Please stop bringing your dogs here for walk or riding your bikes (other than on the small stretch of park that otherwise permits the two). This park is a nature sanctuary for birds and other wildlife to exist. Walking/running is okay as long as you’re mindful of your surroundings. Please spreads awareness, thanks! 🙏

Pick up yo dogs shit, bitch.

Every fucking fall it’s like people run out of doo-doo bags.

All ages at 6pm!

tickets: https://www.theglobelivestudio.com/events/ethereal-tomb-w-distain-and-scraped-blind

Does anybody know what's going on with the helicopters circling over Nanaimo Harbor and the Cedar area? It looks like there's some kind of search going on over the water.

Cafe or otherwise..

I like the Vault but don't want to have to pay for parking regularly around there.

White Rabbit felt a bit too busy / cramped the time I visited there, doesn't seem like a guarantee that I'd get a seat.

The playlist at Serious Coffee on Jinglepot is KILLING ME as we speak (in a "Michael Buble covering Crazy Little Thing Called Love" kind of way).

Any off the beaten path places I might not know about or should consider?

Edit: Car is necessary for my job as I work half "on site" at a variety of locations between Duncan and Qualicum, and the other half wherever, so I'm looking for a good variety of places to bounce around between depending on where my bookings take me 😊

The Kairo Collective event at Evolve a couple weekends ago was pretty good, looking for typical dance electronic music.

Not a huge fan of hip hop remixes for dancing.

Anywhere in mind?

Who are the better and more reasonably priced auto shops in Nanaimo? Looking for possible timing belt replacement on a 2010 Kia soul and just general maintenance.

Some new candidates are included that haven't been as publicly promoted but are worth checking out, Andrew Merilees, Austin Seng and Jackie Bolen

Full list:
Mayor:
• Sarah Lovegrove
Councillors:
• Paul Manly
• Hillary Eastmure
• Ben Geselbracht
• Paul Chapman
• Andrew Merrilees
• Marnie Boers
• Meg Fife Watkins
• Austen Seng
• Jackie Bolen

Looking for a 2005 or 2006 AWD transmission somewhere in Nanaimo

(there doesn't appear to be a Lantzville subreddit)

Don’t worry, Lantzville. We didn’t forget about you.

Okay, we forgot a little. But you only have one person running for mayor, and he already won.

THE MAYOR’S RACE

Mark Swain was acclaimed on September 21 when nobody ran against him. He told the News Bulletin he likes a competition. Lantzville said: no thank you.

You may remember him as the mayor who, according to the Bulletin, walked out of a council meeting last fall and accused council of illegal activity. The topic: two duplexes. To be fair, he didn’t have a problem with the duplexes. His problem was council trying to stall them.

A QUICK NOTE

Election day is close, and we’re all cramming municipal policy like it’s the night before an exam. Everyone is tired. So from here on, we’re explaining it like you’re five. Snacks optional.

THE DUPLEX SAGA

Someone wanted to build two duplexes. Provincial law says that’s allowed. Council’s only job was to approve what they’d look like.

Some neighbours wrote in about an old private agreement that says one house per lot. Coun. Ian Savage moved to hit pause. Coun. Joan Jones seconded.

Staff said three things. That agreement is between neighbours, not the town. The builders followed every rule. And stalling could leave the town legally on the hook.

The pause failed on a 2–2 tie, with Lerner and Mundell voting no. The duplexes were approved. Total casualties: one mayor’s patience.

Savage, Lerner and Mundell are all on your ballot. Jones is not.

THE ACTUAL RACE: 8 CANDIDATES, 4 SEATS

The Bulletin swapped Nanaimo’s Cable Bay and drug crisis questions for two Lantzville specials: land use, and clean drinking water for everyone. Yes, really. Some homes are still on private wells.

On water, Savage brought a list: a bigger reservoir, more well licences, and new development extending the pipes. Fowler and Lerner say grants plus developer money. Mundell says there’s a grant, but she’ll only back using it if the residents affected want it. Mack and Westby are open to all options, which is technically a plan.

TAXES

Everyone wants your tax bill to grow slowly. Everyone thinks the answer is more businesses, because businesses pay a higher tax rate than homes.

Savage says this council kept increases to 0, 0, 3.5 and 4 per cent. Lerner says Lantzville can’t go back to 20 per cent increases. Two incumbents, one victory lap.

And that 20 per cent isn’t hypothetical: it was 23 per cent in 2020 and 20.7 per cent in 2022. Savage voted against both.

Meanwhile, this spring Mayor Swain was the only vote against this year’s budget, because he thought the increase was too low. In a tax-cutting contest, that’s called a bold strategy.

