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Rebecca McClure

@rebeccamcclure.com.bsky.social

Ceramic artist and potter, counsellor, educator, Greater Victoria Public Library trustee, soprano, and resolute Canadian. Proponent of “peace, order and good governance”. Gratefully living on the traditional territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋən Peoples.

280 Followers  |  413 Following  |  316 Posts  |  Joined: 14.11.2024  |  2.1667

Latest posts by rebeccamcclure.com on Bluesky

If you have a refence to the research around the isolating factors of single family homes, I’d appreciate the citation. Thanks.

21.05.2025 00:43 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

I have a PDF of the article mentioned if you’re interested in reading it.

21.05.2025 00:19 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
The High Life? On the Psychological Impacts of Highrise Living - Building the Skyline Jason M. Barr January 31, 2018 As the income of Planet Earth continues to rise, the construction of tall buildings proceeds apace. Many cities around the world are increasingly housing their residents...

For your information. Hope you’ll take a look.

buildingtheskyline.org/highrise-liv...

21.05.2025 00:09 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

Costco isn’t an amenity.

19.05.2025 17:02 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Maybe read all my comments before jumping to conclusions. Thanks.

19.05.2025 17:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

You’re mischaracterizing what I’ve said. This is a quality of life issue. Langford lacks so many amenities, including parks, that support tower living.

19.05.2025 16:58 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Should any city have a goal to double in size in 20 years? Especially one as poorly planned as Langford? Others have made better arguments in this thread.

We don’t have a crystal ball. Housing trends change. Boomers will eventually abandon family homes.

30 story towers are still not the answer.

19.05.2025 16:56 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

I’m so disappointed with this exchange on a number of levels. On the survey, I supported densification over sprawl, but stated clearly that building heights should not exceed six stories. When towers eventually surround the community gardens at Porcher Park, how well do you think they’ll do?

19.05.2025 16:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Yes. I just don’t see how this OCP refresh improves that.

19.05.2025 14:55 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

It is dated and yet has relevant insights about human psychology that current planning theory seems to ignore. When we warehouse human beings, we become less as a society.

I hope that elected officials will thoughtfully consider perspectives that differ from their own, as you have done in the past.

19.05.2025 03:22 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Kim, I’m going to leave you with these quotes from Christopher Alexander’s “A Pattern Language”, section 21. I hope you’ll take some time to review the whole chapter. Thank you.

19.05.2025 01:18 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

The housing shortage is an issue, yes, but the solutions being offered do not address the root cause of the problem.

18.05.2025 23:48 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

It is my considered opinion that we are doing families in our communities a disservice by suggesting that condos towers are the solution. That is not a judgement on an individual’s choices. Instead it is a judgement about a society that prioritizes development over quality of life.

18.05.2025 23:47 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

There is a massive difference between making parenting/life choices based on personal values and being stuck with an option that is not optimal because of societal and economic constraints.

18.05.2025 23:45 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

And what did staff say? And did council push them to reword it?

18.05.2025 23:38 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I see your mind is made up. Your prerogative.

18.05.2025 23:36 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Do you honestly think Langford can currently provide that to all families? We’re not Toronto, Vancouver, or NYC.

This isn’t Nimby-ism on my part. It might be idealism, though.

Everyone deserves a home, but shouldn’t it be a home where any of us would be happy to live and to raise a family?

18.05.2025 17:10 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

Have you lived in a tall (or even six story) building with children? It’s a different experience than living in a townhouse or a duplex or a suite in a house. And it takes easily accessible and diverse community resources to provide that rich quality of life.

18.05.2025 16:52 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

That projection was based on current levels of growth due to Big Development projects (still ongoing).

But once those are done, will people still come here looking for starter homes in Westhills?

I know there’s been a lot of work put into this refresh, but I feel like it has missed the mark.

17.05.2025 23:47 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

The demand isn’t there.

Yes, you can have fulfilling family experiences outside of a SFH if there are robust and accessible community amenities to support that lifestyle. Langford is still a long way from providing that level of service.

17.05.2025 23:41 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I would like to see more intentional community planning in the core vs towers though: through subsidized family housing (like the townhouse units in James Bay) and co-op housing. 4 story walk-ups are great, too. But towers just seem odd in Langford. This is the point of the article I shared.

17.05.2025 23:39 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Single family homes aren’t selling because people cannot afford them. Instead of addressing that, the market is being flooded with condos. I had a two year old in a condo in the Songhees and, believe me, it’s much better to be able to walk through one door to access the wide world that kids need.

17.05.2025 20:03 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

I’m glad to hear that council is still listening to feedback at this stage. Perhaps I’m being short sighted, but I honestly don’t see that Langford needs to grow to 100,000 people. Our rate of growth is unsustainable and you were all voted in because people had development fatigue.

17.05.2025 20:01 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 3    📌 0

Happy to live in a country and province where this is the case.

17.05.2025 16:52 — 👍 3    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
The condo market is slowing down. Where are all the buyers? | CBC News The condo market meltdown in Canada’s largest cities is showing no signs of fading. Experts say the market has shifted significantly over the past few months, as supply soars and demand disappears.

Before council rubberstamps this (which in turn rubberstamps 30 storey condo buildings in the downtown core), it might be helpful for them to get a read on real estate market downward trends. www.cbc.ca/news/busines...

17.05.2025 02:17 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 3    📌 0

That’s exactly what we use! 💎

15.05.2025 23:14 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Idiocy.

15.05.2025 16:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

So… which brand? We use sonicare and it’s brilliant.

15.05.2025 16:07 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Can confirm.

15.05.2025 14:39 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

As a former school counsellor, who taught the personal safety curriculum to children, I can say with utmost confidence that treading carefully around sexuality with children doesn’t include “cancelling” rainbow socks or tutus.

If we’re concerned about predators, aware children are safer children.

15.05.2025 14:33 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

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