25957 replies to this topic

[aastra]

So... we're saying it was a great idea way back in 2021, but it's no longer the right space? Too many serious issues? Too dangerous?

No worries. North Park is such an enormously huge neighbourhood, it should be easy to find another site for a community centre that's far enough away to be fully insulated from the issues on the 900-block of Pandora.

 

Are the issues severe or aren't they? If abandoning one or two blocks is a viable strategy then one might wonder how long it could continue to be so.

[Nparker]

Not that I am advocating for the expenditure, but a community centre as part of a revitalized Crystal Pool complex makes a lot more sense than the 900 block of Pandora.

[Victoria Watcher]

Council also asked staff to make room in the budget for three programs — $50,000 for Our Place to extend ­operating hours and $50,000 for their ­storage program; as much as $80,000 to extend the Pandora Caretakers program until the end of this year, and $65,000 to augment the Safety Initiative Reimbursement Agreement, which gives grants to businesses to replace broken windows and improve security measures, that would extend that program to the end of 2024.

 

https://www.timescol...ax-hike-6577679

[Nparker]

What possible value is there in $80,000 spent on something called the "Pandora Caretakers" program? There is zero evidence that anyone cares about this area.

[Victoria Watcher]

What possible value is there in $80,000 spent on something called the "Pandora Caretakers" program? There is zero evidence that anyone cares about this area.

 

From what I can tell, they walk up and down the block and tell people to move to 24/7 park camping.

[Victoria Watcher]

The B.C. Court of Appeal has ruled that the trust governing Beacon Hill Park does not permit overnight campers. An appeal by the province, filed a year ago, had challenged that stance.

 

“In my opinion, the terms of the trust do not contemplate persons using the park for temporary sheltering,” wrote Justice John Hunter. He was supported by Justice Mary Newbury and Justice Peter Voith in a decision released Tuesday.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...l-rules-6591206

 

 

 

Contrary to what some optimists claim, rail service would not be convenient or affordable, and so is unlikely to attract significant ridership. We need more than rail can provide.

 

The Island Corridor Foundation claims that rebuilding E&N rail infrastructure would only cost $431 million, but construction costs are rising and the service will require operating subsidies, so total costs are likely to be much higher.

 

That investment would only finance two to four daily passenger trains operating at 30 kilometres an hour. It will take at least 92 minutes to travel between Duncan and Vic West, where most passengers would transfer to another bus to reach their destinations. The current proposal assumes $19 one-way fares, which is more expensive than driving for most trips.

 

 

 

 

 

New bus lanes save 13 to 20 minutes between the West Shore and Victoria, making buses faster than private ­vehicles on that route.

 

 

^ That is NOT accurate.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 February 2023 - 04:02 AM.

[Mike K.]

Not a chance. I agree that the bus lane statement is inaccurate.

[Victoria Watcher]

The interchange fixed most of the ills.  Plus the decrease in commuting, that's not ever coming back.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 February 2023 - 06:08 AM.

[Mike K.]

Last week I drove the TCH after 7AM. It was backed up from Leigh Road, normal congestion.

The major point of contention now is the merging of traffic onto the TCH from Millstream. It’s just a constant flow. Traffic picks up speed past Millstream for a bit, then you slow at OIH. It’s slow past Tillicum, too.

So we know record high gas prices aren’t curbing car use. We know high levels of congestion also aren’t curbing car use. Why is that, if the alternatives are so good, we’re told?

[aastra]

How many times do we need to refer back to the Beacon Hill Park trust? For ~140 years the CoV, the province, and the feds have been relentless about trying to exploit the park grounds for purposes that have nothing to do with its fundamental raison d'être as a public park.
 

 

(in 1884) Begbie specifically noted that, in his opinion, the following uses were also not permitted: a university, sanatorium, a barracks for soldiers, a lunatic asylum, and a cemetery. Begbie's ruling, "Anderson vs. Corporation of the City of Victoria," concluded that the Park was not to be used "for general purposes of profit, OR UTILITY, however great the prospect of these may be."

From:
https://beaconhillpa...ts/chapter5.htm

 

--

 

 

An important paper on the Trust and the legal history of Beacon Hill Park was written by Willard E. Ireland, Provincial Archivist, on May 8, 1942, titled “Memorandum re: Title to Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, B.C.” (BC Archives G V66 B35 I). This ten page report continues to be an important reference whenever controversies arise...

He concluded that: “In each case the objection raised was on the grounds that the City lacked ‘the power to appropriate any particular part of the Park premises to the use of any particular persons or class of persons to the exclusion of others of the public.’”

From:
https://beaconhillpa...ts/chapter5.htm

Edited by aastra, 22 February 2023 - 12:27 PM.

