@OwenInVan

The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men gang aft agley, an' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, for promis'd joy!

 Vancouver, British Columbia
ahvan.org/blog
Joined August 2012
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1.7KMedia
I guess it's time to commit to my election predictions. I think Fry-Sim will tie, +/- 15pp. Going out on a limb, I think the majority of Council that's running will be reelected.
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We can't tell you how to vote for mayor, but we can tell you that it's safe to vote for a voice, a place, and a future for all Vancouverites. •Better Community Centres •More Child Care •Safer Streets This Saturday October 17th, vote for OneCity before 8pm.
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Today you can vote for more for your city. More housing choice, more transport options, more local business. Vote OneCity for City Council, Park and School Board today, October 17, from 8am-8pm. vancouver.ca/vote
OneCity Vancouver campaign graphic: headline "Today is a choice" contrasts "Option One: Four more years of ABC" (less affordable housing, road safety, fun) with "Option Two: Change" (more housing, transport, local businesses, arts & culture); Election Day badge.

ALT OneCity Vancouver campaign graphic: headline "Today is a choice" contrasts "Option One: Four more years of ABC" (less affordable housing, road safety, fun) with "Option Two: Change" (more housing, transport, local businesses, arts & culture); Election Day badge.

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North American city planners, if they ran an airline: “Every seat on the plane should be first class. If you want to fit smaller economy-class seats into the plane you need to pay an extra density fee because you might inconvenience the existing first class passengers”
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"Affordable Elevators" you say? Break free of the US-Centric elevator cartel? Transform how we do "missing middle"? Change our approach to urban planning in North America? Here's v1 of my elevator policy roadmap for BC / Vancouver.
BC Elevator Regulations vs. Alternative Standards Regulatory Area Current Rule (BC / Vancouver) Potential Replacement / Alternative Impact of Replacement Elevator Sizing & EMS Access The "Stretcher Rule" BCBC & VBBL Sec. 3.5.4.1 Requires an elevator to fit a 2010mm x 610mm stretcher. Forces large 2500 lb capacity cabs. Mid-Rise Exemption Exempt buildings under 6 or 7 storeys from the stretcher requirement. First responders use stair chairs. Frees up significant floor plate area in multiplexes and low-rise point access blocks. Mechanical Standards ASME A17.1 / CSA B44 North American code requiring deep pits, high overhead clearances, and heavy mechanical load tolerances. EN 81 / ISO 8100 Global standard. Relies on electronic safety monitoring and allows for highly compact shafts. Drastically reduces overhead/pit dimensions and lowers unit costs due to global mass production. Cab Dimensions Oversized Defaults Standard residential cabs are massive relative to small footprints to meet B44

ALT BC Elevator Regulations vs. Alternative Standards Regulatory Area Current Rule (BC / Vancouver) Potential Replacement / Alternative Impact of Replacement Elevator Sizing & EMS Access The "Stretcher Rule" BCBC & VBBL Sec. 3.5.4.1 Requires an elevator to fit a 2010mm x 610mm stretcher. Forces large 2500 lb capacity cabs. Mid-Rise Exemption Exempt buildings under 6 or 7 storeys from the stretcher requirement. First responders use stair chairs. Frees up significant floor plate area in multiplexes and low-rise point access blocks. Mechanical Standards ASME A17.1 / CSA B44 North American code requiring deep pits, high overhead clearances, and heavy mechanical load tolerances. EN 81 / ISO 8100 Global standard. Relies on electronic safety monitoring and allows for highly compact shafts. Drastically reduces overhead/pit dimensions and lowers unit costs due to global mass production. Cab Dimensions Oversized Defaults Standard residential cabs are massive relative to small footprints to meet B44

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Thank you ForChange for adding me to your recommendations for Kelowna City Council! Leadership is about preparation, experience, and balancing perspectives around the council table through thoughtful collaboration.
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To get a housing crisis as bad as this, you need crazy things to happen, like the regional chief administrative officer believing that development fees do not increase housing prices. Why is this view so common among city planners? 1/
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Our walking tour this Saturday, Oct. 3rd, is a great opportunity to see some unusual streets most Vancouverites never have before. eventbrite.com/e/the-yimbys-…
A crowd gathered in the background behind a light blue Rolls SUV and a tree and fence.

