Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

I wish I could travel and see the various public aquariums in the US and some of the nice ones in Europe, would be so fun.

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Vancouver is its own worst enemy when it comes to rental housing and the shortage the city has.

Property owner wants to build 21 townhouse units as rentals, the family who owns the land would live in 2 of the units and rent the rest out, hospice next door doesn't like the plan, city council turns down the proposal. The family who owns the land now plans to build one 12,000 sq foot home which is allowed under current zoning.

One of the issues the hospice had was construction, well there will still be construction, but 20 less housing units.

https://www.vancourier.com/real-esta...use-1.23869598

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/2...ted-vancouver/

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

HOWEVER ......... to put the other side of the argument.

This was a spot re-zoning, putting 21 stacked townhouses on one family-sized lot in the midst of single family homes, albeit on a major artery not a side street.

There would be underground parking for 32 cars, entry via the back lane, alongside the entry to the hospice for ambulances and hearses to bring and take away patients. Plus all the other houses that also have to have their car parking access from the back lane. Vancouver back lanes are NOT wide, even in this affluent neighbourhood.

The hospice was opposed not only because of the noise which would very well cause it to close for at least 2 years, as the nearest units would have been within 3' of the hedge/fence separating the 2 properties. It was also the fact of the number of cars that would be clogging up the lane, balconies in units facing the hospice would mean that the tenants would be able to see stretchers being taken into the hospice, and body bags removed, with family members and hospice staff seeing their loved one away to the morgue.

The developers said they would screen the balconies ......... but I wouldn't like to take a bet on the fact that tenants would have soon complained about the "interruption to their enjoyment of their balcony because of the activities next door" if it had gone ahead.

The development was applied for under a new process that allowed such spot re-zoning for Affordable Rental Housing.

Another factor that bothered the hospice and neighbours as a result of this new process was that there is already a plan in place to ensure that developments fit a neighbourhood that applies through most of the city that has not been specifically rezoned for development. The hospice took several years to work its way through the rules in that plan to ensure it fitted the neighbourhood and to satisfy concerns. This development did not have to do much of that.

A laudable process ........... except that the rentals for this development were priced at $1,500 for a 1 bedroom, and around $3,500 for a 3 bedroom unit. That's at today's rental prices, who knows what it would be when they became available in about 2 years.

Those prices are NOT affordable fgr the people who are desperate, nor was the development high end enough or units large enough to attract people able to pay those prices.

I think the council was right to turn it down .................. it was the wrong development in the wrong place, and would do nothing to help the housing and rental crisis in the city!

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

At least they taught him not to be rude.

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Finnish baseball looks like fun.

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Better to have wishes and dreams than to have nothing at all.

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

My daughter is camping (tent trailer) in Cape Breton this week .................. we drive, rain stopped briefly so they could set up, but torrential overnight. They have a tarp they erect over the tent trailer so it is dry inside, but she has to cook outside. Luckily there is a general store nearby that has food to eat, so she doesn't have to stand in the rain to make meals.

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

My late friend the Bwana used to stay at a campground here every year when he came to fish and he bought one of those plastic car shelters. He had the campground store it for him and set it up for him when he was coming. For him, going fishing might mean being away from home for a month but he was used to being on safari and still making himself comfortable. There was room for his tent and a picnic table and some other stuff under there and you could still walk through. It saved his stuff once when there was a very bad storm. He was the Bwana Hakuna Matata, (Master Without Worries) to his native friends in Africa long before The Lion King.

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

What a great idea if you are going to be staying in one place for any length of time, and had a cooperative campground owner!

Our camping trips were almost always driving adventures ......... 3 nights would be the most we spent in one place as we explored huge areas! But it was a cheap way to see Canada and the US.:nod:

We had to stop when I began to have great difficulty getting down to and up from the air mattress on the floor! I like my comfort now :nod:

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Oh yes. From lithe and agile to ungainly crab in a few healthy decades.

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

much less than a decade in my case :(

Arthritis struck in my mid-40s

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Started a little before 40 for me, its still manageable but some day's its not so great.