POST IS RIGHT ABOUT VICTORIA'S SAD DECLINE

Re: Victoria's Mayor Responds, letter to the editor, Sept. 10, and
Disgusted In Victoria, Brian Hutchinson, Sept. 1.

Mayor Alan Lowe complains at length, but, as someone who grew up in
Victoria, I can assure you that Brian Hutchinson wrote the truth.
Anyone familiar with downtown Victoria will immediately recognize
every location and situation that Mr. Hutchinson described.

The Mayor's response, on the other hand, is just more hot air. The
simple fact is that downtown Victoria's social problems were highly
visible when the Mayor first took office, and have become even more
glaringly obvious during his tenure.

I recognize that this is not entirely Mr. Lowe's fault. As he says,
other levels of government are responsible for things like health
care policy and lawmaking. But I fear that his proposed response --
basically, more social housing -- is not going to fix the problem.
Even if millions of dollars are spent on social housing, it is quite
likely that more of these people will come to Victoria from other,
colder, parts of Canada to take advantage of it.

I can sympathize with Mr. Lowe's predicament: He faces a downtown
core with major social problems beyond his, or the municipal
government's, power to deal with. But he shouldn't be blaming Brian
Hutchinson for accurately reporting a situation which is readily
obvious to anyone who lives in Greater Victoria.

Mark Anderson, Victoria.