The week - October 2

All quiet on the downtown front

There has been much chatter about the city’s recent proposal to shutter a number of downtown eateries by 1 a.m. to curtail the rowdy behaviour of the post-bar crowd, whose antics city staff have deemed “an unnecessary burden on our police department.”

Hoping that city policy is adopted using an evidence-based approach, Monday asked the city’s director of legislative and regulatory services how city hall intends to measure the success of said bylaw if it comes into force.

Rob Woodland says the efficacy of the bylaw will be measured by logging the “number of complaint calls to Victoria city police for nuisance, mischief, etc, around the establishments that would be subject to the regulation” and comparing those to current numbers.

But with the bars still disgorging patrons at 2 a.m., and the city already befreft of adequate transportation on a busy night, where does the city expect the drunken hordes to go? And what of councillor Sonya Chandler’s remark that this move may just drive a greater volume of people to the core’s 24-hour convenience stores?

“That’s a legitimate point, and we’ll have to monitor that to see whether it does start to become a problem,” says Woodland. “We may have to wade into that area of regulation down the road if we start to get problems in those locations.”

And here we thought selling the city to condominium developers was supposed to increase life downtown.

Bear Mountain rumbles again

It seems someone in the provincial government has an enduring interest in seeing Bear Mountain get the 267-hectare urban containment boundary expansion its principals have lobbied for since March 2006—how else to explain provincial community development minister Blair Lekstrom’s announcement, at the close of the UBCM convention in Penticton, that he would send the matter to binding arbitration?

The issue centres around the wishes of Highlands mayor Mark Cardinal and the cadre of Highlands councillors sympathetic to the interests of Len Barrie and co., to see the CRD’s regional growth strategy amended to permit a proposed Bear Mountain development to hook into CRD water and sewer services.

The proposed amendment—called a context statement—was first defeated when 9 of 13 CRD municipalities voted it down. As is customary, a facilitator was brought in to propose alternative options, none of which were deemed satisfactory to Highlands council, and the issue was deferred for study under the CRD’s five-year review—until Friday, that is, when Lekstrom brought it back from the dead with the announced arbitration.

Some in the Highlands, however, wonder how objective the arbitration process will be (arbitrator Glen Sigurdson’s impartiality notwithstanding), given the almost $45,000 Bear Mountain has donated to the Liberal Party (records end at 2007), and the unknown amount raised on the party’s behalf at a recent $10,000-per-plate fundraising shindig for the Libs held at Barrie’s Alan Lowe-designed villa atop the hillside.

Highlands council voted on Monday night to send a letter to Lekstrom requesting the minister explain his reasons for sending the issue to arbitration and proposing alternative means to settle the issue.

For his part, Lekstrom told Monday it was clear the CRD board would not be able to work the issue out on its own, and arbitration was the only option to resolve it quickly so as not to burden new councils with it after the November elections.

Election Notes: Don’t believe the hype

• Following the rather unceremonious withdrawal of NDP candidate Julian West from the Saanich Gulf-Islands electoral race after he misplaced his pants in 1996, Monday couldn’t help but wonder what would become of the votes that would have gone Mr. West’s way on election day. Would NDP brass encourage members to direct their now-orphaned votes to a new home?

Well, as it turns out, NDP voters in the riding will be free of party interference to cast their ballots for whatever candidate best reflects the least-worst option, according to the riding association’s president.

“The party is simply recommending that people exercise their vote any way they choose and there is no recommendations and no political deals with other parties,” says Bill Graham. “It’s simply that every voter should make their own decision.”

• While Newfoundland premier Danny Williams continues his “Anything But Conservative” campaign to convince Canadian voters to abandon Stephen Harper’s party at the polls, noted local sustainability guru Guy Dauncey launched his own ABC campaign this week by distributing his list of candidates he wants to see elected on Vancouver Island. Here’s what Dauncey had to say. “In Saanich/Gulf Islands, vote for Briony Penn (Liberal). In Victoria, vote for Denise Savoie (NDP). In Esquimalt June de Fuca, vote for Keith Martin (Liberal). In Nanaimo-Cowichan, vote for Jean Crowder (NDP). In Nanaimo/Alberni, vote for Zeni Maartman (NDP). In Vancouver Island North, vote for Catherine Bell (NDP).”

Some might be surprised at Dauncey’s recommendation to send Martin back to Ottawa given the doubts the veteran MP has expressed about the necessity of a new sewage treatment system in the region, but Dauncey defended his choices, writing that the Conservatives would only “accelerate the very behaviour that got us into this hole, and have no credible plans to tackle climate change.”

• UVic political scientist Dennis Pilon (let it be said here that Pilon is the only UVic prof specializing in Canadian elections, hence the extensive Pilon quotes in the local media) issued a warning this week that Canadian voters should take all published poll results with a grain of salt the size of Utah.

“The main problem is that these instruments aren’t nearly as precise as the people that use them pretend they are,” says Pilon, referring specifically to a number of recent polls that paint the picture of a large Tory lead. “And [pollsters] pretend they are because they sell them. A really disturbing trend that has emerged over the last 15 years is that most polling companies don’t report undecideds anymore. When the pollster says “How are you going to vote?” and the person says “I don’t know,” the pollster says, “Well, which party are you leaning toward?” and they take that information and just lump it in with those who responded to the original question. Well, that’s pretty distorted, but of course it leads to more compelling results.”

• On the municipal front, last Friday was supposed to mark the kick-off of the municipal Green Party’s Victoria campaign, but the official event was postponed by the impending arrival of Green candidate Philippe Lucas’ first child (no word by press time on the outcome of that event).

So instead of a campaign kick-off, the handful of people who ventured down to Green Party headquarters at 959 Fort Street were able to hear informal presentations from Portland, Oregon urban revitalization guru Mark Lakeman and Maeve Lydon, co-manager of the GroundWorks Learning Centre, talking about what it takes to build healthy communities.

Funny that on the doorstep of an election—the most staid and ritualistic type of political participation—what Lakeman proposed sounded suspiciously like direct action.

Speaking of his own Portland experience, Lakeman said, “Really, it began with civil disobedience, breaking laws, and then quickly seeing those laws changed because of what we did . . . It is one’s birthright to create place.”

Lakeman told those assembled that most of the restrictions under which we live were created without our permission, and so “getting beyond asking for permission” can be an important first step in building the type of community you wish to see.

Incumbent Green councillor Sonya Chandler used the meeting to press the need for a more cooperative approach at city hall, telling those gathered that there was never a time the current council sat down to discuss their values and vision for the city.

• Anyone interested in making their mark on the city’s political scene starting with the November 15 municipal election has until October 10 to get all the appropriate paperwork to city hall. As of press time, there were 21 unconfirmed names on the list of locals who’ve expressed interest in a spot around the council table, and five gunning for Alan Lowe’s job.