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1. Do you support re-aligning municipal and regional transportation plans and investments to meet the provincial government’s CleanBC target to “reduce distances travelled in light-duty vehicles by 2030 compared to 2020?
Yes, absolutely! We need to shift away from car-centric transportation and rapidly advance active and public transit infrastructure.
2. Do you support making the default speed limit 30 km/h for streets without centrelines, as Victoria has already supported?
Yes. My kids cycle around our neighbourhood of Fernwood, and not every street has a bike lane. Reducing speeds to 30 km/h makes us all feel safer.
3. Do you commit to budgeting sufficient funds to accelerate the the walking, rolling, cycling and transit portions of Go Victoria?
Yes, absolutely!
4. Do you support using neighbourhood-wide traffic calming to create low traffic neighbourhoods with much lower traffic volume with quick build materials?13
Yes, I live half a block down from Fernwood Square and understand fully the importance of traffic calming. Further, my preference is for calming features that use natural features rather than more concrete, where appropriate.
5. How would you support making walking safer and more enjoyable in Victoria?
I recently took a walking tour with Walk On Victoria and it was an eye-opening experience. We need smoother transitions from curbs to streets, many more crosswalks, safer crosswalks, a removal of obstacles on sidewalks, and much more. There is no shortage of actions that can be taken to increase safety for pedestrians and other sidewalk users in Victoria.
6. Do you support building at least 15 km of new all ages and abilities (“AAA”) bike and roll routes throughout Victoria?
Yes. At present, the network is fragmentary and incomplete. It needs to be completed in ways that are safe and comprehensive. I notice the issues most acutely when I cycle north into Saanich, and on some east-west streets where the bike and roll routes suddenly stop. It’s a work in progress and we’ll complete the network in the next mandate.
7. Do you support welcoming people who use wheelchairs and mobility scooters to use all ages and abilities (AAA) bike and roll routes?
Yes, and moreover, we need much clearer rules and regulations about maximum speeds, allowable transport types, and road etiquette.
8. Do you support rapidly completing 24/7 bus lanes along Douglas Street through downtown Victoria, as well as similar measures along all of BC Transit’s proposed RapidBus routes in Victoria?
Yes.
9. With the court-imposed deadline of March 14, 2023 to keep the Island Rail Corridor intact, how would you support modern rail service for Vancouver Island?
For starters, I note that I am a vocal supporter of the E&N line and want to see it fully funded and revived. Victoria City Council can support the Corridor by advocating for a rail bridge across the Gorge, to connect the future system to the city’s core. As a CRD councillor, I would work with the Province to revive rail transport in Victoria. Beyond that, it is my understanding that the jurisdictional authorities of local governments are fairly limited in this regard. Even the Transportation Commission is limited, so likely it will boil down to the will of provincial leaders. My job will be to know that Victorians and those in the RD by and large want rail transport. If there *are* jurisdictional authorities that I am unaware of, suffice it to say that I would leverage such authorities to advance low-carbon rail service on the Island.
10. Do you support making transit fares more affordable, both by reducing the cost of passes and individual fares and free or discounted passes for youth, seniors, and people living on low incomes?
Yes, of course. I’d be happy to work with BC Transit to find a way of shifting operational costs away from individual fares.
11. Do you support removing the requirements for off-street vehicle parking from new and infill developments while adding requirements for car share, EV charging, bike and other micromobilty parking, as well as expanding accessible parking?
Yes, parking minimums are a relic of the 20th century and shifting away from a car-centric society means ending the enormous subsidies that the public purse has made for private parking. Expanding EV charging infrastructure is a major interest of mine, too, as is new bike and micro mobility parking.
12. How would you activate and bring more people into public spaces within Victoria, including sidewalks, public squares, streets and parks?
By creating new public assets and car-free zones in the core. Broad Street and lower Government Street are two excellent examples of recent changes that I supported. I have also advocated for transforming Centennial Square by adding a library in place of the parkade, with ground-floor cafe and patio seating to extend across the square. It could become a European-type plaza, rather than the current marginal, concrete space that it currently is.
13. Do you support adding substantively more accessible public bathrooms across Victoria?
Yes. This is an issue that has come up quite a bit whilst canvassing. Victorians want more public washrooms, from Government Street to Pandora; from Banfield Park to Fernwood.
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