Winnipeg

I was just back in Winnipeg.

They are building a new rapid bus lane from downtown, into what use to be Fort Rouge and then on into the former Fort Garry. The City decided this was needed and it is proceeding. For Victoria, it would be like building a special bus lane from Victoria, through Esquimalt and into View Royal. The chances of that happening here in the foreseeable future are nil.

They are moving their football stadium from the west end to the south end. Why? Because it makes sense and they do not have to bicker over doing the right thing. (That is not to say there may not have been some issues - but the old location certainly had traffic flow issues).

Many years ago they built a ditch around the city (a flood way) to protect it from the Red River flooding (yes perhaps the Province did most of this) but it is an apt analogy for Victoria.

Here, if we were to pursue some regional preventative skeem, it would likely apply to some cities and not others. Image a protective ditch that had three major holes in it. Far from useful, but that is what we have often have (not always) when it comes to things that have an impact beyond the block we live on. Policing is different, fire protection is different, land use decisions are different, garbage disposal is different, support for the arts is different, so much which should not be different in our city simply is.

Winnipeg with a population of 680,000 has one city council.
Victoria, well, you know.

Rail Crossing a Regional Issue

The City of Victoria may drop the rail line across the Blue Bridge due to the cost.
That makes sense to those in Victoria.
It makes no sense to those in the Western Communities.
This is another example how a City, representing all interests, could do what is best for the City, not just for a small part of it.
If there is value to having a rail line (which I do not know), then it would likely be far better to have it cross the water than stop on the western side.
A City council should consider the merits and if it is worthwhile, move forward, with the cost born by all the citizens. However this will only happen if we had one City council, not 13.