Author: corey.burger

One All Candidates done, one to come

Well, one all candidates is done. Speaking last was the distinct advantage of getting to listen to everybody else, but you do get to stew in your own nervousness for over 20 minutes while everybody else talks. Jason Ross of ModernDemocracy.ca was there again with his video cameras, which was excellent, so those you following at home can see. I tried collect all the questions I could while they came up, and I think I managed to get most of them:

  • Child care – How are you going to provide more spots?
  • Secondary suites
  • Traffic on the avenue – How are you going to deal with heavy traffic on the avenue and surrounding residential streets
  • Young families – How do you attract more to Oak Bay
  • Affordable housing – How to you provide more
  • Town hall meetings – Why haven’t we had more?
  • Oak bay lodge
  • Smart meters, and health
  • Deer issue – What is Oak Bay and the CRD doing about it?
  • Community engagement young families – How do you engage young families in the community
  • CRD accountability
  • Sewage infrastructure
  • P3’s water/sewage – Do you support keeping water and sewage infrastructure and operation public
  • Composting -When is it coming to the rest of Oak Bay?

Thanks to everybody that came out. If you missed it, we have another opportunity next Tuesday, November 7th, 7-9pm, at Emmanuel Baptist Church. Thanks to the North Henderson Residents Association and the Community Association of Oak Bay for hosting these.

Black Press (Oak Bay News) questionnaire for council candidates

We would like to welcome you to the Oak Bay News’ candidate questionnaire for the 2011 civic election.
The News is offering all council candidates the opportunity to have their views on a variety of issues published in the print editions leading up to the election Nov. 19.
To that end, we are requesting that you answer the questions to the best of your ability, in 50 words or less (we will edit for length if over 50, so please respect the length limit).
1. Name

Corey Burger

2. Age

29

3. Occupation

Social Science Researcher and Event Manager for a variety of companies
and organizations in Victoria

4. Family status

Single

5. Political experience

Candidate, Oak Bay Council, 2008

Member, Oak Bay Community Initiatives Committee (council-appointed)
Volunteer, CRD Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan Citizens’ Advisory Council
Director (on leave), Community Association of Oak Bay
Public Relations Chair, Rotary Club of Oak Bay

6. How long have you lived   in the municipality?

On and off for most of my life

If you don’t  live here, why are you running in Oak Bay?
n/a
7. What do you feel is the single biggest issue in this election?

Community engagement

8. How do you hope to solve it?

We need to reach people where they already are, by using modern technology, but more importantly going into the community to libraries, coffee shops, community centres, and other similar places. Any engagement also needs to be continuous, not just when a majorissue forces it.

9. What do you think council has done well this term?

Starting the process of updating the Official Community Plan.
Commissioning and passing the Active Transportation Plan. Holding a
town hall earlier this year, albeit at the demand of residents.

10. What would do you do on council to improve it?

I would work first by putting community engagement first as we work on updating the Official Community Plan, the Active Transportation Plan, and other large projects . Keep a similar community focus when working with regional partners on the CRD sewage treatment plan and BC Transit’s 25 Year plan.

UVic Students’ Society Municipal Candidate Survey

Dear Candidate,

On behalf of the over 17,000 undergraduate students at the University of Victoria, we are sending you this survey comprised of questions that are hot-button municipal issues on our campus. We invite you to fill out this survey and return it to us by Sunday October 30th at the latest. We will disseminate the information provided to students and youth in Greater Victoria. Thank you for your participation and assistance engaging students with municipal issues! Feel free to attach your answers on a separate page. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Dylan Sherlock

Director of Finance and Operations
University of Victoria Students’ Society

What will you do to increase affordable housing for students in your municipality?
To help provide more housing for students and seniors, I would legalize secondary suites and laneway houses. Also, I would work with other municipalities and seniors levels of government to get funding restored to help build new apartment buildings and student residences at UVIc and Camosun.

What are your priorities for public transit, and how do students fit into these priorities?
I want to see the Victoria Regional Rapid Transit project, LRT out to the West Shore, under construction within the next three years. I would work with BC Transit to speed buses up using stop reduction and signal prioritization on their busy routes, especially those into UVic. I would also work with UVic and the provincial government to get a new transit exchange built at UVic, as the current exchange is at capacity. Both of these will help students travel faster and easier to campus.

What are the solutions to congestion and lack of capacity in the public transportation system?
Part of the solution is moving the buses faster, through signal prioritzation, but there are other steps that can be taken. Those
include adding more buses on busy routes and building a new transit exchange at UVic. All of these require the provincial or federal
government to step up to the plate and provide some capital funding. However, if it comes as a request of the region as a whole, it is much more likely to succeed.

