Seeing Jo Campbell’s compassion My encounter with Jo Campbell was at a charity banquet. There was a silent auction featuring among many glamorous items a chocolate Santa Claus about a foot high.
My encounter with Jo Campbell was at a charity banquet. There was a silent auction featuring among many glamorous items a chocolate Santa Claus about a foot high.
Many people were bidding on the Santa but as time wore on they dropped out one by one, eventually leaving only Jo and yours truly.
From time to time either one of us would go and up our bid, until finally we happened to arrive together.
Jo, not realizing she was face to face with her opponent, said “I want this for my grandchildren.” I replied “and I want it for the children in the Transition House.”
Jo never raised her bid and I took the Santa Claus for the children in the home for abused and battered women.
That is the person she was, a lady of grace and compassion. I shall never forget her.
May you rest in peace, Jo Campbell.
Elizabeth Chatfield
Victoria
Two women were savagely stabbed on Pandora Avenue last Wednesday. We were told the incidents were unrelated, but we all know they were related to the drug culture on Pandora that continues to be enabled by the cabal on Victoria council and Island Health.
The cabal on city council recently adopted a so-called safety plan that will cost taxpayers $10 million to continue the woke policies that caused the drug and savage crime problem in the first place. Anybody who has read the plan already knows it is about doling out cash to feckless freeloaders and decriminalized drug service providers.
On Thursday, councillors Marg Gardiner and Stephen Hammond pointed out the main culprit that has worsened the state of Pandora Avenue into a cesspool of violent crime — Island Health’s drug den they euphemistically label a “safe injection site.”
The cabal on council blocked this sensible motion calling for closing that drug den. So now we have seriously large amounts of property-tax dollars handed out with no possibility of solving the problem of safety on Pandora.
I hope the CEO of Island Health is aware of the sensible request to have that drug den closed. The narrow-minded ideology of saving violent criminals and drug addicts from themselves at the hardship of decent folks who pay everybody’s salary is wrong.
That woke experiment failed our city and communities. The Island Health drug den must be closed.
Michael Muret
Victoria
Walking to the dentist a few days ago, I saw a lineup of people waiting to get a table at a popular brunch spot. They were mostly young and looking forward to a good, trendy meal.
About 10 steps away was a young woman of about the same age sitting among her scattered possessions and bent over in despair.
Ignored. The contrast was striking.
On my way home, I stopped to chat with the lone “vagrant,” curious to know if she was doing OK.
She was not. She told me she had been robbed.
Struck by her vulnerability, I asked if she knew of a shelter. “I got robbed there too.” Then she asked if I could get her something to eat. There was a market nearby so I went to get her some items.
When I returned, she had tidied up her things and was standing, waiting for me. Her eyes lit up when I gave her the food and she bit into the sandwich immediately.
I asked if she could make it to Our Place for a meal and she answered that she got confused about whether it was open. She said she was from Victoria and I wondered if she was too afraid of being robbed again to risk walking down the gauntlet of lost souls en route to help.
Unsure about what more to offer, I encouraged her to reach out for the help that was available. She told me I had already helped a lot.
I continued on my way, wondering why we are quick to assist animals in need of care but often ignore our fellow humans in need.
Nancy Brooks
Victoria
I recently received a letter from the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles reminding me to take the driver’s medical examination.
I had done that seven months earlier. I checked and my doctor’s office had sent in the completed form immediately.
I believe that the concept of this program is useful, but is it much use if a doctor states that the person should not be driving and the form is just piled up in some bureaucrat’s office for a year?
This program is obviously ineffective and wasteful of taxpayers’ money in the way it is being run.
Can the managers learn from many companies, such as Amazon or Canadian Tire, who automatically track their customers’ spending and direct advertising to specific individuals? The program is directed to elderly drivers, but should it also be directed to drivers of all ages who have psychological/psychiatric issues that cause them to drive without due care for pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers?
I see that problem every day in Victoria.
Kenneth Mintz
Victoria
Re: “Municipal salaries need to be reined in,” editorial, July 11.
The editorial about municipal salary levels included a barb about the “ridiculous plan to block two of the four lanes on McKenzie Avenue,” referring to the proposed establishment of Rapidbus service along McKenzie with dedicated bus lanes.
Between 2011 and 2022 vehicle mode share in Saanich fell 11% while active transportation increased 53%.
All residents, including drivers, benefit from the resulting reduction in traffic and parking congestion, improved public health and safety, emissions reductions, and cost savings. Current ridership data for McKenzie Avenue shows about 50% of peak period road users are on a bus, a surprising statistic to most of us who count vehicles rather than people.
The introduction of Rapidbus service will increase transit ridership significantly, reducing congestion for those who prefer to drive. We have made progress on our regional transportation goals and can continue to improve conditions for everyone, with improved transit being a critical component.
While I am no expert on municipal compensation levels, I do hope civic salaries are enough to attract those who understand the basics of urban transportation.
Rob Bernhardt
Saanich
I recently wrote a letter explaining that, while climate change will result in more frequent heat waves, the June 2021 heat dome was such an extraordinarily rare and extreme event that it would likely be hundreds of years before we experience such an event again in Victoria, even with the impacts of climate change.
Someone responded in a letter that the World Weather Attribution Group (WWAG) estimated that in a world with 2 C warming (which we’re likely to reach by the 2040s), such an event could be expected every five to 10 years.
The letter-writer used this study as proof that my original claim was incorrect, but they seem to have misinterpreted the data — as have many in the media when discussing this report.
The WWAG estimate of a re-occurrence every five to 10 years refers to this kind of event occurring somewhere in the world. Being generous, the 2021 heat dome was felt over an area of roughly 1,500 kilometres by 1,500 kilometres, or 2.25 million square kilometres. The most extreme temperature anomalies were felt in a much smaller area centred on our region.
That represents about 1.5% of the world’s 149 million square kilometre land area. Weather events like this tend to be distributed fairly randomly, so if an event is forecast to occur somewhere in the world every five to 10 years, then as a rough order of magnitude estimate, we would expect to experience it in our region about once every 333 years to 666 years.
In fact, it was the WWAG report that I used to estimate that it would likely be hundreds of years before Victoria experiences another heat event as extreme as 2021.
Steven Murray
Victoria
If Victoria citizens are against city council changing Centennial Square, they should also be against council for approving all kinds of unnecessary work, like developments of high apartment and condo towers that only rich immigrants can afford, and doing away with street lanes and parking lots and street spaces frustrating already unhappy drivers.
Council should be cancelled altogether since they don’t know how to run this city. It’s time for a new bunch of city operators who would be working for city residents instead of for their own silly interests.
William Kral
Victoria
• Email:[email protected]
• Mail: Letters to the editor, Times Colonist, 201-655 Tyee Rd., Victoria, B.C. V9A 6X5
• Aim for no more than 250 words; subject to editing for length and clarity.