Re: “The lost and damaged of Pandora should be in involuntary care,” column, June 22.
Thank you, Gene Miller.
This really needed to be said. Unfortunately there is little hope of any of the suggested solutions being implemented. The problems in Victoria that are spoken about in this column will unfortunately remain.
The rabidly woke portion of our population will ensure that any solutions suggested will not be implemented. Some believe that the unhoused are better off living on the streets where they are free — free to commit acts of violence.
How can this be preferred over being housed in secure facilities? We need to have secure, humanely run, locked facilities once again.
Deinstitutionalization was one of the worst decisions our governments made. Add to that the drug situation and we will continue to have street chaos.
Yvonne Andre
Campbell River
Re: “The lost and damaged of Pandora should be in involuntary care,” column, June 22.
Gene Miller’s column on the never-ending saga of Pandora Avenue highlights not only the problem but the lack of significant change over many years. He had the guts to be straightforward while suggesting some solution-oriented changes that should quickly evolve past long-winded action plans to real change that needs to be given high priority.
Having worked for more than 40 years as a counsellor and supervisor in mental health, addiction and employee assistance programs, up until now my experience and knowledge in the field has fallen on deaf ears.
Of course, the big question is, how do we move from good ideas to actually doing something about it? Moving Our Place from Pandora to another non-city-centre location only makes sense. Probably more but much smaller venues would be a good start.
Involuntary care should not be reserved for such a small minority as to render it irrelevant.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is showing us how to make significant changes within short time frames. For so many reasons, we are looking at an emergency situation that not only punishes those with the biggest problems but all of us for our misdirected approaches that make us feel better but alas only perpetuate the problem.
An immediate co-ordinated approach must be given high priority that could quickly be developed into a model for not only our local folks but for the country to emulate.
Ron O’Brien
Sooke
Re: “B.C. Aviation Museum is booming since the arrival of the Martin Mars,” May 4.
Glenn Martin was my cousin! I am from Bellevue, Washington, and I am eagerly arriving at the Air Museum to see the Martin Hawaii Mars this week and am totally awed by the wonderful photography, videos and stories regarding the history and service to the navy during the Second World War.
As a child, I lived in Baltimore, across from the Martin Co. on Chesapeake Bay, where my dad, Daniel Boone Allison, was the attorney for the Martin Aircraft Co. during the development of the Mars.
I often heard my mother speak about the Mars, and now, with all of the great stories, I can hardly wait to see it in person.
I spent a lot of time with my cousin Glenn Martin in Los Angeles in 1955. I was very honoured to attend the aeronautical convention where Bill Boeing, Donald Douglas, Howard Hughes and other amazing people producing our aircraft were featured.
In October 1955, Glenn came to Seattle and spoke at a church, telling the congregation that man would be on the moon by the year 2000. The crowd booed him fiercely in total disbelief. Ah yes, man arrived on the moon in 1969.
Thanks to the Coulsons and everybody who worked hard to make both the Hawaii Mars and the Philippine Mars fly again and available for the public to share their incredible gift to transport navy personnel in the Second World War, then Korea and Vietnam.
Thank you!
Sue Allison Campbell
Bellevue, Washington
No doubt many people welcome the bombing of Iran to prevent the development of nuclear weapons. In retrospect, would the world be better off today if some country had bombed Israel before it could develop nuclear weapons?
Ken Hiebert
Ladysmith
I am a retired teacher. I worked in Victoria. About 13 years ago, my elementary school had a pilot project for recyclables and food waste.
One of biggest problems were fruit flies in the classroom. It was very time-consuming for the teacher washing out the containers. The other problem was food waste. Many students do not eat all the food and throw it away. That becomes a problem with the parents because they do not see what their children are eating.
The Grade 5 students were involved with sorting containers. Lots of containers were not cleaned properly and the smell was disgusting. Our school decided to do pack in-pack out. Students brought their recycling back home in their lunchboxes.
I appreciate the values of recycling and teaching students. I did not appreciate having to volunteer my precious time during my lunch break as a teacher every day to deal with garbage.
Theresa Pollard
Victoria
Re: “Throw a bone to Saanich dog owners,” letter, June 18.
You should know large dog-walking areas already exist and they’re called doggy daycares.
I have enjoyed dogs playing throughout Victoria for decades, but especially on Dallas Road on a sunny day. Good therapy for animals and humans to see joy manifest from dogs of every size, shape and description. Now that the city has put up the fence to encourage dog owners to keep things safe, it’s even better.
Whether you like and support it or vice versa, dogs are a huge part of our social fabric and are here to stay. Encouraging others to exercise their dogs adequately benefits all in the long run with less bad behaviour such as jumping and barking.
Ben Kersen
Victoria
Re: “B.C. hospital overwhelmed by mentally ill offenders: report,” June 23.
An independent tribunal says B.C. needs a second forensic psychiatric hospital and more residential community programs for violent offenders.
On Sunday, in theTimes Colonist,Gene Miller made an argument for involuntary carefor those who are most disruptive to society and themselves.
On Friday, in theTimes Colonist,there was a report of a man(not “they”) who had damaged cars and windows. “He was taken into custody on pre-existing warrants and later released while the investigation into Friday’s vandalism continues.” He was released! This says a lot about how steep the mountain ahead is going to get.
In the meantime, this city’s mayor and council appear to be passing the buck and not pounding on the doors of those who might help bring this insanity to an end.
Mark Engels
Fairfield
Re: “Woss man sent by taxi to Victoria hospital — a $2,148 round-trip fare,” June 18.
Nigel Poulton argued that Island Health overpaid taxis to transport him 790 kilometres between Woss, on northern Vancouver Island, and Victoria, for medical treatment.
This debate over taxi fares ignores the larger problem, the inadequacy of public transit services on Vancouver Island. Rather than providing special, high-cost services just for medical patients, more frequent and affordable bus services could benefit everybody.
B.C. Transit currently offers only four daily bus trips between Duncan and Victoria, with no evening or Sunday services, and $10 one-way fares, making transit unsuitable for most trips. Transit connections between other Island communities are equally sparse and expensive.
In contrast, there are 43 daily buses connecting Sooke and Victoria, with $3 one-way fares. Because the service is frequent and affordable, they carry 22 per cent of peak-period travellers on that highway, indicating that many rural residents will use buses if they are convenient.
The current NDP/Green governance agreement commits the province to provide frequent and affordable transit connecting Island communities this year.
Once that promise is fulfilled, north and central Island residents will be able to visit Victoria for services, business and fun, and residents and tourists from here can enjoy our entire Island without needing a car.
Every year, the B.C. government spends billions of dollars on highways and hundreds of millions of dollars on urban transit, but only a few million dollars on interregional bus services.
It’s time for rural communities to get their fair share of transit investments.
Todd Litman, president
Better Island Transit
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