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Reposted by Dave Thompson 🇨🇦

CHEK News @cheknews.ca · 1d

Victoria has once again captured global attention, earning the title of World's Best Small City in Condé Nast Traveler's 2025 Readers' Choice Awards.

‘An honour’: Victoria named world’s best small city for third consecutive year

Victoria has once again captured global attention, earning the title of World's Best Small City in Condé Nast Traveler's 2025 Readers' Choice Awards.

cheknews.ca

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 8h

😞

Reposted by Dave Thompson 🇨🇦

Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 11h

Today, @nationalobserver.com is launching a tool to search municipal meeting transcripts across Canada. The tool has already helped us unearth a climate denial network targeting towns and cities, report on AI data centers, measure our impact and more.

Journalists and researchers, sign up for free!

Canada’s National Observer unveils a powerful tool for fighting disinformation

Civic Searchlight brings together municipal meeting transcripts from across Canada into a searchable database for the first time. It has already been used to fight disinformation, report on impact, di...

www.nationalobserver.com

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 9h

I agree the greatest need is deeply affordable. And we are taking other actions to increase the amount of shelter rate and other deeply affordable housing.

Workers, seniors, students, families and others also need to access housing.

Governments can do more than one thing at a time.

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 9h

The reason I am spending any time on this is because there is frankly a lot of disinformation being circulated by housing opponents.

The literature discusses how deeply the moving chains go into the affordability end of the housing spectrum.
...

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Reposted by Dave Thompson 🇨🇦

Michael Wiebe @michaelwiebe.bsky.social · 11h

www.buildingabundance.ca/p/vacancy-ch...

Vacancy chains

How building expensive new homes lowers the price of old homes

www.buildingabundance.ca

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 9h

Disinformation about municipal policy and politics is increasing sharply. I see it literally every day.

It's misdirecting people, and making them unhappy, angry, and disconnected from reality.
#yyj #disinformation #misinformation

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 12h

Come and see the cute hermit crabs.

Stay for the housing market economics.

vimeo.com/117375257?fl...
#housing #affordability #yyj #urbanism

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 12h

Did someone just ask for a hermit crab conga line video narrated by David Attenborough? www.discovermagazine.com/hermit-crabs...

Hermit Crabs Line Up By Size to Exchange Shells

Get in line.

www.discovermagazine.com

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 12h

David Attenborough explains in a video here and yes the crabs are very cute: www.discovermagazine.com/hermit-crabs...

Hermit Crabs Line Up By Size to Exchange Shells

Get in line.

www.discovermagazine.com

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 1d

☝️"Vacancy chains unfold when households with higher income move into newly built units ... Doing so releases their former units for occupancy by households with lower income. When lower-income households move into the newly vacated units, they in turn create vacancies in their former homes."

assets.cmhc-schl.gc.ca

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 1d

Landlords and housing opponents hate this one trick.
assets.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/sites/cmhc/p...
#Housing #affordability #yyj

Image of text from linked report discussing vacancy chains

Image of illustration from linked report showing how vacancy chains work

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 1d

Renewables > Coal

First time ever.

#climateaction

Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 1d

Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time

- Record solar expansion and steady wind growth driving world’s shift away from fossil fuels in 2025, report by @ember-energy.org finds

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time

Record solar expansion and steady wind growth driving world’s shift away from fossil fuels in 2025, report finds

www.theguardian.com

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 2d

In Victoria there has been a shift in projects from condo to rental, and the rental vacancy rate is still well below balanced. #yyj

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 2d

From the article: "Eventually, industry experts say the units will be bought. 'The absorption is there,' said Zayadi. Especially in Greater Victoria, which is moving from glut to cuts, where experts say less supply is forecasted to be coming online in years to come"
1/2...

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 2d

Large wood poles with wires generally are not owned by cities. Cities do own the small metal posts with traffic and parking signs.

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Reposted by Dave Thompson 🇨🇦

Jim Mayer 🇨🇦 @pentastich.bsky.social · 4d

This is great! Every student that lives on campus takes pressure off of Victoria's rental market, and reduces commuting. The University has the land—they just need the money to build. Funding this UVic residence was a win-win decision, and one the province should keep repeating.
#yyj

Times Colonist @timescolonist.bsky.social · 5d

Province commits $121M to 510-bed UVic residence to be built on parking lot

Work on the 17-storey building is expected to begin next spring and wrap up in 2029.

dlvr.it

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 3d

The second half of the 20th Century left our cities and our planet with many problems and this is one of them. Very expensive post retrofits are needed. Owners need to keep their hedges trimmed back under municipal bylaws.

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 3d

Guns (less than a quarter as many tho)

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 3d

Governments have built cities and regions in a way that makes it unsafe and/or impractical for many people to use any other mode of transportation, with resulting crashes, local air pollution, GHG emissions, and physical and mental health impacts. There is a lot of renovating to do.

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Reposted by Dave Thompson 🇨🇦

CHEK News @cheknews.ca · 4d

The province is supporting a high-density student housing build for the University of Victoria, which aims to alleviate affordability and availability challenges for students that often lead to long commutes and less time spent on campus.

510 beds planned for UVic with $178M high-density student housing build

The province is supporting a high-density student housing build for the University of Victoria, which aims to alleviate affordability and availability challenges for students that often lead to long commutes and less time spent on campus.

cheknews.ca

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 4d

Japanese tea ceremony demonstration at the Victoria Tea Festival today, which is packed and was linen up down the block, and with such a diverse crowd! Friendship, warmth, kindness and civility. Thanks to www.theteasociety.org www.victeafestrevival.org
#yyj

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 5d

This is correct. My opinions, coming from my personal email.

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Reposted by Dave Thompson 🇨🇦

Times Colonist @timescolonist.bsky.social · 5d

Victoria signs off on controversial new Official Community Plan

After a public hearing that stretched over four nights and saw hundreds of residents weigh in, council voted 5-3 to approve the new blueprint for growth in the city.

dlvr.it

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Dave Thompson 🇨🇦 @davethompsonvic.bsky.social · 5d

Love it when people speak for the neighbourhood! I just want to see the election results.