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VICTORIANEWS VICTORIA Friday, January 4, 2013
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Surveillance on buses starts with cameras Daniel Palmer News staff
PLEASE SEE: Victoria Regional Transit, Page A4
VN32 www.vicnews.com
North Park Neighbourhood Association members Charles Joerin, left, with his dog, Poco, and Tristan Trotter stand on Mason Street behind St. Andrew’s elementary school. They have concerns over a proposed development for the site that is quite different from the current use.
Transit seeks OK from privacy commissioner for audio as well
The assault of a bus driver in Saanich last week highlighted a surprising fact about the Capital Region’s public transportation system. “There is not one operating (surveillance) camera on a B.C. Transit bus,” said spokeswoman Meribeth Burton. Witnesses of the attack apprehended the suspect in the Dec. 26 incident, a situation that was not altogether isolated. Records show drivers reported 53 threats and attempted assaults against them in 2012 across Greater Victoria. The latest incident was the third assault causing bodily harm against a driver in the region this year. In 2013, B.C. Transit hopes to install security cameras – and potentially audio recording devices – on much of its 1,000-bus fleet across the province. “There are a lot of ways that it’s demonstrated that we need that level of security, not just for our operators, but for our passengers as well,” Burton said. “That kind of empirical evidence would be really helpful.” She clarified that B.C. Transit is awaiting comment from B.C.’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner on the use of audio recording before it presents the proposal to its board this month. “With board approval and the privacy commissioner’s approval, then we’ll go to our municipal partners and find out who’s interested,” she said. Should privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham identify potential concerns with audio recording on buses, video surveillance will still move ahead, Burton added. The final price tag will sit somewhere between $4 and $6 million, depending on how many municipalities choose to buy the closed-circuit TV cameras. In 2011, a federal government assessment estimated it would cost $10 million to install cameras on the B.C. Transit fleet in all of the 123 communities it serves.
Offer Expires January 17, 2013
Sharon Tiffin/ News staff
Possible redevelopment riles neighbours St. Andrew’s proposal out of scale with community, residents say Roszan Holmen News staff
A proposal to redevelop the St. Andrew’s elementary land isn’t sitting well with the residential neighbourhood butting up against the property. Vancouver-based BlueSky Properties is looking to build a six-storey building with 208 residential units and commercial space at 1002 Pandora Ave., on the northeast corner of Vancouver Street. “We see the neighbourhood giving everything and not getting anything back,” said Tristan Trotter, who lives and works within the block. In 2010, Island Catholic Schools announced it will consolidate three
elementary schools into two, by relocating students and staff from St. Andrew’s to St. Joseph’s elementary in Saanich or St. Patrick’s elementary near Royal Jubilee Hospital. It’s not the first example of church institutions downsizing their inventory of facilities, and thereby opening up development opportunities in the city. Last year, the Anglican Diocese of British Columbia sold St. Alban’s Anglican Church, upsetting Oaklands residents who wanted to keep the church hall as a community building. The pending sale of St. Andrew’s, however, presents a different opportunity. In Victoria’s newly adopted Official Community Plan, the southern portion of the neighbourhood along
Pandora Avenue is slated for higher density, mixed-use development. The sale of the St. Andrew’s school, gym and field presents an opportunity to meet these growth targets. BlueSky’s proposal, however, hasn’t been met with approval by the North Park Neighbourhood Association. At six storeys, the development requires a height variance, and the proposed .457 hectare footprint could be disproportionate to the single-family homes on Mason Street, Trotter said. He added that traffic from the complex would spill out onto Mason, a neighbourhood street, rather than Pandora, a feeder thoroughfare. PLEASE SEE: City faces showdown, Page A4
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