5833 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

almost everyone agrees we have a problem.

the number of people that can point to the problems is slightly smaller.

less still are the number of people that can identify potential solutions.

then finally the fewest are the number of people willing to implement solutions anywhere near where they live or work or play.

[Victoria Watcher]

my solution would be to indentify perhaps 10 solutions. have the public vote for their top 3 or 5 then have politicians get on with it.

[Rob Randall]

did shelbourne always go right to the park?  or was that odd section with the big grass median in the middle added when the road was put through?  and the only former access was cedar hill road connecting to ash and cordova bay road?

 

A 1907 map doesn't have Shelbourne at all. Most everything immediately west of there (Scott, Ryan etc) is already plotted out exactly as it is today. But then it just ends abruptly where Shelbourne is today. It was the literal edge of town. on the other side of this buffer zone are the expanding suburbs of Victoria and Oak Bay.

 

Bay Street from there to Cedar Hill was actually called Edmonton Road.

Edited by Rob Randall, 14 July 2021 - 11:37 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

so it ends at Hillside Mall. area? I think some of the houses up near mt Tolmie or near st Michaels schools are quite old. Unless they are just farmhouses.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 July 2021 - 11:40 AM.

[Mike K.]

It’s virtually all post-war-to-70s.

[Rob Randall]

Mt. Tolmie Road appears on the 1907 map so there will be some old houses there I'm sure. The 1925 map shows Shelbourne going all the way to Mt. Doug.

[Victoria Watcher]

IIRC there are some old houses on the right side of shelbourne as you near the park. maybe the road was made goofy just to accommodate more houses on the left and saving some trees.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 July 2021 - 11:52 AM.

[Rob Randall]

^Which houses?

 

There were a couple of little streets south of Bay where Shelbourne is now. It was only a matter of time before they progressed due north and linked up with the angled path coming from Mt. Doug Park.

[Victoria Watcher]

like say the last 10 houses on shelbourne before you get to my Doug park.

[Tom Braybrook]

1928 aerial photo

 

https://vicmap.maps....25f5dfde2842974

[zoomer]

i think a large part of broadmead was built in a forest. not farm.




Robert Rithet, was a leading Victoria entrepreneur and also the Victoria Mayor from 1884-85.

http://www.stephenfo...-broadmead.html

Farm, forest, whatever - you're getting bogged down by irrelevant details.

[Mike K.]

Oh great, zoomer’s emerged from the Picnic Point swamp.

[zoomer]

For just one post we'll digress from talk of Shelbourne, bogs and Rithet to remind Mike K that there is no swamp at Clover Point. What isn't covered by a free parking lot is covered by extremely dry and rather boring grass.

I'm expecting a huuuge crowd of pedestrians there this weekend though as I'm hosting a picnic in support of Councillor Isitt, everyone is welcome! Apparently he's had a bit of a rough go lately and we're just looking to lift his spirits. If ya'll can bring some vegan food options, and of course due to the extreme fire hazard there won't be any BBQing, which has also led us to decline Adam Stirling's offer to publicly roast the hotdog that is Mr. Isitt.

[Mike K.]

Hot dog? I think you meant legal beagle.

[Citified.ca]

The Capital is facing an inventory "gridlock" scenario as ultra-low re-sale listings are making things difficult for buyers, regardless of price point.

 

Victoria's housing "story" for July's market recap is ultra-low re-sale inventory, says real-estate board

https://victoria.cit...l-estate-board/

[Mike K.]

You know what isn’t being talked about yet? A shift to smaller cities, or the towns and hamlets people grew up in.

How many Victoria residents are from up Island? Tens of thousands. How many are struggling to afford the cost of living in Victoria? How many can work from home, and the physical location is less important?

Maybe the answer is to acknowledge that the urban experiment has peaked, and rural or semi-rural life is now en vogue for reasons like affordable housing, lower cost of living and fewer challenges to access services or amenities. Maybe it’s time for some of that city chic to turn its focus towards reinvigorating small towns and villages that 50 years ago were the lifeblood of our provinces, only to represent 20% of the population in just a few short decades.

[Victoria Watcher]

Maybe the answer is to acknowledge that the urban experiment has peaked, and rural or semi-rural life is now en vogue for reasons like affordable housing, lower cost of living and fewer challenges to access services or amenities. Maybe it’s time for some of that city chic to turn its focus towards reinvigorating small towns and villages that 50 years ago were the lifeblood of our provinces, only to represent 20% of the population in just a few short decades.

 

we have 300,000 new canadians coming in every year.   they are coming to cities mostly.   so i'm not sure that the return to rural can push back against that kind of number.   not enough to say the urban experiment has peaked anyway.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 August 2021 - 07:02 AM.

[Mike K.]

I'm certainly not saying it can push back, but there are growing volumes of educated people with households able to work from home, as proven by the pandemic, or able to make a physical trip into a physical work place once or twice a week. They do not need to be in a city, in other words, or not a large city.

 

2020-2021 has shown us through real-estate how much of an appetite exists for semi-rural properties. People flooded out of cities in numbers we have never seen, and I suspect this trend will continue as the pursuit of a lower cost of living (and safety) continues.

[Victoria Watcher]

2020-2021 has shown us through real-estate how much of an appetite exists for semi-rural properties. People flooded out of cities in numbers we have never seen, and I suspect this trend will continue as the pursuit of a lower cost of living (and safety) continues.

 

but did "city" housing prices drop or not increase as much as rural homes?  i'm not sure there was much difference.

[Mike K.]

No, but that's not what I'm getting at. What I'm saying is living in Ladysmith, or Qualicum, is now possible for legions of 30-50-somethings that were formerly constrained by a physical office location in Victoria.