According to the Oak Bay News, a cyclist was hit at the corner of Beach Drive and Estevan Avenue on Friday. Given the claim of the vehicle running the stop sign, it must have been on Estevan, not Beach Drive. The 32-year-old man apparently tumbled over the hood of the car. This likely means that he was right in fromt of her when she accelerated. Thankfully he apparently wasn’t seriously hurt, although who knows what kinds of long term injuries he might have sustained. As per usual, the drive got off nearly scot free:
The woman, 32, was ticketed for failing to stop.
Image courtesy Streetsblog New York
How about driving without due care? I guess you need to kill somebody before you get this one. As light bedtime reading, I suggest Death of Cyclists in BC, by the Helmet Safety Institute. The report was written by the Chief Coroner of BC’s office and covers accidents from 1986-95. Wonder if the numbers of deaths has gone down since then, given that more cyclists equals less deaths in total. I think I would have to plumb the byzantine depths of ICBC or maybe WCB to get that info. Maybe another day.
The site in Oak Bay is the old orchard on Cedar Hill X Rd near Crestview Rd as can be seen on the right. This is a part of UVic and is a very common dog walking site. I have no idea how much of the site they are planning to use or if the orchard will remain, but I expect at least some of that information will be at the upcoming public consultations. I wonder what Citizen Canine will say about the possibility of using this location.
Fields near McCoy Rd. on UVic property
The second site on UVic lands is near McCoy Road in the fields there. Again, I have no idea how much space they are going to take, but I sincerely hope that they don’t remove the trail that connects to the end of McCoy Road. That is a great biking and walking connection to avoid having to go all the way down to the corner of McKenzie Ave. and Gordon Head Rd.
Haro Woods near UVic
The last site is the previously mentioned lands in Haro Woods that the CRD purchased last year. I don’t know exactly where in Haro Woods, as outlined in yellow in the map on the right, but I know that UVic owns a portion as well. There isn’t much more to say about this, except that it is one of the few pieces of relatively intact forest left in the area. Also, there is a large field on Queen Alexandria lands just across the road. In all the years I have been going up that direction, as I used to go to school at Frank Hobbs elementary, that field has been sitting largely empty. Why not use it?
Haro Woods, because it has been previously announced, has already attracted a lot of attention. There is a Save Haro Woods website, and the Cadboro Bay Residents Association has come out strongly against this site as well, asking for it be turned into a park.
There are two open houses coming up, on the 16th at Gordon Head United Church and the 17th at Cadboro Bay United Church. Both of those forums run 3pm to 8pm. There is also neighbourhood workshop that requires pre-registration on the 22nd of June between 6:30pm and 9pm at the Queenswood Centre. This information and more can be seen on the wasterwatermadeclear’s public forums page. There is also a report from the CRD’s contractor about the feedback from the previous public forums and the principles used in deciding a location.
Personally, I like none of these sites, but I think the orchard site is probably least worst, provided the orchard itself survives and public access for walking dogs is preserved. However, if they do choose the Haro Woods site, they are really setting themselves up to fail. I think we will see UVic students and other environmental activists chaining themselves to equipment and tree sitting, potentially delaying the project months. I almost wonder if this is why the other two spots have just appeared, to avoid that very scenario.
Spring is here and many people have excess plants from their vegetable or flower gardens. Thankfully the Oak Bay Community Association has a solution for you. They are planning on holding plant swaps starting June 25th at the Estevan Food Roots Pocket Market, which runs every Thursday from 3pm to 6pm.The swap itself will only run from 3:30 to 4:30. To kick it all off, there will be a swap this weekend at 2252 Cranmore from 9am to 11am. This is part of the 10th annual Garagelennium, an Oak Bay-wide coordinated garage sale. This year there are almost 100 houses taking part and some donating their profits to charity. Be up early, as the event only runs from 9am to 1pm.
The association also recently launched their website, the Oak Bay Connector, which I have added along with a whole host of other Oak Bay links on the right-hand side. If you see any link that should be there, leave a comment and I can add it.
