Tammy Everts
My feedback
12 results found
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404 votes
A critical challenge for Vancouver. Laneway housing, STIR, the 20% Inclusionary Zoning Policy, and other programs and policies are intended to help increase housing affordability— see http://vancouver.ca/housing. The draft Greenest City plan recognizes the importance of affordability and will review additional strategies, e.g. unbundled parking.
An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
"If Vancouver cannot house the people with families who work in the City but instead they must leave to afford to buy a home in one of the surrounding municipalities, Vancouver has just transferred its GHG impact outside its boundaries. But that impact should be accredited to Vancouver and it cannot claim to be the Greenest City without being able to house its workers."
Exactly! I couldn't agree more, Rosemary.
An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
@separate me: I'm kind of surprised, too. It makes me wonder if many of the people on these forums are child-free and therefore are able to find decent housing without too much trouble. Once you have children, you quickly become aware of the severe shortage of affordable family homes in this city.
An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
Thanks, Steven. And agreed. It would be a tragic irony if we collectively created this beautiful, livable city, and then couldn't afford to live in it.
An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
@ripley: I meant to include that suggestion as well, but forgot and the system doesn't let you edit your original post. But I totally agree with you. For example, we need to rezone to allow for more infill housing, because right now the restrictions on laneway houses are prohibitive. And we need to allow these houses to be somewhat more than 700 square feet.
@Cecily: Understood. Rents in this city are crazy across the board, but at least there are a lot of one-bedroom units out there. Trying to even *find* -- much less afford -- a three-bedroom unit in this city is next to impossible. That's what my suggestion is trying to address. But I do think that there's room in the scope of planning for affordable housing to include child-free families.
Tammy Everts
shared this idea
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334 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
@Greenest City Planning Team: Thanks for the link to the "Ban plastic bags" initiative. I've moved my votes over there: http://vancouver.uservoice.com/forums/56390-gc-2020/suggestions/926155-ban-plastic-bags?ref=title
An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
Or why not follow Australia's example and just make them illegal altogether? To my understanding, people there are still managing to get their groceries home somehow. ;)
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408 votes
Provincial jurisdiction.
An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
@MZan: I beg to differ. It's been exactly one year since my friend and four of his cycling buddies were mowed down by a minivan at high speed. They all survived -- though two have permanent brain damage -- because of their helmets. I invite you to read this article about their story:
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/07/17/14746306.html
An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
@Evan: I was cycling in busy traffic, on a rainy grey day. A car cut me off. Because the road was slick and my panniers were heavy, my bike skidded and spun 180 degrees in an intersection and I crashed, hitting my head hard on the street. Motorists didn't see me on the ground and were whipping right past my head. Even with a helmet, I was almost knocked out, but I was able to quickly get to my feet and hurry out of the intersection. If I hadn't been wearing a helmet, I would have been knocked out completely, and I'm pretty sure would have been run over.
I have friends who have similar stories, including one friend in Ottawa who barely survived this horrible accident:
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/08/26/10618676.html
One year later and he's still in physiotherapy and has permanent brain damage.
I seriously do not get why anyone would choose not to wear a helmet. Because it's not as comfy or as "cool" as being bare-headed? I find seatbelts uncomfortable, but I wear those, too.
An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
My life was saved by a helmet, as well as the lives of a few of my friends. Before that, however, I worked for a time at the Ontario Brain Injury Association, and learned enough about bike accidents and head injuries to keep me in a helmet for life.
Nobody thinks they're going to get into an accident... until it happens to them. People tend to focus on the fact that there are, relatively speaking, only a hundred or so cyclist fatalities every year, and they ignore how many injuries -- including head injuries that have awful, lifelong, debilitating effects -- happen to thousands of cyclists every year.
We don't live in Europe. We live in a Canadian city that has streets primarily designed for cars. As cyclists, we're at the mercy of these drivers. Driving defensively is all we've got going for us. But did you know that about one-third of all cyclist injuries are caused by drunk drivers? Even the best defensive driving skills can't protect you against someone who is coming at you totally erratically. That's when you need a helmet. It can't do everything, but it can at least prevent your skull from being cracked like an egg.
