3079 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Things are different, today, for sure.

Welcome to VV.

[Awaiting Juno]

Here's the thing; anger comes across as irrational. Further most terms are loaded: better, according to who? We're at a point where it's almost Orwellian - where those espousing togetherness have been the most divisive in their approaches. On the flip: those calling it as it is and hoping to make real progress are called out as "divisive". We've gotten to a place where good people think long and hard before opting in to run - rightfully overwhelmed at the prospect and then we bemoan the choices on the ballot and choose to just stay home on election day and as a result, because there's nothing voters can do when those who should not be at the table find themselves there, things get worse.

 

The reality: my plate is full (I help run a business and have kids and dabble in community issues from time to time, we are building a new home for our family), I'd prefer if people not judge my personal life and fashion sense, I'd prefer not have mud slung at me. Also the reality: we need people to step up who know how to listen, who have walked many paths in life, who have ideas and a willingness to share them, who despite having mud slung at them choose not to sling it back, who will advocate for their community and who despite having full plates, will make room on them to engage over the next four years as best they can. We need people who will work with others at that table in collegial and professional ways - even if they don't agree on all things, we need to be able to have the conversation. So reality is, that there's a duty for those who love this city and who can do a good job to step forward, and hope that the best 8 of them and the best mayor is chosen by voters because that is when we can start moving towards the city we can be satisfied with.

[Nparker]

Thank you Janice for stepping forward and doing what most of us cannot or will not do, for the sake of the greater good. Thank you for giving me a reason to go to the polls on election day.

[kitty surprise]

Janice you really are a class act. Thank you for stepping up.

[BFG]

I just spent the last 3 hours reading the last 900 or so posts on this Chat Board. Mostly because I wanted to get a sense of where this forum was going in regards to the municipal election coming up.

Well spoken Janice Williams, I most admit I did not agree with you in 2018 posts, but found your thought process to evolve over time and I would say I have come to agree with you enough to vote for you in the up coming election.

 

I spent my Saturday morning at the Moss Street Paint in. I rode my E-bike with 2 of my children from our SFH in James Bay. We parked at Fairfield and Moss and walked up to the Art Gallery. My daughters 2 and 7 were great and enjoyed all the art, and the people. They had an ice cream on the way back down, and it gave me the chance to stop and speak to Jack Boomer ( Stephan Hammonds Partner). I learned about his platform, and his support for Stephan Andrews. 

 

This got me thinking again about the upcoming election and I had to do some research. So I spent 3 hours here tonight. 

 

I have voted in pretty much every municipal election I can remember. I have lived in Saanich and in Victoria over the last 35 years (20 of which I am voting eligible). I don't pretend to know much about anything really. Other than I have seen a significant change in this lovely city in my brief time here. My street in James Bay has some serious elders who really remember the good old days of Victoria.

 

My two cents here tonight are as follows ( I will be back to continue following here) Between 3 kids and being a business owner my time is limited. I salute you Janice for stepping up.

 

- I agree we need more business minded people on council, but who are not profit oriented (if that's possible).

- I personally enjoy all the bike lanes, other than Wharf Street ( tourists are a liability) ( I cycle to and from work).

- Some of your proposed changes Janice are acceptable - but might be costly.

- I don't agree that Victoria is less safe today then it was 25 years ago. I spent 5 years in a rental in Saanich and 5 years in a Low Cost Family Unit at Cook and Johnson before my parents bought their SFH. 

There were plenty of things to be afraid of back then too. I guess SAFTY is not a focus I would appreciate in a council that sounds like fear mongering to me.

 

- Finally housing affordability is really the hot topic of the day. My initial take and research on the Missing Middle has me feeling positive towards the idea - It feels very European. Densification. I feel if put together properly with the right parameters that address the culture of Victoria it could work as a part of the need to bring in more families.

 

However the less idealogical side of me thinks there are some underlying issues with it( I need more research time).

