Juan De Fuca Protesters Notch Their Belts

It must be nice to own a logging company. The provincial government up and gives you a truly staggering amount of land, which you sell for a truly staggering amount of cash to developers who get to absorb the truly staggering amount of backlash once the public realize they've been wholly screwed. All the payoff, none of the work – externalization at its best.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), we can't all be logging executives. And so, we find ourselves locked into a serious predicament. The CRD, Ender Ilkay, dozens of non-profit groups, and hundreds of regular folks are, for different reasons, all equally apprehensive about the prospect of some 260 tourist cabins being built on Ilkay's 236 hectares of land along the Juan De Fuca trail.

This is the third iteration of the proposal, and the problems are still many. To start, the lands are zoned Rural Resource and the Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) says that any proposal other than resource extraction is a no-go. This contradicts the Official Community Plan for the area, which says the land can be used for tourism. Add into that a general apprehension about urban sprawl and the loss of wild space, and you've arrived at last Wednesday, when 150 people gathered outside the CRD board meeting to reinforce the hundreds who have been calling, emailing, and protesting in recent months.

The meeting was centred around two points, the most obvious being the integrity of the Juan De Fuca trail. Less apparent was the question of whether or not Land Use Committee A, made up of a portion of the CRD board, is the place to decide the fate of regionally significant land, or whether the responsibility should rest with the board as a whole. The final word? Lands currently zoned Rural Resource (including those covered by Ilkay's proposal) should be in the hands of the CRD board, and by extension the wider community.

It's unclear whether Wednesday's decision to request that the Province allow the proposed change could be the end of this development proposal (or the beginning of a very long legal battle), but it was certainly a victory for everyone working to preserve wilderness here in The Capital.

Read More

Amalgamation

Amalgamation is a vicious and terrifying word in The Capital, whispered only in dark corners of municipal halls - feared, loved, and hated in a thousand new ways with each new day. With Esquimalt's recent Force Divorce following years of budget tensions, debates about regional funding, and the recent changes to the CRD structure, it seems that we may have to start feeding the elephant in the corner.

Contrary to popular believe, inter-municipal cooperation, far from being an unworkable mess of chattering politicians, has been improving steadily for years. Regional fire, disaster, and ambulance services are well-established, and municipal governments are even relinquishing some of their power to the CRD in favour of regional transportation plans and growth strategies.

On the flip side, the brief and torrid police force affair between Victoria and Esquimalt was characterized by regular budget conflicts, uncertainty, and ultimate failure. There have been repeated calls for regional cost-sharing from Victoria, citing the higher costs of running the region's downtown and rebuilding everyone's favourite bridge.

Victoria Councillor Chris Coleman figures fewer municipalities can be a positive thing. “I think you get a much more cohesive plan for economic development.” Along with transportation and development planning, Coleman argues amalgamation would be better for the region's cultural health. “We tend to send a lot of our cultural and non-profit community around to thirteen different councils, where they might get $5000 here, a few thousand there – how much are these groups spending to do that?”

Saanich councillor Dean Murdock sees regional cooperation as an alternative to amalgamation. “[With more municipalities] you get a council with a focus and familiarity with particular neighbourhoods, and a relationship with the neighbourhood associations rather than having representatives from all over the Capital Region voting on an issue specific to a local neighbourhood where they may not have that familiarity. I think that if you concentrate that responsibility you create a distance between the residents and their representatives.

I`ve always had trouble ignoring the late great Jane Jacobs. “Respect for difference in neighbourhoods is essential,” Jacobs said. “Megacity bureaucracies cannot respond with this kind of pinpoint accuracy. It defies common sense to inflict on the citizens and businesses a government that is less responsive than what they have now.”

Read More

OURS Strikes Again

March 22^nd - In the middle of the night, with no warning at all, pedestrian infrastructure was savagely attacked by a gang of bike riding anarchists known to authorities only as "OURS". Shunning reason and civilization, these brutes painted another round in the series of sharrows marring our streets since 2009.