ALT A crowd gathered in the background behind a light blue Rolls SUV and a tree and fence.

a blue mansion

ALT a blue mansion

A gray & white mansion

ALT A gray & white mansion

Green/Blue house with rounded wood shingle siding.

ALT Green/Blue house with rounded wood shingle siding.

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Shaughnessy Walking Tour this Saturday, Oct. 3rd @ 2pm You won't be seeing these rezoning signs in Shaughnessy anymore. Find out why! eventbrite.com/e/the-yimbys-…
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Why hasn't Shaughnessy developed into an urban area for tens of thousands of renters like Vancouver's first elite, mansion district: the West End? Walking tour Oct. 3rd! eventbrite.com/e/the-yimbys-…

The YIMBYs go to Shaughnessy (birthday edition)

Let's walk around Shaughnessy and imagine a better city. Hedges for a few, or apartments on quiet streets for many?

eventbrite.com
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Working my way through the population data revisions in the new quarterly demographic estimates release from Statcan, and they're pretty significant. The population decline reported over the last year has essentially been erased in the revisions.
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In Vancouver's Oct 17 election, it looks like a choice between Pete Fry and a progressive coalition, or Ken Sim and ABC. If it's a progressive coalition, and we want more housing, then we need to elect as many pro-housing OneCity councillors as possible. morehousing.ca/sim-vs-fry
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If you think rich tech workers moving in is bad for low-end rents, then you also have to accept that adding high-end supply is good. Supply and demand work symmetrically. buildingabundance.ca/p/housi…

Housing ladder spillovers

Rich newcomers can raise low-end rents, and adding high-end homes can lower them

buildingabundance.ca
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Some NIMBYs are still using the Maserati analogy for new housing 😂😈 We actually got to experience this when the pandemic temporarily capped car production! Stopping the flow of new cars spiked *used car* prices by 45% in July 2021 while luxury-model MSRPs were only up 5%
David Schleicher@ProfSchleichSep 11
“[J]ust put up a fucking plaque. This is New York City. It’s not like it’s Paris or some European capital. It’s truer to the spirit of New York to tear down and rebuild instead of putting the city behind glass.” curbed.com/article/andrew-be…

The Last NIMBY in a YIMBY Town

Andrew Berman’s crusade to preserve the West Village has put him at odds with just about everyone.

curbed.com
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TIL Canada Post is trying to build an Amazon marketplace competitor. canadashops.ca/
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The El Niño region Sea Surface Temperatures are extremely variable. But the standard deviation of the past months stands out, as the graph shows. Data doesn't lie. Thank you, @EliotJacobson
Prof. Eliot Jacobson
@EliotJacobsonSep 8
One more totally fucking nuts graph for today, care of a request by @LeonSimons8. Not only is the current standard deviation for the Nino 3.4 sea-surface temperature above 4SD over the 1982-2011 mean for the first time on record, but no previous year even reached 3SD.
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It's the penultimate AHV Happy Hour before the Vancouver election! Who are you leaning towards voting for? What are your hopes and worries for the next council? Come say hi and let us know! eventbrite.ca/e/abundant-hou…

Abundant Housing Vancouver Happy Hour

Come meet your pro-housing neighbours at happy hour with AHV!

eventbrite.ca
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The popularity of 3-4 year mortgages over the last 3 years really shows people are trying to time interest rates. For the big cohort who did it earliest it's worked out so far I guess, but you have to wonder when the 5-year was already at ~3%. canadianmortgagetrends.com/2… 1/2
https://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/2026/09/shift-to-variable-shorter-term-mortgages-raises-borrowers-rate-exposure-cmhc/

ALT https://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/2026/09/shift-to-variable-shorter-term-mortgages-raises-borrowers-rate-exposure-cmhc/

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Personally, we hedged our bets on a recent renewal, 25% variable, 75% 5-year fixed (at about 34 bps more than the variable). So far the variable has been a better deal but that could change fast. 2/2
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