Sidney commuters must not be ­penalized so Greater Victoria can finally have direct service to the airport and the ferry.

While countries around the world are improving public transit, it is ­disappointing that the Capital Regional District and B.C. Transit would consider reducing service anywhere.

The millions we spend on bike lanes, which I think so few use, could certainly be diverted to keep and improve bus service across the CRD and up Island.

It is long overdue for us to enter the 21st century when it comes to measurable carbon reduction and improved transit on Vancouver Island.

Judy Lightwater

Victoria

Re: “Stalin’s famine, Putin’s war,” letter, Nov. 20.

Thank you for drawing attention to the Holodomor, Stalin’s famine-genocide of 1932-33.

In Victoria, there will be a Holodomor Remembrance Day from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre on Douglas Street. All are welcome.

You can read interviews with Holodmor survivors at www.sharethestory.ca.

Laura Walsh

Victoria

As Victoria city council is trying to work out how it can cut expenditures to lower a potential property tax increase from an astronomical 13% to ­something less eye-watering, it is ­reasonable to ask ­councillors why they would ­consider ­getting rid of hanging baskets ­(synonymous with Victoria’s identity) but seem willing to borrow up to $7 ­million to fund the first phase of a project in Centennial Square, which is unnecessary and which the public decidedly does not want?

How is this fiscally responsible in the current economic context? Centennial Square may need rejuvenation; it does not need the demolition and complete makeover that this project requires.

The budget for the square contains $2 million, which council obtained from a provincial fund.

Why not hire local experts (of which we have many) and use that money to update the square?

That $2 million would surely go a long way towards providing washrooms, more trees, benches, perhaps a coffee cart — all that is needed to make the square more inviting for the public, while ­preserving its heritage value and the wonderful sequoia and........

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