5) Overall, the ODP is a small, positive step for a growing city needing affordable housing, and it brings good changes for how the public engages with new development. For implementation + updates we need a Council that will make sure we build housing alongside complete + connected neighbourhoods.
4) ODP is also required to include affordable housing policies. What an opportunity to identify how the city's targets for social + below-market housing can be tracked equitably across neighbourhoods. While the city's Housing Strategy provides city-wide targets this could be spelled out in the ODP.
3) I have Qs about how the location and # of new parks were identified + how new community centres are delivered. It's a provincial req. the ODP identify proposed public facilities + consider the ODP in conjunction with financial planning. What an opportunity to spell this out!
2) Once adopted, new, largely residential projects consistent with the ODP will not have a public hearing, and council may waive hearings for other projects. By front loading engagement on the ODP, the plan should make it cheaper and quicker to build housing in an affordability crisis.
1) A city wide plan that ensures well thought out, walkable neighbourhoods close to our daily needs and along transit routes is long overdue and provides predictability for residents and planners alike. The City also doesn't have a choice - BC requires Vancouver to have an ODP by June 30
Council is continuing its deliberations on the Official Development Plan tonight (I’m one of the speakers carried over til this evening)! After wading through the plan, thought I’d share some of my summary/thoughts here:
5) Overall, the ODP is a small, positive step for a growing city needing affordable housing, and it brings good changes for how the public engages with new development. We need a Council that will make sure we build housing alongside complete and connected neighbourhoods.
4) ODP is also required to include affordable housing policies. What an opportunity to identify how the city’s targets for social + below-market housing can be tracked equitably across neighbourhoods. While the city’s Housing Strategy provides city-wide targets this could be spelled out in the ODP.
3) I have Qs about how the location and # of new parks were identified + how new community centres are delivered. It’s a provincial req. the ODP identify proposed public facilities + consider the ODP in conjunction with financial planning. What an opportunity to spell this out!
2) Once adopted, new, largely residential projects consistent with the ODP will not have a public hearing, and council may waive hearings for other projects. By front loading engagement on the ODP, the plan should make it cheaper and quicker to build housing in an affordability crisis.
1) A city wide plan that ensures well thought out, walkable neighbourhoods close to our daily needs and along transit routes is long overdue and provides predictability for residents and planners alike. The City also doesn’t have a choice - BC requires Vancouver to have an ODP by June 30
Holding onto Tracey Lindberg’s keynote:
Love is an Indigenous legal principle.
Imagine what a legal order rooted in love could deliver.
Love is not just how you feel, it is something you do + participate in. It is a call to action.
Happy intl. women’s day - a day of love + a call to action!
And thank you to @westcoastleaf.bsky.social for the #equalitybreakfast. The speakers highlighted the work that lies ahead to advance gender justice, empowered us to roll up our sleeves to contribute, and recognized the power of Indigenous legal principles to help advance equality for all.
Thank you to the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre for an incredible Herstory fundraiser. DEWC delivers frontline services to and with women in the DTES - helping house 160+ women/year, deliver 1000+ meals and providing safe spaces for connection. There was community and 🔥 on that runway.
Two moving and joyful events this week to celebrate and honour International Women’s Day alongside the @onecityvan.bsky.social team.
Reducing barriers for Indigenous students to access law school is critical to supporting more Indigenous lawyers - lawyers who can provide culturally informed services, help address systemic racism in the legal system, + help braid Indigenous + Canadian legal traditions to support reconciliation
Congrats to UBC’s Indigenous Law Student Association for raising over $100,000 for Indigenous law student scholarships. Thank you for sharing this milestone with us through a beautiful celebration at the Bill Reid Gallery.
Go to caitlinstockwell.ca (caitlinstockwell.ca) to join OneCity to help get me on the ballot and stand with me for a city we can all call home.
As a climate advocate, Indigenous rights lawyer, and volunteer for tenants facing tenancy disputes, I’ve built my career around standing up for people and the places we call home.
Now I want to bring my experince working with multiple levels of government and serving communities to City Hall.
Decisions at City Hall are falling short of our community values and leaving people behind: from banning supportive housing, cutting our sustainability office, to neglecting our public spaces.
I’m running to be a OneCity council candidate to stand up for communities and the values we stand for.
There is mounting evidence that Hudson Williams rode the 49 and even more evidence that we are overdue in improving our most popular local bus route for transit riders!
A bus rally that involves cake, a Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams lookalike contest, and stand up comedy - sign me up! Thrilled to have joined @movementyvr.bsky.social on Friday night to advocate for bus priority along the whole 49 bus route.
More on my nom campaign to come soon - but for now I’m excited to seek a nomination with a party dedicated to democracy through this primary process and which sees the opportunity and takes up the call to action for a city that takes care of its neighbours through housing and people first policies.
Proud to be standing behind + with our incredible OneCity mayoral candidate @wazaroff.bsky.social at OneCity’s AGM. Congrats to both Amanda + William for running stellar nomination campaigns that challenged us not just to dream, but to organize, for a city that is more equitable, resilient + vibrant
Proud of my brave friend Esther for sharing her story + breaking her NDA to speak for those that can't. NDAs, originally designed to protect trade secrets, have become tools to silence victims of workplace discrimination, harassment + assault. This is not ok.
www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...
On Friday, 30 Van city staff were told to pack up and move on. This included city engineers & transport staff - teams that help with safe street projects. More cuts for unionized workers are coming in Jan & Feb. This is the human & community cost of a slogan budget. Let’s send ABC home in October.
thanks to the team for taking the time to bring me, and our transit systems, up to speed! Check out their 'dare to dream of a better 19' campaign demanding better bus priority on Kingsway: movementyvr.ca/dream-of-a-b...
@movementyvr.bsky.social is up to incredible things for us transit riders in Metro Van! Advocating for faster, more reliable transit isn't just convenient for commuters - it also helps make us a leader on climate, transportation safety and equitable access. P.s. did y'all know what a bus bulb was??
Van showed up for the Eastside Culture Crawl in force this weekend.
But ABC's 2026 draft budget does not.
A 12% cut to arts, culture and community services puts beloved events like the crawl at risk.
Always blown away by the local talent in Van - let's make sure it stays here. #vancity #budget
Grateful for the opportunity to learn about grassroots initiatives and policy proposals to support climate resiliency at the DTES beat the heat event today. Access to safe spaces in extreme heat events shouldn't be predicated on income or neighbourhood. Housing justice = climate justice.
#DTES #ubc
