Russil Wvong
@russilwvong
Canadian. Interested in housing, public safety, climate, international politics. Federal Liberal riding chair for Vancouver Kingsway. We need more housing.
Thread. Part of the reason housing is so scarce and expensive in Metro Vancouver is that we tax new housing like it's a gold mine, instead of raising property taxes, because property taxes are highly visible and thus unpopular. 1/
Breaking news. Vancouver city manager Paul Mochrie, a very level-headed guy who has steered the city through some up-and-down times, is out . #vanpoli
NIMBYs: 3-4 storey development in Christchurch will be awful. Also NIMBYs: demand doesn't exist to support upzoning to 3-4 storeys. You. Have. To. Pick. One.
The Christchurch NIMBY brain is broken from months of defeat
New York is the kind of place where even the pols who are *relatively good* on housing supply still want to maintain their power ... to tax new local housing supply.
That’s not the point. I support new housing in my district - but we also negotiate deeper affordability, union jobs, & significant investments in Parks and other infrastructure to meet needs of growing communities. This Commission has decided that shouldn’t happen any more.
More than a decade ago, I proposed to Bc Hydro management a joint venture for a new transmission line with First Nations in northern BC. Bc Hydro wasn’t ready. It took Adrian Dix and FN drive took accelerate. Great day for BC.
Today, we signed a groundbreaking agreement with First Nation and Hereditary Chief partners to develop the North Coast Transmission Line and deliver clean power to the North. Together, we created a new partnership model - one that will see First Nations as project co-owners.
Governments are about to take a massive tax revenue hit from reduced GTA homebuilding. Governments restructured their tax systems to make significant bets on home prices continuing to rise indefinitely. Some tough decisions are coming. blogto.com/real-estate-to…
Subjecting every new apartment building to subjective, politicized, project-by-project negotiations to extract costly concessions in exchange for permission to build is why housing is expensive in cities like New York and San Francisco.
That’s not the point. I support new housing in my district - but we also negotiate deeper affordability, union jobs, & significant investments in Parks and other infrastructure to meet needs of growing communities. This Commission has decided that shouldn’t happen any more.
This is extremely alarming. But I'll tell you one thing: you aren't going to stop @CarrieTait theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…
Not a single apartment complex broke ground in San Jose in 2024. Then the city began cutting impact fees & "inclusionary zoning" requirements on a per-project basis. Literally weeks after this happened to a project near the light rail, construction began. It's not rocket science!
Decentralization of land use authority is *the most significant driver* of NYC's affordable housing crisis. A strong state that can make clear, rational decisions with input from the community needs to eliminate hyperlocal governance veto points like this. This is how good…
The Charter Commission’s Final Report significantly weakens the City Council’s role in land use decisions. This shift toward executive control undermines democratic oversight and meaningful public engagement. I stand with my colleagues who are fighting back. Our statement below:
Quoted in this piece about housing saltwire.com/nova-scotia/ha…
So much discourse about progressive mayors and abundance lately Now Brandon Johnson is full YIMBY-posting and Chicago just passed a substantially more widespread parking requirement reform than the parking reforms in NYC's City of Yes
We need to pull every lever that we possibly can to grow our housing supply and drive down the cost of rent to make Chicago the safest, most affordable city in America. By making it easier to build across our city we make affordable, equitable transit oriented housing possible in…
New from me at TVO, on how the politics around Crombie's leadership review have gotten more interesting in recent weeks. tvo.org/article/analys…
Oh how interesting. Some folks inside the OLP are kicking the tires on a leadership bid by Jeff Lehman, reports @sabrinananji. qpobserver.ca/p/exclusive-je…
To be clear, the charter revisions reduce power for individual council members. It takes honesty and integrity to admit that a comprehensive citywide process is better for affordability. Big respect to @OsseChi @ebottcher @ShaunAbreu @PiSanchezNYC for not signing onto the letter.
British Columbia has reached a trade agreement with Ontario. This will make it easier for people to work in both provinces, provide producers easier access to markets, while giving consumers more choice.
Legalize it
A 44 foot wide 6-plex. Can fit in any neighborhood lot ... and it's pretty! 1BR+Den, 740sf
Diversifying our trade partners. Creating high-paying careers. Building a stronger Canadian economy.
Francis Fukuyama on Agentic AI and the Problem of Delegation persuasion.community/p/francis-fuku…
New blog post! "There is a silent majority in America" Once again I'm looking at this awesome high-response rate mail survey the NYT ran in 2022 and what it says about the actual shape of the electorate. The silent majority is real and it's distrustful moderates. Link below!
Nuanced disagreement — I think this is too much policy focus on taxing the “winners” from AI when what we should be thinking about is taxing the downsides and externalities.
A whole lot of disturbing stuff here.
Hi, yes, g'morning. This is awkward. But targeting a reporter - hi! - with surreptitiously obtained photos and details of her tooling around town is an attack on the public's right to know. theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…