More pressing options for road upkeep

Re: Road fix-ups not a priority (News, July 1)

In 1987 we bought on Byng Street with the assurance that the then-poor road was due for resurfacing the following year.

Twenty-one years of further deterioration and the street is down to single-lane traffic in more than one section and the surface is virtually a series of potholes joined together by filled potholes and small cracked pieces of original surface.

It is in much worse condition than Island Road or any of the streets mentioned by Phil Barnett for consideration. The abysmal surface, far from slowing down traffic, as Alec Allison suggests, is the opposite on Byng. Traffic speeds in both directions, only slowing when a vehicle has to stop for an oncoming vehicle at one of the single lane sections with no passing room.

I suggest that the only worse street is St. Louis, down to bedrock in many places, with loose rock and gravel being sprayed out of the holes by passing cars and causing a hazard to pedestrians walking by.

I would invite Barnett to walk down St. Louis from Windsor Park and then down Byng. We like our country lane, but a surfaced lane would be welcome. It would make no difference to the speed or the volume of traffic, save some wear and tear on our cars and be more pleasant and less hazardous for walking at our age (mid-80s).

We don‘t want sidewalks, but surely some of our 22 years of paying Oak Bay taxes could be prioritized for some road upkeep on the worst streets – including Byng.

Norma Dodd

Oak Bay

Higher standard of repair needed on Island Road

Re: Road fixups not Oak Bay priority (on Island Rd., July 1)

As residents of Island Road for over 30 years, we read with interest Vivian Moreau’s story on the condition of our street.

We don’t want to presume what our neighbours want regarding sidewalks and road-widening, but we would like the municipality to apply and maintain a much higher standard to the ongoing maintenance of the surface of Island Road. To us, that would involve proper and prompt filling of potholes and dips in the road surface. The latter have resulted from gas line installation and/or service upgrades after home renovations. We would ask for the application of sufficient quantities of asphalt to sections of the road where the edges have deteriorated to such an extent as to be hazardous.

Since it was Coun. Pam Copley who was quoted in Moreau’s column, we invite her to convene a meeting of Island Road residents to determine for herself and other council members what we want when the day comes that sufficient funds are available to do something about, as she puts it, our “country lane atmosphere.”

Steve and

Oak Bay

Religious interpretations ruining things globally

Deep-set religious fundamentalist behaviour globally is making a mess of things for this generation and succeeding ones.

It is becoming more evident among those I listen to, watch, or speak with, that much of today’s military violence is sectarian, or religious in some form. Not surprisingly, it is the women and children that bear the pain and misery, but have no say.

Many of us, including myself, bear the mark of having to shield and hide ourselves as small children, with our mothers, hunched in cramped and dark small places.

Do we really want this to continue, for the women and children we see pictured every day, confused and helpless?

Those suffering, given a voice, would plead, ‘We don’t want your supplications and aid – we ask you for your peace.’

Doug Miller

Oak Bay