 

The truly most glaring piece of reality that I did not come across in the 900 posts. I apologize to anyone that I missed if it was said, is the shear fact that Victoria/Vancouver Island has become a destination hot spot for everyone looking to move away from a City, but not necessarily go full rural. 

 

Historically Greater Victoria was a quiet quaint town ( for the newly wed and the nearly dead) was the joke when I was a kid. Affordability and rent were not an issue until somewhere around 2002-2005. Everything changed it was as if the world realized what a Gem this place was and now everyone wants a piece of the action.

 

My final piece is, affordability is going to be an issue in Victoria for a long time because those with money are always going to be able to out bid those without. And with a limited amount of space (we live on the tip of an island) to build more housing stock of any kind is going to be challenging. 

 

I don't have the answers, nor do I think there are any good ones at the moment.

 

Janice is a yes for me - the Stephans are a no. Mike Dell is a Yes for me ( I always wanted an out door pool in beacon hill park).

 

Sorry for the long Post - looking forward to reading more now that I have caught up on the discourse. 

[Barrrister]

BFG: Glad you are being thoughtful about the upcoming elections. Personally i think the James Bay area is underutilized. There should be a major redevelopment push by the city and the province where all of James Bay should be rezoned for thirty and forty story condos. In order to facilitate this sparkling new development which would provide needed housing in this crisis the province should expropriate all the existing properties. Cities like New York have done this in the past and we should follow in their footsteps. Each of the building should be required to turn over a percentage of the units to BC Housing to make sue  the disadvantaged are mixed in with regular units. James Bay does not have its fair share of housing for the homeless and this needs to change right away at the very least. 

 

This will provide added revenue to the city although business taxes also need to be at least doubled if not tripled to ensure a steady stream of funding for the supportive housing units. 

Edited by Barrrister, 17 July 2022 - 07:42 AM.

[Mike K.]

BFG, thanks for the thoughtful insight.

What are your thoughts on expanding the developable land base in the CRD, in addition to densification? We appear to have a correlation starting circa 2000 with rapidly rising real-estate prices with the CRD government pursuing its Urban Containment Boundary/Regional Growth Strategy (see: https://www.crd.bc.c...vrsn=640d24bc_0), effectively drawing a line in the sand for available development land.

Since then, housing costs have skyrocketed as the supply of land became capped.

So you’re right, up until that point (~2002) housing was still attainable to the average CoV/CRD worker. And to find out why homes are now valued at $1.4 million, we have to look at what changed to make it so.

[Victoria Watcher]

An outdoor pool at BHP for July/August that converts to a below-grade set of soundproofed pickleball courts for the other 10 months could be a hit.  

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 17 July 2022 - 07:46 AM.

[Mike K.]

Do we really want to encourage more zones of contention and anger?

[Mike K.]

I’m afraid we cooked the ability to have ‘affordable’ housing when we implemented a strict and very confining urban containment boundary. The outcome would be exactly what we now see.

And the CRD isn’t alone in having done this. Look at any urban region that has a UCB, and the results are the same, but ours went even further by being one of if not the smallest per-capita when it was implemented.

Meanwhile, all we’re doing is re-sewing the same dress trying to create something that it can never be (believing we ‘can’ achieve affordability once more, but even the CoV mayor admits missing middle is no longer about affordability [but it was when she first championed it in 2019]).

And the CoV is more or less doomed with regards to affordability. It controls 19 sq km, now with some of the most expensive real-estate in North America. That definitely wasn’t the case in 1995, right? So what changed, other than missing middle discussing townhomes for $700k that now would sell for $1 million (more like $1.1+).

The #yyjhousing advocates may not even realize, that while they fight for housing reform, they’re really just making it easier for wealthy retirees and wealthy younger tech workers to buy housing in the CoV’s most desirable neighbourhoods. The locals, meanwhile, are relegated to a permanent rental class.

