Quote:
Originally Posted by EastVanMark
I agree with Carr & Dr No Swanson but Hardwick strikes me as a moderate.
Everyone other than Bligh, Kirby Yung and De Genova are all NIMBY morons in my books. Even those listed have had their moments but they sometimes have some redeeming qualities (key word sometimes). I would be hard pressed to call
Anyone a Yimby. Again MAYBE Bligh.
Regarding wards, yes that’s absolutely right it may not accomplish a single damn thing in terms of a progressive attitude at City Hall, but at least there would be some true regional representation and accountability. I think most people could live with that. Right now, the deck is stacked. That ain’t cool.
Good point and there’s certainly enough evidence out there to suggest that those attitudes would continue. But again it’s those citizens living in the area making those decisions, not someone deciding for them from the other side of the city.
Our Chinatown has been on the decline since before TNT even existed. And you’re right about those cities (especially the latter). However it’s their exact ANTI gentrification policies, coupled with tax breaks and other incentives that saved their Chinatowns. We have done nothing and as you pointed out, went in the other direction by wasting time on foolish “creative” initiatives that predictably went nowhere. We literally have just stood by and watched this jewel in the city wither away.
Office vacancy is not a bad thing (although 30% is much).’our artificial low vacancy is not good either.
When things turn around (eventually), landlords will be tripping over themselves offering deals and incentives to get companies to move in. If I’m starting a business, I’m heading there. High vacancy creates possibilities. Our stifling policies have not only caused a move to underbuilding projects, but our poor business climate keeps companies away. Now again, we have made some baby steps with recent projects and some in the pipeline, but again we were slow to get started and are now playing catch up. No need for that so if we’re really serious about catching up we take above from other business forward cities that offer incentives for developers to develop larger projects. And in some rare occasions, help in the effort to court business to the local area.
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Council's
voting record would disagree. Looks like Kirby-Yung's a fence-sitter, and Hardwick's a reactionary (going from other charts, she also has the most declared conflicts of interest).
If there's a stacked deck, it's in favour of parties over independents; if somebody from Southlands were to join the Greens' council ticket, they'd be elected on sight. Some local non-partisan interests may very well be drowned out by lack of local reps - would very much like some examples, if so - but I'd argue that mostly everybody has a say otherwise.
Having a hard time seeing Chinatown as a "jewel," even pre-decline - the grocers barely even clean
their own stores, let alone the streets. IMO gentrification (new buildings, hipster pizza and ramen, etc etc) is the only force stopping everything in the neighbourhood that isn't Phnom Penh from turning into a slum.
Which is why we're building more and more offices to try and close the gap. Low vacancy means high business demand and high vacancy means low demand; if Calgary were so attractive, they wouldn't have more than 20% in the first place.
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