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19 votes
The city’s new 10-year cycling program master plan will soon be in development, and hopefully completed within the next year. A big part of the work ahead is to identify where separated bike lanes might be appropriate.
Lessons learned from the downtown trial will be an important input into the plan. The results so far support evidence elsewhere that separated bike lanes are a great way to make cycling more attractive on busy streets.
For more information, visit http://vancouver.ca/cycling .
An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
I'm a cyclist and I've lived on the Drive for 13 years. In theory, I'd love a dedicated bike lane, but where exactly would it fit? The street is just wide enough for the car traffic that already passes through. If we removed a lane to convert to a bike lane, wouldn't we just increase congestion (and idling) on what is already a fairly busy street?
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11 votesTammy Everts
supported this idea
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289 votes
TransLink is currently leading a study to determine the best approach to deliver high-capacity, fast, frequent, and reliable rapid transit for the Broadway Corridor from Commercial Drive to UBC. A number of technologies and alignment options are being considered, including rail rapid transit (e.g. SkyTrain), surface light rail transit, and bus rapid transit.
The City of Vancouver is directly involved as a partner agency in the study. In April 2010, City Council endorsed ten principles to guide City input into this process (http://vancouver/ubcline/principles).
Visit http://vancouver.ca/ubcline to learn more about this work, including upcoming public engagement events.
Tammy Everts
supported this idea
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202 votes
The Draft Greenest City Action Plan includes an action to develop a building deconstruction policy. The City is piloting a building deconstruction project and is exploring options for an incentive program to encourage deconstruction.
Tammy Everts
supported this idea
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176 votes
The City has supported projects that have voluntarily unbundled parking (e.g. Spectrum), and is actively working to gain authority to require unbundling in new development — this requires changes to Provincial legislation. In 2008, the City proposed the Unbundled Parking Resolution to give BC municipalities the authority to require unbundling in new development. This was passed by the Union of BC Municipalities. Provincial response to date: The Ministry of Community Development will review the proposal and refer the issue to the Development Finance Review Committee for discussion.
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234 votesTammy Everts
supported this idea
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190 votes
An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
I don't think banning coffee cups is going to be as difficult as some suggest. Australia successfully banned plastic grocery bags. As I understand it, there was a mini uproar, then people got over it and figured out how to get their groceries home without plastic. People are adaptable. Assuming they aren't is one of the ***** ways we shoot ourselves in the foot.
A friend of mine just opened a coffee shop -- Sangha Bean -- in Revelstoke, and she won't use disposable cups. Her clientele seems to love the idea.
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15 votesTammy Everts
supported this idea
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An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
I support this idea. I would also add: encourage employers (and possibly create tax incentives?) to offer full- or part-time telecommuting as an option to employees who are able to work from home some or all of the time.
At the company I work for, half the staff work from home at least three days a week, and we're all amazingly productive. Research has shown that, on average, telecommuting employees work more -- not less -- than those who work solely in office environments. Having done both, I'm inclined to agree.
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13 votes
Financing tools (currently under development) may encourage building owners to improve the performance of their buildings rather than rebuild
An error occurred while saving the comment Tammy Everts
commented
I'm inclined to respectfully disagree with this idea as it's described here. People in this city are renovation-happy, and renovations are often wasteful, excessive and poor in quality, especially given how flip-happy the housing market is. Why should a future home owner be forced to pay for a property *******'s poor-quality renovation?
I'd be more inclined to agree with this strategy if people applying for interest-free loans were forced to prove that:
(a) the proposed renovations are structurally necessary (i.e. kitchen and bathroom fixtures that are literally falling apart), and
(b) the applicants were made to submit a proposal explaining that their renovation would follow green guidelines (i.e. reducing waste by recycling/repurposing old fittings, using salvaged or sustainably harvested/manufactured materials, etc.).
