July 2018

204 205 our community. In Langford, 75 percent of people own their own homes. In Victoria and Vancou- ver, it’s 30 percent.We used to have high taxes, nowwe have the second lowest taxes in B.C. –average tax on a house here is $1,035.After our second year in office, Council reduced taxes by 10 percent.That set the tone that we were going to run the city like a business, and make sure we chased opportunities to bring in as many businesses as possible to offset our taxes.” Six years ago, Langford won Hendry Swinton McKenzie I N S U R A NC E ( WE S T S HOR E ) Business Insurance Home Insurance Travel Insurance Auto Insurance Victoria Office (250) 388-5555 Westshore Office (250) 478-5588 Duncan Office (250) 856-9440 www.hsminsurance.com Located in the heart of Langford, Hendry Swinton McKenzie Insurance (Westshore) is proud to be part of the vibrant Westshore community. Hendry Swinton McKenzie Insurance is locally owned and operated, and has been serving the greater Victoria community, since 1983. We are pleased to be a commercial building and business owner in the City of Langford. We proudly support and sponsor many local associations, non-profit charities and community sports in the city. The City of Langford Mayor and Council have shown excellent community spirit in supporting national, regional and local athletics, a pro-business growth agenda, and a positive vision in shaping of their community. All of us at Hendry Swinton McKenzie Insurance (Westshore) are delighted to be part of this community. Congratulations to Mayor and Council for all their productiveness and continued success into the future. We provide home, auto, commercial, professional, business, marine, farm and travel insurance products to suit the individual needs of all our clients, and we would be happy to assist in anyway. Please drop by our office at 963 Langford Parkway: we are open 8 to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Insurance is our only business. LANGFORD, BRITISH COLUMBIA the National Golden Scissors Award for reducing red tape. It’s been hard work for the community, but they have been very supportive in working together with City Council.When people find better, faster, more efficient ways to do things, they let Council know and those changes are usually implemented. At present, there is no post-secondary education available in the city, but Council is working with the B.C. government on a plan.The Province has allocat- ed $250,000 for a study with the local Royal Roads University focused on locating a campus in down- town Langford.That will help solve the problem of students having to make long commutes to other post-secondary institutions, and higher rent costs in other communities.Young acknowledges,“When the facility is part of a community,more kids will take part.We’ve done well on jobs,well on recreation, now our number one priority for Council is educa- tion.The provincial government holds the purse strings for a lot of educational funding, so that’s a key partnership and we’re hoping we have a good case.” Downtown Langford today is unrecognizable from the untended version of the early ‘90s.Now, it is attractively adorned with streetlights and sidewalks with brick-walks on both sides. GoldstreamAvenue is the scene of a bustling core area.Veterans’Memo- rial Parkway–a new 4-lane highway–was built on one side of town, and the $47million Leigh Road interchange is opening on the other side. Langford has a non-traditional take on the green- ing of its community. Rather than plant boulevard trees that are naked sixmonths of the year, the city plants trees that are green year-round.No more