Vancouver General Discussion Thread

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

is there a problem with the site? when i click to look at the civic plaza 3 thread i get a warning screen about something so i go back and avoid it...

I've been getting it too, only on 3 Civic Plaza as well. Though I've been less smart and just ignoring it haha

[Klazu]

Seems that someone has posted something on the latest page in that thread, which prompts the warning.

[Pinion]

skymaster keeps linking to emoticons hosted from spurstalk.com, which Google has blacklisted for some reason.

[Tetsuo]

Originally Posted by Pinion

skymaster keeps linking to emoticons hosted from spurstalk.com, which Google has blacklisted for some reason.

Someone at Google probably doesn't like Pop

[SpongeG]

train nerds and fans of the tube should check this guys channel out he has some good vids

• Video Link

[Klazu]

Is the any fix to the main page layout problem that seems to happen both on desktop Chrome browser as well as on mobile? It started to happen few weeks ago and it is quite annoying.

[SpongeG]

I have seen a lot of randomly parked RVs around the city more and more.

RVs becoming ticket to home ownership in Vancouver

ANDREA WOO
VANCOUVER
PUBLISHED 3 DAYS AGO

Carlos Hoffmann crouches next to the solar generator that powers his motorhome, tinkering until it sputters to a steady roar. Even on Vancouver's typically overcast days, he can retain power for about a week if he keeps energy use limited to small overhead lights and the laptop he uses for his job in website maintenance.

Mr. Hoffmann has parked his RV on a quiet industrial street in East Vancouver behind a hardware store and near a bottle depot since last spring, when he decided to give up his tiny apartment in Vancouver's West End. He dropped $7,000 on an RV and installed solar panels.

"I was paying $1,000 a month for a 400-square-foot studio before and I just thought, 'I don't want to pay this much rent any more,'" Mr. Hoffmann said in an interview in his home. Extension cords snake from a surge protector to his various appliances, including a 50-inch television and two large speakers.

"I opted out of the race; I wasn't squeezed out of it. I didn't want it any more. I own my own home now. It's a motorhome, but I own my own home. I was never going to get there with that $1,000-a-month rent."

...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/bri...-ownership-in-vancouver/article37915539/

[Nites]

They should just start towing them. Imagine sleeping and all of a sudden your RV starts moving lol.

[Pinion]

I have some sympathy for people who can't afford rent but not guys like that. And you know he's stealing electricity when he can, despite his solar panel.

Where do these guys dump their toilet waste?

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Pinion

Where do these guys dump their toilet waste?

[SpongeG]

familiar

• Video Link

[whatnext]

Spreading vulgarity and bad taste wherever they land.

[whatnext]

This isn't really a surprise given the sketchy nature of the owners of this damaged heritage property. There should be an online database that allows the public to see who owns what. This one couple is linked to at least three other properties, I'm sure it would be an eye opener for the public to see how many people own multiple properties:

The heritage mansion at 3737 Angus Dr. looked like a write-off after it mysteriously went up in flames early on a Sunday morning last October.

However, the city has deemed that the house is very much salvageable, with more than 60 per cent of it intact, according to former Heritage Commission chair Richard Keate. The owner will have to restore it, not necessarily to its original state, but to an approximation of the original Tudor Revival that was built in 1910 by famous architect Samuel Maclure.

It's good news for heritage advocates, and not just because they like old houses. It sends an invaluable message that protected houses will be protected – and that a torched house is not automatically a demolished house.

From the get-go, the fire department had said the fire was "suspicious...

...The restoration of 3737 Angus Dr. is not off to an easy start. The house has remained uncovered throughout the winter months. With a good deal of the roof gone, the house's previously pristine interior has been exposed to rain, sleet and snow....

...The city ordered the owner to install a protective covering over the house on Nov. 1. The owner had asked for two extensions and was ultimately given until Feb. 16 to comply. The reason for the extension had to do with structural hazards and WorkSafeBC requirements. As of Sunday, the house remained uncovered, its interior subject to a fresh layer of snow....

...Miaofei Pan and wife Wenhuan Yang are listed as the homeowners of 3737 Angus Dr. A year prior to the fire, Mr. Pan was in the news after he hosted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a Liberal Party fundraiser at another house he owns on the west side. At the time, he told The Globe and Mail that he lobbied Prime Minister Trudeau to make the process easier for wealthy investors to come to Canada from China.

Mr. Pan is a real estate developer and businessman with a complicated history both in Canada and China. He has owned two other homes in Richmond. Those houses had been the subject of safety infractions in 2011 and 2015, as reported by Globe reporters Kathy Tomlinson and Xiao Xu. The houses were held by Mr. Pan's company and, despite the hazards, had up to 13 people living in them. Ms. Tomlinson and Ms. Xu also found out that Mr. Pan and his wife had been on a Chinese government "list of dishonest persons" because they had disobeyed a court order to pay out a $2.2-million loan from an asset-management firm that they had personally guaranteed. Mr. Pan had a long history of alleged debts and lawsuits in China, according to online Chinese language court records....

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-est...n-sparks-heritage-fight/article38029243/

[whatnext]

Ok, I'm not a golfer but why does Vision Vancouver have it in for the Langara Golf Course? Shouldn't they be making developers along the Cambie Corridor pay for new parks?? George Affleck's withering comment on Vision is priceless BTW.

Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver want to redevelop the public Langara Golf Course into a public park.

The plan is still in its early stages, with the passage of a Vision-backed motion calling on the city to work with the Vancouver park board on “options and financial analysis for transitioning the Langara golf course lands into a public park with restored wetlands and ecosystems, trail network, sports fields and a track and field facility that adheres to international competition standards.”

“Council approved motion to ask @ParkBoard to consider transitioning some of Langara Golf Course into public park, natural ecosystem and sports fields,” said Robertson said in a tweet. “Win-win opportunity to open up more green (and free) space to all residents.”,,

...NPA councillor George Affleck immediately voiced his displeasure about how the motion was raised.

“We were having a report about drainage at Langara Golf Course,” he said. “The mayor then morphed that into what’s called a ‘strike and replace’, into a review to redevelop it into something else...

...“To me this is the last ditch effort of Vision Vancouver as they disappear off the face of the earth on October 20 and thank God for that,” he said...(bold mine)

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/...golf-course-should-be-turned-into-a-park

[WarrenC12]

Big talk from Affleck, who's also quitting.

[GenWhy?]

I'm prett sure development funds for a park would come from new development as it would for new sewer lines or road upgrades etc.

Colleagues of mine's winning design for the Urbanarium Missing Middle competition:
http://www.haeccity.com/#/missingmiddle/

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

I'm prett sure development funds for a park would come from new development as it would for new sewer lines or road upgrades etc.

Colleagues of mine's winning design for the Urbanarium Missing Middle competition:
http://www.haeccity.com/#/missingmiddle/

In that case why is Vision gunning for the golf course? This is their second tilt at it, after an ill-fated trial balloon to build condos on half of it a few years back.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Big talk from Affleck, who's also quitting.

Also what does the NPA offer to address the underlying reasons voters are disappointed with Vision? They’d have been even worse during this housing crisis.

[GenWhy?]

The whole Cambie Corridor and Marpole area plans capture their own CAC's under their specific CAC policy benefit plans. Due to the forecasted level of new residents in the area it is not completely out of scope to secure and plan new free-to-access public park and amenity space funded, in part, by new residents and developments that would pressure the area's current level and age of park /amenity spaces.

[GenWhy?]

Council Minutes here with costs etc:

http://council.vancouver.ca/20180314/documents/cfsc7.pdf