On September 18, about 100 residents from across Vancouver rallied on the steps of City Hall to demand genuine consultation on plans to transform their neighbourhoods into more compact communities.

Coming from areas such as Norquay, Commercial Drive, Kitsilano, Dunbar, Arbutus, and Shaughnessy, they had invited Mayor Sam Sullivan or members of council to come and at least reassure them that their voices will be heard. Not one of these politicians showed up.

"The densification that city council is proposing to do is so incredibly big. The chunks of the city they're planning to densify are so large that it's got us all up in arms," community activist Alicia Barsallo told the Georgia Straight in an interview after the rally. "This is very much about democracy. It's about control over decision-making in the city."

Barsallo lives in Norquay, an East Vancouver neighbourhood containing about 2,400 houses. A city staff report submitted to a July 12 council meeting stated that approximately 1,500 housing units can be added in this area by changing its current single-residential-zoning classification to one of "medium density zoning".

The same report noted that after Norquay is done, the city can move on to 17 other neighbourhoods, and that planning will be done in pairs. These are Hastings–Sunrise North, and Main Street (16th to 33rd avenues); Victoria Drive, and Oak at King Edward; East 1st Avenue at Renfrew, and Fraser Street (16th to 27th avenues); Punjabi Market on Main Street, and Fraser Street–South Hill; Vancouver Heights, and Dunbar; Collingwood, and Kerrisdale Village; Cambie Street at West 41st, and Cambie Street at King Edward; and West 10th Avenue, and Alma Street at West 4th Avenue. The Arbutus Village is the 17th neighbourhood on the list, and it will be planned in conjunction with the redevelopment of the Arbutus Village shopping centre in the area.

City planning chief Brent Toderian told the Straight in a phone interview before the rally that the civic strike has stopped public dialogue with Norquay residents. He added that even if the strike were to end soon, it would take until early next year for staff to finalize its recommendations to council on how the neighbourhood will be rezoned.

Toderian claimed that Mayor Sullivan's EcoDensity initiative has little to do with the plan to review the zoning of Vancouver neighbourhoods. He noted that this is part of a "neighbourhood-centre exercise" that council approved in 2002 to consult residents about additional housing choices and increased densities.

Toderian suggested that EcoDensity may result in even more tightly packed communities. "EcoDensity ultimately may involve a discussion about going even further," he said. "We're not at a point of EcoDensity where council has given any direction."

Linda MacAdam is the former president of the Dunbar Residents' Association. She recalled that a few years ago, council approved the development of row houses on West 39th Avenue despite the neighbourhood's objection to the project. She fears that Vancouver city council will again ignore residents on the issue of rezoning.

"We like things the way they are," MacAdam told the Straight. "We like our single-family homes. We like our quiet streets. We like our trees. We don't want to end up having a Hong Kong all over Vancouver."

Toderian said such comparisons to Hong Kong are frightening residents unnecessarily. "I've also heard from many Dunbar neighbours that density done well is the key to affordability and to the ability for many families to provide unit types that their kids can afford," he said. "The types that we're talking about could be considered very gentle. We're talking about units above garages, row houses, secondary suites, et cetera. This is far from Hong Kong."

Former city councillor Tim Louis was at the rally, and he told the Straight that the move to densify the city is all about freeing space for property developers. "Follow the money," Louis said. "Most of the councillors in this council belong to parties that are funded in the main by big developers."

What riles Louis most is that there has been no talk about social housing for the poor. "The question is not about the level of densification," he said. "The question is densification for who?"