Posted 20 February 2008 - 12:58 PM
Monday Magazine
Letters
Feb 06 2008
A different take on towers
Re: “Faulty Towers,” Jan. 24-30
I sincerely hope that Sid Tafler’s ears started burning when he, with “Faulty Towers” freshly published, attended Charles Campbell’s UVic lecture on conglomeration in the Canadian press and heard Campbell specifically and vigorously castigate Canadian journalists for their slovenly habits of retailing untruths. “Faulty Towers” is certainly and thoroughly corrupted by untruth and exaggeration, to the point that one wonders whether Tafler’s exercise in demagoguery veiled another purpose.
It’s difficult to know where to begin setting Tafler straight, because of course he’s just clever enough to appeal to legitimate concerns around affordability, which breathe enough life into his straw man for his article to appeal to the credulous.
But let’s just remember that practically all the condos he so abhors sit on what used to be surface parking lots, and they didn’t displace anybody’s “comfortable single-family home with a backyard.” Really, Mr. Tafler: you appear to be concerned about social and environmental ills, yet advocate a hackneyed suburban vision.
Tafler writes that “the city of Victoria approved 3,000 condo units in the last five years—800 in 2007 alone, more than any other year”—as if that were a bad thing. I’d argue it’s a great thing: that’s 3,000 fewer “units” going to suburban sprawl and 3,000 more units contributing to the city’s tax base and 3,000 potential units of people downtown shopping, recreating and adding life to those streets.
Believe it or not, there are people living in many of those units. Good friends of mine live in Shutters, although, since they travelled for the past two months, their unit is dark. Likewise, you’ll find many empty-nesters who leave Victoria at this time of year to catch some sun. In the lower price range, you will find investors buying units, but guess what? They rent them out, which helps alleviate Victoria’s rental crunch.
Nor did these projects derail some magical solution to homelessness or affordability. It’s not the case that anyone was willing to step up to donate a building to that cause, nor that city councils can somehow magically wave a wand and make affordable housing appear.
Which brings me to my last point: you have to love the armchair quarterback, second-guessing all those lazy, incompetent city councilors. Judging from Tafler’s grasp of economics (a simultaneously shallow and flaccid grasp), I’d hate to see him in a councillor’s seat because I’m sure he’d go mad at the workload and the demands on his attention by every citizen who knows everything about anything better than he, the councilor, does.
Yule Heibel, Victoria
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009