General Vancouver Updates

[bluefox]

Originally Posted by s211

It's not just you.

Same. Besides the garbage everywhere I am also noticing streets are not getting cleaned as often -- some of the side streets are almost caked in — to the point I worry about flat tires because all I can hear under my car is "crunch, crunch". It's almost as if the city just hopes the rain takes care of things for them.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by rofina

Honest question - if you're not in town a lot.

Does the City seem more dirty to you?

Is it only me or is there garbage everywhere? Gutters, road edges, parks, around bins, just seems like this once immaculate city is covered in garbage.

I cant tell if its my sensitivity or if this is something anyone else has noticed change in the last while?

Unfortunately, you're very much correct on your observation. Some of the mess can be connected to the homeless population and others to the people that create messes and don't clean up after themselves. Although I have noticed there is a subset of homeless binners that bin and leave a mess compared to the larger majority that does their business and doesn't leave a mess around.

[rofina]

Originally Posted by bluefox

Same. Besides the garbage everywhere I am also noticing streets are not getting cleaned as often -- some of the side streets are almost caked in — to the point I worry about flat tires because all I can hear under my car is "crunch, crunch". It's almost as if the city just hopes the rain takes care of things for them.

Exactly - I spend a good bit of time on a bike and its so apparent that street cleaning is gone neglected.

Tons of debris, gravel, small broken glass pieces, literally garbage along curb edges.

I just never remember this being an issue, and its not isolated either.

Stretches of Broadway look dilapidated and neglected, obviously Hastings, but even parts of the West Side are starting to see similar creep.

[rofina]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

There is no question the city's public spaces have experienced substantial deterioration under the last two city councils (i.e., since 2009). I have been travelling back and forth between Toronto and Vancouver for the last decade, and everytime I return to Vancouver it becomes more and more apparent that there is growing neglect of the public realm. And it's not just the increasing dirtiness from inadequate waste removal and street cleaning. There is also a lack of maintenance of Vancouver's public parks, beaches and fountains. Unremoved accumulating detritus on beaches, increasing erosion of beach sand, dry and derelict water features, crumbling paths, neglected landscaping and gardening, etc. The English Bay path, lawn and beach sand--all of which should be a jewel for the city and perfectly maintained--has become atrocious.

Well summed up, its not just me then.

That's what I was trying to convey - a general sense of disrepair on some of the infrastructure and general lack of cleanliness around the City.

Over the last 2 years, for me personally, it has gone beyond being able to ignore it and it always becomes way more noticeable when I leave and come back.

This year though has been particularly jarring to me.

I wonder if its council, insane tourism numbers, how did this become an issue?

[cairnstone]

And the condition of side walks. I have tripped a few times in the last few years. Side walks and trees dont work well. The tree roots tend to push up the panels and cause them to crack. Which creates unsafe sidewalks. I may be wrong but it seems the city tends to put more into bike paths than repairing streets.

[misher]

Originally Posted by cairnstone

And the condition of side walks. I have tripped a few times in the last few years. Side walks and trees dont work well. The tree roots tend to push up the panels and cause them to crack. Which creates unsafe sidewalks. I may be wrong but it seems the city tends to put more into bike paths than repairing streets.

Truth and truth. We're combining nature and construction with disastrous consequences. Oakridge is digging up its whole back laneway and it was discovered the roots had grown past the laneway into the buildings across cracking the pavement, the wood supports, and the concrete (more than 30 feet away).

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by rofina

I wonder if its council, insane tourism numbers, how did this become an issue?

council took money from many budgets including the streets cleaning budget to fund pet projects such as bike lanes.

20yrs ago sidewalks and streets along Hastings, Granville, and the Central Business District used to get washed down with water as a way to 1, clean up what the homeless left camping out over night, and 2 to remove the homeless before business opened up. but that became politically sensitive since it "displaces the homeless."

there also used to be more enforcement of parks being closed at night as well as homeless sleeping in the middle of sidewalks all day long. now they can pretty much do whatever they want. 20yrs ago, those camps in the parks wouldn't have lasted more than a day or so.

[csbvan]

Yes, Vancouver built bike lanes and that's why there's a little extra litter

[cairnstone]

Its way more involved than bike lanes but it did coincide with the decline in the city. Add the war on water usage and the increased homeless and lack of bylaw enforcing any of the various bylaws that are n place to keep Vancouver looking like a first world country.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by cairnstone

Its way more involved than bike lanes but it did coincide with the decline in the city. Add the war on water usage and the increased homeless and lack of bylaw enforcing any of the various bylaws that are n place to keep Vancouver looking like a first world country.

War on water usage? Do elaborate.

Vancouver has one of the highest per capita water usages in the world FYI.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

War on water usage? Do elaborate.

Vancouver has one of the highest per capita water usages in the world FYI.

