3521 replies to this topic

[dasmo]

Deserved

[dasmo]

Stink bomb!

[Victoria Watcher]

So, the list of speakers not yet gone is very extensive.  The meeting will end at 11pm today.

 

Council is going on a summer break.

 

This hearing will continue on September 1st.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 August 2022 - 09:58 PM.

[dasmo]

Last speaker got an F-bomb in there though!

Edited by dasmo, 04 August 2022 - 10:04 PM.

[sebberry]

Last speaker on purpose? Puke…

 

The usual array of activist talking points.  Uninvited settler, marginalized, nothing left for us, climate disaster, etc...

 

I think I heard McMansion thrown around too for the 35th time tonight.

[dasmo]

Need to get enough speakers to delay the vote until past the election!

[Victoria Watcher]

111

22

114

214

86

 

/ 547 pages of written public submissions now.

 

And they can continue to receive more letters and videos over the course of the next 4 weeks.  Plus more speakers can come out again on September 1st.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 August 2022 - 10:09 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Last speaker got an F-bomb in there though!

 

Yes, a UVic activist.

 

Not very democratic ideals, the way they spoke.

[Victoria Watcher]

Need to get enough speakers to delay the vote until past the election!

 

Filibuster!

[dasmo]

5 minutes at a time though.

[Victoria Watcher]

The proposal has arrived before council for a public hearing following years of public engagement and planning. This is the last step before Victoria City Council has to decide whether to pass it—though the question of whether this current council should make that decision at all was raised many times throughout the evening. 

 

The hearing started the way it ended: with raucous applause.

 

The packed room at City Hall burst into unsanctioned applause after the first speaker—Marg Gardiner, president of the James Bay Neighbourhood Association—wrapped up her speech against the proposed initiative. The outburst, and ensuing tension once Mayor Lisa Helps called for order and was booed by the crowd, set the tone for the evening. 

 

But the concerns contained in Gardiner’s comments also carried through many of the opposing views aired in the hearing: loss of neighbourhood character and heritage homes; the loss of “family housing” in the form of single-family homes; a lack of built-in affordability in the proposal; the loss of greenspace attached to individual lots; and the idea that there has been insufficient consultation with the community. 

 

_________________________

 

The tension between younger and older generations was palpable in the council chambers, with the overwhelming trend among speakers being that younger people spoke in support of the proposal while older speakers opposed it. That tension was raised directly by Helps at one point, when she remarked that she was hearing about harassment directed toward the younger speakers during breaks, and the mayor was again shouted down by an attendee. 

 

The generational divide was remarked on by speakers on both sides of the proposal.

 

“If you are of that generation [able to buy a home], you're speaking from a place of privilege,” said 23-year-old Chance McClendon. “You already have equity and you can already pass it down to your children. Most of us will never have that advantage and never have the opportunity to pass it down.”

_________________________

 

“It’s not a human right to live in Victoria,” said one speaker, echoed by several others. 

 

But not all young people supported the motion, while not all older people were against it. 

 

Jordan Quitzau, 28 (who has announced his candidacy for council, and previously ran as the People’s Party of Canada candidate in the 2020 federal election) said he was against the proposal because he worried it would favour people moving here over those who already rent in the city. 

 

“Please think of the renters when you are deciding whether to pass or postpone this motion, because we are relying on you to make the city livable for us,” he said, urging council to fix the lack of rental units first.

______________________________________

 

The last speaker of the evening (out of more than 50) was Izzy Adachi, a student who works for the UVic Student Society. In a strident speech in favour of the motion, she castigated the “supposed adults in the room” for failing to act on climate change, labour, and housing: “So here we are on a Thursday summer evening, spending hours in a townhall meeting, organizing to fight over drops in an empty bucket.” 

 

The room—a different part of the room this time—erupted into applause, and that was the end of the first hearing. 

 

 

 

https://www.capitald...-public-hearing

 

 

 

 

 

 

^ I think that's a pretty fair and balanced re-cap.

 

I think in general, those that spoke in favour never pointed to any actual evidence it'll work.  Those opposed generally had no concrete examples of potential negative issues, other than the usuals (shadowing, parking).

 

There were more than a handful that said this should be delayed until the next council.  At least one that said specifically that was a bad idea (since so many incoming council members will be new).

 

A few said that if this goes wrong, we can always revisit it.  But none I heard shared my view to pilot it in a specific area or typography, so we can test it first, rather than reversing the entire thing.

 

A few said this will force out people already in lower rent basement suites across the region.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, truckers.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 05 August 2022 - 06:37 AM.

[Sparky]

^ There was one lady that said it should be tested with 10% of the properties first not 100%.

[Victoria Watcher]

^ There was one lady that said it should be tested with 10% of the properties first not 100%.

 

True.

 

She did not articulate on how we'd get that 10% sorted.

[Sparky]

^ I think I heard her say that they should start with the street that you live on.

[Sparky]

^

[Victoria Watcher]

^ I think I heard her say that they should start with the street that you live on.

 

Easy Street?  Or Skid Row?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 05 August 2022 - 08:10 AM.

[lanforod]

First, lets move council to the same street. I propose Mr. Isitt pick one in his favourite city of Vladivostok

Edited by lanforod, 05 August 2022 - 08:31 AM.

[Seechelle1969]

There was one speaker who suggested a compromise to start with just corner properties I think. Don’t remember exactly his suggestion. Was later in the hearing. He was quite articulate I think he said he previously worked as a diplomat or something g like that

[Nparker]

...I think he said he previously worked as a diplomat or something like that

Hence the compromise.

[aastra]

 

“Please think of the renters when you are deciding whether to pass or postpone this motion, because we are relying on you to make the city livable for us,” he said, urging council to fix the lack of rental units first.

 

Who wants to break his heart and remind him he was addressing Victoria city council? "Never think of the renters" might as well be engraved over the entrance to city hall.