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.

It’s 2021 and who would have thought I’d be leading with a story about parking? JK, that sounds exactly like Vancouver: Gas-powered sports cars, SUVs face higher street parking fees under Vancouver’s anti-pollution proposal. To the people calling it a tax grab, you have no idea how taxes work. To the people saying it punishes working people, if you can afford a brand new gas guzzler, you can afford less than 100 bucks a month to park it. The 3 bucks for overnight visitors? If it goes to make transit free or some other transit initiative, who cares? $45 a year for a permit? That’s what it currently costs. Can rich people afford to stash their supercars in private garages? Sure. Would making housing affordable for working class people so they don’t have to commute be better for the climate? Of course.

Why is it all these NIMBYs are only defenders of poor people when it comes to climate policy? Why is socialism bad except when it comes to parking? Oh, parking should be free? Then so should parking a tent on the street. About half the population can’t or doesn’t drive and yet we bend over backwards to accommodate those who do. And then there’s the NPA. Here’s their mayoral candidate busted saying parking revenue is paramount just last year. What changed? Here‘s Melissa deGenova not understanding why it’s important to collect personal demographic data in order to make decisions based on personal demographic data. Here she is saying we should storm City Hall like they stormed the Bastille (where 98 people died). Worth it for free parking though, am I right?

Not that I should be surprised. Apparently she only thinks systemic racism exists towards Italians. Imagine being a political party in 2021 and just announcing to the world you don’t understand what systemic racism is:

VPD sergeant calls out Vancouver mayor for ‘systemic racism’ statements. Ah yes, the mayor talking about systemic racism is making your jobs harder, not…you know, all the systemic racism you do. This makes me want to vote for Kennedy just to spite the VPD, and that’s saying something.

Then there’s Colleen Hardwick who refused to vote on this 100% affordable housing project by the Ismaili society, as well as this 100 unit project in Marpole for seniors. In fact, she’s abstained a total of 243 times. She can’t possibly be re-elected, right?

I mean, who would even vote f… 99% of letters oppose rezoning for proposed school and social housing in Coal Harbour. Wait. People live in Coal Harbour?

Opinion: Vancouver’s housing crisis is getting worse under Kennedy Stewart. The fact that Mark Marissen said COPE purposefully didn’t run a candidate against Kennedy Stewart when they totally did aside, does he expect us to forget that he was Paul Martin’s campaign chair, the guy who cancelled all federal spending on new social housing projects, which laid the groundwork for Vancouver’s housing unaffordability crisis?

I wonder if all those people complaining about parking fees being a tax grab are in a tizzy about this: B.C. tax evasion steady through pandemic. So what you’re saying is if we should hire more than like 8 auditors?

The CRA looks at several aspects of real estate transactions, according to its website. For instance, auditors will consider if income reported on tax returns is sufficient to support a taxpayer’s lifestyle, including the cost and maintenance of real estate. And so, in B.C., there are many detached home neighbourhoods where poverty level incomes are reported, thus raising the potential for tax evasion or avoidance.

Then there’s this house: 407 W 43RD Avenue, $9,800,000. Who wants to bet they don’t really want to sell this and are either purposefully driving up land prices or trying to avoid paying the empty homes tax?

Then there’s this guy, who just sent eviction notices to seniors living in a Chinese-language assisted living home: State of Grace: A reverend and his real estate, and how he fills gaps in seniors’ care. “Although Lee has a history of disputes over real estate, there is no evidence he has broken any rules.” Um, have you seen the rules? “Corporate records show 129 Gainful Venture’s sole director is Steven Marc Lippman. Lippman is well known in the Downtown Eastside. His company Living Balance Investment Group’s website says it specializes in “revitalizing” neglected properties and has completed more than 50 projects over the past decade”… Oh god, say no more.

Here’s a recent example of his work. Evict an entire SRO, call them micro-units, charge $1300/month for a shared bathroom: 90 Alexander Street.

What could possibly go wrong? Condo developer plans to buy $1-billion worth of single-family houses in Canada for rentals.

“I won’t take Chinese in,” Vancouver mother is told in quest for childcare. Name and shame, Daily Hive. Name and shame.

As Kai Nagata says, “we’re not racist” – country where the public broadcaster has to disable comments on every news story about Indigenous people”: Why CBC is turning off Facebook comments on news posts for a month.

I assume this is the article that provoked the decision: Victoria cancels scheduled Canada Day programming in wake of Kamloops residential school discovery. cAnCel cUltUrE sTRikEs aGaiN!

Meanwhile: ‘Monuments of oppression’ must be torn down to make room for healing, says OKIB chief.

NIMBY of the day: False Creek neighbourhood rallying against installation of massive sculpture. Surprised “looks too Asian” wasn’t one of the complaints.

Runner up: Overgrown grass in East Vancouver park meant to attract bees is attracting complaints too. Daily reminder that nobody has ever gotten sick from a used needle.

Sopping Wet and Nowhere to Go. Sorry to say but ACAB includes park rangers.

Praxis of the day: Protesters prevent Israeli container ship from docking in Prince Rupert.

Bonus: For Sale: The Former Home of B.C.’s Notorious Apocalypse Cult. Someone make a farm to table restaurant inn and then stash all the investor money on some unknown island.