How do students fit into local community development measures?
Students are a vital part of a vibrant Oak Bay, and a vibrant Greater Victoria. We need to talk more with students when it comes to the new Oak Bay Official Community Plan and the Active Transportation Plan.

What will you do to improve the sustainability of the operations of the municipality?
Oak Bay has already been working on making our recreation centre more sustainable, but we need to extend that work into our other
municipally-owned buildings, such as the town hall. I would also continue to acquire, where possible, hybrid and electric vehicles for the municipal fleet.

What is your position on bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure?
I am strongly in favour of more bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure. I was a member of the Citizen’s Advisory Council for the CRD’s Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan, plus I am a member of the Municipality of Oak Bay’s Community Initiatives Committee, which is tasking with improving active transportation in Oak Bay. We recently passed an Active Transportation Plan, and I  committed to getting much as possible of the Active Transportation Plan and the PCMP built in the next three years.

How do you see recreation services for students in the municipalities improving?
We need to continue the region-wide recreation pass, as it has been a great success. We also need to keep offering student rates at our recreation centres. One place where students could play a key role is with inter-generational relationship building from UVic and Camosun to Monterey Centre, which caters primarily to the older population.

How will you increase student voter turnout in municipal elections? Are you willing to commit to campus poll stations by 2014?
To start, the municipal councillors need to be on campus more, both as candidates and as elected councillors, through teaching and other experiential learning programs. I strongly support campus polling stations in 2014 and would start work immediately to hopefully make that happen.

How will you better include youth in decision making process of the municipality?
We need to go out and do more community engagement, both using newer technologies, but also going into the places where people already are, which includes both UVic and Camosun campuses. Also, I would support getting more students engaged with the municipality as part of their studies with more experiential learning.

What is your position on open data initiatives?
I believe that  open data is very important, as it allows citizens to get more engaged in government, and gives them a better picture of how their world operates. However, open data must be done to allow the greatest possible reuse of the data, so must not place undue
restrictions on commercial activity or require onerous reporting.

What is your position on harm reduction services?
I strongly support harm reduction services, and given the recent Supreme Court ruling, would welcome safe consumption sites within
Greater Victoria. But we must remember all four pillars, and continue to fund outreach, detox, and housing for addicts wishing to move on with their lives.

What is your strategy for dealing with homelessness and the lack of subsidized housing? What is your position on outdoor camping?
I support dealing with the homelessness problem by dealing with the housing problem. More rental housing stock, available to all income levels, is the only way to truly end the housing crisis. I am torn with regards to outdoor camping in public parks in urban areas, because while I support the right to be housed, I am concerned about the long term ecological effects of camping if it spreads into sensitive ecosystems such as our Garry Oak Meadows.

How will you increase food security in the region?
We need to stop removing so much agricultural land from the Agricultural Land Reserve, and actually respect our urban containment
boundaries. True food security cannot happen without these steps. Within Oak Bay, I support finding more space for allotment gardens.

Questionnaire: Georgia Strait Alliance and T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation ask about sewage

Georgia Strait Alliance and the T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation are conducting a survey of municipal candidates in the Capital Regional District’s (CRD) 7 core areas to clarify each candidate’s stance on Victoria’s plan for sewage treatment. How candidates answer this question will be publicized in advance of the municipal elections with local media, shared with community organizations and made available on the Georgia Strait Alliance website (www.GeorgiaStrait.org), as well as the websites of all three organizations involved. Please also find attached some information on the sewage treatment issue in the Capital Regional District.

Question: As a councillor I will support and work positively to ensure a comprehensive secondary or better sewage treatment system for the CRD core area is built before 2020, and that costs are share between local, provincial and federal governments?

Please check one:

Agree ________

Disagree _______

Comments:

I support the better option, because one already exists: source control with oceanic sewage treatment. I strongly believe that land-based sewage treatment is environmentally irresponsible, and fiscally reckless. We need to work with institutions, commercial properties, and industries on better source control, as they are a major source of pollutants.

However, I am strongly in favour of doing some level of treatment (plus additions of rain gardens) for the storm water, something that many  scientists are now saying is a greater threat to the ocean than sewage.

I will also say this: If sewage treatment is required of us by senior levels of government, then any such treatment plants should be kept in public hands and run by public organizations, not private companies.

Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition candidate questionnaire

The Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition has sent out a questionnaire to all council candidates. They are making the answers available online, but I thought I would post them here as well.

1. Do you ride a bicycle?
Yes, Leisure/Occasional
Yes, Exercise/Health
Yes, Commuting
Yes, Sport/Competitive
Never

2. Are there any changes that could be made to cycling infrastructure that would encourage you personally to ride more often, or more year-round?
Although there aren’t any changes that would make me ride more, it would be a nice to have a little rain.

