Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 2h

The Chicago story, as many have noted, rhymes an awful lot with some pretty terrible history.

But evidence also reminds me of the Aurora, CO, landlord who really amped up the Venezuelan gang story at his buildings seemingly to get out of code violations. www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/c429982...

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Jennifer Robson 🇨🇦 @jrobson.bsky.social · 14h

Announcement from PM Carney moments ago and this is good news. I've been working on this issue with @saulschwartz.bsky.social and @agenestgregoire.bsky.social for years. We've documented how many Canadians don't file and miss out on or loose benefits, .. 1/3

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 12h

September data was released today. The drop in absolute number of travellers is a bit lower than in the (higher volume) summer months, but year over year percentage change drop held fairly steady.

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 1d

Delighted that I've only read one of these so far, leaving me with a glorious list of future reads.

(The West Passage was really fun. Like reading a version of the movie Labyrinth that dispensed with the extraneous outsider and cranked up the weirdness x10)

Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · Jun 18

We're thrilled to present the shortlist for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction:

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 1d

This seems promising (if perhaps overdue)... looks like BC is putting together stronger minimum standards and enforcement mechanisms for municipal implementation of Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing requirements. news.gov.bc.ca/releases/202...

If passed, this bill will amend the Local Government Act and Vancouver Charter to:

remove barriers to create consistent conditions throughout the Province for small-scale, multi-unit housing by clarifying the definition of where it will be allowed.
This change will prevent local governments from excluding zones where small-scale, multi-unit housing should be allowed or making further restrictions that make it more difficult to build anything other than single-family or duplex housing for communities with more than 5,000 people, and within urban-containment boundaries.
expand the list of provincial site standards that can be regulated:
the amount of buildable area and number of buildings on a lot;
housing forms (to allow triplexes, rowhomes and townhouses); and
parking requirements (to ensure excessive parking requirements that mandate several parking spaces per unit are not limiting housing development).

If monitoring indicates that overly restrictive site standards and excessive off-street parking requirements continue to serve as barriers to the viability of homes that families need in some communities, the Province can put its recommended minimum standards into regulations and require local governments to implement those standards to enable small-scale, multi-unit housing.

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 2d

RM-7

You may have consented...

"Section 1.1 Intent
The intent of this schedule is to encourage development of townhouses..."

But isn't there somebody you forgot to ask?

Section 2.1
"Townhouse: Conditional [use only]"

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 2d

Riding the Point Grey Road bikeway during the election was such a hoot. All of those cyclists negatively polarized by passing billionaires posting their drunk uncle dinner table rants out front... almost feel bad about the $600 lack of self-awareness www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Billionaire Chip Wilson fined $600 for unauthorized election sign targeting B.C. NDP | CBC News

Elections B.C. says three signs Lululemon founder Chip Wilson put up in front of his Vancouver home during the 2024 provincial election period, including one that called the B.C. NDP "communist," cons...

www.cbc.ca

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Julia Azari @juliaazari.bsky.social · 2d

states and political structures and such are there to serve humanity, not the other way around. nationalism is a lie and should be rejected. we need to be pretty clear about this.

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 3d

People don't realize how literally this was meant... vancouver.ca/green-vancou...

Greenest City Action Plan

Greenest City is a bold initiative that addresses Vancouver's environmental challenges.

vancouver.ca

Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 3d

Neatly torn between "absolutely must send this to my brother-in-law" and "cannot under any circumstances send this to my brother-in-law."

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 4d

This is brilliant.

More broadly, would love a scholarly consideration of how politicians prioritizing speedy travel - perhaps due to work demands, but also maybe oversized egos - leads to so much bad policy, from disabling speed enforcement to lack of taking air travel seriously as climate problem.

Isaac Callan @isaaccallan.bsky.social · 4d

Here are some of the automated speed enforcement tickets given to vehicles assigned to Ford cabinet ministers. #OnPoli

Story ▶️ globalnews.ca/news/1146373...

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Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 5d

Basically all professional journals treat multifamily dwellings as a selfish convenience with serious social costs in the 1920s. They always are opposed to the purportedly universal necessity of detached houses—which they always conflate with ownership and eusocial behavior.

