From The Scrivener: published quarterly by BC Notaries Association: An interview with Michael Geller

While it is always dangerous, especially for someone like me, to sit down with a stranger and share one's life stories with a voice recorder running, that's what I did last month with the editor of The Scrivener. I was invited to do the interview following an after-dinner talk I gave at the BC Notaries' Annual General Meeting.
     While much longer than anticipated, it does include some of my favourite stories about 10 years at CMHC, as a real estate consultant planning the redevelopment of the Steveston waterfront, as Development Manager for Bayshore, Project Manager for the Convention Centre Expansion, first President of the SFU Community Trust, and developer of boutique residential projects including Oak Gardens and Elm Park Place, and two Heritage Revitalization projects in West Vancouver that are currently for sale. Following the interview is an advertorial for the West Vancouver projects and an article on heating systems that should be of interest to anyone who buys a condominium. You can find a link to the full magazine here: https://www.notaries.bc.ca/resources/Upload/11-07-2019-18-14-51_Summer%202019%20Volume%2028%20Number%202.pdf

Opinion: Vancouver Courier Contentious townhouse decision illustrates need for overall Granville Corridor plan July 2, 2019

Last week, I awoke to the news that city council had voted 7-4 to reject the rental housing proposal at 4575 Granville St. next to a hospice. While pleased, I was not elated like others, given the urgent need for rental housing, and time and money devoted to the failed application.

     The applicant was rightly disappointed, as was the late Morris Wosk in June 1990, when city council rejected a proposal he and I submitted for three towers at Langara Gardens, creating an additional 280 rent-controlled apartments.

     There was a serious rental housing crisis at the time, and our proposal had the support of the Urban Design Panel, the director of planning and certain aldermen. However, community opposition was very loud, orchestrated in part by a senior city hall planner who was concerned the new development would block his bedroom’s view of Mount Baker.

     Three decades later, council has approved a much higher density Langara Gardens plan for 2,100 homes that will dwarf the four existing 18-storey towers.

     Returning to Granville Street, while some councillors expressed concern about affordability, Jean Swanson voted against the motion, in part, because the owner would get a huge increase in value if the property was upzoned.

     Would she have opposed Banting and Best’s discovery of insulin in the early 1920s because they too would make money from their invention?

     While I expected the mayor to support the rezoning, I was surprised by Coun. Christine Boyle’s vote since I thought she would be sympathetic to the hospice’s concerns. But I owe her an apology since I missed her remarks at the public hearing, which she subsequently set out in a thoughtful, caring online editorial.

    Like Boyle, I too hope we will see future rental housing proposals elsewhere along Granville Street and in Shaughnessy. However, before council considers more spot-rezonings, we need an overall Granville Corridor plan and design guidelines.

     Ten years ago, the city approved a three-phase planning program for the Cambie Corridor. A comprehensive plan with detailed planning guidelines was prepared for each portion of the street, and dozens of applications came forward to replace aging bungalows with six- to eight-storey apartment buildings and townhouses.

     While the resulting designs and character may not be to everyone’s liking, Cambie Street has become a dense, urban street. Redevelopment is now extending into surrounding neighbourhoods.

     Granville Street has always had a different character than Cambie Street. While it does not have a central landscaped median, it is lined with green ribbons of trees, hedges and gardens.

     A new Granville Corridor Plan should retain this overall character by allowing mansions to be subdivided into suites and additional infill housing, while other single-family properties are redeveloped with apartments, townhouses, and stacked townhouses. 

     However, city hall should improve the approval process for Granville Street and not repeat the process used along Cambie Street. There, rather than simply require development and building permits, the city insisted that every application go through a separate rezoning process. This resulted in considerable effort and costs for applicants, city staff and council, not to mention unnecessary, lengthy delays.

     For Granville Street, the city should prepare an overall plan, and then expeditiously approve development permits for applications if in accordance with the plan.

     The same should happen along the West Broadway Corridor.  As recently reported in the Courier, a developer has proposed another rezoning for the former Denny’s site at Birch Street. I say “another” since a 2018 rezoning increased the permitted height from 12 storeys to 16 and floor space ratio from 3.0 to 7.07 for a secured rental housing project. The latest proposal is for 28 storeys (FSR 10.7) and is in response to a new moderate-income rental housing program that allows spot rezonings.

