Victoria, once known as the City of Gardens, is now the city of congestion and highrises. Victoria councils have B次元官网网址榝illed up our sensesB次元官网网址� (with apologies to John Denver) with the smell of curing concrete, barren bike lanes, conflict-blaring car horns, howling wind in city canyons, and increasingly sunless, treeless thoroughfares. Can Oak Bay be far behind?

With a mere 27 square metres of parkland per citizen, Victoria is undesirable. Oak Bay only has about 35 square metres of parkland per capita. Compared to other major cities in the world this is a fraction of space reserved for citizens' well-being. 

Modern condo-caves in highrises are superficially well and good, but they are merely loneliness incubators. Everyone needs parks and green spaces. Building on parkland and on increasingly rare, open space is simply a crime.

When Premier EbyB次元官网网址檚 emissary comes to visit Oak Bay, letB次元官网网址檚 remind him that we do not have a surfeit of parkland in Oak Bay and do not wish to emulate VictoriaB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址減rogressB次元官网网址�.

Rick Lee

Oak Bay