Who is popular today?

Re: “Vandalism needs to be condemned,” letter, Aug. 14.
My husband and I recently returned from a road trip (it involved hiking) through a number of B.C.’s mountain resort towns as well as Jasper and Banff national parks.
I was a bit taken aback by the tone in the letter regarding treatment of Albertans in B.C. We didn’t see any evidence of any of that on our recent road tour. I’m quite sure Premier John Horgan’s remarks regarding travellers from outside B.C. was aimed more specifically at Americans who were flouting the Alaska loophole.
I did a quick search on incidents in B.C. and Alberta and it seems the majority of vandalism cases, of which there were actually few, occurred in April and May when COVID spread was still a big concern. I also found an article on vandalism on four Alberta cars in Kananaskis, Alta. as recently as July 26.
So, this is by no means a one-sided issue. By all appearances reading the various articles, one could assume that some rural communities are not prepared to deal with outside visitors, regardless of their home province. Other communities are more open and perhaps better prepared to handle it. As we drove through Kelowna in early August, easily one in every five vehicles had Alberta plates with no evidence of negative reception anywhere.
It is well known that many Albertans have holiday homes in B.C. including Vancouver Island. Perhaps we need to chill a little and deal with people directly and civilly, instead of focusing on the vehicles they drive.
Eve Millington
Victoria
]]
Too much sameness in Victoria’s new architecture
Victoria is growing, buildings are getting taller. We can readily observe the newly constructed high-rises that have come to dominate its skyline. Regrettably, we are faced with either square or rectangular buildings. The tourist appeal to our city will suffer as a result. Across the world, we witness edifices that break the square/rectangular rule.
The time has come, belatedly, to insist that new construction break the current, uninteresting patterns dominating our skyline. We need only look at Europe and the Middle East to provide us with imaginative architecture. It is not yet too late to follow some of these building concepts.
Eric J. Ronse
Shawnigan Lake