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Thank you to everyone who participated in signing the Fix Fulford Ferry Terminal. In the end 603 of you signed the petition and we delivered it today to the Salt Spring Island Transportation Committee. It is now in the hands of the committee to work with BC Ferries to continue to work with the corporation to see if the planned changes are designed to accomodate pedestrians and bicycles.
Click here to download the Salt Spring Exchange - Fix Fulford Ferry Terminal - Petition Results.
Thank you again to those that participated,
Christopher Roy
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about 600+ Signatures for the Fulford Terminal
Did You Get One? - BC Assessment
Did You Get One? - BC Assessment
Wondering how many people on island have received these BC Assessment self-reporting questionnaires? We've received a few reports and the documents say 'we are reviewing properties in your area'. Have you received one of these?
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about Did You Get One? - BC Assessment
Fix the Fulford Ferry Terminal
Fix the Fulford Ferry Terminal
BC Ferries has been working for some time on a badly needed Masterplan to upgrade the ferry terminal in Fulford Harbour on Salt Spring Island. The Corporation warned at last week's Salt Spring Island Ferry Advisory Committee (FAC) meeting that pedestrians and cyclists may not be accommodated in the Plan. This news came one week after the CRD announced that Salt Spring Island is to be included in the Regional Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan. Community groups have all cited the critical need to address not only the "pinchpoint" traffic issue in Fulford but also the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in the terminal area. Get your voice heard with the Salt Spring Island Transportation Committee - Vote in this poll.
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Fast Facts
BC Ferries has agreement from three property owners in Fulford Village to cede property to MoT for the road allowance
BC Ferries will now apply to MoT for a License of Occupation for all works on t…
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about Fix the Fulford Ferry Terminal
Video - Orca Pod In Ganges Harbour
Video - Orca Pod In Ganges Harbour
This past Saturday an Orca Pod was spotted in Ganges Harbour and captured on video. An amazing day to appreciate the natural beauty of the island. Video by Terri Bibby.
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about Video - Orca Pod In Ganges Harbour
Reduced Post Office Staffing Levels
Reduced Post Office Staffing Levels
Canada Postmasters and Assistants Association has sent out notices to Salt Spring Island post boxes informing the community that Canada Post Corporation is planning to reduce staffing levels at the Ganges Post Office by reducing staff hours. They are asking you the community to contact various representatives to make your voice heard if you do not agree with reduced staff times at the post office in town. Do you agree that staffing levels should be reduced?
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about Reduced Post Office Staffing Levels
McDonalds and Tim Hortons Opening on Salt Spring
McDonalds and Tim Hortons Opening on Salt Spring
Big developments all around the island today. New businesses and changes in management. Busy day for Salt Spring's local economy.
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about McDonalds and Tim Hortons Opening on Salt Spring
Five Thousand+ Fans of Salt Spring on Facebook
Five Thousand+ Fans of Salt Spring on Facebook
Whew! Salt Spring Island is popular. This past week we hit a new milestone on Facebook. We now have over 5,000+ fans of our little emerald isle in the Salish Sea. This isn't a surprise to those of us that live here or have visited of course, Salt Spring Island is a special place with fans all over the world.
Our community uses Facebook to share local stories, photos, news, events, classifieds and more and works together with the over 15,000+ people who use the Salt Spring Exchange site each month to stay engaged with our vibrant island community. Consider becoming a fan if you aren't already.
More importantly, we just simply want to thank you. We've worked hard to build up this page to promote and share all that is Salt Spring and we thank all those you that follow on Facebook for staying with us as we work to share the beauty of the island.
We thought you might be interested in knowing what 5,000+ fans of Salt Spring looks like and where everyone is coming from. You c…
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about Five Thousand+ Fans of Salt Spring on Facebook
BC Ferries Raising Fees
BC Ferries Raising Fees
BC Ferries announced today that it is reminding customers of increases in passenger and vehicle fares effective April 1, 2012. Prices will rise by 4.15 per cent on average on all routes across the fleet. This increase was approved last spring in Bill 14, an amendment to the Coastal Ferry Act. Subsequent price caps will be determined following the Province’s response to the BC Ferry Commissioner’s report. Fare increases are required due to the rising cost of operating and capital expenditures coupled with lower than anticipated traffic levels.
See chart of fares below:
Power Outages on Salt Spring
Power Outages on Salt Spring
UPDATE: Less than 100 homes now without power. Most of the island has had hydro service restored.
