Multiple municipalities add up to frustration


Times Colonist,
July 23, 2014

Re: “Consultant documents bridge ills,” July 20.

While reading this article, I ask myself several questions: Bridges are built by the thousands every year in the world, many of them much more complicated than our small cross-harbour replacement. Why is it so difficult to build this one?

Why after many years and millions of dollars haven’t we been able to put the first stone or dig the first hole of the sewage treatment project? Why after many years of technical, political and grassroots discussions have we not been able to build the bridge to unclog the biggest traffic mess in the Capital Regional District (namely the McKenzie-Trans-Canada Highway intersection)?

Then I realize the problem is not the projects, the problem is not the money, the problem is not the public representation elected to make sometimes tough decisions and take decisive action. The problem lies in all of us: Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay and the endless list of municipalities, each one with its own agenda, each one with its own way of interpreting “our community” or the types of projects we should build to make our life better.

As long as this situation continues and the group of the day pressures the right politicians or public servants to make things “their” way, we will see many more frustrating projects, not for the benefit of us, the citizens, but for the benefit of those chosen few.

Daniel Sanchez
Victoria

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