Horgan missed his first opportunity to shut Site C down shortly after his election. The market for oil is down the tubes and unlikely to make a comeback soon or maybe ever. Nice try, but the geophysical concerns have been around for a good long time. Premier John Horgan blames COVID-19 for the increased costs and the failure to meet the dam’s timeline. Increasingly dire reports of the instability of the land on which the Site C dam is being built are deeply troubling. If the islands are to be recognizable in the future as a unique and wondrous place, the province needs to step up with funding as it did when the protected area was created half a century ago, and to provide the Islands Trust with greater powers to designate housing for specific local needs and regulate logging on private land. In addition to the housing crunch, challenges include spiralling property taxes bylaw enforcement so weak that zoning is becoming a joke and clear-cutting that threatens already scarce ground and surface drinking water sources. The Gulf Islands are protected for all of B.C., yet island residents are expected to meet social and environmental obligations with fewer powers and financial resources than urban centres. Thank goodness Frants Attorp has the courage to speak up about the sad and divisive situation on the Gulf Islands. Re: “Development has put Gulf Islands in death spiral,” commentary, August 2. Islands Trust needs to have greater power Thoughtful planning and longer term solutions seem necessary. The bigger question is, are we fooling ourselves into thinking that urban camping is a short-term issue, or do we want to accept it as a permanent lifestyle that should be freely supported by tax dollars forever? Why not buy or repurpose a large field, fence and equip it with toilet facilities and running water, and make that the permanent and only place where homeless camping is allowed? The province has opted to spend millions to acquire hotels for the homeless, then more to staff and to maintain them, but camping on city property just isn’t going away.
Then there are the ever-increasing costs of endlessly moving encampments, followed by remediation of each disastrous mess that is predictably left behind. When Victoria city councillors meet to discuss falling revenues, hopefully delaying non-urgent capital projects (like new bike lanes, a “nice to have” from any perspective) will be a no-brainer. Surely the cost to remediate Topaz Park is a fraction of what has been spent on hotels such as the Comfort Inn.įurther, it begs the question: When campers are removed from Beacon Hill and the city/province complete the remediation work, will all areas of Beacon Hill be fenced off? How long will this take? This happened quickly and cost millions of dollars. Housing and the City of Victoria were able to purchase multiple hotels to house the people who were camping at Topaz (and other parks). Will it be weeks or months until the park opens? If anyone knows, they are not saying. Housing has told me that work will begin soon. Housing is responsible for the remediation and cleanup of the park. The City of Victoria has told me that B.C. Since May 20, the south area of the park, including the entire south field, washrooms, dog park and children’s play area, have been fenced off due to unsafe conditions. As reported by the Times Colonist, Topaz Park was vacated on or about May 20. The result was chaos and as most Victorians know, placement for many of those in Topaz across the street into the hotel formerly known as the Comfort Inn.
#Topaz clarity masks full#
The province, in concert and with the full support of the City of Victoria, placed hundreds of people from the street in Topaz Park by mid-April. Made for a soothing enjoyable holiday afternoon. Thanks to the trumpet player on Monday afternoon playing beautiful melodic tunes drifting over the park’s landscape. Not unless and until the restaurant owners start to get serious in encouraging people entering their enclosed quarters facility, including their staff, to wear a mask.įinally, some lovely sounds coming from Beacon Hill Park.
Outside, lots of people at tables, not one mask in sight. That was good to see, but very disappointing to see that not one person other than myself had a mask on, including none of the staff. When I approached the door there were 17 in front of me and the line quickly grew behind me. We recently visited one of our favourite restaurants for the first time since COVID-19 came into all of our lives.
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