It seems to me that what we need in Saanich is exactly what Mayor Richard Atwell and his group are putting together, a cohesive group that will finally bring change to hidebound council. I attended the all candidate meeting last week and for the most part the candidates were a rational group apart from a couple proposing to lower speed limits to 30, 40 even 15 kilometers and adding a plethora of bike lanes so that commuters would be stuck in traffic forever. Bike lanes will work on secondary streets but have no place on major commuter routes.
I was really surprised that one of the mayoralty candidates presented himself as a modern day King Arthur and that without him the current council would have been a failure. After his fourth or fifth “I did this or I was the only one” I tuned him out. Although the council was somewhat dysfunctional it certainly didn’t revolve around Fred Haynes.
Atwell may not be perfect but he offers an opportunity to finally get things done in Saanich and move it forward.
Chris Sheldon
Saanich