At their Monday night meeting, council will be considering the case of a proposed 73-unit apartment complex to go up at 3725 E Quance Street. If approved, this building will complete a trilogy of rental developments planned for the far east end of Victoria Ave/Highway One. The others are at 3351 E Eastgate Bay and 3730 Eastgate Drive.
The Quance Street development is interesting in that it is going before council with no recommendation from Regina Planning Commission attached to it. At the June 11 RPC meeting, the question of this development resulted in a tied vote. And instead of waiting until a meeting where more committee members could be present who could perhaps break the deadlock, committee chair, Ward 4 Councillor Michael Fougere -- who will be championing this project before council -- chose to move the application through the system. (You can read the Leader Post coverage here.)
City administration recommended denial for this application for a variety of reasons. Among them is the fact that the property is situated in an area zoned Major Arterial Commercial (MAC), which means it's meant for large-format retail that's built for car traffic -- not pedestrians. The road it's on is a feeder onto the highway so the closest thing to residential that's appropriate here is a motel. That's why the Official Community Plan indicates that an apartment building is not an acceptable use of the property. (Hence the need to go before council before turning sod for it.)
The other two apartments in this trio are in similarly inhospitable environs. For instance, the Eastgate Bay development -- which is intended to serve the senior's market -- is more than half a kilometre from the nearest busstop and only two thirds of the route to it has a sidewalk. More alarmingly, it will also be located within 120 metres of the Husky Truck Stop. Not only will the seniors in the Eastgate Bay building have to put up with the sound of idling trucks, the station occasionally serves rigs hauling dangerous goods. According to our traffic bylaws such vehicles are not allowed within 150 metres of residential properties.
Also of note, as all three buildings are poorly served by pedestrian infrastructure, the cost of retrofitting these neighbourhoods to accomodate residential foot traffic will be borne by the city.
Despite the fact that our plans, planners, policies and bylaws indicate that putting up residential in such a residential-unfriendly zone is inadvisable at best, these projects are still making their way through the system and finding favour with many on Regina's council.
In fact, just as Monday's Quance Street application will get before council despite enough opposition on RPC to bring the committee to a stalemate, the 3730 Eastgate Drive project made it before council despite a great deal of official opposition. That project (which was considered last October) was actually voted down by Regina Planning Commission (a rare thing) -- RPC as a body actually agreed with the recommendations of its staff. And yet, the Eastgate Drive project went before council and it was council that approved the project. (Update: Just spoke to Councillor Browne and apparently even reports that RPC votes to deny go before council. Who knew? This might be the first RPC denial I've seen.)
When you think of where these buildings will be built, you have to wonder, who would want to live there? The landscape is dominated by parking lots that are nearly always almost empty and only completely full one day out of the year. Streets are wide. Sidewalks are few. It is a land of asphalt, exhaust and howling wind. It's territory ceded to the automobile.
Thing is, no one wants to live there. I certainly don't. I'd wager none of the people on council and RPC who are pushing these buildings through despite the fact that they contradict the vision of our Official Community Plan would want to live there either.
But with our perilously low vacancy rate, many in Regina will find they have nowhere else to go.
6.21.2009
Iran Update: Tehran Quiet?
After the Iranian government's weekend of brutality and murder, Tehran has apparently settled into an uneasy calm, reports the Guardian.
Meanwhile, the New York Times says Iran's clerics are divided. Gee, some men of deep faith apparently feel uneasy when troops shoot protesters after a rigged election.
Speaking of rigged elections, over at the Atlantic Andrew Sullivan--who's been doing a great job following the news in Iran--links to a report about possible (i.e. definite) vote fraud. Apparently there were more votes than voters in the June 12 election. And this is the official government report, not some tally by a touring U.N. democracy carnival or similar hippies. Well I guess these things happen, too bad kids have to be murdered as a result, whatchagonnado?
Good people, good country, rotten, brutal leaders. Give 'em the boot and prosecute where necessary.
Note: I'll continue to post angry, angry inks on this daily for at least the next week. You've been warned.
Meanwhile, the New York Times says Iran's clerics are divided. Gee, some men of deep faith apparently feel uneasy when troops shoot protesters after a rigged election.
Speaking of rigged elections, over at the Atlantic Andrew Sullivan--who's been doing a great job following the news in Iran--links to a report about possible (i.e. definite) vote fraud. Apparently there were more votes than voters in the June 12 election. And this is the official government report, not some tally by a touring U.N. democracy carnival or similar hippies. Well I guess these things happen, too bad kids have to be murdered as a result, whatchagonnado?
