
Greater Victoria Public Library and south Island libraries
#681
Posted 12 June 2024 - 05:33 AM
#682
Posted 12 June 2024 - 10:43 AM
"...it’s the first time the district has used property it owns to create affordable housing. “I think it really is the way forward to create true affordability in our community..."
Highrise towers and high density are now very good things, as long as the governments and their partners are the ones building them.
But wait a second... couldn't the district have used property it owns to create high-density affordable housing ten years ago, or twenty years ago, or sixty years ago? You know. back when the district was staunchly opposed to highrises and high density? (unlike today)
Concerns were raised about the height of the building and size of the project, but Plant said an 18-storey tower in that area may not be out of place in a few years, as Saanich has identified the area as suitable for increased density.
Another critical thinking test for the reader. Highrises have been opposed for decades because they would be "out of place". But we're now considering the premise that highrises wouldn't be so out of place after all... if you were to build several of them.
Thought criminals and terrorists will probably remember how anti-development politicos in Victoria used to claim new highrise buildings would always be out of place even if they were built in close company with existing older highrise buildings. Heck, don't Victorians still resist new highrise buildings in (for example) James Bay or on Fort Street near Cook by playing the "out of place" card?
This about-face re: highrise buildings is like the pure distillation of the hypocrisies and inconsistencies inherent in all politics.
- max.bravo likes this
#683
Posted 12 June 2024 - 10:45 AM
Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 June 2024 - 10:47 AM.
#684
Posted 12 June 2024 - 10:48 AM
Try any other developer trying for 18 storeys in Gordon Head or Cedar Hill.
Are you nuts? A tower like that would be insanely out of place.
- lanforod likes this
#685
Posted 12 June 2024 - 10:49 AM
^And it would probably also cast some shadow across the government towers, which wouldn't be acceptable.
#686
Posted 12 June 2024 - 10:49 AM
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
#687
Posted 12 June 2024 - 11:18 AM
...along comes a proposal for newly bought City land, for a 20-storey BC Housing tower, approved quickly and efficiently.
Why would a publicly financed development need to go through an onerous review and approval process? It's not as though any taxpayer funded project has ever gone off-track or over budget before - right? And even if it did, taxpayers have an unlimited supply of money to contribute to any budget shortfalls.
#688
Posted 12 June 2024 - 11:30 AM
Nearly a decade for 1008 Pandora to be approved at six-storeys. Then along comes a proposal for newly bought City land, for a 20-storey BC Housing tower, approved quickly and efficiently.
Wasn't it still a school a decade ago? Were they already getting approvals for 10 years before that? Confusing...
#689
Posted 12 June 2024 - 01:33 PM
I should have said it was proposed, built and occupied over the span of nearly a decade.
School closed in 2013? The building completed in 2019. Bosa became involved in late 2011, I think. So eight-ish years.
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
#690
Posted 12 June 2024 - 02:18 PM
I should have said it was proposed, built and occupied over the span of nearly a decade.
School closed in 2013? The building completed in 2019. Bosa became involved in late 2011, I think. So eight-ish years.
Ah yeah I guess the school did sit for a while...
#691
Posted 13 June 2024 - 11:19 AM
The old neighborhood - never in my wildest dreams to 1972 did I think to see the day of anything resembling a high-rise on that lot. The new building will directly stand proudly on what was once the old neighborhood hockey pond from about 1966....
#692
Posted 24 June 2024 - 09:22 AM
The Seattle Public Library and its 27 branches continue to struggle through a ransomware attack that has disabled its networks, rendered its hundreds of public computers useless and turned its normal operations upside down.
#693
Posted 24 June 2024 - 02:56 PM
I was looking for some children's books at our downtown library and noted that they have hardly any non-fiction books left, only one shelving unit. When my daughter was in school 25 years ago there were five or six aisles full. Lots that I used to enjoy as well, especially the Eyewitness series, and books about ancient Egypt. I don't know why they think they need a new building as the current one is half empty.
- Nparker and Daveyboy like this
#694
Posted 24 June 2024 - 09:38 PM
Families do not belong in high-rise buildings
The proposed development for the Nellie McClung library site is an unbelievably bad design, running counter to all the published authoritative studies of how to build affordable family housing.
Studies clearly state that the principal reason for the social disintegration which happens in low-income high rises is the presence of families with the inevitable disruption of younger children.
The primary recommendation is that families should be accommodated in smaller, low-rise buildings with adequate surrounding recreational space; high-rise accommodation should be smaller single or double apartments with no family presence.
Saanich council is clearly unable to imagine the environment in an 18-floor building full of young children with no recreational space inside or outside the building and a local infrastructure incapable of supporting that number of low-income families.
Many cities have made this mistake in the past and have demolished those buildings to make space for the construction of a more rational design of affordable family accommodation.
The publicly-owned McClung site is a golden opportunity to create the right kind of affordable family accommodation.
The entire site should be low-rise affordable family accommodation, moving the library to within the Lambrick Park re-development.
It should not become an ill-conceived example of replacing reason by the political advantage of building a large number of “housing units.”
Saanich council must re-consider this plan before we rush into building an irreversible problem for the future.
Alec Mitchell
Victoria
https://www.timescol...-police-9125635
Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 June 2024 - 09:39 PM.
#695
Posted 25 June 2024 - 06:53 AM
Low rise 3bd if concrete seems like a good fit for families, but that’s not what would be built anywhere. It’d be 1-2bd wood frame which is noisy for neighbours.
- AllseeingEye likes this
#696
Posted 25 June 2024 - 07:20 AM
This project will have a wide(er) spectrum of incomes represented.
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
#697
Posted 03 July 2024 - 11:01 AM
That’s embarrassing, checked out books in the past that smelled like pesticide.
#698
Posted 03 July 2024 - 12:07 PM
It’s a teaching moment.
Black Press:
Daily Dish: Mysterious maggots close book return at Greater Victoria library
Edited by Victoria Watcher, 03 July 2024 - 12:09 PM.
#699
Posted 03 July 2024 - 12:52 PM
Mostly use the library for the newspaper archives and one of the streaming services to watch 3rd Rock from the Sun
Edited by todd, 03 July 2024 - 12:54 PM.
#700
Posted 03 July 2024 - 01:05 PM
Edited by Victoria Watcher, 03 July 2024 - 01:06 PM.
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