https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-housing-impossibly-unaffordable-report
Monday, June 17, 2024
Will the Broadway Plan double the area's affordable housing?
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/broadway-plan-vancouver-housing-affordability
Luxury housing isn't the problem, nor are 1 bedroom apartments & condos. There must also be a tremendous amount of reasonably affordable 2 & 3 bedroom units.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/broadway-plan-what-could-go-wrong-vancouver
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/broadway-plan-2024-amendments-housing-impact
ICBC's existing Lonsdale headquarters office building to be demolished for new affordable housing development
This building should have been designed to have 5-10 office floors, with a provision for a 40-50 story residential tower above it. Now it will likely just be replaced with another BC stump building.
Sunday, June 16, 2024
Friday, June 14, 2024
Urban Density
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_density
https://www.straight.com/city-culture/why-urban-density-is-actually-good-for-us
https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2023/04/17/when-density-good-and-when-it-harmful-cities
https://theconversation.com/urban-density-matters-but-what-does-it-mean-58977
"In the 1970s, British Columbia cities adopted policies and processes to resist densification. As Mayor of Vancouver, Sam Sullivan started the EcoDensity Initiative to counter these." https://globalcivic.org/urban-density-urban-bc-vancouver/
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Vancouver councillors call for 100,000 trees to be planted to ward off extreme heat
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/06/12/vancouver-tree-planting-extreme-heat-prevention/
Such a sad & pathetic joke, hardly any warmth in SW BC this spring. Nevermind June not having any 30C days, the month isn't even expected to have more than 2 days of being at least 25C.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/ca/vancouver/v6c/june-weather/53286?year=2024
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Crappy Vancouver Weather for June
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/weather/british-columbia/vancouver No days are expeted to get above 20C for the next 2 weeks.
Cold at night & cool during the day.
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/14-day-weather-trend/british-columbia/vancouver?from7day=1
While a lot of places around the world are in summer mode, Vancouver is stuck with spring like days & fall nights.
From a late May perspective, some people thought that summer would start with the arrival of June. Now it looks like June is mostly just going to be a cooler month for SW BC.
https://www.cheknews.ca/forecasters-warn-b-c-to-prepare-for-hot-summer-forecast-outlook-1207108/
Monday, June 10, 2024
Sunday, June 9, 2024
Thursday, June 6, 2024
The median strip of a highway with a train line
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_strip#Railway_use
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Mitchell_Freeway_112_N_Gwelup_Karrinyup_Rd.jpg
An 8 lane section of freeway, but with 2 sets of tracks in the middle. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Mitchell_Freeway_147_N_Walter_morning_peak.jpg Once again, Perth, WA gets it right and BC gets it wrong.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation-projects/fraser-valley-highway1 Instead of building an 8-10 lane freeway with at least 2 tracks in the middle, BC takes the half-assed approach, again.
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/05/23/langley-hwy-1-summer-expansion Just like not desiging the Canada Line stations or any of the other SkyTrain stations, to not be able to accomodate 8-10 car trains, BC keeps dropping the ball.
People just don't understand that there has been a multigenerational agenda to hold BC back. Keep everything small & backwards. If BC had been allowed to really grow back in the 1960s & 70s, that would have meant more non-white people moving into a thriving region. Then even more restrictions were established in the 1980s & 90s, as the city councils & provincial government was predominantly of European ancestry. The British colonial mentality went right through the 20th century. Thus, it took a long time for BC to really accept international diversity. You have to build up the infrastructure for everyone, instead of refusing to do so.
Despite there being more diversity in various parts of BC over the past few decades, so many of the restrictions have remained. Vancouver has been trapped in a gordian knot of restrictions that hold it back. Victoria is nowhere as big as Quebec City, Winnipeg or especially Edmonton.
The one card left, is that someday Canada might have to say that it has to keep people out, because it's good for the environment. Meanwhile, several other countries with less land area are able to properly build up the infrastructure of their cities.
Surrey like Burnaby, isn't under the excessive Vancouver restrictions, so they will have taller buildings & some wider highways. Unfortunately, not longer trains, but that must eventually be changed. Short trains & narrow bridges has been a strong symbolic way of BC refusing to build up proper size infrastructure. Then Vancouver, NW & Victoria keep trying to hold back their growth.
