GRIDS Vancouver

(Kingsgate Mall is still mid though)

Vancouver School Board loses appeal over developer's lowered rent for Kingsgate Mall | CBC News The Vancouver School Board (VSB) has failed in a bid to have the B.C. Court of Appeal overturn lowered rent for the Kingsgate Mall site. A lower court had ruled that Beedie Developments should pay VSB...

endlessly fascinated by this case where huge sums of money hinge on the "it's still illegal to build more on this land" vs "ok but the city would rezone it if someone asked" debate www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

You got my vote and I will be encouraging friends+family to do the same 🫡

Kind of agree with the exception of the Seawall

Cherry blossom season is upon us in Vancouver. Want to find the best spots for viewing? Interested in specific species of cherry trees? My treemap has you covered. mountainmath.ca/vantrees

Today in interesting local politics and local media news: @fabulavancouver.bsky.social seems to be making the leap to local politics and will join OneCity.

I phoned @fabulavancouver.bsky.social, and she officially declined comment until the “career transition” becomes public tomorrow.

Before (2022) / After (2026) the removal of car parking spaces and the greening in Rue Jules Dumien in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. The works were done in 2024.

didn't talk about this in the post but one argument I just heard in the council prioritization session is that rail transit is more permanent than bus transit. unfortunately not true! ddot.dc.gov/release/ddot...

pov you ride the seabus and you unexpectedly see orcas #vancouver

(on the right, almost out of the frame)

hmm, I feel like they were pretty clear about not being certain either way

Poster says “SAY NO to massive tower by Stanley Park”

NIMBYs trying to get people enraged by using an image of beaming rays of sunshine on a tower in a dense urban landscape filled with trees.

I think about how some Vancouver neighbourhoods popped up overnight circa 1912 as part of a speculative investment boom

Saturday night cyclists in Paris

Everyone you know has a baby in their 30s. But that baby can take one of three forms:

(1) actual baby
(2) dog that is described as if they are (1)
(3) fitness regimen

Red Hot Chili Peppers. I genuinely hate every one of Anthony Kiedis's lazy rhymes

ultimately there are a lot more people who want to live in East Van today than there were back in 1910 - but we used the power of law to prevent more floor space from being built. gentrification is inevitable in this scenario, and would have been mitigated if we'd allowed more people to live here

been thinking about this a lot. house built ~1910, Vancouver downzoned the neighbourhood in 1965 (previously apartments were allowed but not economically viable), then in 1990 a local couple bought the house and several others nearby, then in 2026 some DINKs (us) bought it from them

Reminder that northern canada is extremely desolate but also filled with genuinely absurd fantasy terrain

I think (4 beers in) that one of Coyne’s arguments was that the current system leads to disaffection; so many people in ridings or locations where their vote is useless

the primary reason I am monomaniacal about zoning and land use is that I lived in Japan for a few years, then came back to Canada and thought "huh, this sucks, why? it doesn't have to be this way".

big fan of all the people doing comparative analysis for cities, elevators, transit, you name it

IIRC he excluded them because they were such insane outliers lol

(disclaimer: only 66.6% sure about that, can't check the book right now)

I really enjoyed the book; I thought it was a
great explainer of how the Canadian federal government works, and more importantly how it compares to governments around the world. There is *so* much value in looking outside your own borders to see how others do things
www.indigo.ca/en-ca/the-cr...

Me whenever I see an article about oil prices

Before (2025) / After (2026) Rue des Frères Morane in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. Another example of greening by removing angled parking (even at the back on the left, trees were planted next to the cars parked parallel to the curb, but they are not visible without leaves)

I like tea more these days but I cannot get over how the grades have fake-ass names like Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Grade 1 (FTGFOP1)

The thing that feels odd to me is that there's no public ask for any union benefits - purely opposition.

I trust Stephen's take on this: bsky.app/profile/step...

I don't think they're saying anything about whether the new hotel would be union-staffed (and I don't know the local hospitality industry well enough to say whether it will).

My impression is that they very aggressive at using our planning system to extract concessions from hotel operators.

They are not exactly subtle, and they spend more time posting about their opposition to new hotels than they do about worker compensation etc. One of the stranger developments in local politics over the last year.

I think it's underreported that Unite Here is really, *really* throwing their weight around in local politics lately, usually opposing hotels and hotel-related things. Including robocalls under an affiliiated "Take Back Vancouver" brand www.facebook.com/profile.php?...

Hi. My name is Mike Biscar. I am a resident of Vancouver. I've been a resident of Downtown Vancouver for ten years, and, I am speaking in opposition, to this rezoning application. I'm also speaking on behalf of Unite Here Local 40, the union for hotel workers here in British Columbia. Our union is opposed to this rezoning application, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, firstly, we believe it would be yet another giveaway, to, by this Council to a major rich developer who is not providing any meaningful community benefit. You know, working people in the City Of Vancouver are facing an affordability crisis. No one can afford to live here, and this application would be giving away major real estate next to Stanley Park without requiring the developer to do anything meaningful to address the affordability crisis that Vancouver residents are facing. And secondly, and I want to be clear about this, there is no hotel room crisis. We don't actually need more hotel rooms, and that is us, the union for hotel workers, saying that. It is a fake crisis, we believe, concocted by the hotel industry. Rich developers decided that they could not make as much money building office space or luxury condos in downtown at this particular moment, and so instead, they've pivoted to building more hotels. The Coast Plaza Hotel on Denman closed, 150 unionized workers lost their jobs. The Empire Landmark Hotel on Robson closed, 150 unionized workers lost their jobs. The Four Seasons Hotel closed, 400 unionized workers lost their jobs. I don't remember any real outrage from the Council or Destination BC. When real estate developers that owned those hotels decided that they could make more money using that, those hotel rooms for a different use. And now we're facing the opposite. They're pivoting back to hotels to maximize profits. This is not about addressing some made up hotel room crisis. And lastly, I would like to say that, you know, and I think one of the councillors had stated this on t…

Unite Here (hospitality union) local 40, on a West End hotel proposal (2030 Barclay) today: "if you continue to disregard the will of the people and approve applications like this one before you, in the face of opposition, we will be working to elect new representatives in the election in October"