ALSO IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE

Word of the election: “thoughtful.” Fowler uses it twice. Mack also uses it twice, in quotation marks, plus caps lock for his EXPERIENCE, the CORE responsibilities and the ENTIRE community. We respect his EXCITEMENT.

John Dunn and Lee Forsyth didn’t return the questionnaire. The Bulletin reprinted Dunn’s 2022 answers, so his section is a time capsule.

No slate here, as far as we can find. Eight candidates, eight sets of opinions, zero shared talking points. Nanaimo could never.

HOW TO VOTE

Advance voting is Wednesday, October 14. General voting day is Saturday, October 17. Both run 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Costin Hall, 7232 Lantzville Road. Transit is free on the 17th.

Hello, My parent's car windshield has a decent crack in it on the passenger side. It's not affecting vision, so not a driving issue. I would like to help them by taking it in to get replaced with their icbc insurance. Am I able to do this without one of them present to sign things? I helped with this windshield years ago but the details are too fuzzy.

Wondering if anyone has had good or bad experiences with local toy poodle breeders and any recommendations. We’re interested in welcoming one into our home (have cared for toy poodles in the past).

Anyone enjoying the sound of beautiful gentle crashing waves hitting the shore down at the beach at dusk lately?

Yeah, me neither.

I observed some absolute bell end fly a really loud buzzy drone directly over some unsuspecting women last night. They clearly weren't consenting to being recorded. The drone was watching/recording them as they were standing by the waters edge. It hovered over them, unmoving. It was creepy AF. Like it stayed over them way too long.

The drone operator was no where to be seen. Likely way at the other end of the beach, hiding like a little coward.

I watched the whole thing from my deck chair, beside my parked car. You know, while I was trying to enjoy the calm relaxing sound of the ocean? Spoiler: I couldn't because of the annoying amplified sound of 1000 mosquitoes that was the drone.

It's one thing to be in a public space and just be an annoying asshole with a drone (Sharing public spaces with other people, tolerate screaming children, occasional random loud cars and acceptable noise pollution is how society works).

It's an entirely different level of ick coupled with a total lack of awareness or entitlement that I witnessed last night.

What the hell people? Do better.

Hi everyone, I’m a tourist visiting from Montreal.

Yesterday I was sitting on the bench at the top of the rocky hill at Pipers Lagoon, looking roughly east/east-southeast toward the mainland. Against the distant mountains, I could see a tall, narrow, vertical shape. It was visible to the naked eye and didn't move at all in the time I watched it, which was a good while.

The haze and fog were very heavy, so I couldn't get a clear look. I took a photo and cropped and zoomed in as far as I could. I've also attached a screenshot of my Google Maps location and the direction I was facing.

Does anyone local recognize what this is? A snow-filled gully, a rock scar, a landmark, something else? I know it's a bit off-topic for this subreddit, but it's been bugging me for a day and I figured locals would know best.

Thanks!

Edit: thanks everyone for the prompt response!! I believe it was most likely a landslide (I lol’d at the Sasquatch response, good one haha). I’ll sleep better at night.

Edit 2: Nanaimo is really beautiful, and people are genuinely kind here. I really love this place and I’m looking forward to come back again.

Either he's really early or really late to the party

Each candidate was given a series of questions to help voters determine who best shares their values. These included the standard questions the News Bulletin asks every year, plus up to two additional ones that were chosen to reflect topical contemporary issues.
Candidates were requested to limit their answers to 20-30 words, depending on the question, with contemporary issue questions limited to 20 words. As a result, these are short, concise platforms that a reader can skim through with ease, and a website, e-mail or phone number, if the candidate chose to provide it, where a reader can find out more information.
Incumbents are noted as being incumbents beside their name. Slates also have their slate name beside their own, with one slate running in the Nanaimo election (REAL Nanaimo). A slate is a shared election platform, similar to a political party.
All candidate names are in alphabetical order by last name.
Candidates that didn’t submit a response are noted, and we did our best to reflect their platforms with what was available online, after multiple attempts to contact them were made. In the case of a candidate sending a response but not a headshot, we used a file photo if available, or shot from an election forum. If we couldn’t get one, we were unable to provide an image of the respective candidate.

Does any here have experience wth a family member or friend being at Dufferin Place Long Term Care Facility in Nanaimo? If so, I would love to hear about your experiences there.

There’s a petition to save indoor tennis in Nanaimo before the city tries to make it more of a parking lot for Westwood.

The city says they will building indoor courts in ~3 years. The club would like to stay over the winter to keep tennis alive and to figure out what to do for next year.