A small selection of the emails received over the past few days. Public engagement does not end with the August 10th feedback deadline – the Mayor and pro-replacement Councillors still must convince a majority of voters to support borrowing an historical amount of money in the November referendum. [...]
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Here is a selection of recent letters and comments, and thank you to everyone who has provided feedback – it is always welcome. While the City of Victoria has extended its public engagement and survey to August 3rd, plenty of people have been weighing in with emails, and comments on the website. Our supplemental survey has over 500 downloads – it will be interesting to see how many reach City Hall, and how they are included as information to council on August 12th. [...] I actually laughed out loud while reading the mailer I received from the City of Victoria entitled “The Future of the Johnson Street Bridge.” It was a political document pretending to be a call for public input. The publication is replete with threats and fear-mongering. “If nothing is done to address the Johnson Street Bridge within in the next two years it will face closure,” the city threatens. Write back to city council if you want, but you should know the decision’s already been made. [...] The City must receive responses by August 3. Please complete the City’s survey, and the supplementary survey, put them together in the same envelope, and get them in the mail right away! [...] A greater principle is also at stake here. Governments have a duty to thoroughly explore simpler, less-costly solutions to problems, before throwing millions of dollars at more expensive ones. Relying on a “quick” analysis that a cheaper solution won’t work is not acceptable. If the City is unwilling to try fixing obvious, existing problems, how can citizens believe that it will be able to successfully execute a far larger and more costly project? [...] The Johnson Street Bridge petition campaign collected over 10 000 signatures against the proposed borrowing bylaw, and one of the primary reasons voters signed was concern over transparency and public input. The week following the release of the petition results, Ross Crockford and Yule Heibel (.ORG directors) met with Mayor Dean Fortin, City Manager Gail Stephens, Director of Operations Peter Sparanese and Jaime Matten, the Mayor’s assistant, to highlight this issue and offer solutions – open the meetings of the Citizen Advisory Panel to the public, provide comprehensive minutes, and allow public input into the decision process. [...]  Nathan Holth, the webmaster behind historicbridges.org, has posted a critique on City of Victoria plans to replace Victoria’s Johnson Street Bridge. His post points out the flaws in information gathering, representation of expert engineering firms, and presentation that lead City of Victoria Council to the original decision for bridge replacement. [...] In a Christmas Eve email Geoff Young responded to the many letters he has received over the City of Victoria’s comparison of Johnson Street Bridge repair vs replacement numbers. The document “Johnson Street Bridge: By the Numbers” was published by the City of Victoria just prior to the December 10th Council meeting – Article and Videos – during which Councillor Young introduced a motion to seek independent consultation on the current plans to replace the bridge. [...] In the wake of her November visit, Sharon Wood Wortman wrote an important letter to the Times-Colonist. The paper didn’t publish her commentary, so we are publishing it here for our readers. [...] The only way for citizens to express an opinion about the city’s plan to borrow $42 million for this new bridge is by signing petitions through the alternative approval process, a process controlled by the city, but under which citizens have to do all the work. [...] |
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