BC On The Move: A Ten Year Transportation Plan

The BC Government is accepting feedback and submissions for their 10 year transportation plan. We need your help to make the plan more bicycle friendly.

We encourage you visit the website here and:

1) Fill out the online survey here. When prompted to give 3 priorities for the transportation plan, here are some suggestions:

• Increase provincial funding for the Bike BC Program.
• Enhance Cycle Tourism Opportunities and infrastructure, similar to Quebec’s Route Vertes.
• Better safety and alternative routes for cyclists travelling via highways, such as protected bike lanes.

If you have more energy and want to have a bigger say, you can write the ministry calling for greater investments in cycling infrastructure in BC. Here‘s a great sample letter from BC Healthy Living Alliance.

For more info check out the BC Cycling Coalition‘s website.

But don’t delay: the deadline is December 12th!

 

A big “Thank You” from all cyclists for your consideration!

 

A regional composting centre for kitchen scrap waste has been proposed for a clear-cut Western Forest Products acreage across the road from Jordan River’s Sandcut Beach. The JDF Land Use Committee will meet with Regional Director Mike Hicks about this application on Jan. 20. 

Potential operator David Laing from DL Bins is hosting an open house on the subject at the Shirley Hall tomorrow at 2 p.m. Details can be found on pg. 10/11 of the latest newsletter from the Otter Point and Shirley Residents and Ratepayers Association: http://www.opsrra.ca/Newsletter%20pdf/OPSRRA%20DEC%202014%20Newsletter.pdf

Local residents are rallying against the proposal. Their well-researched arguments can be found in the following two documents. The OPSRRA report notes that the facility will be visited by two tandem dump trucks daily, however the following reports suggest that number could be as high as 14 trucks per day – all barrelling down the West Coast Road from Victoria and elsewhere.

* Proposal for Composting Facility in Shirley (pdf file)

<clip> “The CRD has received an application for re-zoning to allow a composting facility to be operated on Lot 72 of the Private Managed Forest land above Sandcut Beach, a Regional Park. The proposal to build a composting facility in Shirley-Jordan River seems innocent at first glance, but is it a Trojan horse that could affect air quality, ground water, wide patches of forest floor, wild life and property values?”

* JOhn Quinn Proposal for Composting Facility in Shirley (downloadable file)

Report from a Shirley resident with 20 years of senior experience in the waste industry in Canada and internationally. <clip> “We are being asked to have a processing facility for Victoria’s garbage dumped into our community. Victoria should deal with their own garbage – they can call it compost, put a red ribbon on it and promise to kill the rats that hitch a ride out on the trucks but it is still garbage. We should not accept this zoning change under any circumstances.” – John Quinn

Our latest newsletter landed in email inboxes last night. Check it out here for local upcoming events of interest, highlights from our social media pages and items on the Better Buy Sooke campaign, the November municipal election, the TS permablitz project and Christmas gifts of a different kind.

Lots of activity on Burnaby Mountain those days. The newspapers are reporting on the topic

“Kinder Morgan” every couple of hours and the situation become more grim.

Do you also want this to stop? Sign than following petitions:

 

Dogwood Initiative

 Sum of US

 

Need some more background first? Here are some useful links

Dogwood Initiative on Kinder Morgan

Globe and Mail, article on Nov. 24th

CBC News, article on Nov. 24th

Vancouver Observer, article on Nov. 23rd

Vancouver Sun, article on Nov. 22nd

 

 

 

 

Those who are on our email list did already receive the newsletter in their inbox.

But for all others: here’s a link to the November edition.

Please send us an email on sooketransition@gmail.com if you would like to be added to the email list!

 

A bounty of positive, progressive and practical ideas about Sooke’s future intended for use by the next Mayor and council were generated at Transition Sooke’s Election 2014 Open Space think tank, Oct. 18 at the Sooke Harbour House. A summary of the day’s working papers is attached below.

A group of 33 concerned citizens – the three mayoralty candidates and five individuals running for council included – huddled with six of Transition Sooke’s core team to discuss and map out next steps related to the day’s discussion topic: “In a spirit of cooperation and self-reliance, the people of Sooke have successfully established lives, overcome hardships and responded to change for more than 160 years. (And the people of T’Sou-ke have done so for much longer). Within this tradition, how can we elect and support a council that will transform current and future challenges into opportunities?”

