Re: Saanich residents call for wider Shelbourne Street (News, March 13)
I was surprised Saanich News reported “Saanich residents call for wider Shelbourne Street.”
Many residents, it would appear, are being persuaded to support the most costly, least likely “solution” – it could take years for Saanich to purchase land from property owners.
I do not accept a friendlier Shelbourne must be a deferred dream. If so, I would not have volunteered on the citizen stakeholder committee.
We must first deal with reality. Shelbourne Street is not a vehicle corridor. A corridor is like McKenzie Avenue, which delivers a large volume of daily traffic to the University of Victoria, a single destination.
Most traffic arriving on Shelbourne soon turns left or right for various shopping centres, colleges, schools or Royal Jubilee Hospital. Shelbourne is a traffic distributor.
To solve the tough problems we face together (driving, walking, cycling and public transit) we must build adaptive capacity for positive change.
All decisions are about the future – which will not be an extension of the past. The best decision-makers are those with foresight, who have the capacity to learn, reason, and better understand current trends. The decision test is mutual gain (win-win) with a net public benefit.
Innovators call this “finding the hidden opportunity.” For Shelbourne, the opportunity for a more livable community, will for now, remain hidden.
Ray Travers
Saanich