Big wind storm last night and this morning on Salt Spring. BC Hydro and local residents are reporting numerous outages. Call 1-888 POWERON (1 888 769-3766) to report an outage.
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about Power Outages on Salt Spring
Ganges Fire Hall Farmers' Market Poll
Ganges Fire Hall Farmers' Market Poll
The Salt Spring Island Farmers’ Institute has proposed that the current Ganges Fire Hall be turned into a year-round covered farmers' market once a new location for the current hall is secured. Is this something you would support? Share your response in our poll.
Should the Ganges Fire Hall be turned into a year round Farmers Market?
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about Ganges Fire Hall Farmers' Market Poll
Sh*t Salt Springers Say Campaign for Version 2
Sh*t Salt Springers Say Campaign for Version 2
Okay, we'll there isn't a version two yet, but you know you want one. We, like so many of you, loved the "Sh*t Salt Springers Say' video made this past week by the local island Lemon Grease Productions starring Thomas Messer, Rebecca Nygard, Michelle Duncan, Billie Woods, David Alex Eveno with guest appearances by Jada-lee Watson, Ross Duncan and Mike Nelson.
We want them to make another one! If you want them to make another one vote yes by leaving a suggestion, Liking this post, or leaving a comment.
To help encourage them, we want your help. Let's gather up some perfectly Salt Spring expressions for them to work with and hope we can get them to make another one. If you have a suggestion for an expression you'd like to include, like "Where's the yeast?" submit it in the form below and we'll pass them all along to the video producers.
Take Our Survey!
polldaddy.add( {
type: 'iframe',
auto: true,
domain: 'opendirections.polldaddy.com/s/',
id: 'sal…
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about Sh*t Salt Springers Say Campaign for Version 2
Salt Spring's Official Population Increases 6.2%
Salt Spring's Official Population Increases 6.2%
Population on Salt Spring Island Trust Area A has officially increased to 10,234 according to official Census Canada figures released today. This is a 6.2% increase since the 2006 census. The number of private dwelling is at 5,643 with 4,662 of those occupied by full-time residents. See the full details below:
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about Salt Spring's Official Population Increases 6.2%
Additional details can be found directly at Census Canada.
Victoria Population Changes
Vancouver Population Changes
Population Changes by Province
Coastal Ferry Act Review Report Released
Coastal Ferry Act Review Report Released
BC Ferries Commission News Release
Gord Macatee, BC Ferry Commissioner, delivered his review of the Coastal Ferry Act to the Honourable Blair Lekstrom, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure today. The report contains 24 major recommendations for government, BC Ferries, ferry users and other stakeholders, all intended to better balance the interests of ferry users with the financial sustainability of BC Ferries.
The Commissioner reports that the ferry system is facing challenges now, which are only expected to get larger in the years ahead. Declining ridership and financial losses in the current year, coupled with huge capital investment requirements for fleet renewal and terminal upgrades, is putting strain on the financial sustainability of BC Ferries. Ferry users consider further large fare increases to be unaffordable, and are concerned that the operator is not sufficiently accountable. Furthermore, the Coastal Ferry Act, and its guiding principles, is not perc…
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about Coastal Ferry Act Review Report Released
Four-Way Stop Approved for Central
Four-Way Stop Approved for Central
In response to recent community feedback and a history of collisions at the Central intersection, the Ministry of Transportation called into the recent CRD Transportation Committee meeting shortly after we delivered the Salt Spring Exchange community petition to verbally confirm that they will be implementing a four-way stop at the intersection.
The CRD Transportation Committee and the Ministry of Transportation will provide further details in the coming days. It's unclear what the decision making process was to select this particular approach, but it was clear that the majority of respondents to our poll would have preferred the roundabout option. However, roundabouts are considerably more expensive than implementing four-way stops. Is this an appropriate result?
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about Four-Way Stop Approved for Central
Delivered: 700+ Petition Signatures to Fix Central
Delivered: 700+ Petition Signatures to Fix Central
The community petition calling for action to fix Central was delivered today to the CRD Transportation Committee containing all 700+ signatures. The final petition signature count was 703 and included the 586 votes in the poll asking for input on the various options to either change the intersection or leave it as is.
The petition was delivered to the committee on behalf of all signatories and Maggie Ramsey, whose original call to action initiated the signature drive.
Salt Spring Exchange representative Christopher Roy delivered the petition to Donald McLennan, Chair of the Salt Spring Island Transportation Commission and Salt Spring CRD Director Wayne McIntyre at their first meeting of the year. Thank you to all of those who participated as well as those who shared their feedback in comments on the Exchange, these will also be reviewed by the committee to help them determine how they might to proceed.