     Many neighbourhood residents, architects and planners are concerned the latest proposal is out of scale with its surroundings and should not be approved, especially in advance of an overall plan for the Broadway Corridor. I agree.

     While there is an urgent need for affordable rental housing, there is also a need to plan for a beautiful city. Spot rezonings that increase density in the name of affordability need not always be supported.

     After all, sometimes big can be too big.

@michaelgeller

Opinion: Stacked townhouses a good option in Vancouver, but not beside a hospice Vancouver Courier June 20, 2019

     I recently returned from New York City where I attended a symposium on American experiences related to housing affordability, community and health.

     There I learned about non-profit organizations in Los Angeles promoting laneway housing for the homeless and others receiving federal government rent subsidies. One of the organizations, United Dwelling, was awarded $1 million from the LA County Innovation Challenge for its idea to address housing affordability by converting garages into dwelling units.

     I also met a co-founder of Nesterly, which promotes home-sharing between different generations. Given the growing need for affordable housing, increased loneliness and hundreds of thousands of empty bedrooms in Metro Vancouver, I see wonderful opportunities for similar initiatives here.homeless count were announced. I was not the only one disappointed, but not surprised, to hear the number of Vancouver homeless people has again increased. While I am pleased the relocatable modular housing program has accommodated more than 600 formerly homeless people, I do not believe we can ever end homelessness by just building more housing.

On my return to Vancouver, the results of this year’s 

Instead, we need to more effectively address the addictions and mental illness that affect many homeless people, as well as offer family reunification programs like that offered by the Salvation Army, and employment programs managed by EMBERS.

We also need to work with the federal government since many of our homeless arrived here from other provinces, and more will continue to come if we continue to offer good housing, social programs and supervised injection sites.

Of course, one way to address housing affordability and homelessness is to increase incomes. It troubles me to see some people oppose minimum hourly wage increases when the minimum wage is less than the GST on their hourly fees.

We also need to do more to prevent homelessness in the future by supporting programs such as KidCare Canada, which helps new mothers learn how to care for their children. Sadly, too many homeless people had terrible upbringings, which contributed to their ending up on the streets.

While I would like to expand on these matters, instead I prefer to address the topic dominating my Twitter feed on my return to Vancouver, namely the rezoning proposal being considered by Vancouver city council to build 21 rental stacked-townhouse units at 4575 Granville St., next to an eight-person hospice.

I should begin by pointing out that I have been a longstanding proponent of more stacked town-housing in Vancouver since I consider it a good alternative to apartments for families with children.

I am also a proponent of rezoning arterial streets for higher density housing. While it would be better to locate higher density housing on the streets behind the arterials, away from the noise and fumes, this is often more difficult in the absence of an overall plan.

In the mid-’90s, despite considerable neighbourhood opposition, I rezoned four lots on Oak Street at West 42nd for a seniors’ apartment building. I also rezoned seven lots on West 41st next to Crofton House School for seniors’ apartments.

In the Roundtable on Building Form and Design, which I chaired for the Mayor’s Task Force on Affordable Housing, we proposed upzoning arterial roads and the transition zones behind for higher density housing.

However, I oppose this particular spot-rezoning, albeit within the context of the Interim Rezoning Policy for Affordable Housing Choices, because it is next to one of the city’s four hospices.

I first learned about the benefits of hospices from Atal Gawande’s book Being Mortal. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.

While I often regard neighbourhood concerns about overlooking increased traffic and parking problems as a camouflage for other concerns, such as not wanting renters in a neighbourhood, in this case I believe the hospice’s concerns to be legitimate. If approved, the development will significantly compromise the peace and enjoyment of residents, both during and after construction.

I also accept the claim that approval could lead to a complete closure of a hospice that was built only through considerable community effort.

I therefore hope council will refuse this rezoning, noting that there are many more suitable locations where stacked townhouse rental housing can, and should, be built.

@michaelgeller

Images of New York City

While exploring New York City last week by foot, subway and the hop-on hop-off buses, I often felt like a kid who had just come in from the farm. While I am preparing some columns for the Vancouver Sun and Courier on housing ideas that are worth trying out in Vancouver, here are a few photos from my album.

