It's pretty remarkable how the Auckland story is almost entirely a story of townhouses and small-lot subdivision legalization. I don't think this is how many YIMBYs interpret what happened there!

Stephen Jacob Smith@stephenjacobsmith.com · 3d ago

“After an intense building flurry, Auckland’s housing stock is now 618,849 units, which is 101,000 more than a decade ago…Meanwhile Auckland house prices, with a median value of just over NZ$1mn (US$587,000), have lost a quarter of their value in that timeframe.” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

my opinion is that journalism outlets need to start being clearer about public bodies withholding interviews or information, rather than going with an anodyne "declined/unavailable for an interview" that suggests each incident is a scheduling issue, and not a consistent obfuscation strategy.

Michelle Cyca@michellecyca.com · 7d ago

perfect, no notes

Great reporting on the Summerland wildfire (gift link): www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/ff223fd...

Inside the early battle against the ferocious Bald Range wildfire

As flames raced toward Summerland, B.C., this command centre had to make the tough calls

theglobeandmail.com

the Canada Line is often characterized as disruptive (by critics) or cheap (by proponents) thanks to a secretive P3 structure, but is imo better understood as the government of the time being agnostic about construction techniques and consciously making trade-offs to reduce costs

Mark (he/him)@markedwardson.com · 2w ago

Recently found myself reading the judgement for one of the Cambie merchant lawsuits and was struck by just how much shorter the disruptions were for the CL. This one business experienced 3 years of general disruption, and only 8 months of actual cut-and-cover work. www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/d...

This is Vancouver’s exact policy on SROs! And very similar to our hotel policy

Ned Resnikoff@resnikoff.bsky.social · 2w ago

Reminds me of something I read years ago about SROs in New York that insisted the city not demolish any of them because they’re an important source of affordable housing, but also we should not build any more under any circumstances.

Right now in Vancouver, if you want to open a bike repair shop in your alley? Illegal. Bakery from your back door? Illegal. Haircut in your spare room? You guessed it. Illegal.  That's ridiculous. So we're gonna fix it. 🧵1/7 #VanPoli #YVR #VancouverVotes2026 #GoodBusinessStartsAtHome

In a similar vein, this delightful piece I come back to every 6 months: www.newyorker.com/culture/rabb...

The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends”

Wilbert Awdry, who created Thomas the Tank Engine, disliked change, venerated order, and craved the administration of punishment.

newyorker.com

Nathan Goldwag @goldwagnathan.bsky.social · 2w ago

Every six months a writer goes on parental leave, is driven insane by watching 10,000 hours of Paw Patrol, and writes another one of these articles, and they're always great.

"At First, Everyone Hated Vancouver's West End" Everyone loves the West End today, but people *hated* it when the towers were new. It is hard to convey just how much they hated it. What does that say about building new West Ends? reillywood.com/blog/west-end/

Now with homes, & a social services centre for veterans of Canada’s armed forces, the Arbutus & 7th Ave social housing building has returned larger than ever. Will #Vancouver embrace this once controversial proposal, or will #Lestweforget take on a new meaning? #Kitsilano #VanRE

I really like the idea of having to watch the motorist equivalent of a pre-flight safety video before you can drive to work

Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰@urbanlandrent.bsky.social · 3w ago

Forcing cagers to watch an ad for capeshit before they can drive is a story that feels tailored to make me giggle. We should force motorists to watch all kinds of asinine shit before they can move their cars imo

As a side note, this is an example where Vancouver urbanism is unambiguously worse than Calgary: trail networks in the suburbs here are much more discontinuous and often consist of adding a shared-use sign to a sidewalk

Mark (he/him)@markedwardson.com · 3w ago

likewise, despite its reputation amongst urbanism circles as sprawl-hell, Calgary's trail network is genuinely quite impressive and continues to get built out alongside new subdivisions (dark blue = trails/protected bike lanes)

Royal Bay in Colwood, BC comes to mind as an example of a developer that tried to do bike-friendly (and generally much nicer) sprawl and (imo) mostly succeeded

Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰@urbanlandrent.bsky.social · 3w ago

It’s crazy how, even if you are all in on the suburban lifestyle. There is apparently no appetite among greenfield devs for even modestly human centered design. No street trees? No street grids? No walking paths/green belts? No bike lanes? Nothing? The same exact topography from a century ago?

