Residences? Not residents until they are occupied, and there are a whole lot of unoccupied residences around the CRD these days.
And you have the stats to back that up, I suppose, or are you another one of those individuals who sits outside a condo building at 11PM and counts the number of lit up windows?
I find it comical that downtown Nanaimo has been metioned positively twice in this thread. Sure, its better now that the convention centre was built, there seems to be less drug/gang activity on that crescent with the Cambie, but its terrible overall. A&B Sound is an eyesore, the Pacifica is an empty joke, and the restaurants are all a big meh. Acme? That martini place? Modern Cafe?
Nanaimo, aka "Surrey by the Sea"
Remember how a couple of months back Nanaimo's chamber of commerce came out swinging with the statement that Nanaimo is now the Island's biggest "city," because technically Saanich is a district and not a "city," and because technically Victoria is made of 13 municipalities and as such is smaller than Nanaimo? I love all the stuff they come up with to draw a little bit of attention to themselves