259 replies to this topic

[RFS]

OK, try that theory down in East Los Angeles or Compton, let me know how it works out for you.

Why? Are you saying there's something about those areas that makes them dangerous or prone to violence? Sounds pretty racist.

[AllseeingEye]

Can it still be used in reference to the people who originate from or currently reside in India?

Short answer is Yes; I worked at a large tech firm in Vancouver some years ago that employed lots of Indians - from India - who  laughed themselves silly about how certain Caucasian staff got into a huge twist when all the meeting rooms were renamed after oceans or seas - all was fine (the Pacific Room, Atlantic, Adriatic etc.,) until the dreaded "I" word was used on one of them.

 

The internal PC White Guilt brigade went berserk - which is to say all of three people out of about 500 staff - and it took the Indian-born staff to pointedly and calmly remind them their homeland was called.......wait for it......."India". Hence the inhabitants were, unsurprisingly, quite correctly referred to as "Indians". They also noted the large body of water adjacent to their homeland, namely the Indian Ocean - and since the rooms were named for bodies of water it was a perfectly logical move. Fortunately sanity, not to mention common sense, prevailed and the room remains to this day the "Indian Room".

 

Back on topic - this is good news for the aforementioned reasons noted above but as I've previously mentioned environmental engineer-auditor friends of mine who work for some of the largest engineering firms in North America and Europe have repeatedly pointed out that in spite of the earlier remediation efforts, the old gassification plant building and associated grounds remain to this day one of the most polluted sites in Western Canada. Until that is dealt with not sure we can look forward to much in the way of exciting or new - or any - developments in that area any time soon.

[Cassidy]

The old Powerhouse and its grounds can't be remediated while the Powerhouse is still standing, and the hue and cry if it got torn down would likely be substantial.

So Council will come up with a plan that would oblige whoever owned the facility and property to remediate the area with the building remaining in place ... a condition that means remediation will cost 30 times as much as tearing the building down and remediating the bare land.

 

As a result, nobody will touch it, and the Powerhouse will sit for another 100 years, as its sat for the past 100 years.

 

I think a lot of folks think the Rock Bay remediation is finished ... but the work done to date is less than 50% of what needs to be done, with the remaining 50+% all related to the Powerhouse and the Island Asphalt property.

Nobody really knows what knows what kind of shape the land in/on/around Island Asphalt is in .. meaning there's still potentially a massive amount of remediation work to be done before folks start digging up anything at all around Rock Bay.

 

Island Asphalt and the Powerhouse lands are about twice the size of the reclamation lands completed to date.

[Matt R.]

My two foreign workers arrived yesterday. Must be some white guilt around as it feels weird to call them Indian!

Matt.

[Mike K.]

Le Fevre owns the power house, btw.

[Mike K.]

My two foreign workers arrived yesterday. Must be some white guilt around as it feels weird to call them Indian!

Matt.

Because they’re from the Netherlands?

[spanky123]

That’s why I find this so exciting. With D’Ambrosio at the helm this could end up as something absolutely amazing, and not bound by the constraints of officialdom’s whims.

In fact, if done right, and if it pushes beyond the “norm” I could see the City having to rewrite its own rules if this redevelopment sets a new precedent ...and the world continues to turn the next day.

 

From what I understand, the lands were sold to FN and are fee simple, not reserve lands. That would mean that they would fall under "officialdom whims". Having said that, officialdom has shown a preference for FN issues so they may decide to allow flexibility. 

 

I also understand that the CRD is leasing the first hydro parcel that was sold to FN a couple of years ago for $250K - $500K a year as compensation for the sewage treatment project.

[Victoria Watcher]

I also understand that the CRD is leasing the first hydro parcel that was sold to FN a couple of years ago for $250K - $500K a year as compensation for the sewage treatment project.

 

leasing it for what?

[spanky123]

leasing it for what?

 

From what I recall, and correct me if I am wrong, the original sewage treatment project was going to have plant components barged and stored on the newly acquired FN lands. When plans changed, the CRD decided to pay to lease the land anyways even though they no longer required it to keep FN onside with the project.

 

With the new anti-money laundering rules that the NDP are implementing, we should be able to find out who the directors and shareholders are of the numbered companies who are involved with these deals.

Edited by spanky123, 25 May 2019 - 04:05 PM.

