

The struggle is real: House rich, tax poor: How a Point Grey couple is struggling to pay school surtax. How could they possibly have thought this would earn them any sympathy? How could you have your head this far up your privileged assholes? “We don’t want to move…” Yeah, I’m sure the thousands upon thousands of people renovicted from their apartments didn’t want to move either, and that goes for all the countless Vancouverites who had to move to the suburbs or elsewhere.

Property owners aren’t the only ones who live on a fixed income. The BC Government lets landlords raise rents by 4% + inflation every year – no questions asked, no ‘town hall’ meetings necessary. I mean, if you have something that is too pricey to maintain, buy a cheaper thing. Can’t make your car payments? Trade it in for a cheaper car with smaller payments.

I sure hope that these pillars of altruism from the down and out neighbourhood of Point Grey somehow find a way to make it through this terrible crisis with their six million dollar home still valued appropriately and the taxes reduced to levels that they find acceptable. And by acceptable let’s go with zero. I know that so many of us living under the constant threat of being thrown out of our living spaces so that a landlord can ‘renovate’ the apartment and jack the rent by 300% will be hoping against hope that David and Paula prevail. – Sean Cranbury

For context School Tax increase on $3.25M property = $500/year Seniors, widows, PWD can defer until sale or end of life at 1% interest. 40 yrs deferment~$25k Inheritance for kids less additional deferred taxes (assuming 0% property value appreciation) ~ $3.225M#VanRE #bcpoli — Bowinn Ma (@BowinnMa) May 6, 2018

Well there you have it, the only way to save everyone is to crash the housing market. Good, it’s way more elegant then trying to pretend there was a solution that didn’t devalue the overvalued homes. https://t.co/Aam9l5X9EC — Steve Mann (@MuckyMann) May 8, 2018

And if merely complaining about a .2% tax, holding grassroots astroturf rallies organized by Kim Spencer (professional standards manager for the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board and president of the Rolls Royce owners club) wasn’t bad enough, this post just went full Godwin’s Law: Wealthy Vancouver homeowner likens BC NDP housing reforms to Nazi race laws. “These taxes and restrictions are founded on envy and racism. They have nothing to do with building a better society, any more than the race laws in Nazi Germany were designed to bring about a better society.”

This coming from a place that had actual race-based covenants on their properties! This coming from a place where the mansions were built with rum-running money, where the streets are named after racist colonialists.

“This is the epitome of liberal identity politics that decouples identity from class/oppression” – Nicole Joliet.

Schadenfreude of the day: NPA mayoral candidate hopeful Hector Bremner rejected by party board. I guess this is what you get when you threaten to re-zone Dunbar for density. Oh, and the whole conflict of interest thing too.

The portrayal of Hector Bremner as a non-ideological, “neither left not right” “pro-housing” candidate is absurd. He literally worked for Rich Coleman and his campaign’s run by the consummate BC Liberal insider. He’s the fox offering to fix the hen housing. #vanpoli — Derrick O’Keefe (@derrickokeefe) May 9, 2018

Interesting because that is how Gordon Campbell portrayed himself when he defeated Harry Rankin: Imagine Vancouver if anti-development Harry Rankin had become mayor in 1986.

Related: How to beat the NIMBYs without handing over cities to developers.

Meanwhile, NDP MP Kennedy Stewart seriously considering Vancouver mayoral run. Well, my first reaction that this would effectively vacate his seat for Jagmeet to run and be a decent unity candidate, but then this:

And now it’s Kennedy Stewart being floated by the same puppet string pullers as the “unity candidate” for Mayor. He says Gregor Robertson and Vision “did try and do their best” on the housing front. No. They did their best to force people out to make way for wealthy investors. If total amnesia is the price of “unity”, fuck that guy. Robertson should be in prison for how he ran this city. Anyone who is not allowed to say that should fuck right off. – Geoff Berner

‘Bless this kit’: Bishop, clergy pray over opioid overdose reversing kit at Sunday mass. I mean, not believing in a God that would create fentanyl and the drug war and constant human suffering might be a better tack but hey, let’s give credit where credit is due.

Of course, who am I kidding? The real news of the day is clearly Elon Musk and Grimes: Five Things to Know about Grimes, the Vancouver pop star dating Elon Musk. “It’s weird that Grimes is dating Elon Musk but it’s even weirder that Sandy Garossino’s daughter is dating Elon Musk” – Eric Axen.

RIP: The Elbow Room Cafe is closing due to redevelopment. What are the chances that the city-owned site will be 100% social housing? What does social housing even mean? How can we protect small businesses and can we expand the legacy business program to the entire city?

Escalator temporarily stairs: ‘Disruptive and inconvenient’ Granville SkyTrain station escalator shutdown to last 2 years. This is a real missed opportunity to install giant slides.

Attn: every chef in Vancouver: The government quietly made these common easy-open folding knives illegal.

Foreign bonus: There’s a lot to unpack in Childish Gambino’s dense, disturbing new video.