Month: July 2010

Victoria in a single image

Victoria in a single image
Victoria, at least the tourist parts, in a single image. We have the Legislature Buildings, Queen Victoria, the pride flag, palm trees, a totem pole, tourists, the harbour, and a bagpiper. All I am missing is a Kabuki Kab, a horse-drawn carriage, and the Empress.

Council asks for feedback on proposed bike lanes

The great disappearing bike lane on Foul Bay Rd.
The great disappearing bike lane on Foul Bay Rd.

It seems those bike lane improvements I mentioned the other day might not be as slow as coming as I had feared. At the time council hesitated, asking for more information about traffic counts and resident feelings. The counting of cars has begun with the engineering department deploying a vehicle counter just south of Middowne and notifying the residents has apparently already happened, as I received in my inbox this notice (PDF) asking for their opinion.

For a quick refresher, the proposed works are:

  1. Completing the bike lane up Foul Bay Rd. northbound and possibly adding a bike box at the intersection with some sort of striping through the intersection itself
  2. Adding a bike lane on Cedar Hill X Rd. between the Saanich border at the intersection with Gordon Head Rd. and the UVic entrance at Henderson Road.

The deadline for getting information back to council is fairly short: you need to send in your comments by 4pm on Thursday, July 8th or by attending the meeting on the 12th of July at 7:30 pm. It will be held in the usual place at the Municipal Hall on at 2167 Oak Bay Ave. Thanks to Lesley Ewing for forwarding this on to me. Hope to see you all there.

A night of fireworks and booze

Canada Day fireworks
Canada Day fireworks

A few days late, but I thought I would share a little bit of my evening on Canada Day. After my little walkabout to the various block parties, I braved the bus to head down to my brother’s for a bit of beer, pizza, and fireworks. While on the trip down I had a few deeply unpleasant experiences with a drunk girl who was extremely aggressive to both me and the poor lady sitting next to me. This made me understand why BC Transit chooses to ban alcohol on the buses on Canada Day, but I am very hesitant to support such a position given I believe it to be unconstitutional.

Interestingly, while the bus was emptied near downtown for a search for alcohol, I ran into Manuel Achadinha, whose day job is CEO of BC Transit. He was out being a transit supervisor for the day on the “worst night of the year” and ,according to another supervisor I spoke to just before midnight, he was still out there. Kudos to him for seeing and helping with what the front line staff (drivers and supervisors) have to deal with.

I got a few pictures of the fireworks and the masses of people (Government St. in front of the Empress was completely packed until about 11pm), so enjoy:

[slickr-flickr tag=”canadadaynight2010″ items=”10″ type=”gallery”]

(These can also be seen in my flickr set)

Marching with HSSE in the 2010 Victoria Pride Parade

Yesterday I went down to the Pride Parade but instead of merely watching, this year I decided to march with Heterosexuals for Same Sex Equality (HSSE). It was a great deal of fun, mostly thanks to Shona Crisp who did all the organizing and networking to get us all out. There are a great deal of other pictures out there on the internet covering the rest of the great parade, such as the Paparazzi float we were a few behind (that was the big truck with the bubble machine, DJ, and people dancing in front with large feather ensembles), so I figured I would put up the HSSE pictures only. Enjoy:

[slickr-flickr tag=”victoriaprideparade2010″ items=”8″ type=”gallery”]

(You can also see them in the flickr set)

Last weekend on Saltspring…

It may sound like the beginning to a great story, but it is really the intro to a series of pictures I took the last Saturday in June when I visited Saltpring Island with two friends. We hit the Saltspring Market, ArtCraft, and a pair of beaches (including one in Ruckle Park. All in all, a great day had by all. Pictures below and in my Flickr set.

[slickr-flickr tag=”saltspringtrip2010″ items=”13″ type=”gallery”]

Langford Mayor Stew Young blogs

I failed to notice this earlier this year, but as of March 2010, the Mayor of Langford, Stew Young, has got himself a blog. It is mostly puff pieces and is likely written by the City of Langford’s communications/pr department. This is marked difference to John Luton’s and Cairine Green’s blogs, which are both written by them. Another key difference: John and Cairine actually update their blogs. As of this writing, John updated his today, talking about 2-laning the Johnson St. bridge, and Cairine with an update on June 21st about a recent council meeting.