Every day, every medium in Greater Victoria (and, I’m sure, elsewhere), has stories about the homeless. None of these stories talk about the fact that there are two types of homeless people.
One group consists of law-abiding, rational, reasonable citizens who are, through bad luck, not able to afford a place to live. They would like to work but can’t, or have jobs that do not pay enough to allow them to pay rent in Greater Victoria. They cause no problems to their neighbours, and want nothing more than to be able to survive.
The second group consists of drug addicts and alcoholics, and/or those who have no interest in working. They wouldn’t take a job if it were offered. They break into cars and homes, they prey on their fellows, they intimidate everyone with whom they come in contact.
Unfortunately, the second group gives the other 10 percent a bad name.
Ian Cameron
Brentwood Bay
Crying foul over political ad
I see in January of this year our town crier asked for a raise to $3,000. Our Mayor Steve Price not only agreed but bumped it up another 20 per cent. Now at election time I see an ad with Kenny Podmore endorsing the mayor about all the wonderful things Steve has accomplished.
I thought the position of Town Crier was a politically neutral one. I guess the extra 20 per cent raise covered the cost of the ad.
One more thing, do we need a town crier? Seems to be enough whining about the present counsel that we should not have to pay for a crier.
Chris Bradley
Sidney
Keep your butts off the streets
A big thank you to the people who were out cleaning our streets last Sunday. Is there a bylaw against throwing garbage like cigarette butts and gum on the street? How about a neighbour who throws cigarette butts from his balcony to our driveway and the front street? There should be a way of training these people. We have a town that is well looked after, like our flower beds etc. and we want to keep it that way. What can we do?
Bertha McCrea
Sidney