11779 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

dubow is likely toast anyway. he’s a terrible councillor.

[JimV]

A little OT, but it goes to CoV’s “consultation” process.  The JB cycle plan is in it’s final iteration.  It involves buggering up Government as well as a couple of other streets.  Engage Victoria has a survey available.  As usual there is no “none of the above” choice.  Just which of their bad ideas do you like the most.

 

I would be interested to know how the Richmond resistance is going.  In the end I think none of these crazy projects can be stopped without residents taking to the streets.

 

The city’s bogus consultation process also makes me think that we (i.e. the residents) need some way to actually express an opinion.  Ideally some kind of internet vote that could be restricted to CoV residents and wasn’t susceptible to activist swamping like those zoom meetings.  I know, of course, that most of city council couldn’t care less what we think.  But if they could see a large, credible reaction to their schemes it might even eventually penetrate their thick skulls.  

[Mike K.]

Did anyone catch this morning's committee of the whole discussion regarding police funding?

[Jacques Cadé]

Did anyone catch this morning's committee of the whole discussion regarding police funding?

 

Some of it. Hard to follow because lots of amendments, and some time in camera, but I think the vote ultimately went 7-2 in favour of VicPD's request for more money to back up City bylaw officers until September, Dubow and Isitt opposed. Loveday and Potts were somewhat skeptical but ultimately wanted to support City staff. Lots of questions from Isitt to Manak about VicPD's media releases and the public perception of crime.

Edited by Jacques Cadé, 13 May 2021 - 07:44 PM.

[Mike K.]

This is great, thank you. So $25k/month through September.

[sebberry]

I managed to catch bits of, and Adam Stirling tweeting about, some movement afoot to make it mandatory to manually, by hand, dismantle old houses instead of demolish them with an excavator?  

[Mike K.]

Yes, the City is looking into the idea of dismantling homes slated for demolition, rather than bringing in machinery to do it. The theorized cost (once the homeowner sells sellable items dismantled or recovered) is upwards of $30,000, which means we're dealing with adding (realistically) at least $30,000 to the building of new housing in the CoV that replaces an existing home. I don't doubt that such costs could easily surpass that figure.

[sebberry]

I believe the Victoria Residential Builders Association submitted a letter to council that wasn't included in the correspondence section of council's agenda.  Geoff Young brought it to council's attention.  

 

Isitt was of course very much in favor of this.  I suppose it fits his vision of 'affordable but only when the government is supplying the housing'.

[Nparker]

Only the clowns on CoV council could possibly believe increasing building costs lead to more affordable housing. They are literally nuts.

[Mike K.]

It’s at the point now where council is creating obstacles to housing affordability, and advocating for an extension to housing construction timelines.

[Midnightly]

Yes, the City is looking into the idea of dismantling homes slated for demolition, rather than bringing in machinery to do it. The theorized cost (once the homeowner sells sellable items dismantled or recovered) is upwards of $30,000, which means we're dealing with adding (realistically) at least $30,000 to the building of new housing in the CoV that replaces an existing home. I don't doubt that such costs could easily surpass that figure.

 

IF they can find someone to do the job.. it's hard enough in this city to do construction with all the hoops you need to go through then finding a company that has availability and is willing to do the job (i can imagine the ones building the home probably would not be the same as the ones taking the old one apart for recycling).. our building had a hard enough time just trying to get a quote to do a roof replacement for our building (and this looking to be a 100k or more job!)

[Victoria Watcher]

the largest problem with the hand deconstruction is all the worksafe requirements. I mean they are there for a reason but they escalate costs. scaffolding and safety equipment. and then just lots of manual labour.

instead of just whacking it with a excavator boom and bashing it into small enough bits for a demolition bin.

it’s extremely difficult to hand deconstruct anything above the ground floor walls. so that means every floor above the ground and the roof. you still need equipment and all kinds of safety features for anyone inside the site.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 May 2021 - 03:04 AM.

[Barrrister]

And now my neighbours plans to sell and get out of Victoria is really starting to make sense.

[spanky123]

Only the clowns on CoV council could possibly believe increasing building costs lead to more affordable housing. They are literally nuts.

 

The plan is to make it as hard as possible to replace buildings. They believe that if they can prevent development then existing stock will remain cheap.

[Nparker]

The plan is to make it as hard as possible to replace buildings. They believe that if they can prevent development then existing stock will remain cheap.

So that means my property assessment will remain stable and I won't see any increase in my taxes from the CoV? 

[spanky123]

So that means my property assessment will remain stable and I won't see any increase in my taxes from the CoV? 

 

Your costs can go up 100%, they don't care about that as they have rent controls. Demolition means that the units can be rented at market though. 

[Mike K.]

My home insurance is up 8% this year.

Taxes will be up roughly 5-6% I’m sure.

Lumber for improvements is up 350%.

Hydro is up 2.7%.

Gas is up 30% (granted, last year was an anomaly).

Water will be higher, too. And on it goes.

[kitty surprise]

My home insurance is up 8% this year.

Taxes will be up roughly 5-6% I’m sure.

Lumber for improvements is up 350%.

Hydro is up 2.7%.

Gas is up 30% (granted, last year was an anomaly).

Water will be higher, too. And on it goes.

After deductions, my take-home pay is $4.00 more per month this year.

Something's got to give. My discretionary budget is shrinking. Restaurants, clothes, travel, I'm looking at you!

[Barrrister]

Kitty: I suspect that your situation is the norm for a lot of people. Time to dump Netflicks as well since they are adding more taxes there as well. 

[Mike K.]

And that’s the trick. The feds tell us inflation is x, but you and I see costs rising at x+y. It makes you wonder if however the fed calculates inflation has more to do with its own commitments to workers and adjustments to social services tied to inflation, than a real-world reflection of what’s happening.