. @russilwvong.bsky.social's take on the Vancouver municipal parties is useful: www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/...

One way to reduce condo defect liability: stop forcing architects to design buildings that leak. HCD’s “objective design standards” guide *encourages* making building envelopes more complex, heightening leak and therefore defect lawsuit risk cao-94612.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/Ap...

Burnaby is trying to dial back their multiplex program, and Mayor Hurley is very clear that he wants there to be less floor space. The people who get angry about small apartments should be angry about this - literally less space for people to live in! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Vancouver's Dedicated Fire Protection System is really neat. An earthquake-resistant firefighting water supply system to supply the denser parts of the city and VGH

lots going on in this article about SkyTrain to UBC, but the bus routes by ridership caught my eye. surprised that the 16 and 19 (relatively slow local buses) are so popular www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

This got approved today! Only Sean Orr declined to vote yes.

Chatting with a lovely pet shop owner that moved to near Cambie and Broadway, and she mentions "Ignore the shelves, we had to divide the space up because we're only allowed to have retail on 40% of the floor area." Turns out it's an insane CD zone from 1995 cd1-bylaws.vancouver.ca/cd-1(330).pdf

Jameson House is up there for worst layouts in a $$$ Vancouver building. Imagine paying $1.75M for a huge 1700 sqft 2BR and then you only get natural light from these dinky angled+round windows on one side of the unit www.realtor.ca/real-estate/...

Grabbing drinks at 5PM today near Commercial-Broadway, DM if you would like to join!

love me some overgrown Tokyo buildings www.tokyotimes.org/recently-fou...

Gregor Robertson addressing BC cities at their annual conference, lol:

I like that the r/vancouver consensus on Pete Fry is that he’s a nice guy who is not very good on housing (correct!) www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/...

I've put together a wider scale map covering the inner suburbs. One of the things immediately evident is the weakness of the Millennium Line compared to the other lines, with its route on a wide suburban boulevard and paralleling a major freeway as well as the forced transfer travel time impact

The fact that BC planners feel the need to invent a new word to indicate that a zoning change is government-initiated is very telling.

So this is the Vancouver transit to work mode share map As you can see - the skytrain works. Otherwise, people living in South and East Van are more likely to ride the bus or skytrain to work, as well as other areas. see Census Mapper: censusmapper.ca/maps/3719#11...

Setting up some RRSP matching stuff, and boy I would love to be in a business where I can charge 1.4% to manage an S&P 500 index fund

Like if you take seriously the idea that this is about dangerous infectious diseases that are a serious threat to both the ecosystem and agriculture then it’s not something that ought to be postponed for a year while the Supreme Debate Club ponders their feelings about it

good night!

Rezoning: 2516 Commercial Dr: 31-storey mixed-use rental, 207 units, ground floor commercial, 14.75 FSR https://engagevancouver.ca.engagementhq.com/2516-commercial-dr-and-1704-e-broadway

“We’re all trying to find the guy who did this”

(there’s a good story about a local tech company called airG doing shady deals – the cofounders literally had a “Shady Deals” section in a signed document, lol)

thoughts: 1) I don't think Bligh really gets it on housing, but she's not terrible either. Middle of the road I think 2) bit soon to have another party with the acronym VV?

Looking at a Vancouver coach house that would be a *lot* more liveable with a few hundred extra square feet. And whaddya know, the top floor had to be set back by about that much

Take this (FWIW) from an American who has had to deal with years of "Buy American" in transit procurement: it has led to cost increases and long lead times that haven't really stimulated anything but a Potemkin economy of reassembling things built elsewhere.

it is wild that Vancouver still reserves this land near UBC and Spanish Banks for *massive* mansions. I still think about how Vision voted down a motion to allow apartments and social+seniors housing here

Someone took the chip from their Presto Card and put it into a magic wand.

been idly considering moving and IMO these areas plus Metrotown are the serious contenders for nice, interesting, walkable places to live with decent transit options. apologies to all the neighbourhoods that didn't make the cut

Really enjoyed this video on Montreal's REM project by @hudsonyuen.bsky.social, featuring @chittimarco.bsky.social. Very cool that it's still possible to build trains for a reasonable price in North America www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlHq...

Kennedy Stewart is continuing his awful campaign to make local politics worse by moving toward ward systems vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/09/19/g...

thinking, after a pedestrian was killed at 12th and Victoria, about how Vancouver has a 311 app with a million categories and no way to complain about a dangerous intersection

As an act of mortification of the spirit I'll be speaking to this public hearing and here is what i plan to say. changing zoning when you pass a plan is how i assumed things worked before i took a deep dive into land use. this just makes sense. if you don't like density, take it to the voters.

It is unfortunate how bad the audio is for call-in speakers in council chambers. Really have to spend more effort to understand what speakers are saying

I /could/ be spending the night reading this gorgeous HP Lovecraft book...but instead I'll experience a different sort of weird horror. I'm going to liveskeet tonight's public hearing! The city wants to actually <gasp> rezone stuff on its own initiative!

playing the old “how late can I show up to the public hearing without missing my slot” game (I predict 2hr in for my #8 slot, but I am cowardly showing up 1hr in just in case)

My biggest criticism of parks and rec is that it actually didn’t go far enough in showing how unhinged the average public commenter can be

TIL parking restrictions date back to 700 BCE. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parking...

In this thread, people in Vancouver sound off about their favourite nimbys www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/...

The City of Surrey's private development company is planning to build 4 towers with over 1,800 homes next to #SkyTrain's Gateway Station. It could include Surrey's first vertically stacked elementary school, for 655 students. #vanre #vanpoli dailyhive.com/vancouver/sc...

I have very little patience for "studios and 1BRs are bad" takes. Basically evidence of low empathy or zero-sum thinking (*everyone* has people in their family+social circles who could benefit from more options and lower price for smaller units)

The CBC did a story on the NIMBYs fighting the rezoning for the elementary school in the Olympic Village. I'm happy with the quote I got in at the end! youtu.be/Z8j56MEne0c?...

TIL that the Canadian Auto Dealers Association has been lobbying to allow cars certified in Japan, Korea, and Europe (like we do for US-certifications). Rare auto dealer W www.theglobeandmail.com/drive/cultur...

doing a thing where I try to get most of my national+political news from my weekly paper delivery. feels like a healthier way of staying informed than being plugged in to everything all of the time 🤞

First time seeing a unit in that neat little yellow building in Chinatown (which I hear was extremely difficult to get past the planning dept) and *wow* www.realtor.ca/real-estate/...

Tofino Elyse Dodge n.d.

The international tram driving championships are live on YouTube right now! www.youtube.com/embed/smp0vo... One of the events is "tram curling" where the tram gives a little cart a shove and tries to get it to stop at the right point

this is cute but the computer I discovered at 13 was meaningfully different from the computer most people discover today

Bike / Park Oriented Development (BPOD?) ! A motion from OneCity councilor @lucymaloney.bsky.social aims to end the apartment ban next to bike streets and parks! We need liveable density on quiet leafy streets. Don’t like arterial density? Want alternatives to towers? Speak in support sept 17

this really should be framed as a policy choice, not as a naturally occurring phenomenon