Message from Upper Kitsilano Residents Association
Dear UKRA members:
As we told you in our previous email, a large group of concerned residents, saying they have been left out of City-wide planning on the future of Vancouver, are holding a protest rally at City Hall this Saturday, May 7. Please find details below. Based on reports we have seen, Vancouver City Council and the development industry support plans to turn our city into a metropolis of skyscrapers and transit hubs. According to the group, City planners are using demographic analysis from real estate
companies to rationalize their plans for density at all costs; citizens who challenge these claims and offer community-based solutions are called NIMBYs and ignored. Vancouver’s city-wide plan in its current state proposes demolishing affordable houses with rentals (secondary suites) and low to mid-rise apartments and replacing them with imposing concrete high-rises.
Greenspaces will be lost, community resources will continue to be stretched, and increasing property values will make these rentals unaffordable by the time they become available. The Broadway and Vancouver Plans are not about supporting communities with affordable housing — they are about City Hall relying on revenues from development fees every time a new project is approved. And the push for bigger and bigger buildings continue to drive up land prices. The massive amount of demolition and construction that is proposed will have a lasting negative environmental impact caused by the embodied carbon in concrete, and loss of trees and green spaces. Livability will be further compromised from enormous shadowing from towers in our neighborhoods. Vancouver and Broadway Plans. In the next two months, Council will very likely push through the Broadway Plan and the Vancouver Plan, irreparably harming our city’s livability, affordability and green spaces. There has been minimal consultation with residents; almost all communication has been carried out through biased City surveys that guarantee to give City Council and planners the answers they want. Unlimited density, limited democracy—is this the future we want for our city?
Join us for a Rally at City Hall this Saturday, May 7, from 11 am to noon
It’s time for residents, small businesses, neighborhood associations, and community groups to unite and mobilize.
Details:
• Meet on the south lawn at the front entrance to City Hall, corner of Cambie and
12th
• Bring a placard with the name of the neighbourhood you represent
• Bring your family and friends.
• Hear from speakers – architect Brian Palmquist; political commentator Bill
Tieleman; and other affordable, livable community-minded residents.
Regards from your UKRA directors