The Oak Bay Emergency Program and the District of Oak Bay would like to invite you to a presentation by the Master in Disaster and Emergency Management (MADEM) students from Royal Roads University. We have been privileged to partner again with Royal Roads in the above project. It is very exciting for our community!

A team of 10 students have worked tirelessly over the past 2 1/2 weeks, meeting with staff, Council, community members and emergency management staff and volunteers, as well as reviewing documents, plans and community initiatives. They have worked to identify our community’s strengths, gaps and strategies to address those gaps which will help us to move towards applying to receive a United Nations designation as being a Disaster Resilient “Role Model” for other cities worldwide.

The Oak Bay RRU team will present their final report on how Oak Bay can move forward to become designated internationally as a Disaster Resilient “Role Model” City. Their assessment is based on a 10-point Checklist identified by the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. The UN initiative on Disaster Resilient Communities is called ” Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready”.

Join US! Oak Bay Municipal staff, emergency program volunteers and community schools, preschools, churches, organizations, businesses, individuals and families will participate in The Great British Columbia ShakeOut on January 26 at 10:00 AM.

There are currently over 260,000 British Columbians who have registered and will “Drop, Cover and Hold On” on January 26th. We will be part of the largest earthquake drill in Canadian history! To Register and learn more about how to protect yourself and get prepared during an earthquake go to www.shakeoutbc.ca. Send us your pictures and stories to coordinator@oakbayemergency.com.

Who is Registered in Our Region
You can visit this page to see who in our region is registered.

Media Inquiries
The Oak Bay Emergency Program would like to know whether your group/school/organization might be interested in having media attend your event. We have no control over what they chose to cover, but we would like to give them various options at the local level. Please advise Dave Cockle dcockle@oakbaybc.org of what you are doing and whether you are interested ASAP. This could then go into a local press release.

Check the website for a variety of great materials (posters, fliers for various groups, other information). It is found at www.shakeoutbc.ca

Drill Audio File
The ShakeOut website now includes the audio file that can be played during the drill. It can be found here.
The file can be saved to your local computer. The drill broadcast text is also available if you choose to not use the audio file, but instead have someone at your school read out the drill text.

Regional Drill Broadcast – New!!
CFAX 1070 has agreed to broadcast the earthquake drill at 10am on January 26th. This is a great place to suggest people tune in and listen.

How Can You Help
We still need people to push out the ShakeOut message and encourage other organizations and individuals to participate. Please consider using your networks to encourage others to participate.
We will update you on other ShakeOut information as it comes available. We have less than 2 weeks now until the drill.

Tell Us What You are Doing
One of the great things you can do is brag a bit. Tell us what you have planned for 10am on January 26th. We would like to post your events to the ShakeOut website as well as to the Oak Bay Emergency Program website. If you do not want it posted that is ok – let us know what you are doing anyway and we will at least have an idea of the level of involvement from across our region, but keep your secret.

Challenges for pedestrians on Foul Bay Road

On Thursday, November 25, the Community Association of Oak Bay
will host Oak Bay’ s second annual Active Transportation Forum. The three-hour forum,
titled “ Connecting regionally, connecting locally” , will be open to the public. Councillor Pam
Copley will provide opening and closing remarks.

The Forum will explore two projects with special interest for Oak Bay citizens.
Redeveloping Oak Bay High School with a budget of $54 million provides great
opportunities for civic space, public walkways, and cycle paths. With a presentation from
Mr. Rod Windjack of CEI Architecture, the forum looks at upgrading local corridors such as
Elgin Street, Hampshire Street, and Bowker Creek walkways. Such improvements will allow
citizens of all ages to connect safely to the new Neighbourhood Learning Centre, the new
Performing Arts Theatre, and to the Oak Bay Recreation Centre.

By the end of December, 2010, the Capital Regional District will release its draft Pedestrian
and Cycling Regional Master Plan which covers all 13 municipalities. After approval by
the CRD Board, this master plan launches five years (2011 – 2016) of multi-million dollar
investments in active transportation. With presentations from CRD representatives, and
citizen advisors, the Forum looks at the Oak Bay streets identified as regional priorities, and
will hear citizen’s comments on pedestrian and cycling routes, sidewalks and roadways.

The forum will examine how the municipalities of Langford, View Royal and Central Saanich
changed their transportation policies, spending, priorities, and creatively built new sidewalks,
bike lanes and improved roadways.

This public event will be held on Thursday, November 25, 2010, starting at 6:30 pm for
an open house, with a discussion panel 7-9 pm, and focus groups on specific topics at 9
pm, at the Windsor Park Pavilion, Sports Rooms 1 and 2.

Please RSVP to Michelle Hilts mhilts@shaw.ca to reserve a seat. (Space is limited)

Earlier this year, the Municipality solicited volunteers to form the Alternative Transportation Sub-Committee of the Community Initiatives Committee. We’re pleased to hear that a selection process was completed in March and the following citizens have been selected to serve on the sub-committee:

Corey Burger
Neil Jackson
Gary Law
Victor Lotto
Steven Toleiki

Councilor John Herbert serves as Chair, and other council members include Hazel Braithwaite, Nils Jenson, and Mayor Chris Causton.

