allows for a secondary suite within an existing residence, or a detached suite within parameters. So Metchosin actually has been quite progressive in its housing challenges. Anecdotally, we know there are difficulties for volunteer firefighters and farm labour workers, and local enterprises that say they can't find affordable housing. We need to have that conversation, whether a tiny home could be a type of secondary suite. It has to be safe not only for the residents, but also safe with septic and we have to figure out where the water is because the 606 aquifer is a very fragile aquifer that many of us draw water on. But we also want to make sure that tiny home is safe for our first responders that go out there to respond to that. I've knocked on hundreds of doors now, and not one person has told me that we want to develop. One way we've been able to keep rural is by not allowing sewer, because you can’t have large housing projects with septic systems.

 

 

https://www.thewests...ul-in-metchosin

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 October 2022 - 02:15 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

It seems like folks in the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area like Al Wickheim’s style.

Wickheim, 63, won 703 votes or 62 per cent of the vote to win the Capital Regional District Area H seat.

With longtime director Mike Hicks not seeking re-election, Wickheim defeated Sandy Sinclair, Derek Bishop and Shaunna Salsman.

“I did considerable legwork to determine the acute concerns of the different communities, as well as their long-term visions, and that put me in good standing with people,” he said following his win on Saturday.

There were many key issues during the campaign for Wickheim, an inventor of medical devices.

“Every area has different issues from Willis Point to Jordan River to Port Renfrew,” he said. “The one thing common to almost all of them is water security and supply – everybody feels that’s a threat.”

 

https://www.vicnews....n-juan-de-fuca/

[Lorenzo]

Oof with Stew’s embarrassing concession speech on CFAX I’m glad he’s out. He sounds like a baby.

Current council got complacent and they’re gone. Here’s to change!

Any clips of this? I would love to have been at the "Community First Langford" election headquarters last night. I saw the greatest comment on a FB group last night. "At least Stew got to keep his slate together!" Brilliant.

Edited by Lorenzo, 16 October 2022 - 06:55 AM.

[Mike K.]

 

It seems like folks in the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area like Al Wickheim’s style.

Wickheim, 63, won 703 votes or 62 per cent of the vote to win the Capital Regional District Area H seat.

With longtime director Mike Hicks not seeking re-election, Wickheim defeated Sandy Sinclair, Derek Bishop and Shaunna Salsman.

“I did considerable legwork to determine the acute concerns of the different communities, as well as their long-term visions, and that put me in good standing with people,” he said following his win on Saturday.

There were many key issues during the campaign for Wickheim, an inventor of medical devices.

“Every area has different issues from Willis Point to Jordan River to Port Renfrew,” he said. “The one thing common to almost all of them is water security and supply – everybody feels that’s a threat.”

 

https://www.vicnews....n-juan-de-fuca/

 

 

There you go. There's that water issue.

 

If they secure supply, does that mean ...development west of Sooke?

[Mike K.]

Any clips of this? I would love to have been at the "Community First Langford" election headquarters last night. I saw the greatest comment on a FB group last night. "At least Stew got to keep his slate together!" Brilliant.

 

To paraphrase, he said there was a consistent negative campaign run against him and his slate since well before the election (known as Langford Voters for Change, which it was eventually revealed was being run by the daughter of Stew's adversary on council Lillian Szpak), and that it carried over into the election rhetoric.

 

He then said running a city is no easy task, and that the new entrants will soon learn that you can't just imagine doing things better and that they'll be done better, that municipal affairs are far more complicated than an election campaign.

 

I didn't think it was sour grapes too much, just a no holds barred Stew Young response when asked by the media what he thought of the results. The future of that municipality is now in the hands of staff, with senior political direction from runner-up Lillian Szpak. And I am already hearing several key staffers are not going to stick around post-election.

[Victoria Watcher]

I'd be curious to know if any of the old slate in Langford did any door-knocking or events.