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Vancouver’s new mega-development is big, ambitious and Indigenous

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Re: Vancouver’s new mega-development is big, ambitious and Indigenous

#111

Post by jmyeet »

Vancouver has sky high real estate prices, particularly in terms of local wages. There is limited land as Vancouver is locked between the ocean and mountains (and the border to the United States). But go look at any aerial view of Vancouver and you'll really see why.

Downtown is high-density. Across the water it's basically all single-family homes with astronomical prices and none of those people want higher-density development, for obvious reasons (ie it will lower prices).

This shouldn't be allowed to happen. This proposed development is on the other side of the water in what is otherwise SFH zoning. That's why some oppose it. NIMBYs strike again.

Re: Vancouver’s new mega-development is big, ambitious and Indigenous

#113

Post by Seattle3503 »

spxneo wrote: post #102
camg55 wrote: post #90

Think this is great for Vancouver which needs more housing. The zoning is broken, and far too conservative. Glad to see the Squamish addressing a need that will likely benefit all, and hopefully this encourages the city of Vancouver to do the same on their own accord.

Building more homes in Vancouver will not result in lower prices because this is not a supply problem it is the financial assetization of home equity that drives higher and higher prices. Blue collar workers turned multi-millionaires rely on the continued rise of home prices to purchase cheap credit which they use to speculate on more homes. When they couldn't find anymore locals they turned to the international mark…

It is a mistake to blame the high cost of housing on market forces. It is largely the product of local housing policy. It is a choice.

Re: Vancouver’s new mega-development is big, ambitious and Indigenous

#114

Post by [deleted] »

fckgw wrote: post #93
systemstops wrote: post #92

Someone at Westbank is a genius: fund the building of a massive skyscraper project on land that was recently returned to indigenous tribes because of a lawsuit, a project that would never be normally approved because of zoning laws. Then, declare any criticism of the project as racist, thus guaranteeing it will be built. I wonder how much of the money the tribe is actually getting out of this?

What does acceptable use of their own land look like to you? What would meet your specific approval?

[deleted]

Re: Vancouver’s new mega-development is big, ambitious and Indigenous

#116

Post by brink »

krapp wrote: post #115
KWxIUElW8Xt0tD9 wrote: post #112

There is a certain irony in these buildings not using indigenous construction techniques.

No there isn't, any more than there's irony in white people not building thatch-roofed huts. Every culture evolves over time.

Not people's perceptions of said cultures. Africa is over 62% Christian as it stands today, and yet the Wakandans of hollywood practice ancestor worship (representing ~2% of Africa). There's irony wherever you look. We can't seem to move past the past when it comes to minorities.

Re: Vancouver’s new mega-development is big, ambitious and Indigenous

#117

Post by Canada »

ninth_ant wrote: post #91
dangus wrote: post #71

The critics of this project seem to be outright racist. I don’t think that’s an overstatement. They’re basically saying that Indigenous people aren’t allowed to participate in the modern world. You’re not allowed to be urbanist if you were “less advanced than the white people” three hundred years ago. And they’re butthurt about the development not having the need to comply with Vancouver development rules. Yeah, well…

This is Vancouver -- NIMBYs got super upset and managed to successfully downsize a tower despite it being located off a major transit hub (Commercial & Broadway station) and was not historic anything (just a grocery store and associated parking lot). I'm not saying there's no racism involved with the Kits project, I'm sure there is. But folks here are pretty eager to deny housing to everyone regardless of race. Kits…

I'm not surprised that it took a literal nation to overcome the resistance to any serious development by that particular group of NIMBYs. Score a win for decentralized power.

I don't think there's any racism at all on their part though, as much as the article tries to play that up. They simply hate idea of downtown expanding into what they view as their perfect suburban neighborhood and they are well organized. They always oppose high density development regardless of who proposes it. This has nothing to do with "Canadians" generally, who don't give a shit as a broad group. This is about a small group of homeowners in a particular area of Vancouver.

This development is just what Vancouver needs, and so long as it actually happens the city will be better for it. It's also great to see first nations or whatever we're supposed to call them get a big financial win like this too: By providing what the market needs. The only way to move past what happened in the past is well earned financial success in the present.

I have two predictions:

1) This will have more positive impact on people's ability to afford living in Vancouver than anything the current group of clowns ruling Ottawa do.

2) In spite of the Kits homeowners fears, the expansion of the city through this development will make their property even more desirable and valuable.

Re: Vancouver’s new mega-development is big, ambitious and Indigenous

#118

Post by soperj »

spxneo wrote: post #102
camg55 wrote: post #90

Think this is great for Vancouver which needs more housing. The zoning is broken, and far too conservative. Glad to see the Squamish addressing a need that will likely benefit all, and hopefully this encourages the city of Vancouver to do the same on their own accord.

Building more homes in Vancouver will not result in lower prices because this is not a supply problem it is the financial assetization of home equity that drives higher and higher prices. Blue collar workers turned multi-millionaires rely on the continued rise of home prices to purchase cheap credit which they use to speculate on more homes. When they couldn't find anymore locals they turned to the international mark…

> Since David Eby overrode the strata no-rental rules, it ended up increasing cases of squatters, petty theft, drug labs and brothels. This does not include what a retired VPD officer describes as an "Amazon of drug labs and brothels" throughout vancouver high rise. I mean Vice reporters were even reporting on it years ago.

David Eby has been premier since October 2022, strata property act happened soon after in November. Maybe, just maybe, the squatters, petty theft, drug labs and brothels aren't a result of the strata changes. Certainly not the ones that Vice reporters reported on years ago.

Re: Vancouver’s new mega-development is big, ambitious and Indigenous

#119

Post by systemstops »

Seattle3503 wrote: post #108
systemstops wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's acceptable to me - none of my business. But it's corporate money building this project, which we should be clear about. It's just built on native land.

I'm not sure why that matters? If others would offer the tribe a better offer, I'm sure they would accept it.

I guess the point I was trying to make is that the public is being manipulated by the moral framing of this project. The buildings would not be normally allowed in that area, and the proponents of project are using an explicit racial justice narrative to counteract criticism of their violation of norms. I'm agnostic about whether or not the project is good idea, but I think it's generally bad to manipulate people in this way. What I was implying is that the whole thing seems like a really clever scheme by a real estate developer during a time in Canada when indigenous issues are hugely popular. But, maybe I am being too cynical.

Re: Vancouver’s new mega-development is big, ambitious and Indigenous

#120

Post by ximus »

It's comforting to see first nations of canada recovering a central role in modern canadian society.

However, having lived here for a year a year now, I have observed a concerning aspect of this re-integration, which is mentioned in the article: First nations aren't just propped back up and re-integrated in society, it goes further in that they are given special rights that go beyond what any other class of canadian citizens have access to. In this case it is exemption from zoning laws, but all over the country it's access to mining, lumber and fishing rights. They are exempted from federal quotas on fishing, cutting forests, etc ...

On moral grounds, I find it questionable to give some citizens special birth rights greater than others. But on more practical grounds, this is creating a great big loophole for the traditional resource extraction companies to circumvent environment regulation by partnering with first nations on projects.

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