Two years ago my wife and I decided we had had enough of Victoria’s madness and moved to a Gulf Island.

I was born in Victoria in the 1960s and my father was born there in 1915 so we walked away from family and friends being at a convenient distance, but these days nothing in Victoria is convenient.

The last two city councils seem to have little regard for the opinions of the locals and have created some crazy version of a once great little city. The new version has replaced charm and ease of public movement with lawlessness and congestion.

The days of a leisurely Sunday drive are long gone even if you own an electric car. No parking, dangerous random grey concrete curbs popping up weekly to protect the Spandex crowd from scrapes and choking construction at every turn.

Add to this the movement to densify what’s left of the beautiful neighbourhoods like Fairfield and Oak Bay and you realize the good times are gone.

Every time we visit our blood pressure rises and we thank our lucky stars we were fortunate enough to be able to flee.

C. Scott Stofer

formerly Victoria

Re: “Don’t let Chinese BYD cars into our country,” letter, Oct. 2.

The letter offered reasons to prevent the sale. Let’s look into this further.

In reality, there is no native Canadian car industry to protect, only branch plants of foreign companies. Canada also already imports many cars made in non-Canadian locations such as Japan, Korea, Mexico, the United States and and a host of European countries.

The letter claimed that “China’s auto industry thrives on state subsidies…”

If true, this ignores the billions of dollars in bailouts, tax........

© Times Colonist