Re: Twelve for ‘12, (News Jan. 4).
In my view those are mostly apathetic, short-term visions of what is possible over the next three years.
For those of us who made presentations to, or were consulted during the official community plans of the past two years, we find very little of the road maps expected to take us all to an efficient and liveable Capital Region District by 2025.
The one community that really addressed the future was Esquimalt. In a recent media summary, Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins laid out an essential road map which demands action in transportation infrastructure and makes the point that it is a pervasive objective for the Capital Regional District, not just Esquimalt.
That aspect of transportation-oriented development appears briefly in some of the other community to-do lists; but there are far more expressions of retrenchment than of forward vision; how discouraging.
Mind you, our provincial outlook for 2012-13 is yet to be unveiled and there have been few hints. No wonder our community leaders are cautious, having been negatively affected by senior administrations for the past 20 years.
The E&N railway and our rusted-out Johnson Street Bridge are monuments to the neglect of Vancouver Island OCPs.
The non-profit organization, IslandTransformations.Org, calls for the creation of a regional transportation authority not unlike that of the State of Victoria, Australia. I understand that ITO has yet to receive an acknowledgement from any B.C. government official, although there has been support from several CRD councillors.
Let’s hope that Premier Christy Clark will give this region reason to be more optimistic again; we have new mayors and councillors who would like to plan a brighter future than was presented to us in those recent news articles.
Lloyd Skaalen
James Bay