Rylan Graham

Waiting for @jmcelroy.bsky.social to launch a bracket to determine “BC’s Best Downtown.”

Personally, I think Nelson would be a strong contender.

Check out Gitano - it’s a couple blocks in from Burrard and along Davie. The pork belly tacos are excellent!

barragitano.ca

Mandryk: Using GTH to up new Costco land cost on brand for Saskatchewan Party government As magical and mysterious as those land flips themselves, Costco suddenly was given reason to think it had a cheaper alternative at the GTH.

leaderpost.com/opinion/colu...

What was it - a few hundred thousand allocated to incentivize intensification but $6.5M to support a big box store on a whim with seemingly no cost-benefit analysis done?

$6.5M could go a long way on unfunded City projects: The Yards, Taylor Field, Library, Arena, city centre transportation loop….

This is one of the more absurd things I’ve seen a municipality do in some time.

This Council would be wise to do a deep dive on the @strongtowns.org movement.

While cities across Canada are embracing dense, mixed-use, human-scaled development, #CityofPG has been slower to follow suit.

Seeing a proposal like this in PG feels like a promising sign of change in sprawling, low-density, car-dependent PG.

www.thevillageoncentral.ca

This is not about bike lanes, this is about distracting Albertans from the Corruptcare scandal. Stay focused. Call a public inquiry. Reach out to me and let’s talk about what we can do together.

#ableg

In Calgary (less than 10 years ago) it used to be that putting in a basement suite required discretionary approval. It’s a waste of Council’s time and they shouldn’t be the authority on these types of decisions.

Step 8 “Reduce Council approval for housing-related Discretionary Use applications” of Regina’s HAF action plan is an important move. It reduces Council’s ability to play planner. There’s two projects underway in Heritage which I don’t recall having to go to Council.

B.C. will soon get a new municipality after preliminary referendum results in Okanagan Falls | CBC News The residents of Okanagan Falls, B.C., have narrowly voted in favour of creating a new municipality to represent the community in the southern Interior, preliminary referendum results show.

got a new municipality as a welcome back present!

STC bus routes across SAskatchewan

Just a friendly reminder to rural Saskatchewan residents that we used to have bus routes to every corner of Saskatchewan. All gone thanks to the SaskParty.

Easiest of takes:

We need to create a more publicly accessible riverfront in #cityofpg - as a place for recreation, socialization, and to move people from ‘A’ to ‘B’ on foot/bike.

It’s unfortunate how little public space there is along the Fraser and Nechako riverfronts.

Family-friendly in Regina = opportunities to buy a large home in a new suburban neighbourhood and can drive and park with ease.

Wait until #yqr ✈️ hears about Harbour Landing!

Back to square one on convincing council that intensification/infill is a good thing actually.

Decisions like this are illustrative of how local politicians are culpable in Canada’s housing crisis. Whatever “problem” they think they’re “solving” is negligible compared to the one they are exacerbating.

This is 48 units + would be 100ish new residents. Regina hasn’t added 100 new residents to the downtown in a very long time.

The lack of development in the downtown indicates there isn’t a strong market for a denser development. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

In #yqr we've become accustomed to seeing downtown housing turned into downtown parking lots.
Finally, a proposal that flips the script...! #yqrcc
cc: @pauldechene.bsky.social @alexanderquon.bsky.social

www.regina.ca/export/sites...

B.C. housing minister says Vancouver's plan for Downtown Eastside could increase crime | CBC News B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon says Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim's new plan for the Downtown Eastside will make the community less safe and lead to more homelessness.

“B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon says Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim's new plan for the Downtown Eastside will make the community less safe and lead to more homelessness. Sim's proposal, announced on Thursday, involves a halt on building new supportive housing in the city…” 🇨🇦 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

🤦‍♂️ I can’t do this all over again…

This week, another building burned down in downtown #cityofpg. This one - across the street from a building that exploded in 2023.

Lots of talk about downtown revitalization - yet addressing the vacancy issue may be the most effective strategy.

Attaching a recent article of mine on this topic:

Disappointing to see this building come down - but after 10 years of neglect, it’s hardly surprising.

But the Mayor also has his own bold vision for the City-owned land. The plan for a monorail, previously proposed in the 1960s, has been resurrected....!

The #cityofpg 'Civic Core District' is back - with two concept plans...both have the same mix of uses (arena, arts centre, mixed use development, open space).
Option 2 scales back Dominion St., with a re-design aimed at improving the pedestrian experience
(cc: @darrinrigo.bsky.social).

Vancouver has plenty of #stickystreets -which includes fine-grained retail + attractive storefronts that engage pedestrians passing by @brenttoderian.bsky.social

But this 3 storey 🚗 dealership on Burrard misses the mark + creates conditions that are neither interesting or engaging for pedestrians.

Food kiosk under construction. 🚧

What is typically a passive space, void of activity, will soon be animated with people!

Kiosks = Small in size, Big on impact. #vancouver #yvr

Proposed modular home park in Hart rejected Council defeated the third reading of a rezoning to facilitate a 27-acre modular home park on Twinberry Drive on Wednesday night.

The proposed park and the “concerns”:

www.princegeorgecitizen.com/local-news/p...

Prince George Mayor Simon Yu part of new modular home task force Mayors call it a quick, affordable solution to the growing housing problem in BC.

And yet, just last year, Mayor and Council rejected a proposal for a “Modular Home Park” in the Hart citing concerns about “neighbourhood character.”

dlvr.it/TGL5LD

So many ramifications of this short-sighted move: increased congestion, poorer air quality, increased noise pollution, added ‘wear and tear’ on city infrastructure, and worst of all - unnecessarily putting cyclists’ lives at risk.

Awful.

amp.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...

Have you read “Pervese Cities” by Pamela Blais? It highlights how urban sprawl is perpetuated by flawed policy including the failures to capture the true costs of sprawl. I think you’d enjoy it.