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GRIDS Vancouver

@grids.reillywood.com
2.3K followers 1K following 2.5K posts

An account for Reilly Wood's bad takes about cities. My good takes about computers are over at @reillywood.com

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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 20m
funny how Vancouver’s Joyce-Collingwood neighbourhood houses a lot of people near SkyTrain, in relatively affordable apartments+condos, and has verrry little mindshare among the chattering classes
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Kenneth Chan @iamkennethchan.bsky.social · 21h
A first look inside #SkyTrain's brand-new, state-of-the-art control centre building. This $360 million facility for the Expo/Millennium network will accommodate future expansion for decades to come. #TransLink #vanpoli #vanre dailyhive.com/vancouver/sk...
dailyhive.com
First look inside SkyTrain's new state-of-the-art control centre building | Daily Hive | Urbanized
This is a first look at TransLink's new $300+ million brand-new Operations Control Centre building for SkyTrain's Expo and Millennium lines.
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 22h
constantly see-sawing between "Wealthsimple sure is different from Canadian banks" (laudatory) vs "Wealthsimple sure is different from Canadian banks" (derogatory)
some bullshit that basically turns your savings+investments+trading into a social network
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 29/09/2026
Interesting article. I made it my new year's resolution to host a gathering at least once a month, it's way too easy to slide into not seeing people much www.derekthompson.org/p/the-death-...
derekthompson.org
You Are No Longer Invited to Dinner
We’re witnessing the death of hosting in America. The share of adults who say they regularly have friends over has declined 70 percent since 1975
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CTV News Vancouver @ctvnewsvancouver.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
SkyTrain to begin 5 months of overnight testing ahead of major expansion
bit.ly
SkyTrain to begin 5 months of overnight testing ahead of major expansion
TransLink announced on Tuesday that beginning Oct. 3 that it will begin running overnight testing to prepare for major network expansions.
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Danny Oleksiuk @dannyoleksiuk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I worry that we are about to switch a government that reserves 80% of the residential land for the gentry, but does it a bit sheepishly and sneakily, for one that does it self-righteously, in defense of tenants.
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 29/09/2026
Feeling pessimistic about the Vancouver election. Likely gonna be a rough 4 years for housing policy. ABC majority would be more wishy washy muddling along for market housing, hostility toward nonmarket COPE+Green+OneCity coalition would be subject to the COPE+Green left-NIMBY brainworms
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Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I will never get over the absurd arguments people made regarding aesthetics and neighbourhoods to oppose the REM de l’Est. And how cancelling it did not bring about some hypothetical better project. The east end is languishing in long commutes and uncertainty more than four years later.
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 27/09/2026
My most boomer-coded opinion is that you should have a subscription to a paper newspaper (weekly is fine) and try to use it for most of your news intake
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Amanda Wong @amandawtwong.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Sylvia Hotel
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Mike F @mikefeaver.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
With the increasing length of the Expo Line, people often bring up the idea of making the SkyTrain faster by adding skip stop or local/express service patterns In short, local & express services should be possible with additional platforms at 4 stations This thread explores one way to do that
A map depicting Vancouver's SkyTrain network showing all lines with some form of local & express stopping pattern, also showing connecting RapidBus, planned RapidBus, B-Line, SeaBus, and SFU Gondola
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 26/09/2026
1. call a super early election 2. wait wdym we're behind in the polls 3. time to subsidize gas I guess
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William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It’s all stupid and silly until it isn’t.
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 25/09/2026
hell yeah www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/ar...
theglobeandmail.com
How Ottawa could cut personal income taxes – without creating a fiscal mess
Could raising the GST actually encourage growth? Some experts say it’s a crucial move to kickstart Canada’s sluggish economy
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Michael Wiebe @michaelwiebe.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Hard to overstate how crazy this is. Vancouver planners designed the multiplex zoning so that multiplexes would be barely competitive with single-family houses. If we cared about housing supply, we would make them *more* attractive, so they outcompete SFHs.
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 25/09/2026
Added some new functionality to the bot, because these letters are often pretty wacky. This one (the city telling the park board how to build a park bathroom) is relatively chill; planners often impose v. subjective+expensive aesthetic requirements on projects.
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Abundant Housing Vancouver @ahvancouver.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
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
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?
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 23/09/2026
I may be an unusual voter but this makes CentreBC *so* much less appealing to me lmao
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Ryan North @ryannorth.ca · 23/09/2026
Pompeii is a UNESCO world heritage site not because it was remarkable in its prime, but because it survived to our era untouched: one moment, preserved for all time. But future generations won't know what OUR world was like unless we do the same. This is why we MUST bury Toronto with a volcano
Picture of the streets of Pompeii, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pompei_-_panoramio_(26).jpg. Taken by Tanya Dedyukhina, used under CC
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 23/09/2026
The Wall Street area in East Van is nice, if a bit isolated. Some older apartments plus tiny parks with peekaboo views of industry, ocean, and mountains
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 23/09/2026
So uh... what are the chances that Eby regrets calling the election?
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Justin McElroy 🇨🇦 @jmcelroy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Even by the standards of B.C. politics, things are happening at an astonishing rate. Lots of signs of consolidation between the CentreBC folks and the Conservatives under the Conservative banner. Some of the further right Conservative MLAs seem likely to join OneBC as a result. More to come!
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Justin McElroy 🇨🇦 @jmcelroy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
🚨 SNAP ELECTION OFFICIALLY CALLED FOR OCTOBER 24 🚨 Conservatives and CentreBC will be holding a joint press conference soon Other further right members of the Conservative caucus have been told they won’t be able to run with them. THE POLITICS ARE POLITICKING MORE THAN THEY’VE EVER POLITICKED
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 22/09/2026
Translink's fare card now works with car-share and bike-share, neat: buzzer.translink.ca/2026/09/comp...
buzzer.translink.ca
One card, more ways to go: tap your Compass Card to unlock Modo and Mobi services - The Buzzer blog
Navigating Metro Vancouver just got more seamless — your Compass Card can now be used to unlock shared cars and bikes.
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Brendan Dawe @dawe.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The original Lumberman's Arch was cool as hell and we should build another one.
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Christopher @heychristofur.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Looking northwest over the Annex from Prince Arthur + St. George City of Toronto Archives 1993
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 20/09/2026
This is good but let's go further: the province governs the city, the city literally bans hotels near BC Children's Hospital, please fix that!
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 19/09/2026
Gift article. This is rough; the Okanagan has been my favourite part of summer since a very young age, the new normal is a big loss for the province and country www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/ff223fd...
theglobeandmail.com
After a summer of fire, ‘Smokanagan’ mourns for a paradise lost
B.C.’s Okanagan Valley has long been Western Canada’s symbol of the sweet life. Now, locals are rethinking their way of life – or choosing to leave
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Peter Waldkirch 華彼德 @pwaldkirch.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The defeat of Vancouver’s Villages Plan is a major setback for addressing our housing crisis and appears to mark the end of the Vancouver Plan, which has been the main focus of our planning department since 2018. Read more in my first piece for Sightline!
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 17/09/2026
This is the main reason I think the anti-datacentre people are mostly wrong and counterproductive; local compute+storage capacity is necessary (not sufficient) to do more sovereign tech
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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Randomly thought of this photo today taken by David Ley in 1974 of people protesting the construction of what would be the last mid-rise in Kitsilano before the downzoning. Apartments build in the 60s and 70s are now often celebrated as Vancouver's (relatively) affordable housing stock.
A bulldozer-blocking anti-high-rise protest in the Vancouver neighbourhood of Kitsilano in 1974. Among the attendees, wearing a tie, is a city-paid community organiser. Photo: David Ley