3. If never, are there any changes that could be made to cycling infrastructure that would encourage you to start riding?
I already bike.

4. How would you rate existing bicycle facilities in your municipality?
Poor
Fair
Good
Great
Excellent

5. What are the greatest weaknesses in your municipality’s cycling infrastructure? What needs to be addressed immediately? In the next 5-10 years?
Our greatest weakness is our lack of facilities that make cycling comfortable for all users, not just the strong and fearless. Thankfully the PCMP has addressed this, by creating a plan that caters to all levels of cyclists. Within the next year, I would like to see the CRD and the municipalities agree to the strongest funding level, which includes the creation of an active transportation office.  Within the next 5-10, we should have the recommended level of separation of facilities on all of the Primary Intercommunity Network defined in the PCMP. We also have a pair of part-time bike lanes, on Henderson and on Cedar Hill X Rd., that need to be converted to full time bike lanes, and no further part-time lanes should be installed.

6. What improvements to cycling infrastructure in your municipality will you promote and support if you are elected?
We need more cycling routes,not only on the major routes, but also on quieter parallel streets. We also need more end of trip facilities, especially covered and secured bicycle parking. We need to link into existing bicycle lanes on Fort, and boulevards on Haultain, but also push ahead and leapfrog the City of Victoria and Saanich.

7. If you are an incumbent, what have you done in your last term to improve conditions and/or facilities for cyclists?
Not an incumbent

8. The Capital Regional District’s Regional Pedestrian & Cycling Master Plan sets a goal of 25% transportation mode share for cycling and walking. Do you support the CRD Master Plan?
Yes
No

9. Which parts of the CRD master plan would you work towards implementing during your next term?
As much of it was possible. I strongly support not only working on the various infrastructure projects, but also the creation of an active transportation office at the CRD. Hopefully we will see a good portion of the regional gas tax money in the next few years going to working on various aspects of the PCMP.

10. Are there any changes to the bylaws or bylaw enforcement in your municipality that affect cyclists that you would recommend?
The parking bylaw needs to be changed not only to require bicycle parking (including work on making certain that that parking s installed correctly, as City of Victoria is working on right now), but also changing the motor vehicle parking minimums. Oak Bay also needs to have a policy so that in all new road construction, more vulnerable users such as pedestrians and bicyclists are considered before cars.

11. Do you see any potential for cycling tourism in your community, and if so, how do you see that evolving?
Oak Bay has part of the Seaside Touring Route, but also has many destinations that make cycling tourism very attractive. We need to work to make certain that various destinations have attractive and safe routes to them, but also have end of trip facilities at them most recently, partially at my urging, the Kiwanis Club of Oak Bay installed new bike racks near their Tea House in Willows Park, which massively expanded the amount of bicycle parking at Willows.

By split vote, council advances Oak Bay Lodge to public hearing

After a long debate in which neighbours continued to express their disappointment with lack of consultation with the process and the size of the building, council ultimately voted 3-2 to send it out to public notice. Councillors Ney and Jensen voted against moving it forward, claiming that hasn’t been enough public consultation.

The front row was even more filled than usual with “people in suits”, as Hampshire Rd. resident Michael Hayes pointed out. Joining the usual Baptist Housing (and Cotter Architecture) staff, were VIHA CEO Howard Waldner, and CRHD‘s chair (and View Royal Mayor) Graham Hill.

The final decision will thus come November 14th, just 5 days before the election. Altough CRHD lack a webpage about the project (Mount View Heights, which includes the other side of this project, does have a page too), Baptist Housing have  a fairly comprehensive one.

Two All Candidates Meetings to be held

Thanks to the good offices of the Community Association of Oak Bay and North Henderson Residence Association, we are having a pair of All Candidates Meetings. Mark your calendars:

Friday November 4, 2011 from 7-9 pm at Monterey Recreation Centre, Garry Oak Room

Tuesday November 8, 2011 from 7-9 pm at the Emmanuel Baptist Church, Sanctuary

Join the Friends of Uplands Park today to pull broom

It isn’t a great secret that Uplands Park is filled with non-native species, especially the highly-invasive Scotch Broom and Daphne. Thankfully, there is a group doing something about it: Friends of Uplands Park.

Founded by Margaret Lidkie, who has been leading broom and daphne eradication efforts in the parks for years, and Kathleen Matthews, Friends of Uplands Park has granted $1000 by the Muncipality for their continued work.

So join them this afternoon from 1 to 4pm. Meet at the info table near Beach Drive at Cattle Point. Bring tools (loopers, pruners, etc.), wear appropriate clothing including gloves, and most importantly, friends and family.