General Vancouver Development Updates II

[mcj]

So they could raise property taxes by like 1 dollar per household on average, or plaster billboards around town making things look ugly and cheap?

[kikin]

Originally Posted by csbvan

I doubt ABC exists after the next election. Shocked some like Kirby-Yung and Meiszner haven't jumped ship to sit as independents like Bligh. The speaker list against the budget (600+) makes the speakers against the Broadway Plan look like a little niche, fringe movement.

There is an organized movement from the far left against ABC or anything that is center or center right, they organize on reddit too, they don't represent the real voters in Vancouver (in the last provincial election if you went by Reddit consensus you would have thought the NDP would have won 95% of the vote, where in reality they barely squeaked in, even with an extremely disorganized opposition. I would expect the ABC supporters are just quiet as they do their opinion polling at the election polls, not by protesting and organizing these kinds of whiny complaint forums.

The last thing this city needs is a swing back towards the advocate supporting nonsense like the Kennedy era.

[Migrant_Coconut]

The by-election in April elected the lefty urbanist and the socialist; ABC's candidate came in dead last. That's real enough for all practical purposes.

Meanwhile, Vancouver's new Conservative Electors Association is trying to outflank the incumbents from the right. One way or another, it's not going to be a majority council next year.

[GenWhy?]

"advocate supporting nonsense like the Kennedy era"

Did I miss something between 2018 and 2022?

[jollyburger]

There's a Vancouver politics thread.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

https://www.biv.com/news/economy-law-pol...enue-from-more-signs-billboards-11519690

When I think about the centres of the biggest world cities, I instantly expect the glitz of billboards and signage, whether it's Times Square, Piccadilly Circus, Shibuya Crossing, or our very own Young & Dundas.

In my humble opinion those who are against Vancouver having billboards are living in the same world as people who think "high intensity density" is reserved for "big cities" not Vancouver.

Would people also prefer if we banned Translink from having "billboard" advertising on busses and Skytrains? Should McDonalds not be allowed to have a big golden arch? Your life isn't being ruined by let's see... 4th and Granville being a bit busier.

[logan5]

The "far left" again? We have a MAGA in our midst.

[Migrant_Coconut]

It is kind of funny that ABC rode in on a wave of "the money's there, we just have to cut back the waste!"

And then fast-forward three years to when there is evidently no waste left to cut back, and the Hail Mary throw to fix the budget without either downsizing or raising taxes is... nine signs worth $65k/year.

[GenWhy?]

Sure but it appears from the locations suggested that these would be targeted at drivers, which is an interesting tactic.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by logan5

The "far left" again? We have a MAGA in our midst.

The by-election rally was in part behind Sean Orr who is a self identified socialist, and I'm not exactly sure what other definition there is of "far left". I would imagine he would be perfectly happy self identifying as far left.

I would certainly hate to see Vancouver elect any more COPE candidates in 2026 given the record of the two COPE candidates of the past decade.

[jollyburger]

Vancouver mayor Ken Sim and city councillor Lenny Zhou are calling for the formal support and accelerated process and review of a major cultural and economic development proposal that will bring a new Filipino Cultural Centre and two hotel towers to Main Street in the Mount Pleasant area.

The member motion is expected to be approved by Vancouver City Council next week.

The project has already gained some other momentum in recent weeks, after the Government of Canada indicated in its 2025 federal budget that an unspecified amount of funding will be allocated for the new centre. As well, the provincial government has indicated its support and previously conducted some public consultation, but has yet to commit to funding until a formal proposal and business case are presented.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1940-mai...ortliving-hotel-filipino-cultural-centre

[officedweller]

Those seem so out of place for that area, esp. for hotel.


Preliminary concept of 1940 Main St. (south hotel tower with the Filipino Cultural Centre) and 143 East 3rd Ave. (north hotel tower), Vancouver. (Formosis Architecture/PortLiving)
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1940-mai...ortliving-hotel-filipino-cultural-centre


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1940-mai...ortliving-hotel-filipino-cultural-centre

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Those seem so out of place for that area, esp. for hotel.

That's not really how the area would look if the hotel idea is a viable development option. There's a rental tower proposed by Cressey at 1888 Main, (just past the bigger building in the detailed render, and the wedge shaped site on the lower image), twin rental towers on the City Centre Motel site on the left side, to the south, by Nicola Wealth (in the foreground), and Westbank's M5 rental tower at 2015 Main (on the lot with the trees). So there's already a cluster of towers proposed nearby and others no doubt being considered.

I'm surprised the tiny East 3rd site could get as big a building as is suggested. It would be a construction logistics nightmare. The Swiss Bakery would have to find a new home too. The developer has already been forced into court ordered sales of other developments in the past few years, so raising the funds might be a challenge.

And this is the Mayor's preferred Filipino community centre, but many Filipino organizations don't support it, and have been working with the province to develop a centre in South Vancouver. The Hive piece is strangely silent on that aspect of the project, which has been widely reported.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by chowhou

The by-election rally was in part behind Sean Orr who is a self identified socialist, and I'm not exactly sure what other definition there is of "far left". I would imagine he would be perfectly happy self identifying as far left.

I would certainly hate to see Vancouver elect any more COPE candidates in 2026 given the record of the two COPE candidates of the past decade.

This is the wrong thread to debate munici politics, but Sean Orr identifies himself as "left wing", but you have to have a poor grasp of nuance to label all socialists as "far left", just as left wingers calling all conservatives "fascist" doesn't really help in political conversations.

[bluefox]

Back to the conversation about how to address transportation infrastructure to, among other things, support a potential relocation of the Whitecaps to the PNE grounds... there is a post on the Vancouver subreddit today about how bad the transit service was leaving the Goldeneyes game at Pacific Coliseum last night. This is exactly what we were discussing -- bad transit service will either lead people to drive and choke the neighbourhood with parked cars, or it will turn people off from going to games, which is not good for the team.

This might inadvertently become a test case for what needs to be done to ensure people have options to get to and from events, and the status quo is clearly not sufficient. Obviously, the team needs to advocate to TransLink and this isn't necessarily a "TransLink is to blame" thing, but it's still disappointing to see the lack of coordination and organization.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comme...ter_the_goldeneyes_game_on_hastings_was/

[Migrant_Coconut]

Relocating to transit thread in 3... 2... 1...

[hollywoodnorth]

I think those hotels look great and are not out of scale based on what that area is rapidly becoming.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Changing City

That's not really how the area would look if the hotel idea is a viable development option. There's a rental tower proposed by Cressey at 1888 Main, (just past the bigger building in the detailed render, and the wedge shaped site on the lower image), twin rental towers on the City Centre Motel site on the left side, to the south, by Nicola Wealth (in the foreground), and Westbank's M5 rental tower at 2015 Main (on the lot with the trees). So there's already a cluster of towers proposed nearby and others no doubt being considered.

Don't forget the developments on the McDonald's lot and the parking lot to the north.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Don't forget the developments on the McDonald's lot and the parking lot to the north.

I was looking at the render, and at towers that are planned nearby, and those are a fair way off in the distance, (and the City site will be delayed as Council didn't support the mayor's Housing Corpooration scheme). I think those sites are actually better for potential hotel use - maybe the podium of rental towers - as they're much closer to SkyTrain.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Don't forget the developments on the McDonald's lot and the parking lot to the north.

There's that Surrey developer 36 storey hotel with Arno Matis at 917 Main too

It'll be interesting to see how high the COV will go with their old warehouses along Main.