Thursday, April 9, 2009

Idling Cars - A regional issue

Idling longer than 3 minutes banned in Victoria - But politicians reject fines in favour of publicity campaign -- for now

So this is the headline on April 9, 2009 in the Times Colonist. Yet we then find out in the article, that: “The new CRD bylaw will co-exist with bylaws already enacted in Victoria and Langford, where requirements are similar.”

Every day I see reasons there needs to be amalgamation. This one is pretty clear. Two municipalities have already passed this law. Now those areas get the same law, twice. The same law, which their own politicians had to take the time to consider, vote on and pass, twice. CRD chairman Geoff Young has just voted on this at the CRD, after having dealt with the whole issue for the City of Victoria.

I am not going to comment on whether a bylaw restricting idling is good or bad. I am going to suggest it is a total waste of time to have two levels of government considering the same issue. If it is a good idea our region should adopt it. The issue should be considered once, by the city, and the results applied to all. We need to amalgamate.

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