Good people, good country, rotten, brutal leaders. Give 'em the boot and prosecute where necessary.
Note: I'll continue to post angry, angry inks on this daily for at least the next week. You've been warned.
Happy Father's Day!
Bill Zeman has a blog called Tiny Art Director. The hook? His four year-old daughter tells him what to draw (or paint) and he draws (or paints) it. And she hilariously critiques it.
Why do you need to know about this? Because it is 52 million googaplex kinds of awesome.
And it's Father's Day so it seems fitting to talk about it.
You can find Tiny Art Director here.
Zeman is a Brooklyn, NY-based artist, illustrator, blogger and parent. Here's a link to his illustration blog. Apparently they'll be a Tiny Art Director book in 2010. I can't wait.
6.20.2009
Regina Rental Scorecard
With housing likely to be the focus of much debate during Monday's council meeting, it seemed a good time to look at how Regina is doing in its struggle to alleviate the rental crunch.
Do you like numbers? Yeah, me neither. Still, I went back over city council decisions from July 2008 (the oldest up on the city's website) through to now and tallied up how many rental units have been lost to condo conversions and how many new rental suites have been supported by council in some way.
(I should note, the numbers here include the applications being considered Monday as though council approves them -- which, I will venture to say, is a fair assumption. If, however, it turns out that some are denied, these numbers will need to be adjusted.)
Anyway, here we go....
Between July 2008 and June 2009, 239 rental units were in buildings which Regina Planning Commission (RPC) greenlit for conversion to condominiums. (101 of those units are being considered by council on Monday.)
179 units were in buildings where an agreement was struck with the city so that 75 per cent of the units would have to remain rental suites.
Assuming the developers abide by that restriction, that means 156 of the 239 rental units can be expected to be turned into condos.
Meanwhile, RPC has supported the construction of 416 rental units (70 of which will be considered Monday).
Most of those are in the form of new apartment complexes for which the city granted discretionary use applications. But, 102 units in development were supported directly by the city through tax cuts and/or grants.
What does this all add up to? Well, if everything goes as planned, Regina should eventually see 210 more rental suites as a result of the last 11 months worth of decisions.
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Considering the current rental market consists of around 20,000 units, this represents a little more than a 1 per cent increase in the rental pool. A modest improvement. And, assuming all 210 units stay vacant for a while and don't get snatched up by people moving into the city or people displaced by condo conversions, that could help our vacancy rate creep up to that magic three per cent level.
There are a few things to keep in mind here, though.
First, that 75 per cent provision will only be in effect for five years or until the vacancy rate gets up to three per cent. Once either of those conditions is met, another 179 rental units will become vulnerable.
Second, if the city had followed it's policy to deny condo applications once the vacancy drops below three per cent, instead of only an anticipated net increase of 210 units, the rental pool could have been expected to grow by 416 units.
Third, considering how much the city has grown and is hoping to grow over the next couple years, it seems likely that 210 units (or 416, for that matter) will be insufficient to satisfy the city's need for new rental accomodation. Sure, there will probably be more rental built in the future. But there are also a few more condo conversions in the queue. What that adds up to is we're seeing the amount of rental space increase at a crawling pace when what the market needs is a brisk walk at the very least.
And fourth, a large portion of the new rental suites under development are to be built on the edge of the city. 191 of them, in fact. Those'll be going up around E Eastgate Dr and Quance St. (Another 70 units are slated for 110 N Broad St. While that's pretty far north, it seems to be a more residential-friendly area and not isolated among big box stores and parking lagoons like the Eastgate and Quance developments.)
Thus, as the bulk of the conversion applications have come from the city's centre, the 156 households that have been displaced by condos will likely find themselves hunting for a home on the fringe of the city.
Do you like numbers? Yeah, me neither. Still, I went back over city council decisions from July 2008 (the oldest up on the city's website) through to now and tallied up how many rental units have been lost to condo conversions and how many new rental suites have been supported by council in some way.
(I should note, the numbers here include the applications being considered Monday as though council approves them -- which, I will venture to say, is a fair assumption. If, however, it turns out that some are denied, these numbers will need to be adjusted.)
Anyway, here we go....
Between July 2008 and June 2009, 239 rental units were in buildings which Regina Planning Commission (RPC) greenlit for conversion to condominiums. (101 of those units are being considered by council on Monday.)