Yes, it's a golf driving range on the Manhattan waterfront

While Vancouver's parking rates are high, they are nothing compared to NYC

The Vessel, a public art installation at Hudson Yards is a must see, but is it worth the reported $75 to 150 million it cost to build? I don't think so! 

I don't know what the high-line park cost to create, but it's worth it.

When is big, too big? 

Most architects will know who designed this luxury apartment building as viewed from the high-line

While many oppose illuminated billboards in Vancouver, I don't and would like to see more of this! (As long as it is not shining directly into MY bedroom window!)

Yes, there is bike-share in NYC and used to varying degrees

Wonderful new pedestrian spaces thanks to Mayor Bloomberg and his team

Whether you are a first time visitor, or have been to NYC many times, I still recommend the hop-on-hop-off buses 

I would love to see this type of development in Vancouver

I hope we will never see this in Vancouver 

Calatrava's new shopping centre replaces portions of the former World Trade Centre

Hudson Yards from the water. I will give it some time to age, but it does not have the pedestrian scale we are used to in Vancouver

Modular housing! 

Now why can't we do more of this?

NEW HOUSING SOLUTIONS: Innovations for Affordability, Community and Health. NewCities New York City June 6, 2019

     A couple of months ago, I received an invitation to attend an affordable housing symposium in New York, from the New Cities Foundation, https://newcities.org/ an organization I had never heard of. But it had been a while since I was in NYC, and although limited details were provided, I decided to attend in the hope I would learn how American cities are addressing homelessness and other affordable housing challenges.  I subsequently received the one-day program. Key topics were right up my alley and included:

• Co-living; models for affordable housing; building for new demographics; balancing growth and equity; construction innovations (including modular housing), and the future of cooperatives and Land Trusts.

     While a lot of the conversation was not relevant since the US has a very different governmental tax structure to support affordable housing, other topics were most relevant and at times fascinating. For example co-living, something for which I have long advocated, is considerably advanced in American cities where new companies like Ollie https://www.ollie.co/ and Common https://www.common.com/ are providing forms of housing unlike anything currently available in Vancouver. While we have many examples of younger, and older people living together in shared arrangements, I suspect it's just a matter of time before we see companies like this operating here.

     I knew it was worth travelling to New York when I heard participants talking about the benefits of 'pressure walls', a term I had never even heard of. What are pressure walls? http://www.roomdividersny.com/pressure-walls/

     Another session which I found particularly interesting was on the topic of ADUs or accessory dwelling units. In Vancouver, we call the laneway houses or coach houses. While not very common in the United States, State of California does allow ADUs as a matter of right, and this is led to some innovative initiatives including the backyard homes project which incentivizes homeowners to create an affordable rental unit in their backyard. While this might sound like the Vancouver program it is in fact very different. https://www.mas.la/affordable-adus

     Under this program, a non-profit organization offers homeowners a one-stop shop for financing, designing, permitting, constructing and leasing an ADU to a low-income resident receiving government rental support for a minimum of 5 years. While the program is new, and relatively untested, it remains to be seen if it will work. However, it is an innovative approach to house the homeless, and others seeking affordable housing.
     I was also intrigued by United Dwelling https://www.uniteddwelling.com/ which encourages people to turn their garages into affordable dwelling units. 

     Another program of interest is Nesterly https://www.nesterly.io/ which arranges home-sharing between generations. One of the co-founders grew up on Cortes Island and has very close family ties to Vancouver. I have been promoting similar programs in Vancouver since there are hundreds of thousands of empty bedrooms in Metro, many of which could be used to house those looking for affordable housing. https://www.citynews1130.com/2015/05/04/empty-rooms-in-vancouver-homes-could-help-solve-housing-affordability-problem-architect/

