5915 replies to this topic

[sdwright.vic]

Gee... maybe all these people parking on the street should start renting there driveways at a profit? I mean they get exclusive rights to the street parking in their hoods right?

[mbjj]

We've lived in our house for over 35 years. We had residential parking signs but our favorite moment was about 25 years ago when the street was repaved. They took down the signs for quite a while and didn't replace them. Just about every spot was taken up by downtown workers. We watched them every day. Then one day the City came to do some work and put up No Parking signs after everyone had already parked. Every car was towed away. Then between 4 and 5 PM we watched them all return. The look on their faces was priceless! We have the signs back again and regularly watch people park and go off to work, we presume. We've never called on them, except when they've been right across the end of our driveway.

[Stephen James]

Supply is not all created equal, my friend. There's titled property, there's rental property, there's varieties of non-market housing. You may be unfamiliar, but a proper affordable housing strategy is a little more nuanced than 'build, baby, build'. It involves creating a substantial supply of housing that is free from the rampant property speculation that has plagued major global cities of late.

There will be limits to growth for cities - Vancouver and Victoria have significant geographical constraints, transportation constraints, etc. that will prevent endless growth. In the meantime, we need to address the realities of housing every portion of our society in an environment which has been steamrolled by a glut of global capital entirely beyond our control.

re, "steamrolled by a glut of global capital..."

Bold, dramatic statement.  

Could you give some supporting references or data?

[spanky123]

re, "steamrolled by a glut of global capital..."

Bold, dramatic statement.  

Could you give some supporting references or data?

 

Agreed. I haven't seen any evidence that people are buying houses in quantity and just letting them sit as speculative investments. Vancouver recently found that only 10% of the revenue they expected to receive from the speculation tax was in fact captured.

 

What I believe is that low interest rates and the Governments desire to run massive deficits has created both the capacity and the desire for people who would normally not have purchased to do so. 

[Sparky]

What I believe is that low interest rates and the Governments desire to run massive deficits has created both the capacity and the desire for people who would normally not have purchased to do so.

Ok, I get the low interest part, but for the life of me I am unable to join the dots between the Governments desire to run massive deficits and how that might encourage someone to purchase real estate where if deficit spending by governments were curtailed....they wouldn't do so.

Coming from you (which I have a great deal of respect for) I know you didn't just throw that out there. I am seriously curious as to the connection.

[nerka]

Is there a list somewhere of candidates seeking election in CoV this fall? I know there will be an official list closer to the time.  Wondering if there is anything unofficial (or official) yet.

[Stephen James]

Ok, I get the low interest part, but for the life of me I am unable to join the dots between the Governments desire to run massive deficits and how that might encourage someone to purchase real estate where if deficit spending by governments were curtailed....they wouldn't do so.

Coming from you (which I have a great deal of respect for) I know you didn't just throw that out there. I am seriously curious as to the connection.

I'm going to guess Mr Spanky 123 is referring to the different versions of money supply: increased (more money in circulation) and tightened (less money in circulation) or something related.  

[Stephen James]

Agreed. I haven't seen any evidence that people are buying houses in quantity and just letting them sit as speculative investments. Vancouver recently found that only 10% of the revenue they expected to receive from the speculation tax was in fact captured.

 

What I believe is that low interest rates and the Governments desire to run massive deficits has created both the capacity and the desire for people who would normally not have purchased to do so. 

I dont think we're going to see any evidence for this.  The rhetoric, thank goodness and appropriately, has died down as our new government has been confronted with some facts, lol.  Shameful and embarrassing to me that we might single out any visible minority based on anecdotes and bias, again.  Ontario is an easier place to live in multiculturalism because it's harder to pick out (and blame) large, dominant groups of new Canadians.  Unfortunately, the Chinese have been a favourite target in BC for...?

[Sparky]

^ Yes it will be interesting to see if that is it. I can’t see that ever affecting any of my decisions over the years as to whether or not I would purchase real estate or not.

[spanky123]

Ok, I get the low interest part, but for the life of me I am unable to join the dots between the Governments desire to run massive deficits and how that might encourage someone to purchase real estate where if deficit spending by governments were curtailed....they wouldn't do so.

Coming from you (which I have a great deal of respect for) I know you didn't just throw that out there. I am seriously curious as to the connection.

 

I should have referenced Government spending as opposed to deficits themselves as the issue. Over the past several years, the Bank of Canada has "printed" tens of billions of dollars to finance the Governments spending excess. This money is created through bond issues which then trickles down through banks which create even more money through lending. Normally you would expect an increase in money supply to cause inflation and it has, but mostly in areas where it isn't directly measured like the stock market, housing, and commodities. So my point was that it is not just speculators causing housing prices to increase, but several other factors as well.

 

https://bdp.parl.ca/...l?cat=economics

[Coreyburger]

Looks like Gary Beyer has officially announced https://twitter.com/...555750567759872

 

And he has redone his website. New tag line:

Known the world over as a city full of charm, history and a west coast beauty, Victoria needs real leadership focused of Responsible Governance.

[Sparky]

Ya he’s already getting slammed for his use of the word “of” instead of “on”.

[nagel]

It's not the first time he's had some serious issues with written words.  

[rmpeers]

Will be curious to see how his campaign evolves. Hopefully the spelling will improve because at least some of the issues he raises deserved to be raised.

E.g. there should be a full accounting of how the Elsner situation was handled and how much money was wasted.

And yes there are no doubt smarter ways to tackle plastic waste. And a dozen or more other issues.

It shouldn't be that hard for a candidate to resonate with voters just by taking a common-sense approach.

[Hotel Mike]

He spelled Elsner wrong on his web page as well. Did I miss the part where he talks about his experience working in the community, boards, associations, attending Council meetings, committees, sub-committees? What does this language and spelling-challenged guy have to offer other than not being Lisa Helps?

[Rob Randall]

^Meh, experience, shmexperience, who needs it? Gary will make it up as he goes along!

 

What I want to know is if Beyer licensed that copyrighted City Hall photo or if he stole it from BC Vacation.

[spanky123]

What does this language and spelling-challenged guy have to offer other than not being Lisa Helps?

 

Apparently a lot of people willing to step up and finance his campaign. From what I am hearing, head to head against Helps he will win. Still a long way away from the election though and others may enter the race.

[Nparker]

So the only answer to a SJW is a semi-literate unknown? Is this what local politics have come to?

[Love the rock]

Will be curious to see how his campaign evolves. Hopefully the spelling will improve because at least some of the issues he raises deserved to be raised.
E.g. there should be a full accounting of how the Elsner situation was handled and how much money was wasted.
And yes there are no doubt smarter ways to tackle plastic waste. And a dozen or more other issues.
It shouldn't be that hard for a candidate to resonate with voters just by taking a common-sense approach.

I could care less if he can spell or if he ever learns .
Dyslexic ,maybe who knows .
I’m more interested in common sense abilities.

[Rob Randall]

All Beyer has is vague ideas and opinions. We all have those; there are exactly 438,367 of those opinions on this forum alone. He needs to give examples of how he's made a transformative change to an organization in order to demonstrate he's capable of being in the big chair. Otherwise he's a Not Ready For Prime Time Player.

 

He doesn't need political experience. Anything will do. If he was 14 and he single-handedly increased membership 200% in his Junior High D&D club, that will help.

 

I'm just tired of these All-Talk, No-Action guys.

Edited by Rob Randall, 29 May 2018 - 04:22 PM.