Environment / Recycling
Victoria's recycling program should at least include soft plastics and waxed juice containers, and at best I would like to see the city moving toward industrial composting and energy recovery systems.
There are also some interesting models for the efficient transport of household recycling and garbage, including the use of electric or hybrid vehicles to pick up waste, as well as the creation of neighbourhood bins to replace blue boxes. The latter idea would need substantial support from communities, and would not be done without their individual consent.
Transportation
There are some basic transportation improvements that the city can make in the short term. These include synchronizing traffic lights to reduce idling and increase travel efficiency, legalizing electric cars, and encouraging (through funding, education, and advertising) the use of public transit and car-share co-ops. The latter would need to be done in cooperation with other municipalities, particularly the major commuter areas.
Needless to say, the swift development of a light rail system in Victoria would go a long way to solving several problems surrounding our environment, local economy, and the concerns of commuters. This project would need to be done in cooperation with other municipalities in order to most effectively serve the major commuter areas around Victoria, and I believe can be funded in part by the Provincial and Federal governments.
Sewage Treatment
I will not dwell too much on the facts of sewage treatment, as I have not honestly seen conclusive, unbiased scientific evidence to support or deny the need for it.
I can offer my opinion, which is first of all, that any pollution regardless of where it's washed out to does not seem like a good idea. Also, politically Victoria receives a lot of criticism for our lack of sewage treatment facilities, and it has even been suggested that this reputation is harming tourism. The other environmental benefits of sewage treatment (energy and heat recovery, fertilizer, and a healthier marine ecosystem around sewage outfalls) are also very real. To sum up, I am in favour of sewage treatment. In addition I believe that sewage treatment, as an essential public service, should be entirely owned, constructed, and maintained by the public.
Food Security
At this point, food security is beginning to not just make sense from an emergency preparation stance, but also from an environmental (less fuel, refrigeration, and chemicals used for shipping and storage), and economic perspective (less money to pay for fuel etc., keeps capital within the local economy). The city can move toward this goal by allowing for boulevard gardens where they will not interfere with electricity or gas lines, and cooperating with the rest of southern Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland in any way possible to maintain and encourage food production close to home.
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