They did not "have concerns" or "feedback" or "local knowledge to share", they simply wanted it not to happen, or if it did, to be as tiny as possible.

I forget the building now, but it was some west side thing that passed and afterwards I was reading comments in a Facebook group of opponents and there was this one that went something like, "All that work and all we got was 4 storeys less?"

lol

At no point did I say that it was a magic bullet. Only that it was a large factor, that fixing it costs public nothing, was worthy of dealing w/so that govt can be focussed on those other factors rather than endlessly litigating whether it's ok for a building to be 35.5' tall or 35.6' tall

Look into any "luxury" condo in your city and I guarantee it's just a normal apartment made of wood, concrete, drywall, some nails etc. Then look in a different city and you'll find the same or better quality condo for 50% off. It's got nothing to do with luxury and everything to do with scarcity.

You can have the same scenario under socialism. The only way to bring the waitlist down is to build a fuck ton. But while you are building, randos will say, "Why are you building housing with long wait lists, we need housing with short waitlists, this is pointless"

But outside of housing, it is how it works.

The only way housing gets cheap is if the people who own it (homeowners & landlords) can't find buyers/tenants and face bankruptcy if they don't lower their ask. The only way to get there is to built a lot.

Food permits are abt the public good, not quantity. Your food permit is not about limiting the quantity of bread baked, only that it is safe.

We should treat buildings like that - build as much as you like, so long as it's safe and you don't evict anyone - but we don't.

lol

Food permits are abt the public good, not quantity. You can bake as much as you want, as long as it's safe.

Zoning is about status, class & exclusion - segregating the ppl who cannot afford detached houses away from ppl who can.

In housing markets in the cities where people want to live, every square inch of interior floorspace requires political approval. By contrast, there is not one bakery in the country that has to ask for political approval to bake an extra loaf of bread.

lol

It's not the only relevant factor but it is a very large relevant factor, a factor totally under govt control, and a factor that costs $0 in public funds to resolve. So it's worth dealing with so that govt can work on the other smaller but more complicated factors.

In the years ahead, the province, school board and the city will be part of ribbon cutting events for the final design, rezoning, groundbreaking and completion.

They will congratulate themselves for what they've done.

Politicians will applaud at each other.

23 years for 1 school.

Fun comparison - from 1941 and 1951 census we can see that elementary age children in CoV increased by 9000 in 10 years, or about 14 OVE's worth. At 18 years of process per 630 additional capacity, it would take today school board 257 years to handle it.