Lucy O’Brien
@psketti.ca
270 followers 710 following 780 posts
(she/her) Urbanist, gardener, bike commuter, armchair architect, interested in local politics and journalism. If you’re cis I trust you less. Read as many books as you can. YYJ
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psketti.ca
Transparency rocks
psketti.ca
Then no one can claim their voice isn’t being heard!
psketti.ca
Rookie numbers! We need to get that up to 9,100
Reposted by Lucy O’Brien
psketti.ca
Yeesh that’s dystopian. The vultures of the poor
psketti.ca
Absolutely. And that’ll be at play when the amalgamation vote happens. I think folks like things the way they are. And I think folks also like financial prudence which is basically the only selling point of any of this
psketti.ca
This is definitely a concern and is what happened when Ottawa, Halifax, and Toronto amalgamated. But those were an amalgamation with many smaller suburb cities, not just one. And the province was the driver behind those amalgamations. In BC the provincial government tries to forget Victoria exists
psketti.ca
Additionally, Israeli women did survive and were released and there is plenty of video of it happening so I’m not sure why you’re letting Zionism obscure your view of the facts
psketti.ca
That’s fair. And it’s noble work and I wish you the best.
psketti.ca
Yeah I don’t imagine a world where the 11,000 individual municipalities all amalgamate. But the question of whether Victoria and Saanich do is very likely to be on the ballot in 12 short months. And we have to figure out how to respond to it.
psketti.ca
What about the thousands of Palestinian women raped, killed, and imprisoned by Israel? For the last 75 years in an ongoing genocide?
psketti.ca
What does this mean? Are you saying that Palestinian lives matter less?
psketti.ca
Yeah I mean, I don’t disagree. But if this shows up on the ballot in 12 months, we won’t even have time to develop a proper plan if we start today. If the vote goes through, how do we damage control this effectively? What are going to be the major things to be careful about, in an amalgamated future
psketti.ca
Also please take this with a grain of salt. I am no expert on the specific workings of each department in each muni. But I bet there’s someone who is.
psketti.ca
Places like view royal, who only have one station, have their own chief, whose job is to coordinate the captain and the force in general. Which is small enough that it really could be just a captain in a larger force.
psketti.ca
Usually each fire department has one chief that oversees multiple fire stations. Each station will have a Captain, which is a slightly lower rank. As it is, fire departments almost never stay in their own jurisdiction anyways. They all help each other.
psketti.ca
Certainly. The effort to connect with constituents will be less and less doable within paid hours and will depend on your ability to work outside of work time. Obviously not a healthy thing in the long run.
psketti.ca
We should have a single fire department too and it should be overseen by the CRD. 19 fire chiefs is too many.
psketti.ca
This is a great question and I don’t have a good answer for you. My hypothetical was more focused on how to move forward if “the people” decide to amalgamate anyways. I’m curious where the problems will be and how we avoid them more than the way that folks actually vote
psketti.ca
That’s surprising, given surrey’s geographic area.
psketti.ca
This rules so hard
psketti.ca
Maybe highlands and Oak Bay could amalgamate? As the two “least real” municipalities in the universe, they complement each other like colors.
psketti.ca
This is such a childish take
psketti.ca
Juan de Fuca (part 1) and Juan de Fuca (part 2) should DEFINITELY amalgamate!!!!
psketti.ca
I always wondered how it is to be an invertebrate.