To the editor,
Re: Council decides city will be guided by ‘doughnut’ economic framework, Dec. 23.
Nanaimo council recently adopted the doughnut economic model, “to build a city and community that operates within the planetary boundaries necessary to maintain core life-sustaining ecological functions.”
This seems completely reasonable, considering the environmental crises now threatening our world.
There’s only one problem: the same council that voted to adopt this has done almost nothing in two years to make walking safer in Nanaimo, which would be the single biggest factor in getting people out of their climate-changing, ocean-acidifying, chemical- and air-polluting vehicles (these are four of the nine primary ‘ecological ceilings’ of doughnut economics).
In over two years, this council has refused to enforce existing bylaws keeping sidewalks free of snow, ice, debris and vehicles. This council has refused to install flashing beacons at Nanaimo’s two deadly crosswalks, or almost every other dangerous crosswalk in town. They’ve continued to rebuild roads without sidewalks, like Seventh.
And the few pedestrian safety projects they have initiated have often been questionable, such as a cement island poured at Opal Road for a temporary traffic-calming project.
Council should stop wasting time on buzzwords, models and strategies and start doing actual, reasonable, low-cost things that will be good for the environment by making it safer for Nanaimoites to walk, not drive. Flashing crosswalk beacons at Bruce and Albion and Hammond Bay and Ventura – finally – would be a start.
John Dacombe, Nanaimo
continued
Post #COVID, let's re-imagine city economies that deliver #beyondGDP! "#Nanaimo council decides city will be guided by ‘doughnut’ economic model" @NanaimoBulletin @DavidSuzukiFDN @KateRaworth @DoughnutEcon #WEAllCAN @BryanBuggey @m_layton @Val_Plante https://t.co/tQLbPVbeV7
— Yannick Beaudoin (@ycbeau) January 16, 2021
To the editor,
Re: Doughnut theory full of holes, Letters, Jan. 5.
The whole purpose of the doughnut economy framework is to ensure that Nanaimo addresses social problems of poverty, homelessness and unaffordable housing in ways that do not undermine or destroy Earth’s ecological boundaries.
City council is not the United Nations, but Nanaimo does exist on planet Earth. I applaud the councillors for adopting this advanced framework for future development.
Guy Dauncey, Yellow Point
RELATED: Nanaimo council decides city will be guided by ‘doughnut’ economic model
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