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On Dying for a Hug and Entering the Mad Max Stage of Vancouver’s Housing Crisis

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.

Nope: Dr. Bonnie Henry pitches idea of ‘B.C. Hug Day’. What a tone deaf and totally unsurprising idea. This is the epitome of our province’s neoliberal death cult with its cute and cuddly “Supernatural BC” mask disguising the fact that we are run by a room full of triangulating “third way” party hacks and poll-obsessed policy wonks.

What about the five people a day dying from drug poisoning? Do they get a hug?

And what about all the people the RCMP is arresting for defending old growth forests, Mr. Horgan? Let’s not forget that this was something the Premier promised he would stop? Ongoing arrests of old growth defenders ignite questions about injunctions.

Related:

More of the same energy: Vancouver social-housing plans highlight divide between neighbours’ fears and community needs. Wow, fuck the Vancouver Greens for voting ‘no’ on this. And remember this the next time a tent city pops up in your neighbourhood. Only in Vancouver would hundreds of West Side NIMBYs sign up to complain about a motion to ask public servants to look into the feasibility of creating more social housing so they could bring it back to council for an actual public hearing and then complain that the democratic process is flawed.

We need bold action on housing. Council Is About to Mull a Bold Solution to Vancouver’s Housing Crisis. Oh no, that’s much too bold. We just meant more laneway houses.

Meanwhile: BC’s Land owner transparency registry recently went live, and the results are predictable:

Nobody should have 2 22 homes until everyone has at least one. I mean, remember when everyone was mad when people were hoarding toilet paper and PPE and then reselling it? So why aren’t we mad when it’s with actual homes?

“If we just upzone SFH along arterials we can make affordable housing”: Home prices go up nearly 300 percent of assessment on Vancouver street with new six-storey condo project.

Vancouver neighbourhood pushes back on potential development in Hinge Park. Only in Vancouver would the former planner that made all this density and forgot to put schools in and then wrote an editorial about how it’s impossible to get his kids in school is now complaining about building a school.

Clearly the people in this city have their priorities straight: Canucks fans protest team’s management outside Rogers Arena. I’m no fan of  GM Jim Benning, but seriously….get a fucking job.

One of the lamest things to ever come out of this city: Catching up with the Vancouver Stanley Cup riot ‘kissing couple,’ 10 years later. “Alex Thomas and Scott Jones remember being knocked down by the riot officers’ shields, falling to the pavement on Seymour Street in Vancouver. It was June 2011, moments after the Canucks lost Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final on home ice to the Boston Bruins. The city was on fire.” Moments after? It was literally 4 hours after the police began reading the riot act. You had no business being there!

But isn’t entitlement just the Vancouver way? A Vancouver runner has picked more than 5,000 dirty masks off the streets. Quick, someone make a public art piece about it and then everyone can complain about their tax dollars going towards public art!

Speaking of entitlement: Driver slapped with $368 fine after telling VPD officer the speed limit is ‘too slow’. Why does this remind me of that Dave Chappelle bit?

We’ve finally entered the Mad Max stage of our housing crisis: Amid rising rental costs, these Kamloops families go nomadic. Living the dream!

Brain drain: New West edges Vancouver as Millennial magnet. That’s nice, but where are the Zoomers going to live? Fucking Yarrow?

Because of course: BC car dealership chain launches real estate development division. I mean, why not? Our homes are basically Ferraris as it is, except, you know…they don’t depreciate.

Book of the day: Global wealth skewing the look and feel of Vancouver and Toronto. “The torrent of foreign capital pouring into housing in desirable cities around the world is contorting how they physically look and how residents relate to each other, says an exceptional new book by Prof. Matthew Soules of the UBC school of architecture.”

TW: rape, graphic language, and a justice system that fails our most marginalized over and over again: Most Mounties cited for sexual misconduct over past 5 years were allowed to keep their jobs.

TW: exact same as above: Burnaby man accused of shooting sex worker in the back released on bail. “She further argued release was appropriate given Deo’s lack of a criminal record and the high likelihood the shooting was a ‘very one-off’ situation.” Ah yes, the targeting of sex workers is a very one-off situation.

UBC student met with racist comment when confronting driver who sideswiped his car. #stopasianhate

Harrison Lake campers say death threats had them fearing for their lives. “”At this time, it does not appear the group of campers were in possession of firearms and there is currently no evidence to suggest the incident was racially motivated.” Um, it’s against the law to utter threats, firearm or no firearm. According to Reddit, the Agassiz RCMP are “not just sweeping it under the rug, but actively trying to protect these assholes by shutting down posts with their identities”. Cool cool cool.

Praxis of the day: Disco-themed dog walkers block crosswalk leading to Burnaby Trans Mountain site.

If that doesn’t work: Burnaby trees spiked to protest Trans Mountain expansion.

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