iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 21h

I don't know how much more capacity Kelowna has for sprawl, and if "growth paying for growth" has the same association there with preventing growth as the preferred outcome like it does in Vancouver where it's mostly about stopping density.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 22h

I appreciate this representation of real life in a floor plan drawing

A portion of an architectural drawing of a studio apartment, showing a slightly messy bed with a cat comfortably sprawled belly-up in the middle.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

So I said to the Lord, “You promised me, that you would walk with me always. But I have noticed only one set of footprints in the sand. Why have you not been there for me?” The Lord replied, “When you saw only one set of footprints, is when I voted for Pete Fry.”

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I assume that photo is expo 86, so idyllic Vancouver is the business district and almost no housing, and the median Vancouverite was just born 🤔

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Bryn Davidson - Lanefab @lanefab.com · 02/10/2026

Pick your flavour. 3 storeys to 6. Same site plan, same core, same green space.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Reaching out to the demographic of people at public hearings "never informed about this"

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

or if funding is based on approvals, what does an unreachable target matter anyway, if you're not underperforming other municipalities?

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

What would the city even get from lower targets? Shouldn't they want provincial funding based on the biggest number possible?

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

😯 On the seawall or the road? There's some tight spots and low branches on the seawall, or going up and down from Prospect Point 🫣

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I assume she would resign the mayoral seat if she won both, and otherwise the point is moot, so I don't know why there's uncertainty. If they wanted a non-committal answer they could have gone with "our current platform does not have an intent to change the legislation"

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Aside from protecting SFHs from change and allowing more sprawl, they take both sides on issues Cutting $1B in public funding to affordable dwellings: bad Spending $1.45B for affordable housing conversion: no, market-led solutions should solve affordability

While requiring more population density, the Conservatives said in September that the NDP aren’t providing enough funds for infrastructure, especially schools. Prince George-Valemount MLA Rosalind Bird this year joined municipal politicians in criticizing the NDP for suspending $1 billion in spending from the community housing fund, which had been meant for supporting affordable dwellings.

Emphasizing “market-led” solutions to unaffordability, the Conservatives hammered this summer’s proposal by Eby and Ottawa to spend $1.45 billion to buy 3,200 unsold condos to convert to affordable housing. “If prices are set too high for condo units to be sold, market forces will cause the prices to lower until people can afford them,” a statement said.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Forced upzoning on cities: bad Cities choosing to upzone beyond provincial requirements: somehow also bad Glazing the Conservatives for their opposition is also really dumb, because their position on transit-oriented density is just to add requirements for new grocery stores.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I hear a lot of "zoning is not the problem because council approves every rezoning", then refuse to support zoning change that makes the incremental or social housing they claim to support easier.

Survivorship bias airplane damage diagram

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Michelle Cyca @michellecyca.com · 25/09/2026

bizarre to me that so much reporting on housing fails to interrogate the assumptions that homeowners (1) should always get to approve of changes to their neighbourhood (2) should be protected by government from any possible decline in property values www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

cbc.ca

Toronto needs more homes. These neighbours say they're paying the price | CBC News

An elderly downtown couple says they’re shocked and upset that the city has approved a duplex next door to their three-story Victorian home that they say will tower metres above their chimney and rend...

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

There's enough zoned capacity in the city somewhere (not next to you) that can build the exact type of housing that you think is best.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Their slogans are crafted with a nonspecificity that allows everyone to safely think "Vancouver was the perfect density when I moved here, before they ruined it"

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I think he had to of known Ravi wouldn't run before making the call. Seems like any regret will only depend on the outcome at this point.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Year round MST (-7) versus year round PCT (-7) is a funny but substantially meaningless exception. Golden aligning with BC instead of AB like its neighbours is the only one that made me do a double-take.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Except for the toddler who was born here, I guess

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

My building is literally half transplants and half immigrants

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The federal government was interested in financing it 😏

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife.com · 19/09/2026

This outcome highlighted a recurring challenge for urban transformation: politicians and planners often hear most from those who oppose change, not necessarily from those who stand to benefit from it. While opponents may be more organised, vocal and visible, they don’t represent the silent majority.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

🎶 Goodbye Rustad Goodbye? What? Hey! What's going on here? Guh... what happened? They took my freaking party!

