A no messing around guide to the coolest things to eat, drink and do in Vancouver and beyond. Community. Not clickbait.

On Developers Stomping Feet and Doubting that Vancouver is Awesome


Oh sweet! Now we have an academic on the case! End of argument! Take that, YIMBY’s! Academic takes on Vancouver’s housing-supply ‘myth’. “If we are looking back at the last 15 to 20 years, we have been providing more than enough units of housing – and it’s still unaffordable.” Weird…it’s almost like developers want to keep building housing hollowed-out investment vehicles…

But be careful! Don’t ask for rent control or those sensitive developers might just stomp their feet and stop building all together. It also means those investment vehicles – gasp – might get sold, thereby further decreasing the rent supply! Why rent control is a false cure for housing shortages. How terrible is the market that it can’t adjust for a restriction of 2.5% rent increases? Or that we need to coax them with programs like STIR? Or that when we say “Oh, you are running your home like a business? Ok, we’re gonna need you to get a licence…” they fucking show up with placards at City Hall?

And what about these Marpole scumbags who protested modular housing for the homeless?

How terrible is a market that bulldozes art galleries then calls the condo they build in their place “Main Street Arts“? The voracious gaping maw of capitalism will never be sated!

Related: The Fight for Ugly, Or Why Art Can’t Sell Condos.

Vancouver is Awesome: Not everybody loved the “I Love Yaletown” opinion piece we published. You think? This was a tone-deaf article followed up by a tone-deaf non-apology. People weren’t upset because she “loves her neighbourhood”, Bob. They were rightfully angry at her glamorization of poverty. They were peeved at the blatant bourgeoisie navel-gazing while the rest of us struggle to stay and live in the most expensive city in North America.

I’m number 51 on this list, right? The 50 Most Powerful People in Vancouver Right Now. But wait a second…Frances Bula helped write the list and she’s on the list? I guess that’s the nature of power…and Van Mag.

But what I really want to know is, who are the least powerful 50 in Vancouver? A Selection of the 30 Most Disappointing Under 30. “Victor Chen, twenty-eight. Chen used an app to hire a person to pick up and deliver a Chipotle burrito to him every night for twenty-two consecutive nights”.

‘Transportion service not really that into transporting people’: Former police sergeant alleges TransLink doesn’t want weekend bar crowd on SkyTrain late at night. “He worked 12 Symphony of Fire events”. I’m not really that into praising cops but this guy deserves a medal.

Schadenfreude of the day: Party bus burns on Granville Street. Insert “it got lit” joke here. Best comment: “Please tell me someone has looped this for a Yule log video” – Allen Forrister.

Related:

Techno-utopian of the day: Silicon Valley thinks it invented roommates. They call it ‘co-living’

Bonus: Our open-plan office failed, so we’re moving to a towering panopticon.

There are 3 comments

  1. I’m sorry but I don’t see how the link you provided in ANY way refutes the study done by Mr Rose.

  2. I just want Bob Kronbauer to give me the keys to vancouverisawful.com. What started as an april fools joke like 8 years ago is finally true and since he has now sold out to big media I hope to god he still maintains control of that domain. Bob give it to the people. If we want true equality for all we need to burn this city to the ground, one terrible hockey riot at a time.

On Ken Sim’s So-Called “Swagger” and ABC’S Class War

Sean Orr is back from his hiatus with a rundown of the local headlines that have been running on a ticker tape through his mind over the past six months...

On Post-Election Recuperation, Platform Paradoxes and Refund Communities

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds irony in "safety, affordability, and sustainability", and shouts out a bunch of amazing local organizations working on the frontlines.

On Running for City Council, Playing Whack-a-Mole with Homelessness, and the Public Washroom Deficit

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds a park ranger with a grudge, a gross misuse of air quotes and Tripadvisor slander.

On Living in a City Preoccupied with Street Cleaning, Chandeliers, and Campaigns Against the Homeless

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr hones in on the recent Langley shootings, and the ongoing criminalizing and dehumanizing of the homeless population.