179 units were in buildings where an agreement was struck with the city so that 75 per cent of the units would have to remain rental suites.
Assuming the developers abide by that restriction, that means 156 of the 239 rental units can be expected to be turned into condos.
Meanwhile, RPC has supported the construction of 416 rental units (70 of which will be considered Monday).
Most of those are in the form of new apartment complexes for which the city granted discretionary use applications. But, 102 units in development were supported directly by the city through tax cuts and/or grants.
What does this all add up to? Well, if everything goes as planned, Regina should eventually see 210 more rental suites as a result of the last 11 months worth of decisions.
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Considering the current rental market consists of around 20,000 units, this represents a little more than a 1 per cent increase in the rental pool. A modest improvement. And, assuming all 210 units stay vacant for a while and don't get snatched up by people moving into the city or people displaced by condo conversions, that could help our vacancy rate creep up to that magic three per cent level.
There are a few things to keep in mind here, though.
First, that 75 per cent provision will only be in effect for five years or until the vacancy rate gets up to three per cent. Once either of those conditions is met, another 179 rental units will become vulnerable.
Second, if the city had followed it's policy to deny condo applications once the vacancy drops below three per cent, instead of only an anticipated net increase of 210 units, the rental pool could have been expected to grow by 416 units.
Third, considering how much the city has grown and is hoping to grow over the next couple years, it seems likely that 210 units (or 416, for that matter) will be insufficient to satisfy the city's need for new rental accomodation. Sure, there will probably be more rental built in the future. But there are also a few more condo conversions in the queue. What that adds up to is we're seeing the amount of rental space increase at a crawling pace when what the market needs is a brisk walk at the very least.
And fourth, a large portion of the new rental suites under development are to be built on the edge of the city. 191 of them, in fact. Those'll be going up around E Eastgate Dr and Quance St. (Another 70 units are slated for 110 N Broad St. While that's pretty far north, it seems to be a more residential-friendly area and not isolated among big box stores and parking lagoons like the Eastgate and Quance developments.)
Thus, as the bulk of the conversion applications have come from the city's centre, the 156 households that have been displaced by condos will likely find themselves hunting for a home on the fringe of the city.
A People Better Than Their Leaders
Photo of a supporter of candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi taken a while back. This is a face of change, and this is what the old clerics fear. The site I swiped this pic from--Tehranlive.org--hasn't been updated for a few days (no updates? In a police state? Go figure!) but it's worth checking out. Here's the link.
Iran Update (Language And Anger Warning)
So, as expected, all hell is breaking loose in Iran (the Guardian). Protesters are rioting and government soldiers are killing them. If you want to ruin your Saturday--and hey, why not? a lot of Iranians are having their weekends ruined!--check out Andrew Sullivan's live blog over at the Atlantic. There's gruesome, tragic videos of death and mayhem, too. Wheee.
Oh, and to make a few obvious points with absolutely necessary strong language: 1.) fuck tyrants. 2.) fuck religion when it's twisted to justify slaughter, and I don't care if it's Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism or Jedi and 3.) fuck the so-called protectors of the public good -- be they soldiers, police or militias--who murder unarmed civilians. If you're wearing body armor in Iraq today you're the bad guy. Fuck you.
And by the way, just to put my massive rage in context for people who aren't used to me totally flipping out, I've had a huge soft spot for Iran for a long time. It's seemed to me a country full of dynamic, strong, intelligent and wonderful people with the bad luck to be ruled by a pack of cave-dwelling religious thugs from the stone age. I'm no kind of expert on the country whatsoever but I always had a gut feeling the people of this country were fundamentally smart, funny, friendly and irrepressible and (before the Republicans were turfed in the States), I spent a couple of years freaking out over the fact that Cheney and co. clearly wanted to bomb them (4. and fuck Cheney, Bush and company).
To see these wonderful, brave people lying dead and dying in the streets, it's too much. This regime needs to end so Iran can grow. There's a flower here that can make the world a lovelier place.
Out with the cheaters, liars, desperate power-graspers and "supreme leaders". Out with religious governments.
Oh, and to make a few obvious points with absolutely necessary strong language: 1.) fuck tyrants. 2.) fuck religion when it's twisted to justify slaughter, and I don't care if it's Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism or Jedi and 3.) fuck the so-called protectors of the public good -- be they soldiers, police or militias--who murder unarmed civilians. If you're wearing body armor in Iraq today you're the bad guy. Fuck you.
