5915 replies to this topic

[spanky123]

In other words in order to be out there and have yourself known, a person might actually have to do some heavy lifting and participate in community forums and raise their personal profile about who they are and what they stand for long before they consider taking a run for office.

 

Sure and at most that will expose you to 2% of the population. 

[J_Loveday]

That is true. I've known I was going to run again for 6 months or so and also that these laws would be changing. I could have raised money from unions and corporations in anticipation of the law changing and I chose not to.

 

Well, to be fair, they are not permitted any more thanks to the NDP Government. But good on ya.

[rmpeers]

Question for Jeremy. Clearly you have spent some time on this forum and have no doubt perused a fair amount of the, um, lively discussion around civic issues and how the current mayor and council are perceived.

If so, and given that you intend to run again, has reading the colourful VV discussions changed your point of view or your approach to any issues?

[Mike K.]

[J_Loveday]

 Good question. I’d say that yes it has.

 

Discussions on VV have helped me to recognize the harm of being seen as flitting from one issue to the next. It makes Council come off as distracted and just attracted to the newest shiny thing. That is why – as you may have noticed – that I’m not bringing forward all sorts of advocacy motions outside of City jurisdiction like I did in the beginning of the term. That is also why I avoid inflammatory or distracting statements that will detract from the great work we are doing on many of the issues facing our City. 

 

We need bold ideas but we need boldness grounded in a strong sense of stability. 

 

Question for Jeremy. Clearly you have spent some time on this forum and have no doubt perused a fair amount of the, um, lively discussion around civic issues and how the current mayor and council are perceived.

If so, and given that you intend to run again, has reading the colourful VV discussions changed your point of view or your approach to any issues?

[jonny]

Jeremy, I appreciate that you spend the time to engage with us. I suspect other local officials do as well, but do so anonymously.

 

I have a question for you though.

 

 

In your opinion, how much of our ongoing, never ending “housing crisis” is the direct result of the City of Victoria’s strict zoning and land use regulations? If the city reduced restrictions on high density housing development, do you think we would see more housing units constructed in the city proper? 

[Rob Randall]

i wrote this exactly three years ago following the 2014 election:

 

 

Rookie councillor Jeremy Loveday has his work cut out for him. While he has strong opinions on food security, pipelines and the environment, these topics don't come up frequently.

He will soon be handed thick three-ring binders full of agendas for upcoming meetings filled with mundane things like coach-house setbacks, floor-space ratio variances, and bakery parking lot variance requests. I can guarantee you the veteran councillors will constantly be interrupting him to lecture him on the broader context involved in making these decisions. He might say, "hey, sure Mr. Pub Owner, you can have three fewer parking spots, seems like no harm done", without realizing every bar owner in town would jump on that and request the same treatment.

Sometimes these exchanges can get testy. I have seen several rookie councillors like Chandler and Lucas being taken to school by Fortin, Coleman, Madoff and Young and other veterans. It's fun to watch unless it's you in the hot seat.

[VicHockeyFan]

I noticed that today View Royal is running its by-election with one polling place.  They have an area of 14.5 sq. km.  Victoria has 19.5 sq. km. and an awful lot more transportation options.  Why does Victoria run with so many polling places (12 at the 2014 election)?

 

Saanich used 4 for their by-election in September.

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 18 November 2017 - 11:46 AM.

[nagel]

You seem to be comparing a 2014 general with a byelection.

[VicHockeyFan]

You seem to be comparing a 2014 general with a byelection.

 

I realize I am. 

[Nparker]

If I have to walk more than 5 blocks in any direction to my nearest polling station, there's not a hope in hell of me bothering to vote in a civic election - especially considering who is likely to win.

[johnk]

If I have to walk more than 5 blocks in any direction to my nearest polling station, there's not a hope in hell of me bothering to vote in a civic election - especially considering who is likely to win.

NParker,
what about bike paths? Guilt-free. Vote AND save the planet! ;-)

[Nparker]

NParker,
what about bike paths? Guilt-free. Vote AND save the planet! ;-)

Is the CoV going to buy me a bike?

[J_Loveday]

I'm lucky that this wasn't my experience. It is definitely a steep learning curve, especially the intricacies of land-use decisions but many of my council colleagues were quite generous with their time and they offered lots of information and historic context.  I spent the first six months of my term reading all of the minutes, agendas, plans, guidelines and documents I could find. I'm not afraid to ask lots of questions and I asked as many as I could think of. I also think it's a benefit to have new councillors asking questions like "why do we do it this way?" as tradition is not always the best or most efficient form of governance. 