    
     I knew I had made the right decision to attend this event when one exercise involved assessing the various ideas presented using Edward deBono's 6 thinking hats. As many know, I am a great fan of deBono and have often promoted his books at my lectures.
     At the symposium, there were architects, government officials and housing planners from across the US, but also France and Spain. I was particularly delighted to meet Antoni Font, Social Innovation Officer for the City of Barcelona who is overseeing a relocatable modular housing initiative very similar to what I proposed for my university thesis and now currently underway in Vancouver and elsewhere around the province. http://gellersworldtravel.blogspot.com/2016/02/relocatable-modular-housing-for.html
     For those interested in the current Vancouver experience with modular housing for the homeless, go here: https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/temporary-modular-housing.aspx
     While most of the attendees familiar with Vancouver recognized that our situation is quite different from most other North American cities, there is no doubt that we can learn from the US experience, and they can learn from us.  A future symposium might examine in detail the different housing programs offered by federal, state, and municipal governments in the US and federal, provincial and municipal governments in Canada.
     I was impressed with the program arranged by New Cities and look forward to participating in future symposiums and events. There are many good ideas out there that should be shared.

Opinion: This Vancouver resident has taken it upon himself to beautify city, one box at a time Vancouver Courier June 3, 2019

Tired of graffiti along Arbutus Corridor, Courier reader regularly paints colourful designs on the old signal boxes

My recent columns about the disgusting condition of city-owned public parking garages, the need for more public toilets, homeless people camping on sidewalks and diminishing civic pride generated many responses from Courier readers.

While some saw my columns as an unnecessary attack on the homeless, most agreed the city should do a better job of cleaning its parking garages, removing discarded needles from public areas and managing graffiti.

• ‘Disgusting’ state of parkades and city streets reflects diminishing civic pride in Vancouver
• Shame the lack of johns: Vancouver desperately needs more public toilets
• Mount Pleasant: Neighbours gather in a roundabout way

However, I received a surprising email from one reader who wrote to share what he personally has been doing to address what he saw as the deteriorating condition of our public infrastructure.

His story is about the Arbutus Corridor where the lingering conflict between CPR and the city resulted in 15 years of neglect. Graffiti was everywhere, along with garbage and an extremely poor sense of civic pride. However, as we all know, this has changed.Thanks to an agreement between the city and CPR, the rails were removed in 2016, and the Arbutus Greenway came into existence. It took a while, but it has become an important commuter route for cyclists and a pleasurable walkway for joggers and dog walkers. 

As both corridor users and passersby may have noticed at every level crossing there are large metal boxes that once controlled the railway’s flashing lights and bells. They had become unsightly and covered with graffiti. However, at his own expense, this individual regularly paints over the graffiti on each of the 17 boxes with colourful designs.  

He has also built street furniture at 16th and Arbutus — a place he calls Crossbuck Park — in an attempt to preserve a tiny bit of railway history, something he claims the city has very little interest in.

While city officials might worry about the consequences of other citizens deciding to take the beautification of the city into their own hands, I would like to think that, with some management, this could be a positive thing.

The Greenest City 2020 program encourages neighbourhood residents to volunteer to care for gardens on public property. Photo Michael Geller

After all, we have a precedent in the Greenest City 2020 “street garden” program in which neighbourhood volunteers attractively landscape public boulevards and traffic circles.

City-organized neighbourhood cleanups are another example of residents undertaking what most usually expect government to do.

Another surprising response to my last column was the number of people who urged me to watch a Seattle KOMO 4 television news special titled “Seattle is Dying.”

This controversial program has attracted almost four million views and deals with the problems of homelessness, drug addiction and crime in that city. While the situation portrayed is horrific, and much worse than what most of us think is happening in Vancouver, Seattle wasn’t always as bad as it is today.

Moreover, the problems featured in the film are found in many cities throughout America, especially those on the West Coast.

The program is the third in a trilogy. The first was called "There But For the Grace of God..." which explored homelessness in 2016.

The second was called "Demon at the Door" about heroin addiction.

As the producer notes, this third program is about the consequences of homelessness and drug addiction. It interviews citizens who no longer feel safe taking their families into downtown Seattle and parents who won't take their children into neighbourhood parks. It's about the growing degradation in the downtown and related theft and crime.

But it does offer a solution, namely the Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) program in Providence Rhode Island administered by that state’s Department of Corrections.

An online review of the “Seattle is Dying” documentary reveals considerable angry debate about the program and how it proposes addressing the related problems of homelessness, drug addiction and mental illness.

I shared the documentary on Twitter, adding that Vancouver is not Seattle.