Or not.

Maybe a group of concerned citizens got together and decided to take up arms (read: paint) in the name of improving local cycling amenities. You figure it out.

Sharrows are road markings indicating a shared use lane where roads are too narrow to incorporate a bike lane. OURS has been painting these markings around The Capital since 2009, focusing on high traffic areas with little existing bicycle infrastructure.

Yukon Duit, spokesperson for the Other Urban Repair Squad says OURS is painting sharrows to highlight the gap between car and bike infrastructure uprgrading and maintenance in The Capital. "We're talking about bike lanes that just disappear into the ether in the middle of a route. Imagine if these were vehicle routes - we would never do that to cars."

According to Councillor John Luton, due process – meaning engineers, studies, and consultation – is still what's needed – OURS, in contrast, is undemocratic and unsafe. "I want this decision made by professionals, not by the self-appointed vanguard of cyclist's interests."

Or maybe not.

"This is exactly what democracy looks like. It's engaged citizens helping to shape the public sphere," says Duit. "The city of Victoria collapsed its one formal group for cyclists to have their voice, so there's no longer a direct route for cyclists to communicate our needs to the City." As far as Duit is concerned, OURS is filling that void.

While the group doesn't necessarily adhere to TAC guidelines when applying sharrows, Duit says that's not the idea. "Our point is not that we're using the exact materials and spacing. Our point is that the city should be doing it. This is the next best thing while we wait for the city and the region to take action. Of course the city is going to do a better job, that's the whole point."

While the goals of activists, radicals, and officials (in this case, anyway) appear to coincide, the debate over method may doom future road markings to less-than-legal status.

Read More

Malahat Safety More Than Just Regulation

Apr. 16, 6:20pm - Diesel pours from the Malahat Highway, flooding into Goldstream river.

At 9:00, I'm in the middle of a party, and I hear through Facebook - "We were in the recent aftermath of an incident on the Malahat. A gas tanker overturned (so we were told). We went down to the Goldstream river and witnessed what we feared – the river, bank to bank, flowing with fuel. The air was thick with the fumes. [My partner and I] helplessly stood there and watched a bird land further downstream. We both have a headache and can taste gaoline on our tongues. I'm so angry and I feel completely powerless."

Catherine and Matt are on their way into town when they're diverted at Finlayson Arm along Highway 1 and stop during their drive to survey Goldstream river, engorged with fuel - "The river was thick with it, the stench of the air was just incredible. During about the 7 or 10 minutes that we stood near the river the quantity of fuel was just incredible." says Matt.

At 9:30, BC Highway News reports that the Malahat is "Closed in both directions at Goldstream Provincial Park because of Collision." A quick search on twitter seems to indicate that no-one is aware of the leak as of 10:20pm, and CFAX says there are reports of fuel leaking into the river.

The highway is infamous for accidents, mainly due to weather and disjointed design, characterized by sharp turns and blind corners. In an '00 to '04 study, the yearly accident average was 56, with 5 fatal and 265 total incidents, with the section in question (Finlayson Arm) showing the highest numbers. A '99 to aught-eight coroner's report cites 7 deaths in the Malahat area. Despite maintenance and several attempts at improvement, this section of highway remains one of the most dangerous in BC.

At 11:10, a Times Colonist reports Lanford Fire Dept. assistant chief Goeff Spriggs saying a "significant" amount of fuel has leaked into the river. A Twitter search gathers posts from CFAX, The Q, the TC, and various people, mostly in regards to the traffic interruption, but the leak is confirmed.

And so the story breaks. By now, we're all familiar with the news – but for Catherine and Matt this evening is and always will be raw, a vivid memory hidden within the bare facts.

Read More

Promises, Promises.

Updating will begin Saturday the 16th. For the next little while, they will be The Watchdog columns from Monday Magazine. The column is written by one of the Victoria Votes crew, and will focus on local issues.

Once the municipal election is a little closer, more posts will happen.

VV

Read More