Really remarkable article, the Anglican Church is going gloves off against multiple cities. $9M and 6 years of delay to build 85 units of below-market seniors housing on their own land

Ryan Jabs@ryanjabs.bsky.social · 3w ago

Another window into why even non-profit housing is so expensive. Saanich delays led to an extra $9milliom (!!) in costs. No one in Saanich is held accountable so they keep dragging their feet and increasing costs. bcbusiness.ca/real-estate/...

unfortunately I've had many of these conversations about the GST/PST/HST

Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰@urbanlandrent.bsky.social · 3w ago

I wish we could shake libs out of the consensus position that the progressiveness of a tax policy can be solely evaluated by looking at one side of the ledger I have had many conversations like this “This tax is regressive” >But the revenue is being spent progressively “Had not considered this”

I wish we could shake libs out of the consensus position that the progressiveness of a tax policy can be solely evaluated by looking at one side of the ledger I have had many conversations like this “This tax is regressive” >But the revenue is being spent progressively “Had not considered this”

Genuinely bonkers; Minnesota's legislation enabled them sue an engineering firm _40 years_ after a collapsed bridge was built

Nilo@nilo.bsky.social · 4w ago

www.maslon.com/jacobs-engin... Crazy case. Looks like Jacobs did relatively well despite the state trying to screw them but still no small firm could have absorbed that.

Explosives are sometimes fun

In better zoning systems than ours (i.e. Japan's), this is a non-issue because they allow multiple uses instead of mandating one. People will build commercial if it's allowed and there's demand for it, you don't need to forbid residential to make it happen.

I have nothing to add that hasn't already been said but this is an act of abject cowardice. All the endless hand-wringing about towers and concentrating development on existing rental areas, and when the opportunity comes to do something about it everyone except Lucy votes for the status quo.

Peter Waldkirch 華彼德@pwaldkirch.bsky.social · 4w ago

Ok, they severed the SES part, so this is the vote on the main part of it: A-J. And, the Villages Plan is dead. This hurts. ABC, COPE, and the Greens are all unwilling to take even quite modest action on expanding low-rise apartment areas.

Edmonton continues to show it's possible to have newly built, ground-oriented housing for families in existing neighbourhoods at a reasonable price. You only have to make it legal and feasible. Here's a 3bed for $1,895 with a $500 lease signing bonus.

The Villages Plan is not that controversial & Council should approve all 17 villages. There was not that much opposition considering most complaints were poorly founded & the result of NIMBY fear-mongering. For comparison, consider 1805 Larch, ONE 5-storey apartment building.

A nuclear deterrent is not something you build hastily to compensate for a lack of conventional military power or security. In many ways, doing so relies on a bedrock of conventional deterrence, on information security, and on well-developed clandestine networks and alliances outside the US system.

This is an interesting article that makes some good points, so if you don't mind I'll use it to lay out my case for why Canada cannot and should not attempt to develop its own nuclear weapons as a deterrent against the Americans. I think we miss a lot of the requirements by focusing on "breakout".

Ілля@illya.bsky.social · last mo.

This is the top cbc story this morning www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Putting aside that this is slopulism that will make parking availability worse, it bears noting that the reason there's paid parking in front of beaches and community centres in the first place is that Vancouver Liberal park commissioners Scott Jensen and Brennan Bastyovanszky made it so.

Kareem Allam@kareem42.bsky.social · last mo.

Within the first year of a Vancouver Liberal Government, we're going to get rid of every single parking meter in front of beaches and community centres throughout the entire city.

Got to try out the new Solaris trolleybus today. It was a smooth ride and the AC is going to be a godsend in the summer. Very excited for it to enter service!

Introducing Livable CRD 🗳️ A non-partisan coalition making Capital Region municipal elections easier to navigate. We publish a candidate scorecard + questionnaire on transit, housing, climate, healthcare & more. We inform, we don't endorse. 👉 livablecrd.ca #YYJ #BCpoli

Livable CRD

Livable CRD is a non-partisan coalition scoring Capital Regional District municipal candidates on transit, housing, climate, arts, and other livability issues.

livablecrd.ca

Far too often we have assumed a technological solution or infrastructure solution and designed the transit service to match it. This is backwards. Instead define the network you want and design service improvements to meet that goal.

this was a compelling piece right until it argued that expropriating property from lumber barons is illegitimate

Taylor Noakes@taylornoakes.com · last mo.

"Getting the most out of what our architects are capable of, and to achieve a national symbol of our democracy, requires starting from a clean slate. Canadians—not just the PM—deserve something better than 24 Sussex could ever be" Latest @thewalrus.ca #cdnpoli thewalrus.ca/scrap-24-sus...

There's actually a really great pilot project out there already: the West End, the city's greatest neighbourhood :p

Bryn Davidson - Lanefab@lanefab.com · last mo.

Some councilors asking about “why not a pilot?” No. “Pilots” are just a desire to shift the project to someone else’s Neighbourhood. It’s a delay tactic. Better to do it broadly and then adapt locally as needed.

Melissa Bowman@dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Whenever a mid- or high-rise is proposed, some nearby residents declare that we need more missing housing. Yet, when missing middle housing is proposed from the get go, we have neighbourhood groups sporting yellow ribbons to oppose a shift from 4 storeys to six. www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/ar...