Victoria, once known as the City of Gardens, is now the city of congestion and highrises. Victoria councils have ‘filled up our senses’ (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 Eby’s emissary comes to visit Oak Bay, let’s remind him that we do not have a surfeit of parkland in Oak Bay and do not wish to emulate Victoria’s “progress”.
Rick Lee
Oak Bay
