Victoria election day

It's an election day today in Victoria. One council seat is open and that was combined with a referendum on whether or not to build a new Johnson Street bridge. I have done my duty, although I confess that I wasn't sufficiently diligent to really know the details of what was at stake. I'll have to do better next time. I have been asking the other residents of my building whether they planned on voting, and I'm sorry to say most of them had no interest at all. I think many of them feel rather helpless and fatalistic. What good does my little vote do, since they are going to do what they want anyway? Well, OK, if that's the way you feel about it then you have no cause to complain when something happens that you don't like. But then it is a fact that it's easier to find out what's going on in Afghanistan than in the local political scene. Maybe that's why it's so easy for total idiots to get on the local ballot. It only takes 100 bucks in Victoria and you can be on it. Maybe I'll try it next time. But no. My idea of hell would be a series of meetings stretching into eternity. I'm pretty sure I would prefer hellfire.

I'm a little embarrassed to say that I only spent about an hour researching the candidates. However, it didn't take long to figure out that at least six of the eleven contenders were certifiable morons.

Of the remainder, only one stood out as opposing the insanity of needle exchanges and she got my vote. And the bridge? It doesn't take an expert to see that the present bridge is inadequate for Victoria's future needs. To those who extoll its heritage value, I say fine. I like it too. It's a pretty bridge. But I hated riding my bike across it. Let's sell it to a bridge museum. Or maybe there's a smaller city along the coast that would like to buy it. But as a useful facility in Victoria its day is done. The next thing to think about is what bridge. There are those who say that the proposed bridge is too expensive and worse, that it's an unproven design. I am a little leery about the design, but it does address many of the deficiencies of the present structure. Access for pedestrians and cyclists will be much improved and that silly little blind curve will be eliminated. I guess it will take a little while to pay it off, but at least those future generations will have something useful and lasting. I decided to trust the city engineers and hope the politicians aren't screwing it up.

The polling place I went to is in Cook Street village. I was glad to see that it was quite busy.

Our first snow of the season blew into town last night but only in the hills has it stayed. That's a good place for it.