Embedded below is a copy of the final document outlining the poll a…
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about Delivered: 700+ Petition Signatures to Fix Central
Salt Spring Resident Shot and Killed in Mexico
Salt Spring Resident Shot and Killed in Mexico
From CBC News:
A 67-year-old man from Salt Spring Island, B.C., has been killed in Mexico.
Police in the Pacific coastal town of Melaque confirmed Robin Wood was shot and killed early Tuesday morning at the holiday home of fellow Canadian Arvid Chalmers, who is also from Salt Spring Island.
Police said Wood was returning from a benefit concert in La Manzanilla, and was shot after challenging two robbers who had entered the home.
Melaque is located between Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco, just north of Manzanilla.
Police director Ruben Hernandez Bonilla told CBC News robberies in the area and associated murders are very common.
Read the full story at cbc.ca
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about Salt Spring Resident Shot and Killed in Mexico
Poll: Which option is best for Central?
Poll: Which option is best for Central?
Which option would you like to see the CRD implement at Central to improve safety at one of the most dangerous intersections on Salt Spring?
How would you change the Central intersection?
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about Poll: Which option is best for Central?
Fix the Central Intersection Petition
Fix the Central Intersection Petition
To support Maggie Ramsey's call to action to ask the CRD Transportation Committee to fix the Central traffic intersection, we are collecting signatures to let the committee know just how many people are in support of a change. If you support a review and possible changes such as a traffic circle, four way stop, etc., then sign the petition and share this widely with your friends. We will deliver the results of the petition to the committee at their January 10th meeting.
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How would you change the Central intersection?[signaturelist id="1"]
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about Fix the Central Intersection Petition
Wow! 15,000 People Posted 75,000 Listings
Wow! 15,000 People Posted 75,000 Listings
It's coming up on the end of 2011 and the 3rd birthday of the Salt Spring Exchange. We wanted to give you an update on how things are going here behind scenes.
Since 2008, the Exchange evolved from a basic email list, merged with Harry Burton's email list, turned into to a Google Group email list, then into the web based experience you now see. It has taken hundreds of hours of work each year, the financial support of many donors and support from local businesses to keep it going. The vision is simple:
* Serve the residents of Salt Spring Island with a vital resource for community sharing
* Deliver the best possible online experience for local news, stories, event and classified listings
* Dedicate that online experience exclusively to the residents and fans of Salt Spring Island
* Give as much as possible of the service away for free or very low-fees
* Provide an unparalleled platform for local business advertising
Here are some current stats as of the writing of …
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about Wow! 15,000 People Posted 75,000 Listings
Online Poll vs. Official Voting Match-up!
Online Poll vs. Official Voting Match-up!
We've had numerous requests to comment on how the online poll that we ran during the lead up to the elections performed against official voting results. We were curious too!
The online poll ran for 18 days and over 750 people voted in every one of the three polls for CRD Director, Islands Trustees and School Board Trustees. During that same time, well over 12,000* people used the Exchange (* verified by Google Analytics). Our goal had been to have 500 people participate in the poll. Relative to the number of people that used the site, the participation in the poll was relatively low. Less than 10%. This is likely because we implemented the highest level of poll blocking that the service we use has, and also because some people simply just didn't want to participate.
We did get numersous questions during the poll itself about security and added this note as the poll ran to clarify how scientific online polling is:
NOTE: Salt Spring Exchange online election polls are not…
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about Online Poll vs. Official Voting Match-up!
Official Election Results
Official Election Results
Salt Spring, here are your official, preliminary, election results. These results were posted tonight by Anthony (Tony) Kennedy, Salt Spring's Deputy Chief Election Officer at 9:01 PM on the doors of the Community Gospel Chapel. We were there in person to get you the results as fast as possible. The results are totals from all Salt Spring Island polling stations. The final, official results still need to be verified by the Chief Election Officer in Victoria before they are confirmed as final. It may take a number of days for these results to be finalized and there is a small chance they may change.
See photos below of official results as posted by the Deputy Chief Election officer and detailed break downs of votes by polling station, advance polls and off island polls. Here are the winners:
Wayne McIntyre wins for CRD Director
Peter Grove and George Grams win for Islands Trust Directors
Rob Pingle, Kathy Page and Katherine Byers win for School Trustees
…
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about Official Election Results