 

As part of my efforts to jump-in on day one and build relationships with my colleagues I brought forward motions with every one of Council colleagues in my first year in office. 

 

 

 

i wrote this exactly three years ago following the 2014 election:

[VicHockeyFan]

A new discussion page.  Not sure who is behind it, it's short on details.

 

https://www.facebook...47355942562815/

[J_Loveday]

This is a complex question but here’s my quick take on it:

 

The housing crisis in Victoria is born out of a 30-year deficit of multi-family housing. For three decades there were no apartment buildings built in the City of Victoria, that coincided with a complete abdication of the housing file at the Federal level and to a lesser extent at the Provincial level. The City of Victoria, during that period, was also not particularly friendly in terms of getting more housing built because of inefficient and often unpredictable development processes.

 

We’ve tightened up our processes and we are expediting neighbourhood plans which will make building more predictable and will make sure neighbourhoods are densified in a sensitive and well-planned manner.

 

There is a lot of building happening in the City right now. You just need to look at the skyline and all the cranes that mark the changes that will soon come.  Many of these buildings will be luxury condos, when what we need most is workforce rental housing. We have subsidized housing coming online and many new units at the highest end of the market but not much for average residents. We can’t afford to hollow the low to mid income earners out of our City.

 

I also don’t think that supply is the only issue. There are other market forces at play including vacant units, short term vacation rentals, and speculative investment. Supply is a big part of the problem but the demand side of the equation also needs to be taken care of in a way that assures that homes are primarily being used as homes. 

Jeremy, I appreciate that you spend the time to engage with us. I suspect other local officials do as well, but do so anonymously.

 

I have a question for you though.

 

 

In your opinion, how much of our ongoing, never ending “housing crisis” is the direct result of the City of Victoria’s strict zoning and land use regulations? If the city reduced restrictions on high density housing development, do you think we would see more housing units constructed in the city proper? 

[Mike K.]

The City of Victoria, during that period, was also not particularly friendly in terms of getting more housing built because of inefficient and often unpredictable development processes.

We’ve tightened up our processes and we are expediting neighbourhood plans which will make building more predictable and will make sure neighbourhoods are densified in a sensitive and well-planned manner.

This effectively equates with atrociously long and convoluted approvals processes, NIMBY controlled developments and a restriction of the supply of housing that will further erode accessibility to housing.

 

The City of Victoria and its politicians failed City of Victoria residents by decades of inaction on the purpose-built rental housing front. We cannot simply kick the can back to the federal and provincial governments, we need to put the blame squarely on the lap of the City's planning department, its elected officials and density restrictions that make housing very expensive and difficult to deliver.

 

Rental housing developers pleaded with the City of Victoria to lift restrictions on density, height and the City's amenity expectations in order to build rental housing in the 1990's and in the 00's. And there were, believe it or not, several purpose-built rental developments in the 00's that defied the difficult working environment created by the City and were pushed as legacy projects by an aging developer who admitted that he wouldn't see a return on his investment for many years. But even they were outright rejected by council despite the rental vacancy rate being as low as it has perennially been The reason? Sensitivity. Votes. Politics.

 

This was in the era of Rob Fleming as councillor and he rejected that housing, as did his counterparts. Today Fleming and his counterparts bemoan the lack of housing.

 

So when political forces say the future of development in Victoria "will make sure neighbourhoods are densified in a sensitive and well-planned manner" that means something that we can no longer afford to live with, literally.

 

We need action and we need leadership. Appeasing NIMBY's, like the City of Victoria is currently doing with the Fort Street project at the Truth Centre site, is creating the very problem that politicians proclaim in election cycles that we collectively must fix.

 

So what's the solution? Sticking to the plan your planning department drafted and standing up to NIMBYism.

[lanforod]

 

I also don’t think that supply is the only issue. There are other market forces at play including vacant units, short term vacation rentals, and speculative investment. Supply is a big part of the problem but the demand side of the equation also needs to be taken care of in a way that assures that homes are primarily being used as homes. 

 

Maybe instead, work on ensuring there is enough supply so that there are enough homes, enough short term vacation rentals, enough for some investment, enough for snowbirds to leave their places empty 5.95 months of the year etc...

Unintended consequences...

[Nparker]

...There is a lot of building happening in the City right now...Many of these buildings will be luxury condos... 

Mr. Loveday - please don't feed into the myth that a $300,000, 400 square foot condo is "luxury". Many factors play into the cost of local construction, not the least of which is the artificial restraints on height & density that the CoV persists on enforcing.

[VicHockeyFan]

A poverty industry in overdrive also means you attract people here that have neither homes nor jobs, nor any prospect of work.