[aastra]

 

“It is not the appropriate approach for a market which is robust but is not huge. It’s Victoria. It’s not New York City.”

 

These lands were among the most contaminated in Canada. It cost close to $140 million in public money and took a dozen years to clean. About 290,000 tonnes of contaminated sediment was hauled from the area.

 

To summarize: Victoria isn't in the big leagues re: redeveloping contaminated sites. Victoria is most definitely in the big leagues re: HAVING contaminated sites. Just not redeveloping them.

[Victoria Watcher]

From what I recall, and correct me if I am wrong, the original sewage treatment project was going to have plant components barged and stored on the newly acquired FN lands. When plans changed, the CRD decided to pay to lease the land anyways even though they no longer required it to keep FN onside with the project.

 

that makes us all feel better.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 25 May 2019 - 04:22 PM.

[aastra]

 

My two foreign workers arrived yesterday. Must be some white guilt around as it feels weird to call them Indian!

 

As an alternative you could call them Hoosiers.

[AllseeingEye]

The old Powerhouse and its grounds can't be remediated while the Powerhouse is still standing, and the hue and cry if it got torn down would likely be substantial.

So Council will come up with a plan that would oblige whoever owned the facility and property to remediate the area with the building remaining in place ... a condition that means remediation will cost 30 times as much as tearing the building down and remediating the bare land.

 

As a result, nobody will touch it, and the Powerhouse will sit for another 100 years, as its sat for the past 100 years.

 

I think a lot of folks think the Rock Bay remediation is finished ... but the work done to date is less than 50% of what needs to be done, with the remaining 50+% all related to the Powerhouse and the Island Asphalt property.

Nobody really knows what knows what kind of shape the land in/on/around Island Asphalt is in .. meaning there's still potentially a massive amount of remediation work to be done before folks start digging up anything at all around Rock Bay.

 

Island Asphalt and the Powerhouse lands are about twice the size of the reclamation lands completed to date.

Yup, and therein lies the crux of the problem; my understanding is that the land directly below the structure is "massively contaminated" up to a depth of 3-4 meters, or more, which is a s**t ton of highly toxic material to deal with.....

[aastra]

So the doctor orders some higher density then? To make it all feasible? I have to think it could only benefit downtown/old town to have a solid residential population base on both the east and north sides. What are the perils? People have been able to see Orchard House to the south for ages, not to mention the other highrises in the Y-lot area. People have been able to see Promontory to the west for several years now. There have been no catastrophic consequences. Time for the north side to join the party?

[spanky123]

So the doctor orders some higher density then? To make it all feasible? I have to think it could only benefit downtown/old town to have a solid residential population base on both the east and north sides. What are the perils? People have been able to see Orchard House to the south for ages, not to mention the other highrises in the Y-lot area. People have been able to see Promontory to the west for several years now. There have been no catastrophic consequences. Time for the north side to join the party?

 

Developments on FN lands can be extremely hard to finance for a variety of reasons which I won't get into. I would suspect then that we would be more likely to see something that the Government would back such as low cost housing.

[spanky123]

As we’ve surmised would be the case.

So the question now is, will the land be home to a downtown casino?

 

Would be an interesting development if the CoV decided now to back a casino. I am sure that a few eyebrows might get raised.

[Victoria Watcher]

Would be an interesting development if the CoV decided now to back a casino. I am sure that a few eyebrows might get raised.

 

what's wrong with a casino?  right now our "casino" is 8 guys sitting on chairs in the bay centre watching bclc keno screens.

[spanky123]

what's wrong with a casino?  right now our "casino" is 8 guys sitting on chairs in the bay centre watching bclc keno screens.

 

I didn't say there was anything wrong with a casino, but what about the Mayor and council's concern that casinos are a hotbed of money laundering? That is the reason why they wrote to BCLC and said that the City was not interested in a casino. 

[Nparker]

what's wrong with a casino?  right now our "casino" is 8 guys sitting on chairs in the bay centre watching bclc keno screens.

I think the biggest gamble the CoV takes is when these folk get together to decide our collective fate.

[Hotel Mike]

It seems to me that the FN owners could develop a very successful tourism operation on part of the land. A longhouse with a few totem poles would be very attractive to visitors. With a chance to partake in a salmon dinner, with bannock, this would be a big draw. I'm not advocating for some Disney-esque phoney tourist trap. This could be part of a larger development.