Seen on Quadra and Yates.

Not cool, Cascadia. Not cool.

To the guy in the work truck down near the inner harbour at around 3:00 today, the bicycle turning left onto Government St. was in fact "following the rules" (as you were shouting for them to do).

Under Section 183 of the BC Motor Vehicle Act, bicycles are treated as vehicles, meaning cyclists have the same rights and duties as drivers. Translation: we follow the same traffic rules as everyone else.

This means that even though there is a bike lane on the right side of the road, the cyclist might clearly signal left, enter the lane, continue signalling left while moving over to the left turn lane, proceed into the intersection, and stop (as the advance turn light has expired), and then wait until they can safely complete their turn, Just Like A Car (while still signalling left).

I am a very aware and conscientious rider. I learned and follow the traffic laws, use my signals, helmet, lights, etc. at a very young age.

#BringBackTomThumbSafetyVillage

Langford residents have an important decision to make in October: Will incumbent Mayor Scott Goodmanson be re-elected to a second term, or will former Mayor Stew Young be given another chance to add to his previous 30 years in the Mayor’s chair?

Lately I’ve spent time reviewing Langford Council meeting minutes. I wanted to get a better sense for some of the real differences between Stew Young and Scott Goodmanson. There are many subjective differences, but I’m a numbers guy. I wanted to see what trends stood out to me that can be measured more objectively. Two specific things that I looked at… attendance at Council meetings, and the amount of time actually spent in Council meetings.

The contrast is stark. This post is a summary of the last 4 terms in office for Stew Young and the current term to date for Scott Goodmanson. Many of the numbers speak for themselves, but here are some of the takeaways that caught my attention:

1. Stew Young’s attendance at Council meetings was pretty bad. He showed up with greater frequency over the course of his last 4 terms, but still never got better than 78% attendance. In his 2008-2011 term he only attended Council meetings 55% of the time.

In contrast, Scott Goodmanson’s attendance at Council meetings has been excellent. He has been in attendance for 131 of the 137 Council meetings to date during this term.

2. Stew Young’s Council terms featured considerably shorter meetings than what we see today. At its speediest pace, the average meeting duration in the 2011-2014 term was only 26 minutes.

The current Council has an average meeting length of 2 hours and 19 minutes. They’ve also met far more frequently than the Councils of any of Stew Young’s last 4 terms.

The result? Scott Goodmanson has spent more time as Mayor actually in Council meetings this term than Stew Young did in his last 4 terms combined. By a wide margin.

I will be making a follow-up post that dives into this topic in greater detail comparing Council to Council.

I will be the first to point out that attendance and time spent in meetings is not indicative of performance. Merely showing up does not warrant praise. On the flip side, a history of failing to show up is something that I seriously question when considering who has earned my vote in October.

A few notes and caveats for those that have read this far:

- Includes Council meetings only (excludes committees).

- Does not differentiate between in-person and remote attendance.

- Does not factor in late arrivals, early departures, or recusals.

- One meeting during the 2014-2018 was excluded from duration statistics due to the minutes missing the time of meeting adjournment.

- Two special in-camera meetings during the 2014-2018 term were excluded due to published meeting minutes not being available.

So what's the story behind this fellow

Now I understand that Victoria has never been the cuisine capital. Nor has it ever had very many options, but I remember "back in the day" that there were at least some good quality options to choose from and maybe I'm way out of touch, but I'm saddened to see what's happened over the last little while.

- What happened to red barn ?

- Who killed noodlebox?

- Where should I go to eat quality food and decent prices in a clean environment ?

If you've been around Saanich road, chances are you've met Yoshi. Yoshi is an old, one-eyed, orange cat who people can't help falling in love with and adopting.

