Mike DeWolfe : The Daily Edition

On December 12th, Victoria residents go to the polls.  Mail-in ballots were technically made available. Those who have those ballots needs to drop them off in person at the advance polling station or at one of the polling stations on December 12th.  A redacted copy of the nomination forms for the December 12, 2020 By-election are posted below for convenience purposes. Please note that the civic address and signatures have been redacted from the nomination forms to protect personal privacy.  A complete copy of the nomination forms are available for public inspection at the City of Victoria, Legislative Services.  Please call 250.361.0571 or email elections@victoria.ca to make an appointment to inspect the documents. ANDREW, Stephen DUNCAN, Rob GODRON, Riga HARTMAN, Stefanie   HEFLIN, Bill HEIT, Jason LEITENBERG, Sean MCLEOD, Hailey ROSENBERG, Keith SCHMID, Alexander VICKERY, Roshan More information on council candidates Old links (please disregard) - Candi...

I pop into town to buy some soup for the wife who is home sick. At 12:23PM, I bought a ticket so that I could park for 18 minutes At 12:25PM, one of the parking Nazis gives me a ticket for $40! For what? For parking too long. C148, don't go sobbing that I mock the quality of your work. You are bad at your job. Your incompetence is making downtown Victoria a place to avoid. I could not find what I was looking for, so I went to Cook St. Village in search of soup. I parked in a 1 hr. parking spot. One of Dean Fortin's lackies, a City of Victoria worker, parks behind me, on a yellow line partially obscuring a crosswalk with one wheel on the pavement. ( 1 , 2 , 3 ) Feel free to use this complaint as a boilerplate when the parking Nazis hit your car too: From: me Email : my email Reference : http://www.victoria.ca/cityhall/departments_engprk.shtml Daytime Phone : Not provided I was issued a ticket today, (ticket# PA417039) http://www.flickr.com/photos/dewolfe001/5554026490/in/photost...

Do we live in a pressure cooker? As we look at houses for sale, we see the squished little properties where every last square foot has been built out-- where they build toilets into coat closets and calling it a bathroom. We're literally getting squeezed. Victoria's population of 78,000+ is small by comparison to a lot of places. But look at it from a viewpoint of population density and check out where Victoria ranks among BC cities. This explains why such a "tiny" place can have such road congestion and cramped housing. . City Population Area (sq. km) Cooker Factor (population / area) . Vancouver 578,041 114.71 5,039.15 . Victoria (City not region) 78,057 19.68 3,966.31 . North Vancouver 45,165 11.85 3,811.39 . New Westminster 58,549 15.41 3,799.42 . White Rock 18,755 5.16 3,634.69 . Duncan 4,986 2.05 2,432.20 . Langley 23,606 10.22 2,309.78 . Burnaby 202,799 89.12 2,275.57 . Port Coquitlam 52,687 28.85 1,826.24 . Richmond 174,461 128.76 1,354.93 . Surrey 394,976 317...

Victoria is in the throes of pretending to attempt to include rail to the Johnson St. Bridge replacement. They let the bridge fall into disrepair. They pushed through a referendum that excluded the rail and deployed a lot of dubious tricks to get the votes they needed. When local provincial representatives were urged to come out in support of rail, they failed. Maurine Karagianis, the NDP MLA for Esquimalt-Royal Roads said: "We know that a rail crossing on the Johnson Street Bridge is important... I believe that government needs to be seen as not only understanding our growing transportation challenges, but ensuring funding is in place to satisfy our current and future transportation needs. The corridor is deteriorating; the time is at hand to make a commitment to this region and without senior levels of government at the table, the opportunity may be lost... I encourage you to continue lobbying the Minister of Transportation ( Minister.Transportation@gov.bc.ca ) on this importa...

Just before Christmas, I was contacted by someone to send them a zombie gnome. I zombie up gnomes and garden rabbits to turn the cloying and trite into the hideous. As it turned out, I had three gnomes left: one very shattered, one cracked and one damaged. I explained this problem, then I tried to scare up a gnome. Much to my own surprise, I found one, zombied it up and shipped it off. The money dropped into my vacant PayPal account-- an account that sees too little activity. The buyer even paid me extra, so thrilled with the work. I am handed a lot of things to fix that I would rather not touch. Conversely, there are a lot of things I want fixed that I can't fix. I find that when I can't fix something I try to compensate. I can't stop the cancer, but how about I drive you to ferry? You're relationship is ruined: would you like beer? I like to be able to mend stuff. But all things are impermanent: anything you fix will be wrecked again eventually. This Christmas has fel...

  Looking for Victoria web design information? Look no further.

Victoria is bridge happy. In its 150 years (since the Fort Victoria days), we've gone through 4 downtown bridges. Two (Johnson St. and Point Ellice) are still standing. One bridge is critical for our infrastructure (the Point Ellice Bridge aka Bay Street Bridge) and we're not talking about it. The Bay St. Bridge funnels natural gas, electrical, communications and industrial traffic. Johnson Street Bridge is the kitschy bridge that can rise or lower. It funnels traffic between the low-rent part of town and the downtown core. With one bridge key to the functionality of our city and one that's visible when you're a tourist-- we're zeroing in on the Blue Bridge. For a long time I have involuntarily been helping the "Yes" campaign. All of the those bus shelter ads; and flyers and media blitzes-- I paid for those. As a taxpayer, I have been obliged to pay for the tens of thousands of dollars wasted on making the "Yes" side prominent and the defacto cho...

