Correspondence from Keith Sketchley regarding Handibus Facility

Good for you but - Handibus facility in View Royal

It is good of you to over-rule View Royal town council on siting of a new Handibus facility.

But it illustrates the tyranny of municipal government in BC – you should curb powers, leaving much more to individuals.

View Royal town council pandered to NIMBYs, whose arguments are usually fallacious, whose agenda is to control others’ property at no cost to themselves..

I’ve pointed View Royal town council to the reality of that location at present – already busy, with a traffic signal light already in place. I don’t see how a few dozen or so small busses who are out and about most of the day would make much difference.

View Royal would get more jobs, but I understand the cheapskate BC government does not pay for the services it gets, unlike the federal government which does pay much. (Services include fire and police protection, liquid utilities, and upkeep of roads.) Of course using the land as a park would cost View Royal money – some municipalities are even turning down no-charge donations of parkland for that reason.

(I’m not supporting clumsiness in dealing with View Royal, but residents need to get perspective – do they want services like Handibus and transit busses or not?)

PS: A disadvantage of that site is access to H1. Helmcken or Admirals/McKenzie or Tillicum would give better access but I do not know if there is any land there large enough for the facility. But Handibus is not an emergency service, unlike BC ambulance, and shouldn’t be sitting waiting as ambulances will be (though if there is a gap in need they could sit somewhere else and relax.

PPS: There is a problem of unskilled Handibus drivers, who unwisely enter long driveways, and park two doors down the street and expect their customer to hobble to them, for example. But hey! BC Transit bus drivers run stop signs and speed in playground zones despite the new CEO claiming that all employees are perfect. That’s a policing problem not a zoning problem, View Royal does not provide enough money for policing.

AND: Victoria General Hospital is an example of cheapskate government. (But note that contrary to claims its height does not necessitate a more expensive fire truck as they need to be of a certain minimum capability, its volume may necessitate more general capability close to it, the closest fire halls I can think of beyond Island Highway via Helmcken are Langford on Millstream and Saanich on Vernon, perhaps Colwwod and View Royal could collaborate (they should merge anyway), or Saanich and View Royal should collaborate by adding one on the north side of the freeway, given the schools west of McKenzie in Saanich and housing in the area in Saanich and the housing multiplying along the freeway in View Royal.)

Humans are inherently good, but to thrive need protection against coercion by those who err. http://www.moralindividualism.com

Keith Sketchley, Saanich BC