Profile avatar
pwaldkirch.bsky.social
Likes: Star Trek, the accordion Hates: the housing crisis
629 posts 1,687 followers 246 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter

B.C.'s Special Committee on Democratic and Electoral Reform is accepting written submissions over the next 5 weeks They're looking for thoughts, feedback and suggestions for change regarding democratic engagement, voter participation and electoral models #bcpoli Submissions can be made 👇

guys its a school please stop requiring rezoning for everything

Sean Orr (COPE) has been on council less than 2 months, and in rezonings has already earned the dubious distinction of voting against more rental homes (both market & below-market) than any other sitting councilor...including 2-term councilors! Even Pete Fry has voted against less housing than Orr.

Frustrating that the fiNAnCiaLIzAtioN fixation has gone so far down the drain. Maybe all it was never about people's lives and always about is deep-rooted prejudices about dwelling types, tenure, and some ideology of who is supposed to own what.

This is tonight! (No accordion, sorry and/or you're welcome)

Granville Island joins a host of innovative models from the 1970s (e.g. non-equity cooperatives! historical preservation as a source of cheap housing!) that often involved the same sets of thinkers. And they did not fully build in the cost of upkeep.* (* a lot of that's about rising standards!)

Example number 501847282 of new dense housing very likely being used to pay for deferred infrastructure maintenance. Stop pretending this is “growth pays for growth,” planners. It’s “new residents paying for historically too-low property taxes of existing residents”

I /knew/ playing the accordion would be good for something other than annoying my neighbours one day! Now it's good for annoying the whole city!

Great job by Peter talking about the Commercial-Broadway development in particular and housing in general. And gently pushing back against some of the more idiosyncratic views on housing that are out there.

I was happy to get the chance to talk about yesterday's Commercial-Broadway public hearing and to say "housing is good" on CBC's The Coast with Amy Bell this afternoon! www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

This is such a good article

youtu.be/exwFemOkbUU?...

The second Thursday of the month is almost upon us, which means it's time for our monthly Happy Hour! When: Thursday June 12, starting 5 pm Where: Rogue Wetbar Waterfront Station Details and RSVP here -- hope to see you tomorrow! www.eventbrite.ca/e/...

I think Sean Orr (COPE) really blew it by voting against 1000+ rental homes on a parking lot by a Skytrain station, and his justification for doing so doesn't hold water...but hey, there's worse things to be known as than "accordion man"!

This project will provide very valuable rental housing supply on top of one of the region's busiest transit hubs. There was a lot of discussion at the public hearing on whether new rental (sometimes suggested that this is 'luxury') can help our housing situation. A few things...

Graphed the city's neighbourhood-based census data breakdown to visualize population change between 1996 and 2016. You can really see how much of a stark outlier Grandview-Woodland is in managing to absolve itself of any responsibility for taking in newcomers to the city for the past 30 years.

Sean Orr opposing a 0-displacement rental complex is really disappointing. COPE doesn't seem to be serious about solving the housing crisis. #VanPoli

... and there are plenty of people, especially younger folks, who don't or can't attend public hearings because of their lives and obligations, even though they might be in favour of this development. I struggle to wrap my head around how this is a legitimate opposition to a development project.

you do not, under any circumstances, "gotta hand it to them"

[waves] That’s me, that’s exactly what I hoped and why I voted for him. And now I’m disappointed in him *and* myself.

Well that’s fucking disappointing. I voted for him in hopes of getting *more* housing. I encouraged other people to vote for him. 🤬

Awesome, supportive quote from @lennynanzhou.bsky.social just now about the Safeway towers: "I want my child and all of our children to be able to live in this city...if we keep saying no to housing, we keep saying no to the next generation"