Of all people, Gordo's brother, Michael Campbell put our social dilemma into sharp relief. In a recent radio column, he referenced JFK. Kennedy said, " Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country "-- in other words: the government isn't a rich uncle; you have a duty to your fellow man, the people around you and by extension your society and country. Kennedy saw that our gimme culture was breeding well fed, selfish people who wanted to take. We expect sympathy and civility but we need do that for others. People are driving a mile a minute in a ton of metal and plastic. When you're standing on a wide sidewalk, you expect that a motorist shouldn't take a shortcut over a meaty speed bump (you). That expectation is a network-- it's only as likely to be received as it is to be given. But instead, we are a consumer culture. The politicians who give us more get elected. Those who say that they will give you more for less, get...

The question was Tweeted " vwould (sic) you support a regional levy (10$ per household) to help end homelessness?" to the Victoria people. That's one of those great questions: "Would I pay $1 to win $1 million?" Duh! Of course I would pay $1 to get a million. Moreso, I would pay $10 if that was all that it took to end homelessness and the suffering of the homeless. But just as I'm not going to make a million-to-one return on my dollar, $10 isn't going to end homelessness and it's ridiculous to think so. Homelessness is like the common cold. There are a hundred varieties so one solution isn't going to do it. As I said before, there are the dilettantes-- children of well-to-do locals who are downtown because it's hip (everybody hates a tourist). There are dilettante homeless: those who summer here like its the soup kitchen version of the Hamptons. There are the mentally ill: budget cuts and the mainstreaming of mental illness has made institut...

There are more bicycles on the road than there are motorcycles. You can find them anywhere: on highways, side roads, foot paths and sidewalks. In Vancouver, 1600+ bicycles are reported stolen each year. In the 1920s, you didn't need a drivers license nor did you need your car licensed. Cars were uncommon, so there was no need to catalog automobiles or vet their drivers. As the volume of wheels on the road rose, licensing came into play. It's about time this happens for bicycles. I'm not talking about requiring insurance: if a bicyclist injures themselves that's their own matter. I'm not talking about licensing bicyclists: many of the people who bicycle are unable to pass any other sort of driving test, so it would be unfair to bar them from cycling. I'm just talking about making bicycles non-anonymous vehicles. If all bikes needed a legitimate license, then stolen bikes would either pack the same stolen plate making detection easy; or they would need a new plate...

With all of this hooplah over the Blue Bridge at the foot of Johnson Street, I have to ask why? As in "Why are we not decommissioning the Johnson St. Bridge?" For a long time, Greater Victoria has been on a vendetta against the car. Esquimalt Road lost lanes. Bay Street lost lanes. UVic has been slowly turning parking lots into buildings. Our city needs to go Green and get rid of the Blue Bridge. The Johnson Street Bridge facilitates a tremendous amount of automobile use. Repairing it will cost a lot of money. Replacing it will use up a huge amount of steel, concrete and it amounts to massive exercise in carbon escape. The City of Victoria turned from its pattern of maintenance expenditures in 2007 to spend just a fraction on the bridge as it aged. The City has the right idea: let it rot. Make a reasoned guess as to the remainder of its lifespan. Then start doling money on the bridge that is key for infrastructure and transport: the Bay St. Bridge. If you think the idea of de...

For the last several years, I've been going to VEMF-- the Victoria Electronic Music Festival. It was great when it was at Market Square: the space was a well with great acoustics. When it was moved up to Centennial Square it was okay. I liked the irony that the derelicts who nearly lived in Centennial Square were pushed out by a bunch of 20-somethings, loud music and a big beer garden. This year was a lot more meathead-centric. I couldn't quantify it this year at first. It felt like a different mix. The beer garden was full of morons in trucker hats who probably didn't know the difference between Moby and Orbital. A friend of mine was nearly pushed into the fountain went two yayhoos were carousing with each other. It turns out it wasn't our imagination (from the TC): Victoria police arrested at least 10 people in response to 35 incidents in and around the event at Centennial Square. There were 10 fights, seven drug overdoses, three arrests for intoxication in a public p...

If you're driving in the Victoria or Saanich areas from 9PM to 3AM, there is a good chance you're going to become a test subject. UBC, in cooperation with local police, are diverting motorists then administering breathalyzers, written questionnaires and blood samples. While participation is theoretically voluntary, there is no word as to the reaction one would expect should they opt to not participate in this UBC study administered by police officers. As police officers can issue road-side suspensions for refusing a breathalyzer, motorists may be off the road if they elect to not contribute to the UBC body of data for such a study. There is no word as to how this programme is being funded-- whether local police resources are being diverted to gather this data; or if UBC or ICBC is underwriting this use of our region's police forces. UBC, ICBC and the Saanich Police have not commented on this programme or their practices.