However, a False Creek resident responded: “The personal sickness and despair shown is exactly what we see in our 'hood daily. The garbage and filth on the streets, the stench, the crime — all the same. The successful approach in Rhode Island saves lives and preserves quality of life for all. Why can't YVR do better?”

I agree. Vancouver must do better. But it will take combined action by politicians, city officials, police and caring residents like the Courier reader who regularly paints Arbutus Corridor electrical boxes.

Opinion Vancouver Courier Disgusting’ state of parkades and city streets reflects diminishing civic pride in Vancouver May 21, 2019

Despite social ills, city shouldn’t become complacent

     The fentanyl overdose crisis. Money laundering. Unfair evictions. Unaffordable housing. Inadequate public transit. Limited childcare. Loneliness.

     These are just some of the issues facing Vancouver. However, this week’s column is not directly about any of them.

     Instead, I want to revisit a topic I wrote about in March, namely, the filthy, disgusting condition of an EasyPark managed, city-owned parkade in Gastown.

     While the column was critical of EasyPark, it also explored why so many downtown stairwells and back lanes have sadly become public toilets.

     It proposed increased public toilets and improved property maintenance while we await more facilities.

     Last week, I parked in EasyPark’s Lot 2 parkade at Cambie and Pender. This is the site of Vancouver's first hospital and, in 2018, was designated with a Vancouver Heritage Foundation plaque as part of the “Places That Matter” program.    

     Although I didn’t see the plaque, I did find a parkade in even worse condition than the Gastown parkade. The stench in the stairwell was not just unpleasant, it was sickening.To get this parkade cleaned up, I tweeted the following:

$5.50 an hour to park at filthy, urine soaked @EasyParkVan parking garage at Beatty & Pender. I will be writing to EasyPark president & Board of Directors to join me on tour of this & Gastown parkades. Maybe I should ask @globalnews @CBCVancouver @CTVVancouver
to join us.

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     While EasyPark did not respond, Global TV emailed and offered to join me on a tour at 11 a.m. last Friday. I proposed that we meet at the stairwell I found so unpleasant, but the cameraman found one that was even more putrid and littered with discarded needles and other drug debris.

     On Saturday, Global broadcast its story, which included interviews with parkade users, all of whom complained about the stench.     One young woman, who uses the facility every day, said she must hold her jacket over her nose every time she uses the stairs.

     Hopefully, EasyPark's general manager will personally visit this parkade and arrange for the stairwells, one of which resembles a cesspool behind a reinforcing bar gate, to be thoroughly cleaned.

     I also urge EasyPark directors, Vancouver facilities officials and politicians to visit the parkade, if only to see that I am not exaggerating the disgusting and unhealthy condition of this city-owned facility.

     While EasyPark spokesperson Linda Bui apologized to Global TV for the “unsatisfactory experience the customer was subject to during their last visit,” noting a third party maintenance contractor provides onsite janitorial services six days a week, what is really needed is a long-term strategy to address the problems facing this and other parking garages.

      The issue is not just the smell and unsightly appearance. It is also the crime that regularly occurs. Next to where the TV cameraman filmed his interviews, broken glass from yet another break-in was clearly visible.

     I would like to offer EasyPark a few suggestions. Firstly, why not install portable toilets in these parkades? They would benefit both the homeless and others using the stairwells as toilets and car parkers. Surely it will be easier to clean a portable toilet than the stairwells.

     Also, why not install video cameras and notices letting everyone know they’re being monitored?

     Why not organize a neighbourhood watch program and invite volunteers to community clean-ups in return for food or parking vouchers and a barbecue?     

     However, my concern is not just these parkades. I am also troubled by the increasing amount of unwanted graffiti on electrical boxes and other structures around the city and garbage on the streets.

     I’m worried about the increasing number of homeless people sleeping on sidewalks and dangerously wandering into traffic at busy intersections, begging for change.

     Finally, I fear that, collectively, we are becoming too complacent about what is happening around our city. Too many Vancouverites appear to be losing their sense of civic pride.

     I realize cleaning parkades and graffiti is not going to solve the serious problems listed at the top of this column. But that is no reason why we shouldn’t be making more of an effort to beautify our city. I hope some of you will join me in speaking out.