Vancouver Civic Election 2022

[EastVanMark]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

I believe I called Kirby-Yung a moderate, not a reactionary. She has taken a fairly NIMBY line against some more conspicuous items like 2538 Birch.



Fair enough, so here's another one showing total votes since 2020.
Note Hardwick's giant "abstain" pile, which is when you don't want to vote Yes but really don't want a No on the record. There's really no graph that shows her as a moderate; she's been even against the recent sixplex rezonings.

Chinatown's character and filth appear to be one and the same in Vancouver's case, especially right now; most of the newer openings are for upscale or artisanal venues, not local/traditional ones, and in modern developments and renovations. Like it or not, the options seem to have narrowed down to "adapt" or "perish."

Yeah, Calgary hasn't always had it at 20% - now they have it at over 30%. That's its sixth year in a slump. Attractive cities don't have boom-bust cycles to begin with, because there's always somebody waiting to fill the vacuum... evidence would indicate that all the tax breaks in the world can't overcome the fact that they'd have to live in Calgary. Same reason you wouldn't buy a dirt-cheap mansion in Cleveland.

Vancouver's problem is a supply one, not demand - we stopped building office towers for a few years sometime during the Robertson administration, and now we're trying to catch up. If 5.7 million square feet under construction and 6.7 million in the pipeline (a ninefold increase over current available space) doesn't increase the vacancy rate, nothing will.
I'll concede that the lack of big floorplates is a problem. That's probably why we're building The Post and Main Alley Campus, among others.

I see that most of the newer restaurant openings in Chinatown have paid homage to history and have worked hard and spent money to bridge the two. That shows people do care about preserving the heritage of the area and are willing to put their money where their mouths are. Now it’s the city’s turn. San Fran stepped up to the plate but we sadly have not.

Calgary’s cycle is down now, but it will bounce back. Maybe real soon given the prices at the pump currently.
Vancouver actually stopped building commercial way before Robertson came around. I think it was during Owen’s time (maybe? Or just after). We’ve been playing “catch up” for a generation now. Now to be fair to infant have gotten better, but they still aren’t healthy. That vacancy rate needs to hover around 10% and we’re nowhere near that. We build to suit current needs so that by the time the project is complete, you’re already in the red zone for vacancy and need to start the process again. Meanwhile landlords exploit this situation and Jack up rates to levels that do not match the area’s economic standing. Tax breaks was the driver that lead Calgary to surpass us for head offices and leave us in the dust. And before people say “but oil” Edmonton is even closer to the oil and home to regulatory bodies, but Calgary surpassed them too. Also, non oil companies located there too instead of us; a much more logical choice geographically in some instances.