static.klipy.com

Silly Sleepy Head Unicorn Wakes Up

Alt: Charlie the Unicorn Silly Sleepy Head Wake Up

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I wonder if she'll actually try again after not improving on her 2022 result, and the party doesn't seem viable without her as a figurehead

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The byelection was a nerve-wracking plausibility but the result showed the limit to Hardwick's support, and the gap between her personal appeal and of the party

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

continued... "Why waste a city district's and a city population's potential for creating interesting and vigorous city life?" This book is a scathing critique of the planning orthodoxy still grasping to keep Vancouver in the past.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

"How high should city dwelling densities go? How high can they go? Obviously, if the object is vital city life, the dwelling densities should go as high as they need to go to stimulate the maximum potential diversity in a district." - Jane Jacobs

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

"We are dealing with the economics of time, not hour by hour through the day, but with the economics of time by decades and generations. Time makes the high building costs of one generation the bargains of a following generation." - Jane Jacobs A generation of future bargains erased

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The trees have grown, and today that concrete apartment is easily ignored. bsky.app/profile/west...

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

50 years later, they're still opposing smaller apartments in the area.

A crowd protesting a bulldozer in 1970s Kitsilano. In the background a six storey apartment is already constructed. Behind the bulldozer is the location of a recently constructed 5 storey apartment that was also protested in the neighbourhood.

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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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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The affordable 1 bds were $1836, and RGI 1 bds for Squamish Nation members were $625 - $1468. 282 new affordable homes in phase 1.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

but cyclists have to get used to narrow spaces and dodging obstacles, so have a lot more spatial awareness. A pedestrian might see a cyclist passing close instead of giving more space as being reckless, while the cyclist is judging a reasonable distance while leaving space to maneuver if needed.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I think people are used to cars speeding through intersections ahead of pedestrians crossing, which doesn't leave much space and is often because the driver has no regard or doesn't even notice, and then treat bikes as doing the same.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

TEAM doesn't think Bligh is worth mentioning 😂

TEAM for a Livable Vancouver would like to thank William Azaroff for his contributions to the political debate leading up to the October 17 civic election. Azaroff withdrew from the mayoral race today.

With that race now having narrowed to four contenders, this election is about a choice for residents.

Will Vancouver continue to be governed by a City Hall that puts developers' profits ahead of residents interests? There are three parties that represent this approach: ABC, the Vancouver Liberals, and the Greens.

Or will Vancouver voters choose a new approach that respects the needs and interests of residents and neighbourhoods and puts people before profit? That party is TEAM for a Livable Vancouver.

"I'm running because no one else is standing up for the residents of this city," says TEAM mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick. "No other party is offering the change that Vancouver desperately needs."

Pete Fry says he cares about community and livability. But his voting record shows the opposite. When decisive votes were held this past term, he repeatedly joined Ken Sim and ABC in advancing the same sweeping development agenda that TEAM is fighting to stop.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Lulled to sleep by the hum of semi trucks like waves on a beach 😌

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Why aren't these experienced former planners, architects, and property developers building their ideas themselves? bsky.app/profile/west...

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

"South False Creek and Arbutus Walk are exemplars of livable housing development for the city" "People should live on suburban strip mall parking lots" 🫩

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

- Villages Plan - Social Housing Initiative - The Raven replacing a strip mall at Alma & Broadway - Residential over industrial at 2nd & Yukon - Telus phone exchange to residential at 10th & Yew

An article except listing various options for infill development that have been individually highlighted.

"For example, Vancouver has tinkered with infill housing by way of laneway homes and more recently, conversion of single-family detached zones to multiplex buildings. But the group suggests taking infill further by finding density within existing zoning that doesn’t jeopardize existing affordable rentals. It’s an approach that Paris has recently tried when that city adopted a controversial planning document that requires about 1,000 large buildings, including office buildings, to devote 10 per cent of their square footage to residential space. The group recommends rezoning low-use areas for affordable housing and adding housing to unused parking lots in strip malls, or above “vast warehousing roofs or atop public utilities sites; or on obsolete street rights-of-way.” "

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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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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Asking rents also answer "how much could my rent rise?", and "should I consider moving somewhere better?" People who recently signed leases are the ones to immediately benefit from decreased asking rents, but that pressure moves further down the chain if they keep decreasing.

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

So now she's in favour of markets 🤨

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Westside Backyard @westside-backyard.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

People just can't be normal about OneCity

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