Vancouver City Councillor
Some years ago I met w/ Daniel Boffo, over n’hood resistance to height/density and perception that inclusion of city land in project called to question net public benefits, notwithstanding Kettle contributions.
I suggested that the best solution might be to open the books, show people the pro formas ie. the numbers that make the project work vis a vis public land and public benefits involved.
Zoning and land-use decisions are the big tools at the city’s disposal. The outrageous land valuation increase detailed in this article is a direct result of the city’s changes to permissible building height and scale — and it’s what is driving a rush on speculation as well as replacement and displacement of actually affordable housing in the West End.
The best part of political campaigns is meeting people and reconnecting with our city’s neighbourhoods.
But it’s bittersweet.
Too many folk are being pushed out. People are living on the street. Increasingly our city is becoming more about speculative investment and less about people who live and work here.
“What we need to do is actually slow the kind of supply that we don’t need and really incentivising the kind of supply that we do need,” he explained. “That is a power that we have at the city level, through the approval and rejection of discretionary rezonings and that sort of thing.”
eadquarters for the monopoly seeking online retail behemoth would take up about 8 million square feet and employ about 50,000 high paying jobs.