Seven discussion topics were determined at the day’s start in an open process by the attendees: i) energy independence and collaboration with the T’Sou-ke Nation; ii) health, education and social services; iii) jobs and transportation; iv) local food economy; v) quality of life (beautification, trails and parks, infrastructure); vi) council/community relationship (structure, communications, integrity); and vii) emergency response services.

As facilitators Tony and Christiana St-Pierre noted in their introduction, Open Space meetings allow participants to express diverse opinions, self-select into discussion groups, work through each issue and, at day’s end, reach firm and meaningful conclusions. Invites to the event were extended to Transition Sooke members, election candidates and to the community at large via ads, bulletin-board posters and social media updates.

TS Open Space Final Report_Nov.1

Transition Sooke’s core team formally endorses two valuable, far-seeing new documents related to farming in the Sooke region.

i) Sooke Region Food CHI’s 2020 Action Plan

ii) Sooke Region Farmland Trust’s 2014 Sooke Election Position Paper

Both these documents offer visionary and practical insights regarding the region’s foodshed, and we urge the community to take full note of the recommendations therein.

sincerely,

Your TS Core Team

Darren Alexander, Blake Barton, Jeff Bateman, Yves Bourdeau, Sofie Hagens, Stephen Hindrichs, Andrew Moore, Tony St. Pierre, Michael Tacon and Mark Ziegler.

 

Mon. Oct 20th 2014 – Energy and the Next Federal Election: Public Talk

Over the next year, leading to the next scheduled federal election (currently 19 October 2015), the BC Sustainable Energy Association will host six expert and engaging speakers to address six key sustainable energy and climate action issues from a federal policy perspective, to be followed by an all-candidates meeting just before the election. Join us for the first speaker on Monday October 20th from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the First Metropolitan Church, located at 932 Balmoral Road (in Victoria’s North Park community).
Taking the stage will be Heather Bauer, Senior Climate Action Analyst at the BC Government’s Climate Action Secretariat, with a talk on Behaviour Change that will explore how we can empower people to act and influence others to address climate change.
“Is it really worth my efforts to personally take on climate change? Who is to blame for this mess and shouldn’t they pay?”
There are plenty of questions to ask about the challenge of climate change. Many of these questions lead us to forgo actively contributing to solutions. Why is this?
Heather will share a unique perspective sourced from experience in government, intergovernmental relations, experts in community engagement and the latest in human psychology.
This talk will also explore how to help individuals, families and communities prepare for climate changes we are committed to. Look forward to learning about tangible climate actions you may not have heard yet.

More info here:BCSEA Speaker Series Poster

Thu. Oct. 23rd 2014 –  KINDER MORGAN TOWN HALL MEETING

Metchosin Municipal Hall (Happy Valley Road) 7 to 9 pm.

SPEAKERS/PANEL
– Andrew Weaver, Green Party MLA & UVic Climatologist
– Garry Fletcher, biologist, Kinder Morgan intervenor, guardian Race Rocks Ecological Reserve
– Kai Nagata, Energy & Democracy Director, Dogwood Initiative

Democracy in action. Come, listen, learn and let your voice be heard.
Seating limited – come early!

Transition Sooke presents an Open Space Community Think Tank

Election 2014: Voting for a Sustainable Sooke

Saturday, October 18th, 10 a.m. to mid-afternoon at the Sooke Harbour House, 1528 Whiffen Spit Rd.

Please join us for a timely discussion about community issues vital to Sooke voters and the Transition movement in general. This facilitated, all-opinions-welcome process will lead by day’s end to a set of recommended priority actions for Sooke’s next Mayor and council.

A simple and hearty lunch will be served, so please bring ideas and an appetite!

The Question: In a spirit of cooperation and self-reliance, the people of Sooke have successfully established lives, overcome hardships and responded to change for more than 160 years. (And the people of T’Sou-ke have done so for much longer!). Within this tradition, how can we elect and support a council that will transform current and future challenges into opportunities?

Subjects for discussion will include …

* local investment & entrepreneurship (i.e., cooperative business model, tech support for telecommuters, incentives for home-based business)

* increased energy self-sufficiency (i.e., reducing home energy costs, promoting alt.energy enterprises, Sooke Solar City)

* food security (i.e., farmland protection and productivity, incubator farms, Sooke market and/or co-op store, local butcher and brewery).

* engaging youth and seniors (i.e., intergenerational mentoring & eldership programs, better responses to youth-identified needs, Harbourside Cohousing as a template for town centre development)

* education and local knowledge (i.e., reskilling initiatives, post-secondary satellite campus in Sooke).

Please let us know if you’re planning to attend via email to sooketransition@gmail.com