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The critics of this project seem to be outright racist. I don’t think that’s an overstatement. They’re basically saying that Indigenous people aren’t allowed t

by dangus 3y ago

The critics of this project seem to be outright racist. I don’t think that’s an overstatement. They’re basically saying that Indigenous people aren’t allowed to participate in the modern world. You’re not allowed to be urbanist if you were “less advanced than the white people” three hundred years ago. And they’re butthurt about the development not having the need to comply with Vancouver development rules. Yeah, well, sorry not sorry you weren’t able to steal all the land. Nothing is stopping y’all from changing the rules in Vancouver and building something similar.

faeriechangling 3y ago
You might think so but nimby’s hatred of tall buildings is not at all limited to the ones the Squamish nation is building, as evidenced by the lack of buildings this tall. It’d be more racist for them to make an exception to their usual moaning about tall buildings just because it was the Squamish doing the building.
- inkcapmushroom 3y ago
  >as evidenced by the lack of buildings this tall The third picture shows the development projected onto a wider picture of the city. You can see plenty of other skyscapers, some looking similar height or nearly as tall. Just not any on the side of the river the Squamish are planning on building. I do agree though that NIMBY's will generally whine regardless of the person doing the building. I wouldn't say "[all] the critics of the project are racist" because I don't know all the criticisms, but certainly some of the criticisms in the article had a pretty racist slant to them.
  - singingboyo 3y ago
    > You can see plenty of other skyscapers, some looking similar height or nearly as tall. Just not any on the side of the river the Squamish are planning on building. That's kind of the entire point of Vancouver NIMBYism, at least around Kits/Point Grey. The "backyard" for them is basically "anywhere except the downtown peninsula" (the other side of the inlet in the picture). They won't care too much if someone builds a 20-40 story building on the West End/peninsula. Do the same thing on the west side ([1], off the peninsula) and they'll throw an absolute fit. [1] The West End neighbourhood and the colloquial west side are a solid 10-20 minutes apart from each other, driving time. Geographically - West End is on the peninsula, and the west side is basically the various neighbourhoods across the inlet (False Creek) from it.
ninth_ant 3y ago
This is Vancouver -- NIMBYs got super upset and managed to successfully downsize a tower despite it being located off a major transit hub (Commercial & Broadway station) and was not historic anything (just a grocery store and associated parking lot). I'm not saying there's no racism involved with the Kits project, I'm sure there is. But folks here are pretty eager to deny housing to everyone regardless of race. Kits people are also aggressively opposed to low-income housing, any any density in their neighbourhood and are typically accustomed to being successful in this.
- Canada 3y ago
  I'm not surprised that it took a literal nation to overcome the resistance to any serious development by that particular group of NIMBYs. Score a win for decentralized power. I don't think there's any racism at all on their part though, as much as the article tries to play that up. They simply hate idea of downtown expanding into what they view as their perfect suburban neighborhood and they are well organized. They always oppose high density development regardless of who proposes it. This has nothing to do with "Canadians" generally, who don't give a shit as a broad group. This is about a small group of homeowners in a particular area of Vancouver. This development is just what Vancouver needs, and so long as it actually happens the city will be better for it. It's also great to see first nations or whatever we're supposed to call them get a big financial win like this too: By providing what the market needs. The only way to move past what happened in the past is well earned financial success in the present. I have two predictions: 1) This will have more positive impact on people's ability to afford living in Vancouver than anything the current group of clowns ruling Ottawa do. 2) In spite of the Kits homeowners fears, the expansion of the city through this development will make their property even more desirable and valuable.
skrbjc 3y ago
How would you feel if they decided to turn it into a landfill or a nuclear powerplant or a massive chemical production facility that didn't have to comply with environmental laws. It's great they want to build big buildings, but the reality is if you say a group of people are above the law, then they can do whatever they want, including things that would be solely in their interest and in no-one else's.
- dangus 3y ago
  It’s kind of ironic to speak about environmental destruction and groups of people being above the law in the context of Indigenous history in the Americas.

by dangus 3y ago

faeriechangling 3y ago

You might think so but nimby’s hatred of tall buildings is not at all limited to the ones the Squamish nation is building, as evidenced by the lack of buildings this tall. It’d be more racist for them to make an exception to their usual moaning about tall buildings just because it was the Squamish doing the building.

inkcapmushroom 3y ago
>as evidenced by the lack of buildings this tall The third picture shows the development projected onto a wider picture of the city. You can see plenty of other skyscapers, some looking similar height or nearly as tall. Just not any on the side of the river the Squamish are planning on building. I do agree though that NIMBY's will generally whine regardless of the person doing the building. I wouldn't say "[all] the critics of the project are racist" because I don't know all the criticisms, but certainly some of the criticisms in the article had a pretty racist slant to them.
- singingboyo 3y ago
  > You can see plenty of other skyscapers, some looking similar height or nearly as tall. Just not any on the side of the river the Squamish are planning on building. That's kind of the entire point of Vancouver NIMBYism, at least around Kits/Point Grey. The "backyard" for them is basically "anywhere except the downtown peninsula" (the other side of the inlet in the picture). They won't care too much if someone builds a 20-40 story building on the West End/peninsula. Do the same thing on the west side ([1], off the peninsula) and they'll throw an absolute fit. [1] The West End neighbourhood and the colloquial west side are a solid 10-20 minutes apart from each other, driving time. Geographically - West End is on the peninsula, and the west side is basically the various neighbourhoods across the inlet (False Creek) from it.

ninth_ant 3y ago

This is Vancouver -- NIMBYs got super upset and managed to successfully downsize a tower despite it being located off a major transit hub (Commercial & Broadway station) and was not historic anything (just a grocery store and associated parking lot). I'm not saying there's no racism involved with the Kits project, I'm sure there is. But folks here are pretty eager to deny housing to everyone regardless of race. Kits people are also aggressively opposed to low-income housing, any any density in their neighbourhood and are typically accustomed to being successful in this.

Canada 3y ago
I'm not surprised that it took a literal nation to overcome the resistance to any serious development by that particular group of NIMBYs. Score a win for decentralized power. I don't think there's any racism at all on their part though, as much as the article tries to play that up. They simply hate idea of downtown expanding into what they view as their perfect suburban neighborhood and they are well organized. They always oppose high density development regardless of who proposes it. This has nothing to do with "Canadians" generally, who don't give a shit as a broad group. This is about a small group of homeowners in a particular area of Vancouver. This development is just what Vancouver needs, and so long as it actually happens the city will be better for it. It's also great to see first nations or whatever we're supposed to call them get a big financial win like this too: By providing what the market needs. The only way to move past what happened in the past is well earned financial success in the present. I have two predictions: 1) This will have more positive impact on people's ability to afford living in Vancouver than anything the current group of clowns ruling Ottawa do. 2) In spite of the Kits homeowners fears, the expansion of the city through this development will make their property even more desirable and valuable.

skrbjc 3y ago

How would you feel if they decided to turn it into a landfill or a nuclear powerplant or a massive chemical production facility that didn't have to comply with environmental laws. It's great they want to build big buildings, but the reality is if you say a group of people are above the law, then they can do whatever they want, including things that would be solely in their interest and in no-one else's.

dangus 3y ago
It’s kind of ironic to speak about environmental destruction and groups of people being above the law in the context of Indigenous history in the Americas.