Category: Infrastructure
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Thank you Victoria, and Looking Ahead
For those of you who followed me as mayor and would like to continue to follow my blog, thank you. To those of you who no longer wish to hear from me now that I’m no longer mayor, thanks for reading over the years; please unsubscribe if you wish. It’s been an enormous privilege to…
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Federal Budget 2019: Good For Cities
It was my pleasure to welcome the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, the Federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development to Victoria recently where he toured the City’s Public Works yard as well as a BC Transit “smart bus”, and gave an update on Budget 2019, in particular what’s in it for cities. Since…
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Natural Assets and Infrastructure Services: Why Trees Matter
Source unknown. In a heat wave in Montreal in the summer of 2018, more than 50 people died. Most of the people who died were isolated, vulnerable and living alone. But there was another key link among some of the deaths. According to Global News, “Public health also found most of the victims also lived…
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We are all voting for Central Park
I was walking in my neighbourhood this evening and saw signs up that said, “We’re voting Central Park” and fears of loss of green space. There is nothing to fear! At a July 19th Committee of the Whole meeting I made a motion that Council passed unanimously directing staff to come up with a plan…
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New Downtown Location Planned for Victoria Fire Hall and Emergency Operations Centre
Date: Monday, March 19, 2018 For Immediate Release VICTORIA, BC — A new Victoria public safety building will be built downtown under an agreement reached with local developer Dalmatian Developments Limited Partnership, a Jawl Residential and Nadar Holdings Ltd. venture. The state-of-the-art, post-seismic rated facility will be located on Johnson Street as part of a…
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Focussed on the Future: Council Visits Crystal Pool
Council had a tour of Crystal Pool today. I worked with the City Manager to arrange this for today because I thought it was a good idea for Council to tour the facility in advance of having a discussion about it at Thursday’s meeting. And Council held the New Year’s Levy there this year, in…
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Building Better Bridges – Why I Voted Against the Johnson Street Bridge Project
The Johnson Street Bridge replacement project is the talk of the town these days. This past weekend at the Phillips Backyard Weekender people were sipping great local beer and fretting over the potential cost increase of the project. Others said that at a weekend cocktail party, guests had grave concerns about who will pay if…
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Sewage Treatment: CRD Residents Deserve a Better Plan
Two weeks ago, I was invited by Andrew Weaver to be part of a three-person panel at a Public Forum on Sewage Treatment. In front of a standing room only crowd at the Oak Bay Rec Centre, it was clear to me how much passion and anxiety there is about sewage treatment in the CRD.…
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The Future of Crystal Pool
An article in today’s Times Colonist outlines Councillor Ben Isitt’s vision for Crystal Pool. Tonight he’s bringing his vision to Council in a motion calling on city council to affirm the “public ownership and operation” of any Crystal Pool replacement. His touchstone is a motion made by the previous council in October 2011 that “supports retention of…
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Under Funded Capital Projects
In this video I talk briefly about three of the City of Victoria’s underfunded capital projects – Fire Hall No. 1, the Bay Street Bridge, and the Crystal Pool. Last Thursday at Council we received an updated report on the City’s 20 Year Capital Plan. We learned that these key pieces of city infrastructure need to be…
