Re: Mayor’s good intentions paved way to defeat (News, Nov. 26)
Letter-writer Gordon Pollard has it half right. Victoria’s outgoing mayor, Dean Fortin, is a very decent, hard-working and well-intentioned man who performed admirably as executive director of the Burnside Gorge Community Centre and as a city councillor. His generosity and passion will be missed.
Where Pollard misses the mark is with regard to Mayor Fortin’s handling of the “big-ticket issues.”
Unlike those in the chair before him, Fortin faced the issue of the city’s seriously deteriorating infrastructure, including the Johnson Street Bridge.
Although the politicians of today may use this project for their own gain, the reality is that future generations of Victorians (including taxpayers, mayors and councillors) have Fortin to thank for directing overdue attention to some of our city’s most critical – and least politically rewarding – projects.
On affordable housing, pipelines and oil-tankers, city parks and green-space, Canada Post taking away services, a vibrant downtown core boasting a population boom to over 7,000 people and on transportation; Mayor Fortin got the big and small ticket items right.
We can only hope that the incoming elected officials in all jurisdictions have the same courage and foresight as Dean Fortin.
Ryan Painter, Victoria