Wonderful sequoias are great to look at
If someone were coming to visit us and had not spent time in Victoria before, I would take them downtown at night to show them the pretty lights — any time of year — but of course, the lights are especially lovely during the holiday season.
Then I would probably take them on a tour of the amazing sequoia trees in the city. If they were from away, for sure they would never have seen anything quite as amazing.
There’s one at Oak Bay High School, one near the Royal Jubilee Hospital, one beside the Continuing Studies building at the University of Victoria and, of course, the especially amazing 70-foot tree in Centennial Square.
Why would city council consider cutting any of those down?
If you lived in Paris, would you have them dismantle the Eiffel Tower?
If you lived in Niagara Falls, would you put up a dam to stop the water?
If you lived in Egypt, would you knock down the pyramids?
Those sequoias are outstanding, and they grew naturally in the city.
Please do all you possibly can to keep them safe and intact!
Jean Jenkins
Victoria
Responsible budgeting explained for council
Victoria is looking at an estimated 12% increase to property taxes for the coming year.
How did council come up with this number? It appears that throughout the year council approved all the projects they wanted, looked at the cost, and then tried to figure out how they (we) were going to pay for everything.
The only way to pay for everything is through property taxes and that means a 12% increase. People are finding it hard to make ends meet already, and a tax increase of 12% is especially onerous.
A more responsible approach to budgeting would be to determine how much property owners can reasonably afford. For instance, council could determine that a 5% increase to taxes is all that property owners are comfortable with.
As inflation is at two per cent, there would be three per cent available for new projects over the coming year. If council cannot cover the cost of all the new projects, then they have to drop or delay some of the projects in order to hold to the three per cent target.
This is a rather simplistic description of an alternative budgeting model, but the current model is not sustainable.
Michael Shepherd
Victoria
A new year surprise for a dog walker
I am senior and the owner of a beautiful dog.
On New Year’s morning I was walking my pup at Oswald Park when I found a handcrafted, specialty bag, designed specifically for dog walking.
At first I thought someone must have lost it. But when I read the tags and the message, it was clear the artist and designer, Susan Romphf, left it there as a gift for someone to find and I was the lucky “finder.”
Susan calls it a Magbag. It’s made with cork, has a stitched message and beautiful hardware.
What a wonderful way to start the New Year with this unexpected gift. It warms my heart to know unconditional giving is alive and well in our beautiful city of Victoria.
Thank you Susan for your generosity!
Danielle Lavoie
Victoria
Most of the residents like the way things are
Re: “In the quest to remake Saanich, think small,” commentary, Dec. 29.
Bravo to Will Krzymowski for stating what is well-known and obvious to professional planners, but suppressed by terrified municipal councillors.
Saanich is not alone in this regard, where the bulk of the constituency wants nothing to change anywhere near where they live, drive or play.
Oak Bay comes to mind.
David Wilkinson
retired architect
Oak Bay
Streamline economies, but keep the border
I find it very difficult to believe, as some people claim, that a growing number of Canadians are embracing the notion of sa国际传媒 becoming the 51st state of the United States.
I recognize the fact that combining the U.S. and Canadian economies would make us the strongest economy on earth but I can’t imagine that the majority of Canadians would welcome the crime, corruption and exploding immigration problem over the Mexican border that is overwhelming the U.S.
The best thing that the incoming Trump administration can do is drop this ridiculous notion of imposing a 25% tariff on Canadian imports into the U.S., work to streamline the Canadian and U.S. economies and leave the northern border in place so that Canadians can continue to enjoy the quality of life that we all cherish.
Paul Arnold
Saanich
Percentage increases hurt the poor more
January each year brings the tyranny of “percentage increases,” an unjust system that rewards the rich and punishes the poor. From cost-of-living adjustments to tax-free allowances and tax brackets, our economic system is based on percentage increases that over time widens the gap between the haves and have-nots.
The best way to fight income disparity would be to give lump sum increases rather than percentage increases. That way over time the gap between the rich and poor would shrink rather than grow.
Inflation impacts the poor far more than it impacts the rich but our percentage increase system keeps exacerbating the income gap. When you start with a small amount and an increase is based on a percentage, the result will always be a small amount.
However the same percentage applied against a large amount will always result in a proportionally larger increase. Once you are wealthy enough to start saving, your needs for increased income decreases compared to those who are too poor to even make ends meet.
Therefore governments should make all inflation fighting increases into lump sum amounts rather than percentages. That way we could help the less fortunate to catch up.
S.I. Petersen
Nanaimo
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