Earthquake Damage From 7.3 Quake

Picture Of Courtenay Building Earthquake Damage

One of the reasons the taxpayers are being asked to give up a period of five years without any tax increases, is so the City Annex will come up to current seismic 'standards'. The actual engineers report and breakdown of costs to improve the existing annex are being hidden from the public by city council and staff. Why? You will have to ask them.

The Mayor is using the 'unsafe' building spin to support his council's decision to spend 15 million tax dollars on brand new digs for our growing city staff. So, just how urgent is this upgrade anyway? Is the city staff in mortal peril every time they go to work now? Is the building they presently occupy at a place it should be condemned? I would like to think that our crack staff of city engineers would have evaluated this building and it's integrity before they moved in long ago, and spent untold millions on dressing the place up.

So, what is the likelihood this building would suffer catastrophic damage at the slightest shake, as indicated by our Mayor? Well, the picture above is of the damage suffered to a building in Courtenay in the 1940's when a 7.3 quake rocked the Forbidden Plateau area. Pretty big quake, doubt if the building was up to 'today's' seismic code, damage looks pretty insignificant.

If this decision to blow off another $15million is really the best use of tax dollars, and really has to be done with all haste, then why the closed door decisions by this highly secretive council? Remember this is the same bunch that brought you Jerry Berry's half million dollar handshake and most recently tried to slam through the no barrier housing in the Quarterway School area.