Kerry Gold has written about real estate and housing issues for a variety of publications, including a weekly real estate column for the Globe and Mail since 2008. She also writes investigative pieces for the Walrus, and has written for Maclean's, MSN, Yahoo, MoneySense, BC Business, the Toronto Star, L.A. Weekly and Variety.
In the three-minute teaser to David Fine's documentary on Vancouver's Broadway Plan, former-Director of Planning for the City of Vancouver Larry Beasley says "there is an idea out there that demolition of affordable housing is just an inevitable part of a densification strategy in a city." He goes on to say "That idea is absolutely wrong" and that "there are just too many victims.
The goal of the original Broadway Plan was for 30,000 additional homes within the 500-block study area. The newly approved amendment calls for 41,500 homes, an increase that will largely be accomplished through dozens of new high-rises peppered throughout low and mid-rise neighbourhoods.
Filmmaker David Fine says the tenant protections could get reassessed the same way the villages were reassessed for more height. In their lengthy letter, the group of 20 experts state that they "are seeing a frenzy of profit speculation, land banking, flipping, and land inflation in the heart of vulnerable established, mixed-use neighbourhoods due to the plan, which, by the City’s own estimates, will demolish thousands of existing, affordable homes, resulting in forced resettlement of thousands of people.
"That letter definitely had an impact, whereas this one obviously had no impact whatsoever," said Geller, who also wonders whether it was Council or staff that were "steering the bus" on the decision. "The concern to me is they didn't decide to simply hold off on those areas that are five or six blocks away from Broadway.
"Other than retail impact, the words 'displacement' are noticeably and surprisingly absent in regard to residential, in spite of the significant public concerns that have emerged since the plan," says Yan. "They haven't gone through these deep neighbourhood planning processes with those who live in the area. I think there is a tremendous trust deficit between residents and the City.
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