Are Apartments Necessary?

An Important Test as to the Legality of Zoning Regulations. Judge Kramer Rules Against Establishment of Apartment Houses in Resident Sections

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 7d

"The total regional [Development Cost Charge] for a new apartment in the Vancouver sewerage area was $6,249 last year. It escalated to $13,392 this year, and will rise further to $17,873 in 2026 and $20,906 in 2027. That’s a total increase of 235 per cent."

see: metrovancouver.org/about-us/dev...

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 7d

counterargument

a man in a suit says let them fight in front of a group of soldiers

ALT: a man in a suit says let them fight in front of a group of soldiers

media.tenor.com

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 8d

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 8d

Petite bourgeoisie = owns the means of production but is less than 6 ft for men / 5'7 for women / 5'10 for enbies. I don't make the rules, Lenin did

Doubtful Ghost 👻 @doubtful-guest.bsky.social · 8d

Petite bourgeoisie?

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 8d

So much this.

The collapse of "working class" into an education category is straight-up terrible social science.

But don't take my word for it. We can actually ASK people about their social class & see how crummy the match is! e.g. here from 2017...

homefreesociology.com/2017/04/26/g...

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Bryn Davidson - Lanefab @lanefab.com · 9d

So, here's our vision for the 'New Vancouver Special':

Existing owners redevelop their lot, building 6 "family size" flats, and keeping 2 for themselves

4 additional families buy in as co-developers

City provides "outright" zoning so the permit can be had in the same timeline as a house

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 9d

Sewer socialism adjacent reminder for me to pay more attention to what's happening in Montréal

Transition Montréal @transitionmontreal.bsky.social · 9d

Our mayoral candidate, @craigsauve.bsky.social, promises the construction of two hundred fifty public toilets that are heated, well lighted, and universally accessible by 2029. #polMtl

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 9d

Chuckling just because I think the idea of what's librarian-coded has really been... um... changing in recent years.

www.nypl.org/blog/2019/07...

Books and Ink: The Literary Tattoos of NYPL Staff | The New York Public Library

Tattooing has been around for thousands of years, and it's no surprise that books and literature often serve as tattoo inspiration.

www.nypl.org

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · 10d

Most of the power authoritarians have is freely given. We should not comply with them in advance.

Trump is far weaker than he looks. So is the GOP. We should draw them out, drain them at every opportunity, and fight for people’s wellbeing at every turn.

We have been sent here to fight for people.

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 10d

AOC: I think there's two things that are happening at once: One, there absolutely is an unprecedented abuse of power, destruction of norms, erosion of our government and our democracy in order to prop up an authoritarian style of governance

However, they are weaker than they look…

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Michelle Cyca @michellecyca.com · 10d

It was very special to work with six brilliant, thoughtful Indigenous writers — Michelle Good, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Eva Jewell, Janelle Lapointe, Anna McKenzie and Riley Yesno — on this series about truth and reconciliation, in print & online for @thewalrus.ca. thewalrus.ca/truth-and-re...

The Truth of Reconciliation | The Walrus

The TRC report, released in 2015, laid out ninety-four clear Calls to Action. Ten years later, Indigenous writers reflect on what has and hasn’t been achieved

thewalrus.ca

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 11d

Rainbow alert Vancouver!

rainbow over Vancouver, houses in foreground & trees

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Nathan Lauster @lausterna.bsky.social · 11d

I thought there was an even more formal involvement of Gibson? Here (from 2016) it suggested he "consults for Arc’teryx Veilance" www.documentjournal.com/2016/05/fash...

Fashion in an Age of Technology

Collectible but Not Consumeristic

www.documentjournal.com

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Brendan Dawe @dawe.bsky.social · 11d

A brief history of the Vancouver area Interurban Lines

Brendan Dawe @dawe.bsky.social · 11d

a whole bunch of providers jumped into fill that niche when electric train technology became available, they just tended to 'spend' the advantages of the tech on cheaper right of way or greater coverage in ways that made them quite uncompetitive in the motorized era

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