And by the way, just to put my massive rage in context for people who aren't used to me totally flipping out, I've had a huge soft spot for Iran for a long time. It's seemed to me a country full of dynamic, strong, intelligent and wonderful people with the bad luck to be ruled by a pack of cave-dwelling religious thugs from the stone age. I'm no kind of expert on the country whatsoever but I always had a gut feeling the people of this country were fundamentally smart, funny, friendly and irrepressible and (before the Republicans were turfed in the States), I spent a couple of years freaking out over the fact that Cheney and co. clearly wanted to bomb them (4. and fuck Cheney, Bush and company).
To see these wonderful, brave people lying dead and dying in the streets, it's too much. This regime needs to end so Iran can grow. There's a flower here that can make the world a lovelier place.
Out with the cheaters, liars, desperate power-graspers and "supreme leaders". Out with religious governments.
Saturday Morning Cartoon
What's worse than a Dukes of Hazzard cartoon? How about a Dukes of Hazzard cartoon that stars replacement Dukes Vance and Coy. It's hard to believe but in 1983 Hanna-Barbera brought The Dukes to Saturday morning kids with a General Lee that could inflate its tires and the wrong Duke Boys racing around the world against Boss Hogg.
Bo and Luke were back for season two without any logical explanation. Somewhere between Hong Kong and Switzerland Vance and Coy mysteriously became Bo and Luke but the bad jokes and weak animation remained the same.
Bo and Luke were back for season two without any logical explanation. Somewhere between Hong Kong and Switzerland Vance and Coy mysteriously became Bo and Luke but the bad jokes and weak animation remained the same.
6.19.2009
A Personal Message
Not to abuse the integrity of this blog or anything but... gonna anyway.
Happy birthday mom, couldn't do this without you.
Happy birthday mom, couldn't do this without you.
Will Iran Explode This Weekend?
A quick post as I get ready to head home (possibly via le pub du l'alcohol yummilles). Haven't said anything about Iran today, but the country should be the big story this weekend and I'd be wicked if I didn't post something. Earlier today Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, said that his country's recent, fishy-seeming-to-many elections were valid, and added that there'd be trouble--BIG trouble--if the protests/riots continue. (Guardian)
He's not saying what the big trouble might be, but does say the election-losing politicians will have "blood on their hands" if, um, something bad happen.
The line has been drawn. I have a hard time believing young Iranians are going to back down. Keep an eye on the news this weekend; this is important stuff.
UPDATE: I just realized this is Dog Blog post #500. It took us long enough to get online--we launched this blog last fall, six or seven years into the era of "everyone needs a website". Better late than never! And I'd say we're off to a good start.
He's not saying what the big trouble might be, but does say the election-losing politicians will have "blood on their hands" if, um, something bad happen.
The line has been drawn. I have a hard time believing young Iranians are going to back down. Keep an eye on the news this weekend; this is important stuff.
UPDATE: I just realized this is Dog Blog post #500. It took us long enough to get online--we launched this blog last fall, six or seven years into the era of "everyone needs a website". Better late than never! And I'd say we're off to a good start.
Monday's Council Meeting to be a Humdinger
Further to this absurdly long post (sorry about that... got carried away again) it looks like there will be fireworks aplenty at Monday's council meeting. Six delegations will be speaking against four condo conversions. Considering council's track record (only one conversion denied in the last year and a half), it seems likely that, despite our still-low vacancy rate and the outpouring of community outrage against them, the applications will be passed. Call me a pessimist. Or an optimist, if you're in the market for a like-new condo.
Prairie dog will be there, of course. (Me and Whitworth, at least.) This promises to be about as exciting as city council can get. (I know, I know, that isn't saying much.) Plus it'll be a good chance to see the current council members in action in advance of this October's municipal election. Wondering where your councillor stands on housing? On Monday, all will be revealed.
Anyway, we're hoping some of the Dog Blog readers will join us at the meeting. If you do, come over and say hi.
Prairie dog will be there, of course. (Me and Whitworth, at least.) This promises to be about as exciting as city council can get. (I know, I know, that isn't saying much.) Plus it'll be a good chance to see the current council members in action in advance of this October's municipal election. Wondering where your councillor stands on housing? On Monday, all will be revealed.
Anyway, we're hoping some of the Dog Blog readers will join us at the meeting. If you do, come over and say hi.
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