Wednesday, June 5, 2024
North Shore-Metrotown SkyTrain Line
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/north-shore-metrotown-skytrain-brt-lrt-planning
Since this won't be a 24hr line, as the SkyTrain isn't a 24hr system, a couple of dedicated bus lanes are just as important. Thus, both modes would be very beneficial.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-ceo-kevin-quinn-interview
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Transperth_B-series_train_on_the_Mandurah_Line_in_Como%2C_Western_Australia%2C_March_2022_05.jpg Unlike Vancouver, Perth is allowed to have long trains, wide bridges & roads & taller buildings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandurah_line
Seattle vs. Vancouver, BC Weather
You get cold, damp crappy fall & winter weather in both cities, simple as that.
"Vancouver’s annual average rainfall is 57.3 inches (1455 mm), while it’s 39.3 inches (998 mm) in Seattle.
It means 168 days of rain in Vancouver in an average year, and 150 days of rain in Seattle."
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Richmond, BC hospital-redevelopment-price-doubles
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/06/04/richmond-hospital-redevelopment-price-doubles/
All regional hospitals should be designed where its easy to add on floor & expand horizontally.
https://globalnews.ca/news/10545864/richmond-hospital-cost-increase/
Once again, BC is behind.
Another revision for the Safeway redevelopment size at Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain Station
Big metropolitan areas around the world have a lot of diversity. For most of Vancouver's history, it was just another British colonial outpost & backwarter. Hence, the short trains, narrow bridges and small buildings. Vancouver & the greater region are just starting to become a major urban area. BC has less people than Switzerland & Canada has less than 1% of the world's population.
The KEEP THEM OUT mentality & agenda has been firmly entrenched for generations.
Perth & Brisbane gave up on being provincial backwaters decades ago. Melbourne & Sydney were never stunted by anything like Vancouverization or the backwater BC mentality. Even Adelaide is emerging as a fine state capital, instead of just being like another provincial backwater.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-housing-supply-act-update-spring-2024
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-fraser-valley-home-sale-statistics-may-2024
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-housing-starts-construction-worker-productivity
The Sun Belt region of the USA
Its difficult to grasp the Sun_Belt from a SW BC perspective.
https://www.thoughtco.com/sun-belt-in-united-states-1435569
Unlike mild BC, the Sun_Belt wasn't ever under the overlapping restrictions & limitations that holds BC back.
https://www.britannica.com/place/Sun-Belt As long as there is proper planning for growth, popular regions can become very densely populated.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/08/moving-south-sun-belt-housing-economy/675010/
The irony is that while cold & damp BC will likely never run out of water, so many people keep moving to the much dryer Sun Belt.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2022/05/26/florida-other-sunbelt-states-grow-as-cities-like-new-york-and-chicago-decline If one has the money or the desier to avoid the winters in Chicago & NYC, they will.
Alberta vs. Florida
Despite Alberta not being able to warm winters like Florida, Alberta continues to thrive.
Most of Canada's economic & population growth is in the colder parts of the country. That of course is because Canada has cold winters.
Stubborn provincial BC wants to keep Vancouver & especially backwater Victoria as thwarted & stunted as possible, for as long as possible.
https://www.budgetyourtrip.com/compare/florida-vs-alberta-4155751-5883102
Edmonton Oilers gearing up for Stanley Cup final against Florida Panthers
One would have to go far back into modern history to see a time when Edmonton was just another Canadian provincial backwater.
https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/edmonton-oilers/latest-news/oilers-break-multiple-nhl-records-with-win
It's been since at least the early 1960s that Edmonton knew it wasn't going be be just another northern backwater town like Prince-George. Indeed, PG has yet to reach 100K, while the Edmonton_Metropolitan_Region has 1.5 million people.
https://globalnews.ca/news/10542696/edmonton-oilers-fans-playoffs-2024/
Of course Edmonton has very cold winters, in contrast to mild Victoria. Yet, Edmonton is a growing mighty northern capital, while temperate Victoria remains as stunted BC provincial backwater.
Monday, June 3, 2024
Saturday, June 1, 2024
Hot summer temps starting next week in B.C.
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/05/31/bc-preparing-for-heat-wave-next-week Seems almost like a sad joke, because it's been cold & damp in Vancouver for most of the spring. An attempt of a hot summer always goes by so quickly. Then it's back to half the year of more cold & damp depressing weather.
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