Are you tired of dodging cars and bicycles? No More! Here's my call to the police via their contact form ( http://www.vicpd.ca/index.php?page=contact-vicpd ) and I would invite you all to draft similar for the intersections and crosswalks of your concern: Hello, We have been seeing a lot motorists completely ignore the laws regarding the pedestrian crosswalks on [problem street]. Of note is the crossing [your favourite hard to use crosswalk], especially in the [time of day]. Would it be possible for there to be a spot check of motorists by our police force; and the potential to cite motorists who do not adhere to the relevant laws? I think it would go a long way to deter motorists' practices. Thank you, [your name] Get "The Man" to harsh their buzz (and collect fines).

Disaster struck the Bay Street bridge this morning. Last night, a worker on the Point Ellice Bridge ruptured a Terasen gas line. Vehicle traffic was blocked off from the area. Details at present are sketchy, but this morning as an unnamed government worker was biking to work while enjoying his morning smoke. The source of ignition touched off the gas leak and tragedy ensued. Emergency teams are still on the scene at this hour. Last night, a gas leak led to the closure of the Point Ellice (Bay Street) Bridge and it was not expected to open until close to noon today. In addition to the closure to vehicle traffic, marine traffic heading into and out of the Upper Harbour and air traffic in the area is affected. Bicycle traffic, pedestrians and vagrants making use of the paths near the bridge were not redirected.

Top 5 Reasons Why Public Transit Sucks Your bus can drive away while you're standing at the bus stop. You don't get a refund on your ride even if you're stabbed mid-trip. It's like having a 50 ft. car on the road, with 0+ passengers and one well paid driver; all contributing to traffic density. It moves criminals from the downtown core to suburbs. It's a breeding ground for H1N1. Top 5 Reasons Why Public Transit Rocks Every time the bus pulls over you can get a creepy seat mate! You don't need to drive down Cambie drunk-- get a professional to do it for you. All of the walls of your ride are covered with diploma-mill adverts. There's free gum everywhere! That weird smell probably isn't coming from you.

This from UsedVictoria : H1N1 VACCINE Hello. I am a nurse with an extra vial of the H1N1 vaccine. One vial will do 10 shots. I am willing to administer these shots to the highest bidder. A silent auction will start when this ad is posted and continue until midnight on Friday, November 13. I will contact the highest bidder to arrange to come to their house and administer the vaccine. I will also bring my credentials. Good Luck! What some snake oil? If so, click here

This Saturday, October 24th the Zombie walk caps off with the 1st annual “Little Shop of Horrors” and pre-party for the Zombie Walk at Logan’s Pub, 1821 Cook Street. The market will start at 3pm and vendors can sell until 8:30pm with music to follow. We will be accepting donations at the door during the market. A showcase local artists of all kinds to sell their work from cloths, comics, art pieces, jewelry, leather ware, etc, anything which is Halloween related. I've pondered doing a Halloween day-- make-up, ghost stories, ghoulish events and the like. I thought that 2008 or 2009 would be ideal. Last year passed. This year-- Alisa Shebib and Heather Furneaux organized a craft fair! In the evening there will be performances by Hank and Lily with The Secretaries for their Halloween Tour Kick Off. Joining them local musical performer Dylan Davis. Alisa Shebib will host a Zombie Workshop on stage during the market and other ghoulish surprises to be announced. There's good news if...

The Canadian military are flying jets over Victoria and Vancouver in preparation for the 2010 Olympics. At the same time, North Korea is planning to launch a missile in the direction of Hawaii. It has been estimated that North Korea's missile range is short of most of the US. The targets a missile could hit: Japan, Hawaii, South Korea (duh), Alaska and maybe into Puget Sound. I have always had the theory that if North Korea struck a target close to the US, it would create a conundrum: would America go all out vs. a nuclear armed opponent in retaliation for an attack on an American ally. Given that military exercises were underway at the same time as recent events like 9/11 and 7/7, I gotta wonder. At the very least, I have to wonder why pilots prepping for the 2010 Olympics in Raincouver by doing exercises in the balmy, late Spring skies when the weather back in February would have been a closer analogue to the rain, wind and clouds that they will see when they defend Vancouver fro...

Last night at 7PM, an odd device was discovered in the downtown of Victoria, the BC Provincial capital. The police cordoned off the area for a one block radius around the intersection of Blanshard and Courtney. Included in that radius: Provincial courthouse, main public library, the head offices for Ministry of Transportation and Highways and several other businesses. The police called on the bomb squad from Vancouver. They arrived 11 hours later. Many there was a theory that the bomb was running on a watch battery and it would give up the ghost before the bomb squad arrived. Or, the bomb squad didn't like the previously mentioned organizations and thought 11 hours would be enough time for the bomb to go off. Way to protect the public. Why can we not have back our own bomb squad? Victoria had a team available in 1990s, but the military discontinued that support. In the era of terrorism and activism, you'd think the government capital for a province of 4.5 million people would h...