[Victoria Watcher]

The #yyjhousing advocates may not even realize, that while they fight for housing reform, they’re really just making it easier for wealthy retirees and wealthy younger tech workers to buy housing in the CoV’s most desirable neighbourhoods. The locals, meanwhile, are relegated to a permanent rental class.

 

Why are "the locals" unable or unwilling to become "wealthy retirees" or "wealthy younger tech workers"?  You can succeed, if you work hard enough.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 17 July 2022 - 08:03 AM.

[Mike K.]

Good question.

Why can’t the average university educated Victoria couple afford a $1.4 million house?

I do think luck and family wealth are the big x factors here. If you don’t have one of those two things, you’re not going to be buying an average house or townhouse in the CRD.

[JimV]

BFG: Glad you are being thoughtful about the upcoming elections. Personally i think the James Bay area is underutilized. There should be a major redevelopment push by the city and the province where all of James Bay should be rezoned for thirty and forty story condos. In order to facilitate this sparkling new development which would provide needed housing in this crisis the province should expropriate all the existing properties. Cities like New York have done this in the past and we should follow in their footsteps. Each of the building should be required to turn over a percentage of the units to BC Housing to make sue  the disadvantaged are mixed in with regular units. James Bay does not have its fair share of housing for the homeless and this needs to change right away at the very least. 

 

This will provide added revenue to the city although business taxes also need to be at least doubled if not tripled to ensure a steady stream of funding for the supportive housing units. 

This is a forward looking and progressive idea.  The high density would probably also require some additional infrastructure.  I suggest we remove the trees from BHP and repurpose the area into a wind farm to generate electricity.  Higher sewage capacity might also be needed but this could easily be handled by running a 5ft discharge pipe down Niagara street and across the bay to the plant.  To save the cost of excavation we could build all ages and abilities stairways and bicycle ramps across the pipe at each cross street.  JB residents don’t really need cars anyway, so no problem there.  The main artery to the port would be Dallas Road.  We could widen the road by removing the bike paths, walkways, furniture and parking spots. To ensure pedestrian and wildlife safety we could line the road with chain link fence and sodium vapour overhead lamps.  Heavy commercial could ingress/egress through Cook Street village.  Once you put your mind to it there are lots of ways the city could be improved.

[LJ]

Good question.

Why can’t the average university educated Victoria couple afford a $1.4 million house?

I do think luck and family wealth are the big x factors here. If you don’t have one of those two things, you’re not going to be buying an average house or townhouse in the CRD.

Because they didn't come from somewhere else and accumulate some wealth.

Spend a few years in less desirable locations and build some equity for a down payment on a house in a more desirable location.

[Barrrister]

Because half the university educated people dont have any real job skills which is why many of them make less that a construction crane operator. A Masters in social work for example has little value in the job market. (But, I spent six years getting my degree which makes me assume that you were smart enough to realize at the outset that your degree did not mean any marketable skills)

 

On the other hand most dentists and vets seem to be doing pretty good and can afford to buy here if there is also an equal spouse. 

[Matt R.]

Beacon Hill used to have an outdoor pool.

[Barrrister]

Beacon Hill used to have a horse racetrack.

[lanforod]

A masters in social work contributes far more to society than a lawyer

[Mike K.]

Because they didn't come from somewhere else and accumulate some wealth.
Spend a few years in less desirable locations and build some equity for a down payment on a house in a more desirable location.

Can’t they buy a condo here and not move somewhere else, but gain the same if not better equity?

My point is more about why prices are so high, and why younger people concerned about prices might want to ask local politicians why missing middle is no longer considered ‘affordable,’ and what brought us here.

We have the solutions. We can build $500k houses in the CRD. We just choose not to, and instead tell 30-somethings who can’t afford a $7,000 mortgage to go away.

[spanky123]

We have the solutions. We can build $500k houses in the CRD. We just choose not to, and instead tell 30-somethings who can’t afford a $7,000 mortgage to go away.

 

We can and they will sell for $1M because wealthy people coming to Victoria can afford to pay that much and will.