Homegrown talent ignored in ferry purchase
Re: 鈥淣orway leads the way with zero-emission ferries,鈥� letter, Jan. 30.
It would be interesting to hear a much more detailed rationale from sa国际传媒 Ferries, and from the sa国际传媒 government, about the bypassing of Ballard, a homegrown pioneer in energy-saving motive power, and sa国际传媒 Ferries鈥� purchase of two new hybrid ferries in Romania. Are they better 鈥� or just cheaper 鈥� than any homegrown alternative?
Far from cheering the new ferries鈥� arrival on the back of a transporter all the way across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and up the Pacific, I found it sad to see yet more foreign-made goods displacing homegrown talent and effort, being piggybacked all the way from Europe.
Was it 鈥� as with the Johnson Street Bridge 鈥� just money? I haven鈥檛 noticed a shortage of that in sa国际传媒
In a demonstrably changing economic聽world, plus global warming, isn鈥檛 the chief priority to actively encourage homegrown Canadian talent? At whatever cost?
It鈥檚 here in spades. It鈥檚 the ultimate source of pride 鈥� and more business. Yet so often, it鈥檚 trumped by money, and fear of having less.
Ian Laval
Brentwood Bay
Create homes for all before luxury hotels
How lovely to 鈥渦sher in鈥� yet another destination and landmark to our beautiful city.
It is puzzling to me that average-income people are living in their vehicles while our Victoria Downtown Residents Association hosts Merchant House Capital鈥檚 pitch to build a 20-storey luxury hotel catering to business travellers and the tech industry.
Am I missing something? How does this fulfil the Victoria Downtown Residents Association mission statement to promote a diverse, vibrant and safe downtown?
What I am not missing when I dig a little deeper is that Merchant House is dedicated, and I quote, 鈥渢o create a positive outcome for investors.鈥�
Who, I wonder, is investing where ... and for whom? What kind of city are we creating here? And for whom?
I would also usher and welcome in this trailblazing high-rise if it was built with a different intention.
Meanwhile, every morning as I drive to work, I see tent cities, steamed-up vehicles and motor homes trying their best not to infringe upon the so-called vibrancy of our once-diverse city.
It is shameful we are not first building housing for low- and medium-income residents.
Tracy Wragg
View Royal
We need more vehicle-charging stations
Re: 鈥淲e need more green space, less pavement,鈥� comment, Jan. 29.
I agree that proposed developments should not always be required to have so many parking spaces, but I might also add that for those parking spaces that are installed, there needs to be a requirement for developers to install a higher percentage of electric-charging stations.
In the past few years, there has been a surge of electric vehicles, and often the token two or three charging stations at, for example, some malls, are completely inadequate. I have heard the same complaint for condo developments.
I don鈥檛 mind paying for the juice with my sa国际传媒 Hydro, ChargePoint, or FLO access card 鈥� even if this might one day also include a road-replacement tax.
Jeff Stanhope
North Saanich
It鈥檚 history, so leave it alone
Sorry, but I am getting really upset with all the so-called do-gooders who want to change our history by changing names of buildings or taking down statues.
All that is our history. Is there one individual checking everyone we learned about in school?
Leave well enough alone. Check out some of our prime ministers past and present, you will be surprised.
Charles Benson
Parksville
Emissions from a fleet of feet
While pondering the discussion around free bus passes for youth and Victoria councillor Jeremy Loveday鈥檚 call to shift our transportation investments from higher-emitting types of transportation to lower-emitting ones, I was reminded of my schooldays when most of the student population travelled on a 鈥渇leet of feet.鈥�
Although we weren鈥檛 all necessarily fleet of foot and sometimes had to deal with the consequences, the emissions were definitely lower and easily negated with soap and water and a change of socks.
Paul Redchurch
Oak Bay
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