MAYOR GREGOR ROBERTSON PLAYS MONOPOLY WITH TAXPAYER DOLLARS

[DavidPratt_]

THOUGHT I WOULD POST THIS EDITORIAL FROM THE VANCOUVER PROVINCE. THIS JUST DEMONSTRATES WHAT A COMPLETE IDIOT GREGOR ROBERTSON AND HIS LEFTIST/COMMIE VISION VANCOUVER PALS ARE DOING TO VANCOUVER TAXPAYERS.....

DP


Editorial: City must stop playing Monopoly at Olympic village

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/opinion/Edit ... z11ES2h2lx

If Vancouver taxpayers weren't freaked out enough already about the financial mess they've been saddled with at the Olympic Village, they should be in a full panic by now with the latest developments.

Earlier this week, the Housing Ministry took just one day to reject the three proposals submitted by groups hoping to operate social housing at the site. Nineteen other organizations that considered taking on the job didn't even submit bids after examining the fine print.

Now, apparently with little discussion, Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vision-controlled council say they'll bash ahead without Victoria to run social housing at the site on their own. Is anyone taking any time in this process to ask some hard questions? If the experts in social housing can't make this site work, why does the mayor and his staff believe they can?

The village has been plagued with poor sales of its market condos and it's becoming increasingly likely the city will never get back the taxpayers' cash it put up to ensure the project's completion. Part of the reason is that buyers of expensive, high-end condos don't want to live next to social housing.

The city has shown itself to be an incompetent real-estate investor — does anyone have faith they'll do better as a landlord?

Social housing has never made sense at that site — some of the most expensive real-estate in North America. The city, as has been said before, needs to get rid of the social and other rental housing at the village and get on with selling all the units so it can do as much as possible to protect the interests of Vancouver taxpayers. The mayor and his officials need to stop playing a real-life Monopoly game with other people's money.
© Copyright (c) The Province


Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/opinion/Edit ... z11ERCX9Zo

[LotusBlossom]

It's obvious you're from the Gordon Campbell school of 'social class' and consider yourself the ' creme de la creme' of Vancouver society, but yet you can't dress properly to save your life. So you're basically saying that no one that has less than you deserves to live in False Creek? The less fortunate should not be given any chance to feel good about their homes? I don't like the whole Olympic Village strategy at all, in fact I think the whole idea stinks of bullshit from all those involved.

No one is buying not due to your theory of social housing as being the problem, no one is buying because no one has any money to buy, or feel safe to buy. I spoke with my financial/asset manager on Monday and he said anyone who is buying in Vancouver right now is money from overseas, particularly Mainland China. Locally, not much action. My friend and realtor said the same thing. Yeah no one is buying because they don't want social housing there. YOU and the 'creme de la creme' don't want social housing near you.

I remember when they were trying to find a new location for the new Skytrain line and the people on the Arbutus Grind were so adament that it shouldn't be put there. It didn't matter there was already tracks laid out in that area and there would be considerably less 'digging up' of surrounding areas than they did with the Cambie Corridor. They were basically saying that everyone else in Vancouver could go and fuck themselves because they weren't in that 'elite' group of Vancouverrites.

I had two friends that had businesses that were on the corridor and were forced to close due to stations being set up. One moved over to Main street and the other closed down completely. All because a few of the 'creme de la creme' thought to save Arbutus over Fairview and the rest of the Cambie Corridor. Could have saved Vancouver a few million dollars in excavation costs but no, it wasn't good for the 'creme de la creme', so instead they dug up Cambie.

Please realize your vote is worth just as much as mine or anyone else that is registered to vote. Just because your postal code is located in Yaletown doesn't make your vote any stronger than anyone from either Fairview, Collingwood, Kensington, Dundas, Marpole or any other neighbourhood. You don't 'own' the city, just the little 1100 sqft place in your little corner of a building, remember that.

[Badfish]

Amen.

The city, as has been said before, needs to get rid of the social and other rental housing at the village and get on with selling all the units so it can do as much as possible to protect the interests of Vancouver taxpayers.

...you mean the tax payers with enough money to buy condos in downtown Vancouver and not those bums on the street with drug and psychiatric conditions...

Couldn't find the author of this editorial, though it read very much like a weekly post someone's been yelling at me for awhile now...

[ClamRussel]

I vividly remember when that "Canada line fiasco" was getting traction...and the media was interviewing some people from the Kerrisdale area...one woman said they won't stand for that to be in *their* neighborhood because of the riff-raff it attracts (gee ya there's so much riff-raff on the Canada Line heading to the airport). When asked why not she replied do you know who we are, "we are the creme de la creme of Vancouver."

please.

In a functional society everyone contributes and everyone has to give a little. Running the Canada Line up the EXISTING tracks on the Arbutus corridor was the ONLY common sense thing to do. Tunnelling Cambie was lunacy and financial suicide for alot of people. In the end, the solution just proved that once again money rules everything and the rich could care less about whats best for society. All they care about is themselves and clearly have city hall in their pocket. Welcome to Gordo's world.

[dangler]

In a functional society everyone contributes and everyone has to give a little. Running the Canada Line up the EXISTING tracks on the Arbutus corridor was the ONLY common sense thing to do. Tunnelling Cambie was lunacy and financial suicide for alot of people. In the end, the solution just proved that once again money rules everything and the rich could care less about whats best for society. All they care about is themselves and clearly have city hall in their pocket. Welcome to Gordo's world.

I'm sure alot of the people who complained about the skytrain going down Arbutus are kicking themselves now that they see what a great convenience it is,and all the real estate development it generates everywhere it runs.

Do you really think things would be any different if it wasn't "Gordo's world"??? Your take on the rich calling the shots(which I believe as well) pretty much negates any wrongdoing by the Lib's,not that it would make any difference who is/was in "power".The Canada line would have been built in the same place and with the same mistakes,

[ClamRussel]

Do you really think things would be any different if it wasn't "Gordo's world"???

All depends, its possible. It would take someone with both common sense and firm pair of nads.

So taking that into consideration...you're right it would have occurred regardless.