Taken from https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2089031/david-and-goliath-priceless-vancouver-academic
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Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu · 16/09/2026
Dear @mark-carney.bsky.social, we want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible. I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to being the first associate member of the EU. And create a common prosperity and economic security space.
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Jordan Moffatt @jordanmoffatt.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Work or run a business from home in Ottawa? You have Rose Fletcher to thank. She fought to make it legal in the 1970s after a zoning bylaw banned it. Read the story in my latest newsletter post. threespeed.substack.com/p/the-woman-...
threespeed.substack.com
The woman who legalized working from home in Ottawa
Rose Fletcher fought City Hall for years before her WFH victory in late 1974
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 15/09/2026
There's a lot going on in this very interesting Tokyo history thread
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 14/09/2026
I am trying to find hotel recommendations in Vancouver for lower-income family members. This was not a good day to read a news article that regurgitates the "we don't actually need any more hotels" NIMBY talking point.
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Adrián @elenoam.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Analyzing hotel land uses and Airbnb demand in Mexico City. Unsurprisingly, hotels are prohibited where people want to stay.
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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Pretty "quiet part out loud" here. Low rise apartments, but not anywhere near me. Put it on suburban stroads instead of in the city where people need homes.
“There is a lot of land out there that isn’t effectively used,” said Mr. Beasley. “A little bit further out in the suburbs you have these strip malls with these huge parking lots. You could add three-storey walk-ups on an edge of it.”
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 11/09/2026
$2m house: home, family, neighbours $2m condo: luxury, investors, speculation nevermind that the house uses 10x more land per household
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 10/09/2026
there's probably something to be learned from how Carol Reardon went from urbanist to massive NIMBY
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 10/09/2026
At long last, I have become an ebike guy
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Rachel Cole @rmartincole.bsky.social · 24/05/2024
Text "Motorways versus Democracy" John Tyme. illustration of road unrolling to topple Big Ben and other buildings
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 09/09/2026
good stuff IMO, much better than blanket opposition. I'm curious what this might look like here (wind?); not very practical for private orgs to build+fund new dams
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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Most "urbanist" takes about road design should come with the disclaimer that they just apply to oversized North American or Dutch streets
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 09/09/2026
Thoughtful article, I think the criticism of Vancouver buildings not being very “fine-grained” is fair (driven by our planning and building codes, to be clear)
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 09/09/2026
Do I know anyone who's built/installed a backyard office in Vancouver? Would like to hear your experiences
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 09/09/2026
Some nice Tokyo photography: www.tokyotimes.org/a-collection...
tokyotimes.org
A collection of old Japanese Coca-Cola signs
A collection of old, faded and incredibly appealing Japanese Coca-Cola signs
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 08/09/2026
oh no
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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 08/09/2026
I’ll believe it when I see Canada accept the European elevator standard, *like every other country on earth except the US and Japan already does*
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GRIDS Vancouver @grids.reillywood.com · 07/09/2026
looking into outdoor lighting and... "Use Cases: Valentine's Day"?
www.gemstonelights.com screenshot
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