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On Luxury Condos Destroying East Van and Screwing Over Young People at Every Turn

Tea & Two Slices is a long-running local news round-up by NEEDS frontman and veteran dishwasher Sean Orr, who lives and works in Gastown, deeply aware of his privilege.

B.C. premier urged to apologize for telling young people to ‘not blow this for the rest of us’. Boomers on climate change: blew it for the rest of us. Boomers on the drug war: blew it for the rest of us. Boomers on the housing market: blew it for the rest of us. Boomers on the pandemic: refuse to go COVID zero because “there’s no proof”. Refuse to pay workers to stay home. Refuse to extend eviction ban. Refuse to give clear data on community transmission. Refuse to mandate masks in schools. Insist on opening up the economy allowing people to workout in gyms. Allowing tourists to flock to Whistler. Allowing worship services on Easter only to claw it back. Botch the vaccine rollout. Obscure data on the scale of P1 variant spread which was only brought to light because of a leak to the media. And then they turn around and blame it on the last people eligible to get the vaccine. Sorry, not sorry.

It’s not people in their 20s and 30s making these decisions. It’s not people in their 20s and 30s who aren’t wearing masks. Those two investment brokers who assaulted a kid and berated the staff at Pizza Pizza weren’t in their 20s and 30s. Mak Parhar, Susan Standfield, Donald Smith Ryan Kulbaba, and Dan Dicks aren’t either. Neither is this guy: Vancouver penthouse party host arrested again for breaching release order.

It’s not people in their 20s and 30s sharing misinformation: Older Ontarians most involved in spreading COVID-19 misinformation online: study.

It’s not young people that allowed our care homes to be a national embarrassment: Canada’s nursing homes have worst record for COVID-19 deaths among wealthy nations: report.

It’s not young people committing terrorist acts saying “the elite control us” and “the media is the real pandemic”: Charges approved against alleged arsonist in fire at Masonic hall in Vancouver.

It’s not young people who are…oh wait, never mind: B.C. ski resort says all staff who attended rowdy restaurant party will be fired. Still though. It’s not 20 to 30 year old who told these kids it’s fine to work restaurant and retail jobs while squeezing them into accommodations with 4 or 5 other roommates.

Really, this lockdown is more like a pat-down. This “circuit breaker” is more like a dimmer switch. Restaurants once again get punished without any evidence that they are spreading the disease. The logic is warped:

A hero emerges: Man who confronted anti-masker may be charged with assault, say police. We are all bike smash guy.

Meanwhile: Human rights tribunal puts anti-maskers on notice, saying complaints require proof of disability. I wonder if a simple IQ test would suffice.

Another week, another reminder that we live in a racist cesspool: Korean UBC student attacked Saturday in University Village, RCMP not ruling out ‘bias or hate’ motives. The RCMP wouldn’t know a hate crime if it came onto their land and whisked them off to a residential school.

Times two: Vancouver police investigating assault of Asian woman as hate crime.

Cool cool cool: No criminal charges for officers in death of Black man with mental illness Tasered in own backyard.

Yass queen: Vancouver Pride to hold panel discussion about defunding police.

Because we all know they only pay lip service to protecting the community, especially the mentally ill. Imagine an entire well-funded fleet of these: Car 87 where are you? Families say Vancouver’s mental health emergency team is rarely available.

Get fucked: Vancouver to study pros and cons of hosting 2030 Olympic Games. No Olympics on stolen native land while we’re dealing with unprecedented deaths of young people in the form of a drug policy failure combined with a runaway housing market.

Headline of the century: As house prices soar, is home ownership in Canada becoming something only the rich can afford? This is news? Regulate the fucking market.

Like, maybe let’s have more than 37 fucking “affordable” units out of 688 high-end condo and rental suites: Group warns ‘luxury megatowers’ will devastate East Vancouver communities. I don’t care about the height, I care about the land lift this will have on the surrounding area.

I call bullshit: Cole Sprouse gives Vogue a tour of his $15k per night Vancouver home (VIDEO). Dude, you don’t make that kind of money and there’s no way this is $15k per night.

Art of the day: Loverboy song inspires Weekend Chime in Robson Plaza.

Bonus: It’s important to tell more stories about autism — including my own.

There are 2 comments

  1. Is there a go find me account for the guy with the damaged bike…that broke it on some asshole’s window? That man deserves a new bike. Seriously, I would donate.

  2. Cole Sprouse lives at the fairmont….? The hell is he doing going to Bons in East Van then? I saw him there a couple months agao.

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