Friday, December 18, 2020

Can A Hollowed-Out Dunbar Be Re-Filled?

AHomeIsForThe
LivingVille


Yesterday we commented on Douglas Todd's excellent two part opinion piece in the VSun that focussed on how Vancouver's Westside is being de-populated.  This led an interesting discussion in the comment thread when Mr. Beer 'N Hockey's favourite former pol weighed in.

Anyway, in the spirit of that post, I wanted to bring a really fantastic local blog to your attention.

It's called 'City Duo' and the proprietors, a young couple named Hannah and Darren, do a great service to Lotuslanders by reporting on all manner of city planning and development permit-type meetings.

This week they tell us all about a Town Hall involving the 'Urban Design Panel' in which a proposed rental building in Dunbar was discussed.

The following passage is a little dense in the detail but it does demonstrate why things often take so long to get done around here, even when NIMBYism is not (apparently) a major issue:

"...As city staff were cautious about what they were saying, it took some time for the panel to tease out the full explanation. Eventually, they revealed the policies to replace the Affordable Housing Choices IRP, and allow four floor rental buildings on select side streets had been delayed (pg 8) until after the Vancouver Plan is settled. Conversely, they claimed the planning department really wanted these initiatives to move forward, but couldn’t get ahead of a council that hasn’t acted..."


Check out City Duo if this kind of sustained and engaged reportage interests you. Which it should, if only because local proMedia organs rarely do this kind of hard work anymore.



________
And if you have become
one of those folks, like even me I guess, who is having a harder and harder time dealing with long form linear type, the Duo's also have a Twittmachine feed.




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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

wag the dog?

Anonymous said...

I hear CC lives there.. and its quite liberal? Right Mr Wilkinson?

Danneau said...

Did I read that 60% of housing in Vienna is public?
Just had a scan of this (not Vienna):
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/7/21/can-a-neighborhood-rebuild-wealth-for-the-people-who-actually-live-there?utm_campaign=meetedgar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=meetedgar.com&fbclid=IwAR33V2QwkfyUZfLhPdb6ExBlDlZZL84yhbl3bnTXIYtz-Vn6YhJBz9idL7E