Letters to the Editor: June 15, 2024

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Drivers need to learn

London drivers need further education.

With the new bus lanes restricted to buses only and a decrease of right-hand turns, London drivers are not getting the message on new driving rules.

On a quiet mid morning, I turned left out of Covent Garden Market, wanting to eventually go south. Legally and because Clarence Street south was closed I had to drive to Waterloo Street to make a legal right turn off King. Driving west on York, the first left turn south was on Richmond Street. On this drive, I saw at least eight infractions which included drivers in bus-only lanes and making illegal right turns. I also saw six police on bikes, all unaware of the infractions.

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Better signage and education of London drivers is needed. I know we can do better than this.

C. Gray, London

Too much density

Intensification is coming to my neighbourhood. That means changing the zoning so that four-storey apartments can be built where there are currently two bungalows. The current density is six units per hectare. It may soon be 190. That’s too much.

I understand the need for more housing and I agree that infill is better than sprawling to rural areas. It will be a shame to lose 20 mature trees, but it would be worse to lose farmland. More people on my street might be a reason to pave it, finish the sidewalks and improve transit.

But there are larger vacant lots all over the city. Our streetscape should not suffer because developers need to squeeze in as many units as possible. We’d welcome neighbours if they weren’t towering over us at the edge of the property line.

We had only a few weeks notice – to learn the process, research the facts, meet the neighbours and decide how we could possibly defend ourselves against well-funded developers we suspect already have the ear of city planners. We’ve read the London Plan. We hope it will be considered, too.

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Kim Benke, London

Lack of oversight

The saga continues at the revolving door of CEOs at LHSC. This is a sign of further problems at the hospital for many years. Does it mean the board hires the wrong people or are they baffled by the interview process.

The confidence in LHSC senior people and the board are having impacts of fund raising. The Ministry of Health should appoint independent people to recommend policies and procedures to bring the LHSC back to the once well respected health organization.

The suggestion to start with is reduction of management levels and request the board of directors all resign and seek out new members who have greater oversight on the operations of the LHSC by except using their fiduciary responsibilities.

At the end the senior levels of management and the entire board of directors are responsible for the operations of LHSC.

W. Keith Lawson, London

Print too small

I am a senior and love doing all the crossword puzzles in your paper. However, the print in your PuzPuzTimes Big Canadian Crossword is too light and teeny to read.

I am sure others find the same.

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Could slightly larger type be used? Thank you

Margaret Brown, Mossley

Ford losing focus

Maybe Doug Ford should consider selling milk, bread and diapers at the Beer Store just to make it one-stop shopping. And maybe add some lottery tickets too?

Bringing back paper bags to LCBO stores so his friends who do not own recycle bags are not spied upon when exiting with their liquor store purchases.

Has he lost focus of what his main job was for the province when he came into power? Wasn’t it making the province thrive with job creation, major health-care funding, low-cost housing development and no Greenbelt infringement?

Yes, Mr. Ford, let’s bring on an early election.

Mary Anne Reid, London

Make cuts at top

There is no mention of decreasing or reassigning any executive or administrative positions in order to help balance the budget. Why is it always the “hands-on” people that are chosen to be eliminated – the ones that actually provide the services to the students.

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Are board members unaware of what has happened with LHSC due to top-heavy administrative personnel. Personnel cuts must be made from the top ranks, not the bottom up.

Johanne Nichols, London

No need to rebrand

Has the Thames Valley school board recently branched out into the retail business? Why does a school board need to change its logo to make sure the “brand” stays strong? Do they need to entice kids to go to school when they already have to?

With staff cuts expected to be over a hundred employees, you’d think that would hurt their brand more than a logo change. Or perhaps a team-building event that was tone deaf and a slap in the face for taxpayers and those employees about to be looking for new jobs.

The board doesn’t want to disclose the cost of the event. I’m sorry, but this is the public sector and transparency is a must when it comes to frivolous waste.

If making flower arrangements is something that interests these staff members, they should do it on their own time and dime.

Mike Cassino, London

Cut bloat at board

Re: ‘Most challenging budget year’ (June 8)

So, the TVDSB needs to fix an $18-million deficit by making cuts, including 124 jobs according to a report released last week.

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In the opinion of this recently retired educator, what they and every other school board in the province needs to do is take an honest look in the mirror.

I say this because the bloat at the board level – adding superintendents, support staff, etc. – has been rampant and largely unchecked over the last number of years, while they always look to impose cuts at the school/classroom level.

The report released last week calls for the elimination within the TVDSB of “58 elementary and 24 secondary jobs, 17 early childhood educator positions and jobs in speech and psychological services,” according to the article.

It also states, “Other categories targeted for reductions include school budgets, printing and photocopying, textbooks and learning materials. Instructional supplies face a $2-million cut.” It includes a cut to special education budget of almost $1 million and a decrease of $300,000 for security and cuts to student computing and gifted programs.

Cuts to schools always seem to be the answer when there is a deficit within a school board. All the while, new people are hired at the school board level – many with six-figure salaries – while teachers are confronted with more and more issues on a daily basis.

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Provinces always want the federal government to give them more money for health care, without being held accountable for how they spend it. I feel Ontario school boards have done much the same for far too long and are now cutting and affecting the most vulnerable students when being called to account.

M. Matthews, London

Birds of a feather

American far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is doubling-down on his recent endorsement of Pierre Poilievre, insisting he and the CPC leader share identical views on the “anti-human globalist agenda.”

Jones, best known for losing a $1 billion defamation lawsuit brought by the families of murdered Sandy Hook elementary students claimed the mass shooting was a “false flag” operation staged by crisis actors to prompt more gun control in the US.

Jones rejects suggestions that Poilievre is copycatting him, insisting that great minds simply think alike.

Federal prosecutors in NYC have charged the Epoch Times’ chief financial officer, Bill Guan, with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering for allegedly moving at least $67 million in illegally obtained funds to E.T.’s bank accounts. According to the indictment, Guan “used cryptocurrency to knowingly purchase tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds.”

Poilievre has conflictingly promoted crypto-currency while holding investment in it.

Michael Luce, London

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