Good morning and welcome to your edition of Sunrise. |
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Vancouver realtor hits affordability nerve with self-promoting downtown billboard
A Vancouver realtor who put himself on a downtown billboard to raise his profile, appears to have gotten a little too much attention.
Ian Watt’s controversial ad has unleashed a torrent of criticism, and he says he has received “threatening” messages.
The ad shows Watt leaning against a wall painted black to look like a chalkboard with the words “Ian Watt, making Yaletown unaffordable since 2005.”
Watt posted an image of the ad on his Instagram account on Oct. 28, but the online anger didn’t take off until Nov. 29 when an image of the billboard was posted to the r/vancouver thread on Reddit with the title “Greed has no shame.”
“I was being ironical,” Watt said in a text message to Postmedia explaining the ad.
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Live near a transit hub and worried about higher property taxes? Read on
Longtime Metro Vancouver homeowners nervously watching their property values rise due to B.C.’s transit-oriented development legislation have an option to avoid being side-swiped by higher property taxes.
The B.C. law that establishes automatic transit-oriented zones within 800 metres of transit stations increases the development potential — and value — of land within them, even if homeowners have no plans to cash in.
B.C. Assessment, however, does give owners the option to apply to have their properties assessed on actual use, rather than potential use.
It has helped homeowners, such as those on Cambie Street who faced dramatic spikes in property value when Vancouver approved its Cambie corridor plan to upzone most of the street to higher-density housing.
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• A former B.C. resident has been fined $18.4 million for diverting millions of customer deposits for his cryptocurrency trading platform to gambling. The B.C. Securities Commission found David Smillie and his company, 1081627 B.C. Ltd., operating as ezBtc, committed fraud by diverting nearly $13 million in customer assets to gamble.
The fines against Smillie and the company was $10.4 million, the amount diverted, minus repayments already made to customers. Smillie was also ordered to pay an $8 million administrative penalty for misconduct.
• Vancouver park board will be asked to approve contacts to prepare two training sites for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. According to a staff recommendation going to park board next Monday, the board will be asked to sign a $16.25 million contract to upgrade Killarney Park and an $8.75 million contract to upgrade Memorial South Park.
The contracts will be with Canadian Turner Construction. Killarney Park and Memorial South Park are both located in southeast Vancouver.
According to the report, city and park board staff assessed “proximity to downtown Vancouver, lack of sightlines onto the pitch, the capacity to accommodate the necessary fields and facilities, equity initiative zones, neighbourhood and programming impacts and nearby transit options” before settling on those two parks. |
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“As an Edmontonian and a Westerner, I had no idea how vulnerable the Vancouver airport really was. I was absolutely thunderstruck to realize how vulnerable it is because it’s built on an island. And it’s lovely, but it creates an inherent risk at a time when sea levels are rising.” |
— Sen. Paula Simons, one of 10 members of the standing Senate committee on transport and communications, which wrote a new Senate report on critical transportation infrastructure across Canada to assess how it will fare in the changing climate. Vancouver International Airport is at risk of flooding due to climate change, according to the report.
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Vaughn Palmer: Thank you for your service to B.C. Ferries ... Now you're fired
VICTORIA — When B.C. Ferries staged a conference call with its long-standing community advisory committees last week, it was to deliver the news that their services were no longer wanted. “I’m boggled,” Diana Mumford, chair of one of the 13 all-volunteer panels said. “They thanked us for our service — their deepest gratitude for all the work that we’ve done. But now you’re fired.”
Adding to the insult, the ferry corporation asked: “Could you please stay around until the end of April, so we come up with a new plan?”
Mumford chairs the advisory committee for the southern Sunshine Coast. She also chairs a panel of the heads of all the committees.
The committees were established by the NDP government of the 1990s “as part of B.C. Ferries’ goal to be customer and community centred,” according to a post still on the Ferries’ website.
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Lithium battery explodes in Vancouver Island fire chief's home
The chief of the Dashwood Volunteer Fire Department near Qualicum Beach is warning people about lithium batteries after one exploded in his home.
Nick Acciavatti says the incident occurred on Saturday Nov. 30, about a week after he purchased the new battery to use in an air-soft gun.
“We had a very close call yesterday afternoon which if our smoke alarms were not working and quick action (not taken) to extinguish the fire, we would have lost our home or at best made it unliveable,” he said in a social media post.
“The battery was not charging and not plugged into anything and was set down on the floor. The subsequent fire caught some clothes on fire in the closet and if it went unnoticed it would have extended further into the closet and undoubtedly caught the bedroom on fire. Lucky for us someone was home to hear the alarms and see the smoke/fire." READ MORE |
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THE NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD |
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