[Nparker]

It's unfortunate that similar covenants were never applied to other CoV parks. Then again, I doubt anyone foresaw the abuses to which our public green spaces would be subjected today.

[Mike K.]

They did. There were anti-loitering bylaws, signage and bylaw enforcement from the very beginning. It’s only in the past several decades that we stopped adhering to our own bylaws, and things got markedly worse since the mid-2010s.

[Nparker]

Bylaws do not have anywhere near the potency of the BHP covenant. Cites can far too easily amend or ignore local bylaws. This has been blatantly obvious over the past decade or so in the CoV.

[Victoria Watcher]

Overnight shelters in Victoria that provide refuge from freezing temperatures were forced to close Sunday due to a lack of staff, leaving people out in the cold.

 

Victoria’s extreme weather alert was cancelled Sunday after six consecutive days in effect amid a cold snap last week. Though temperatures remained low — hovering just above zero in the early hours Monday — staff shortages meant the shelters that had opened each night since last Monday couldn’t open Sunday night.

 

https://www.timescol...-sunday-6620982

 

Niki Ottosen, who collects tents and other supplies for unhoused people through her organization the Backpack Project, said she’s seeing “extreme suffering” right now and is hoping everyone living outside survives as cold and snowy weather persists.

 

“I see people sitting on the cold concrete, and I’m trying to get them sweaters and hand warmers. Their hands are so red, and their lips are blue,” she said. “They’re literally freezing and suffering. It’s hard to watch.”

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 February 2023 - 12:41 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Nanaimo is looking into building its own shelter on city land for up to 100 easy-to-house people.

 

City staff have been asked to prepare a report by June 1 on the cost of designing, building and servicing a basic shelter.

 

______________________

 

Coun. Sheryl Armstrong was opposed to asking staff for a report on building a shelter. The city is not in the business of providing housing, which is B.C. Housing’s responsibility, she said. The city already has an affordable housing plan, and has numerous reports on what city land could be available for housing, she said.

 

Mayor Leonard Krog also voted against seeking the report, saying providing housing is a provincial and federal responsibility. Taking 100 people who are poor and homeless off the street won’t solve the problem, he said. “If this were just a homeless problem, it wouldn’t be, frankly, that much of an issue. We have a mental health-addictions-brain injury-and trauma crisis on our streets.”

 

In addition, taking easy-to-house people off the streets won’t remove troublesome people, who are the ones frightening the public, he said.

 

“I’ve said it a million times, to the point that I’m sick of saying it; failed social and health policy [has] put us in this situation, layered over with an opioid crisis that has created a street disorder at a level that has never been seen, arguably.”

 

Krog said he doesn’t believe setting up a shelter would necessarily lead to provincial action.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...ty-land-6628250

[Mike K.]

Give it a minute.

Soon the experts who today will call Krog completely wrong and out of touch, will tell us that inadequate social and health policies have put us in this situation, layered over with an opioid crisis that has created a street disorder at a level that has never been seen, arguably, and how we just need to provide better mental health services in communities all across BC, even in rural BC, to not create scenarios of migration among people with addictions issues.

[Nparker]

"...failed social and health policy [has] put us in this situation..."

I've been saying this for years. Nice to see at least one public official in agreement.

[Mike K.]

See the theme that’s emerging?

Forget the concentration of business/offices/entertainment/social services in downtown cores! Spread it out a little! Listen to us, we are the experts.

[Stephen James]

See the theme that’s emerging?

Forget the concentration of business/offices/entertainment/social services in downtown cores! Spread it out a little! Listen to us, we are the experts.

but concentrate the homelessness, services, crime, open drug addiction, dealing, in downtown...

[Victoria Watcher]

California city nearly eliminates homeless population with zero-tolerance policy on encampments



https://www.foxnews....icy-encampments



Coronado funds "reasonable" services to help those struggling get "back on their feet," but noted the city also has a no-tolerance policy for violating municipal codes.

"We also make it very clear that we don't tolerate encampments along our sidewalks, and we don't tolerate other code violations such as being drunk in public or urinating in public or defecating in public," Bailey said. "We just simply don't tolerate these basic code violations. What ends up happening is an individual either chooses to get help or they end up leaving."

Coronado previously reported only one homeless person within the city, according to data from the San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness.

But Bailey says that person, fortunately, got the help that was needed and is no longer on the streets.

"The fact of the matter is there, although there are a myriad of reasons that people end up homeless, they eventually only fall into two camps — those that want help and those that do not want help," Bailey said. "And if those that are refusing to get help… shouldn't be granted additional the ability to break laws such as tent encampments on the sidewalk or urinating or defecating in public."

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 March 2023 - 11:49 AM.