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Tea towel runs afoul of bylaw
By Amy Dove – Goldstream News Gazette – March 19, 2008

Langford mom says free speech suppressed with crackdown on anti-interchange banners

When Jennifer Andison hung a sign up to dry, she had no idea Langford was watching.

“I am feeling like I am under surveillance,” said the Langford resident. “My concern is civil liberties.”

The sign, which Andison uses to protest at the Spencer Road Interchange site, got wet over the weekend so she hung it to dry for a few hours on Sunday, March 9.

On Monday, Andison was given a letter by Langford bylaw officer Deborah Juch informing her that such displays could land her a $100 fine. Read the rest of this entry »

One disappointing theme in all the recent interchange discourse is a general lack of respect coming from many quarters.  Though now settled, Bear Mountain was recently threatened with a legal suit for breach of contract, a suit which included promises they made about the interchange.  Mayor Stew Young has openly mused about threatening to sue protesters, despite the fact that he never even went for a court injunction asking for their removal.  Deputy Mayor Denise Blackwell has insulted the thousands of people who signed the petition against Langford borrowing $25 million without seeking public approval by suggesting the people signing it didn’t know what they were doing.  Langford charged ahead with clearing the land for the interchange days after the results of the petition were announced without making any attempt to enter into a dialogue with any of the thousands of Langford residents who took the time to express their concern about the way the city was pressing ahead with its plans.  In a recent letter to the editor Herman Surkis, a canvasser for the petition, noted the observations of him and others that Langford City Hall seems to only be concerned with vandalism and intimidation against certain groups and says nothing when other groups complain about it. Our Mayor complained about Victoria City Council members commenting on our affairs, then promptly made some comments of his own on Metchosin affairs. Read the rest of this entry »