Not to mention that is managed at the regional level (Metro Vancouver).

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

War on water usage? Do elaborate.

Vancouver has one of the highest per capita water usages in the world FYI.

We live in a rain forest and have strict water restrictions do to poor overall planning of our drinking water. Metro Vancouver continues to spend money on an inferior water treatment system. Instead of using run off water we should have gone with a aquifer system as that will become an unlimited supply of water. As the aquifer is continuously refilled from the Fraser river. This is the water that Nestle sell us every day in a bottle.

A portion of the water used in the Eastern part of Langley comes from this source.

[Feathered Friend]

https://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications/485w35thave/documents/perspectives.pdf




https://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications/1535grant/documents/renderings_000.pdf

September 10th & 12th, 2019 Public Hearing – Misinformation Seeks To Defeat Tortured Rental Housing – Developer Anxiety Leads To More Protections For Marpole Renters

September 10th & 12th, 2019 Public Hearing –
With the end of City Council’s August break, the public hearing process starts up this week with two meetings that will probably have little in common. The one on September 10th will likely be a quick affair, as there are two text amendments (1, 2), two heritage designations (1, 2), and a small expansion to the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute. Nor do we expect much discussion about another mid-rise on the Cambie Corridor, or a new care home in Southeast Vancouver.

The proponent of Tuesday’s final item may have been nervous enough to pull it from the May 14th Public Hearing, but even back then that seemed like an overreaction. After all, the Marpole Community Plan essentially limits new rental housing growth to existing sites, and judging by its open house, most in the neighbourhood still supports that vision.

In contrast, though most of the items at the September 12th meeting consist of townhome applications, the last item will be far more controversial. Already, opposition groups have been hard at work spreading misinformation by distributing renderings that show a taller building, and claiming the proposal is not allowed under the Grandview Woodland Community Plan. All of this may lead to a turnout that results in City Council rejecting new rental housing for the second time this year.

Backlash Expectations

September 10th

Item #6 – 2499 East 48th Ave. – Very Low
With several similar care homes in the neighbourhood, one more shouldn’t cause a fuss.

Item #7 – 485 West 35th Ave. – Very Low
Mid-rise proposals in the Cambie Corridor rarely have more than one or two speakers.

Item #8 – 8638–8658 Oak St. – Moderate
New tenant compensation policies have failed to calm those opposed.

September 12th

Item #6 – 1535-15577 Grant St. – Very High
Opponents have successfully fought change here for over 50 years and are unlikely to stop now.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2019/09/09...to-more-protections-for-marpole-renters/

[Feathered Friend]

Federal Election Challenges The Future Of Moderate Income Rental Housing In Vancouver-Kingsway

1111-1123 Kingsway
Given the positive reception this proposal received earlier this year, neither Darren nor I expected a protest table set up outside this event. Then again, we never imagined Don Davies, the local MP, would organize a group opposed to adding rental housing in his riding. Frankly, it feels out of character for a political party historically associated with advocating for the working person, to oppose housing near the good paying union jobs at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital and ICBC offices.

This community leader was not in attendance, but many of his new group were. Not only were they critical of this Moderate Income Housing Pilot Program proposal, they were also opposed to an application for a 13 floor social housing building a block to the west. Though the 21 year old community vision allows for that development. several felt it was too old to apply, and a new plan was needed before anything proceeded.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2019/09/11...me-rental-housing-in-vancouver-kingsway/

[GenWhy?]

Yeah in talking to MCM folks the other day they said it didn't go as badly as they thought with the only concern or hicup being the booth set up outside, as you mentioned. Shouldn't be an issue of holding up most MIRHPP projects. Looking at some "outside the programme" MIRHPP rezonings that staff and council are keen for. Very exciting. Cost and feasibility is STILL an issue tho.

Those Kits ones on the other hand...

[Migrant_Coconut]

More like homeowners north of 3rd and south of 12th, which might as well be Point Grey; many people in-between seem at least somewhat receptive to higher density.

[osirisboy]

I love that Kingsway proposal. Nice form.

[officedweller]

From Changing City updates:

Nickel – 275 West 5th Avenue


https://changingcitybook.wordpress.com/2019/09/14/275-west-5th-avenue/

[LeftCoaster]

Did this one get missed? 110k square foot office in Mt Pleasant/Cambie.

https://development.vancouver.ca/pc150w4th/index.htm

Beautiful proposal IMO.

[logan5]

Haven't seen that one before. I wonder if Mt. Pleasant industrial area will keep up this pace. Imagine the whole area being these low rise office buildings. It would be super busy and teeming with people, at least in the daytime. Maybe it will be a catalyst for more restaurants and other afterhours activity. I really like the heritage homes that have been converted to little restaurants or coffee shops. Maybe we'll see more of that.