City of Victoria councillor Lisa Helps has announced she will seek position of Mayor of the City of Victoria in the 2014 election. In the 2011 election Helps placed 3rd out of eight council positions.
Website: http://www.lisahelpsvictoria.ca/
Posted 21 August 2014 - 05:46 PM
City of Victoria councillor Lisa Helps has announced she will seek position of Mayor of the City of Victoria in the 2014 election. In the 2011 election Helps placed 3rd out of eight council positions.
Website: http://www.lisahelpsvictoria.ca/
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
Posted 22 August 2014 - 08:32 AM
I sadly have to admit I've sort of "unplugged" from civic politics and issues since the last election, but from what has managed to filter down to me, Helps has been one of the least offensive on council.
Posted 22 August 2014 - 09:06 AM
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
Posted 22 August 2014 - 09:19 AM
My opinions about re-electing incumbants notwithstanding, given (only) a choice between Mayor McCheese and Ms. Helps, the latter would get my vote. I seem to forget, has ANYONE else made public their intention to run for mayor of Victoria?
Posted 22 August 2014 - 09:28 AM
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
Posted 22 August 2014 - 09:45 AM
since I conduct a podcast with lisa which I post for all of you wonderful Vibrant Victorians to listen too, my opinion doesn't count for much. However, what I think I can say fairly generically is that she is very attentive to experts on subjects that matter, she did her post secondary schooling on land use and how it affects society, she is pretty flipping smart, ( I interviewed her for my other show "Growler Hour" see www.29erradio.com) which doesn't mean she will be a good mayor, but it does mean that she understands critical thinking and since I have known her, she has been mature enough to see where her logic is faulty and has altered her opinions accordingly.
What drives me crazy about most politicians is they think that what they think is right and unassailable. We need human beings who understand their short comings and use them to ask better questions of the experts so they can make informed decisions for all of us who pay taxes to run the city.
Posted 22 August 2014 - 10:36 AM
Since I conduct a podcast with Lisa which I post for all of you wonderful Vibrant Victorians to listen to, my opinion doesn't count for much. However, what I think I can say, fairly generically, is that she is very attentive to experts on subjects that matter...
And yet, did she not also go against the advice of the experts at City Hall who recommended NOT moving to 40 km/h speed limits?
Posted 22 August 2014 - 11:31 AM
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
Posted 22 August 2014 - 01:21 PM
Is there more to this limits thing then just a reaction to the safety brigade?
The unanimous, support any iteration at all cost approach seems to suggest there is, doesn't it?
Victoria current weather by neighbourhood: Victoria school-based weather station network
Victoria webcams: Big Wave Dave Webcams
Posted 22 August 2014 - 03:30 PM
Sure does. It's like it's a piece of a bigger puzzle but nobody dares open that can of worms until after the election because, you know, in Victoria our elected officials bring us up to speed on their agendas only AFTER getting elected.
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
Posted 25 August 2014 - 12:10 PM
Helps has opened a very nice campaign office on Fort St. South side, in the 900 block maybe (?). Or 1,000 block maybe. I forget.
Posted 16 September 2014 - 07:17 AM
I personally like this policy of hers:
Year three: Explore innovation in affordable housing including shipping container developments, tiny homes, and opportunities for rent-to-own or other programs to make home-ownership more affordable for first-time buyers.
I'm not sure what exactly that is a year three proposal, but I would like to see the trend of smaller and smaller units continue.
Posted 16 September 2014 - 07:21 AM
Rent to own is a horrible policy. Who is advising her?
Posted 16 September 2014 - 07:30 AM
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
Posted 16 September 2014 - 07:30 AM
Rent to own is a horrible policy. Who is advising her?
Depends on the terms. It can be great.
Posted 16 September 2014 - 07:32 AM
...I would like to see the trend of smaller and smaller units continue.
Yeah why stop at shipping containers? Fridges come in pretty decently-sized boxes; for families of course. A single person doesn't really need any more space than a dishwasher or stove box.
Posted 16 September 2014 - 07:35 AM
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
Posted 16 September 2014 - 07:40 AM
Housing prices are high because of high land values and an access to ridiculously cheap and easy credit (which she can't change). Containers and renting to own address none of that. Low density developments that use lots of land but don't provide a lot of units are not going to address housing. Micro-houses are a feel-good fad. If you want to address housing issues via policy, allow more and denser residential development. If you want to create affordable housing you have to buy it, because the market can not produce affordable housing at a profit and it must be subsidized. We have some excellent not-for-profit affordable housing groups in town, they just need more funding. Ownership right now is financially idiotic, a horrible thing to saddle on people in need of affordable housing and a wasteful thing to subsidize.
Housing is also a long term investment with a long cycle. Those expensive rentals today can be normal priced in 10 years and affordable in 20 depending on how the building evolves. The key here is to not allow bottlenecks in demand by doing stupid things like voting no to dense rental housing in a walkable area next to downtown. But no one who states they are concerned about housing and auto-dependence would do such a thing so no worry there.
Posted 16 September 2014 - 07:52 AM
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
Posted 16 September 2014 - 08:08 AM
We've seen affordable housing struck down for every reason under the sun yet it remains at the top of every politician's stated concerns. When it comes to housing our city talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk. I learned this early on when I was involved in a rental project that was going to replace an under-used surface parking lot in James Bay. Fortin had just been elected and I was excited because I was at an event where he gave a speech exactly supporting in-fill, specially on under-used parking lots. Our project would have been one of the first rentals built in the city for 30 years, so clearly it would get support. Only 4 stories too, and almost all the neighbours were 4 story apartments. A slam dunk right?
Nope, the owners of the 4 houses across the street raised a huge fuss and city hall decided they didn't want touch it.
Now we come to a similar situation, with a politician who claims to support such things... I think history will repeat itself. Victoria loves to TALK about housing, and promise to build more housing "somewhere", but when that "somewhere" finally becomes a specific place in the city,there's always something wrong with it. Our politicians love the abstract idea of building more housing, but hate the specific projects and locations.
0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users