The Community Association of New Yaletown is actively seeking donations to help fund the legal fees of this appeal. This case has citywide implications and we need to ensure rezoning hearings are fair and transparent for all proposed developments across the city.

The original ruling fundamentally impacts the way City Hall operates, now and in the future. If the ruling against the City were overturned, it would have severe and negative consequences on public participation across the entire city.

CANY is calling for more social housing and a further expansion of Emery Barnes Park.

Visit www.newyaletown.ca for more information on how you can donate to this important cause.

Thank you,

CANY

Contrary to Charlie Smith's article this week [which was full of erroneous information and baseless innuendo], CANY is a non-partisan group of neighbours who live in the mixed-income neighbourhood of New Yaletown [not Yaletown].

We fought the city and developer, and won. A genuine David vs Goliath story.

CANY supports social housing. We regret that the residents of Jubilee House were used as pawns by the City and Brenhill, however that's on the City and Brenhill. In fact, where was the City and other so-called defenders of the disadvantaged, when Jubilee House was supposedly falling into disrepair? We have still seen nothing in writing about the repairs required, or costs associated. A new roof, building envelope, and general maintenance is not uncommon for a structure designed and built in the 1980's. This was never a reason to rip down a modern building, however that's exactly what Brenhill and the City proposed to do.

The City's decision to fight the ruling for more transparency and fairness, is unfortunate. Plus, it will be fought by the City with taxpayer dollars, whether we like it or not.

Please donate generously to CANY, and spread the word, so that this BC Supreme Court ruling will not be overturned on appeal. Any excess funds will be donated to support TRUE social housing in Vancouver.

If you have questions about CANY, or wish to contact us, please visit our website at www.newyaletown.ca where you may also donate towards legal costs for the appeal. Thank you.

Kerry:
Thanks for the post, but if you are going to attempt to use the Straight to raise funds for your organization and in the same post accuse the author of writing an article "full of erroneous information", have the courtesy to detail all those mistakes so we can go about correcting them. (And I am not talking about differences of opinion.)
Otherwise, you know...

Feel free to contact me offline, and I would be happy to outline them for you. Or, you could compare the print version of Charlie's article to the online version. The information omitted from the print version should provide an indication of where he crossed over the line between facts to fantasy....

PS - on behalf of the thousands of Vancouverites associated with the various community/neighbourhood groups fighting City Hall, thank you for publicizing our attempts to keep this landmark ruling from being overturned

Kerry:

Whenever there is a difference in word count between the print version of a story and the online version, you will notice it is the online version that is the lengthier one. This is because we have finite space in the hard copy, as opposed to unlimited bandwidth here. It is NOT because we have belatedly realized all our errors and somehow magically reached into the street boxes and corrected them post-publishing.
PS: You are welcome.

First of all, why do they call themselves 'New Yaletown'? Are they that arrogant and self-centered to think that they are somehow worthy of a new title? Get over yourselves.

As Charlie Smith pointed out very clearly in another thread, a large part of his intent was to bring attention to the fact that there are people living in Jubilee House who are now in limbo and need structure in their lives, more than most people. He's basically asking us to have a heart and bringing to our attention that the entire process has flaws on both sides. Personally what I see is just pure, bloody-minded hatred for Vision dictating what CANY and their supporters are doing. It's sour grapes on a massive level. Instead of giving money to these phony freedom fighters you should donate to the many charities that help low income people who are going to be the real losers in this futile brawl to prove who has the biggest dick.

Charlie is right that it is very unfortunate for Jubilee House residents, however, this is entirely the fault of the city.

The city could have built two or three social housing projects for the $50 million they have left on the table for the developer. This is a bad deal for everyone else.

Instead of improving the process, increasing real social housing, and expanding the park, the city is now going to cause more uncertainty and waste more public money by appealing the court decision that directed the city to be more transparent and to properly consult the public.

This is outrageous.

New Yaletown is the geographic designation by the City Of Vancouver for the neighbourhood. It is a separate and distinct zone from Yaletown.

No reporting in Straight or elsewhere of accusations by at least three speakers at public hearing this Tuesday, 17 Feb. that City staff were "disingenuous" in their presentations. City staff at the hearing claimed that the 202 units proposed for 333 East 11th (NE corner of Kingsway and 11th) would be "affordable" and justified that claim by comparing the proposed initial rents with prevailing market rents and claiming the proposed initial rents would be a bit lower than prevailing.
City staff gave no indication of the size of the units in the proposed 333 E 11th tower compared to the size of the existing units surveyed for their rents and did not mention that rents charged at 333 E 11th, could, after the first tenant moved out, legally become whatever the market would bear. (And I suspect there is nothing legally binding about the proposed rents -- the developer I think can raise or lower those pro forma rents - if the project is built - before renting.)
In their presentations planners suggested that the project was not much higher than other towers in the immediate vicinity and thus the proposed development was not a significant change in the character of the area. The planners employed heights for existing towers that are questionable and avoided mentioning that the existing tower developments in the area all have an FSR of roughly 3.0 and the proposed 333 E 7th project has an FSR of 8.6 -- extraordinarily high for the neighbourhood. (FSR = floor space ratio, a measure in crude terms of the bulk of a building.)

I find it absolutely incredibly obnoxious that the city of Vancouver would use tax payers money to try and make themselves look better here.
There is a $40,000,000 plus difference in land swap values that they have been caught RED HANDED trying to steal( filter through ) from under the noses of all Vancouverites .
A criminal investigation needs to be launched and a re opening of all other land swap dealings both past and present.
Penny Ballam and co need to be dismissed immediately just for this one finding .
Its an absolute disgrace.