There are no formal terms of reference for the Community Initiatives Committee or the proposed sub-committee. However, the group will be tasked with focusing on alternative transportation priorities and proposed improvements for Oak Bay Village, including issues such as sidewalk widening, parking, potential cycling lanes and beautification, and making recommendations to Oak Bay Municipal Council in this regard.

Sub-committee members Burger, Jackson, Law, Lotto and Toleiki are invited to introduce themselves to the citizens of Oak Bay by contacting the Community Association of Oak Bay by emailing the Oak Bay Connector. We can publish your email here, as a means of sharing your voice with the community.

We look forward to recommendations and a defined implementation schedule that will help keep our community members safe and mobile, as well as generate improvements to link with those made by adjacent municipalities.

If you would like to have a block party this summer, now’s the time to put in your email requests to Oak Bay Council! If you want the freedom of a street closed to traffic for your party (street hockey, bicycle races, and people in general enjoy a street without cars!) then you’ll need permission from Council to do it.

All you have to do is send an email to Oak Bay Council at

obcouncil@oakbay.ca

indicating the date of the party, times and duration of the street closure that you are requesting.

Once you’ve figured out a date with your neighbours, have asked and been granted the street closure from Council, try checking out our Oak Bay Block Party Checklist and get started on your party plan!

Neighbours Project Block Party 101

The Basic Block Party: How-to throw a party in Chicago

Edmonton’s Block Party Planning Checklist

Our Blocks: 10 Reasons to Have a Block Party

The Community Association of Oak Bay, CAOB, celebrated World Health Day in Saanich today with the Shelbourne Corridor Bike Ride.

Sunday, April 11th was perfect for a leisurely cycle from Oak Bay Rec through Uplands and Uvic to Gordon Head Rec. Two dozen bikers were escorted through our municipality by cycling Policeman, Chris Gaudy, giving all riders a sense of safety along the route.

As we rode closer to Gordon Head Rec bikers of all ages joined the throng of hundreds of two wheeled recreational riders assembled in the park. What a colourful sight to see families gathered, chatting and admiring each other’s cycling gear. At 11:15 the more than 300 bikers peddled along Feltham, down Shelbourne Street, crossing McKenzie ending up at Cedar Hill Mall, without having to stop for a red light along the route. What a quiet revolution, cycling, bells ringing and a sense of liberation while traveling one of the most heavily car used routes in Victoria!

This was a significant way to proclaim Victorians love of cycling is here!

Oak Bay Council is urged to consider the health of our community, particularly our children and grandchildren, and proceed immediately to enact a pesticide bylaw as recommended by parks and recreation staff.

2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) is one of the most common and most toxic herbicides used on US and Canadian lawns and gardens.  2,4-D has a notorious past. It was one of the two chemicals in the defoliant Agent Orange

A 2008 poll conducted for the Canadian Cancer Society, BC and Yukon Division showed that the majority of British Columbians support the restriction of pesticide use.

The Canadian Cancer Agency points out that children are at a greater risk from pesticide exposure than adults because they are closer to the ground and their bodies are still developing.

Among the findings of the Pesticides Literature Review [i] conducted by the Ontario College of Family Physicians:

The following organizations are among the many that support the banning of 2,4-D and reduction of pesticide use:

Canadian Cancer Society
Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation
Canadian Medical Association
Canadian Public Health Association
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada
The Lung Association of British Columbia
UBC Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
Delegates to the 2008 Union of BC Municipalities
Ontario College of Family Physicians
Ontario Public Health Association
The Learning Disabilities Association of British Columbia
International Agency for Research on Cancer
Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario
Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario
Humane Society of Canada
David Suzuki Foundation
School District #61

http://www.ocfp.on.ca/English/OCFP/Communications/Publications/default.asp?s=1#EnvironmentHealth

The intent of the Plan is to develop, in consultation with the community and other stakeholders, a comprehensive, long range (20 to 30 year) vision for an area 500 m on either side of Shelbourne Street from North Dairy Road in the south to Feltham Road in the north.

An Open House for the Shelbourne Corridor Action Plan will be held Thursday, January 28th, 5 PM to 8 PM, at St. Aidan’s United Church, 3703 St. Aidan’s Street.

View Larger Map

The Open House will introduce residents and other Corridor stakeholders to the Action Plan’s objectives and the issues it hopes to address.

Public participation and community input is of paramount importance to the Plan’s development. Surveys will be handed out and a Community Mapping exercise will be conducted that will help Saanich Planning understand how respondents view the Corridor. A second Open House is planned for May at which time options and scenarios for a vision of the Corridor 20 to 30 years into the future will be revealed based on the results of the ongoing survey as well as a completed Community Map.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this event please contact District of Saanich Planner Harold Stanley at (250) 475-5494 ext. 3410 or e-mail harold.stanley@saanich.ca. The Action Plan’s Terms of Reference and a map of the Corridor, which extends from North Dairy to Feltham and 500 m on either side of Shelbourne, is available for viewing at the District of Saanich website. Information is also available on the Saanich website.