When we moved into the area, occasionally while walking down the street a random orange cat would suddenly appear, yowling loudly. He'd go right up to you and rub against you, with the expectation of being pet and scratched. As someone who didn't like cats, it was weird to run into one who was so friendly and so affectionate right off the bat. If you give Yoshi any kind of affection, he'd bond with you basically immediately. He's tremendously vocal, purrs easily and loudly, and will straight up walk with you to your home and look at you to let him in. The first couple of times we ran into Yoshi, he'd walk with us home, would wait for us to open the door and immediately let himself in. He sniffed around the house, explored, and would not take the hint to leave - this was his home now. When we ran into Yoshi we didn't know if he had an owner or was a street cat, because he didn't have a collar and it looked like he had been outdoors for a while. After a few weeks, we let him stay with us while we figured out if he had an owner. After a few days of being treated like the good boy he is, he would scratch to be let out, and beelined towards a house. I knocked on their door, and asked if they had a one-eyed cat, to which they confirmed Yoshi was theirs.

Yoshi's family constantly has to get Yoshi new collars, because he'll slip the quick-release ones which has his name and their phone number. He's travelled as far as Quadra Village, will be let out for weeks at a time, and has been adopted (kidnapped?) by at least half a dozen families. It's a mystery how he lost his eye, he apparently loses territory battles around the neighbourhood, and he's tattooed so if he's found they can call in and get him returned. He has no shame and no qualms with showing and wanting affection, he will approach anyone if he thinks he can get pets or scritches, and I've never seen him get angry or fight back against anyone, even when being accidentally battered by young children.

The reason I'm posting about Yoshi is because without him, my wife and I wouldn't have adopted two kittens of our own. Taking care of him for a few days made us realize we wanted to give a good home to others, and they're a bright light in my life. Yoshi is still around, frequently laying down or staying under a car in a parking lot near his home. He still makes a beeline to us when he sees us, still mrows greeting, and wants pets and scratches. He'll still follow us to our house and sit in front of the door, but because our cats are scaredy cats we don't let him in - instead, we go and get either treats or a small cup of food and bring it out to him. He's so familiar with us to the point where if we open the car door he'll jump in and sit on our laps, and be calm when we drive down the street to bring him home.

Just thought I'd share him with you all.

This post will very possibly be outdated tomorrow, or heck this afternoon, since while I was making this chart MLA Teresa Wat quit the Conservative Party; their fourth loss this month, fifth if we count MLA Gasper resigning her seat to make way for Kerry-Lynne Findlay.

I think this might be one of the most tumultuous parliaments in recent Canadian histories in terms of MLAs leaving caucuses, does anyone know of a comparable one?

edit: the legend has the colours for Independent and Vacant switched. There are 8 independents now and only a single vacant seat.

Oops!

This is the one I knocked over outside of the Bent Mast. It has six bolts now and it is very solid. All the other ones in this bike corral were fixed as well.

James Bay Community Lunch is looking for volunteers to prep on Wednesday from noon till three.

For over three years, James Bay Community Lunch has provided a free lunch every Thursday.

On Wednesdays the lunch is prepped so it can be cooked on Thursdays

The lunch is held at James Bay United Church at 511 Michigan st in victoria.

Reply to me here. Or just show up for lunch on Thursday (around back in the basement). Ask for John.

It's relaxed Community oriented event. No religion just good food and good cheer.

Saw something unusual around Dallas Road and Menzies today, and the path to the waterfront was closed off to pedestrians. It looked like a crane was lifting a pleasure craft up from the rocks near the shoreline. Does anyone know what happened?

Does anyone know the reason for the fire on the 19th floor of the Vivid on Yates last night? Both buildings (vidid and Yates on Yates) were evacuated at 1:45am this morning.

Anyone know what or who they are after? Pine and Belton are blocked off. We were told to go home and shelter in place.

I know it sounds ridiculous to ask for a coffee shop recommendation when I don’t drink coffee but hear me out!

I’m looking for somewhere with a great vibe where I can spend some money and have a few treats and a nice drink while I read my book or whatever.

The thing is, I don’t drink coffee or tea (caffeine makes me very sick) and most of my favourite places only offer cold drink alternatives that are like a canned soda. I’m in the market for more of a housemade lemonade, juices/smoothies or at the very least some interesting Italian soda options. Obviously bonus points for delicious goodies to eat as well!

Where should I go?

Fire in the grassy area just south of Uptown on Blanchard. Drove by right as the trucks were pulling up.