Mould risk at Olympic Village?
Little posted a link to this Province newspaper story over the weekend. Subcontractors at the Vancouver Olympic Village are accused of taking shortcuts in its construction, including not insulating all in wall pipes. This brings a risk of mould problems 3 or 4 years down the road:
RSS 2.0 comments feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.During the meeting, Loftus says, Jasper was shown photos of the uninsulated pipes in various buildings on the site and said he would get back to the insulators union, but Loftus said he’s still waiting. A second visit to the site weeks after the meeting found the drywall still in place with the pipes now hidden behind it.
“I don’t think they can fix it on time,” Loftus said. “They would have to take the walls down, inspect all the piping and then do it right. It would certainly be cheaper to do it now rather than later, but I’m guessing it would cost millions.
“And if they found mould, it would be even worse.”
Ballem said she wasn’t told about any specific problems with the construction of the Olympic Village, only that a union had some concerns about quality control.
“This is the first I’ve heard of this,” Ballem said when contacted by The Province. “If the concerns are true — and I have no evidence of whether they are or not — and they not being paid attention to, that’s a concern for the city.”
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pricedoutfornow Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Nice! Now people are DEFINITELY going to rush out after the Olympics and buy these condos for $500k each!
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Paulb Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Hey Pope,
I’ve set up shop in PEI and I have my new blog up and running. I hope you don’t mind the shamless plug!
The blog will have a monthly stats for all of PEI and also have info. about living Island life and relocation tips. All in all it should be decent.
Talk soon!
Paul
Here is the blog:http://paul-charlottetown.blogspot.com/
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MrBear Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Paul;
You need to separate the ‘blog:’ part from the url so people can, oh I don’t know… click on it?
http://paul-charlottetown.blogspot.com/
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Arwen Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Hi, Paul! I hope you’re settling in well!
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mflat Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Paul, great to hear from you and see you’re publishing again. Will add your blog to my RSS feeds and follow the news from the opposite coast!
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CZ Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Nice to see your post Paul.
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Re-diculous Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Wow! A Financial caution warning printed in the Vancouver Sun……overcome by guilt I suppose
http://www.househunting.ca/buy.....78841c6f26
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oneangryslav Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Re-diculous: Nice find, but once again I have to point out the financial illiteracy of the media.
An increase in mortgage rates from 3% to 6% is a three-percentage point increase in mortgage rates, but an increase of 100 per cent in the same. I’m sure that for most people a three per cent increase would cause absolutely no trouble (like rates going from 3% to 3.09%) but a 100% increase is a “whole ‘nother ball of wax.”
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rp Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Holy crap Vancouver is bankrupt! Property taxes will not cover a $450M loss, and nor will development fees in the middle of a housing bust. Vancouver’s citizens will be paying *extremely* high taxes for years and getting *minimal* services in return, and that’s after the province bails them out (which it must do).
This is equal in size to the fast ferry fiasco, but the province of BC can levy income and sales taxes and sell natural resource rights. It also handles a health and education spending, which are huge budgets that can be cut. Everyone remembers the pain of the provincial cuts as the fast ferry loss (and others) were realized.
Well, Vancouver can’t raise property taxes 5x. They can’t possibly get out of this on their own. They are bankrupt and the only thing awaiting citizens of the “best city in the world” is a decade of misery. Yikes!!
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Anon Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Paul, while your impressions are fresh from the move to PEI, please share what is different there?
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realpaul Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
rp:
#10 I heard a ’shitty councillor’ from Vision today on the ‘english girls’ 1410 talk show say that the ’shitty’ needed to start buying market value residences for the homeless right away. new condos for transients from Montreal, what a concept.
They have officially crapped on the idea that 2/3rds of the Olympic Village mess will go for low income housing. How could it? The costs on the units are now pushing 1,000,000 million each ++++ with all the overruns and they aren’t even at the expensive stage yet. Don’t forget they have to tear out the guts of the building after the games to make it ‘market ready’.
I don’t know how the COV’s bond sale went. I didn’t buy any Bwahahahahaha and I didn’t hear of anyone else bragging about buying either. The papers went silent. Maybe it fell through?
And don’t think they can’t or won’t raise taxes 5X’s. Think of how every service and fee you have to pay will be going up on top of the prop tax bill!! Don’t forget how every civic contract is up in late 2010. if you think the rat and roach problem is bad now after the last strike wait till 2010!
Has anyone heard of the Vision team tackling the raw sewage problem? Super natural my ass.
How about the vehicle levy imposed on prop owners around the skytrain being expanded. Don’t hold your breath, this Vision bunch habe proven themselves to be the least competant in history.
So yes, you are right, high tax and zero services. Thats the future.
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Denialisrampant Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Real estate is about to get very cheap. if you survive that is. Virus conspiracy theory goes global as lawsuit filed at UN unleashes the dogs of war.
http://www.wholecure.com/journ.....%20who.htm
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VultureBoy Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
If the city had any sense they would be selling the unsold Olympic Village condos now,and aggressively, while the market has some life. What is wrong with them? They think the market is just going to get hotting and hotter, higher and higher?!?!?! Sometimes you gotta count your lucky stars and cash out.
Probably they don’t want to “lock in” losses—would look bad. But so much better to take a whipping now, than a catastrophic loss in a year when the market has no life.
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Vancondobear Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
So I have been staring at this 2 bedroom condo for sale in the Woodward’s fiasco, errr, building, on a realtor’s website (claimed as exclusive listing!) for $1,533,000. It was been there for a year. No change in price.
Now that Woodwards is starting to rent out – I can see that 2 bedrooms are offered at $2500 inclusive of the homeowner’s assoc fee.
oh oh…
Who in their right mind would pay $1.5MM for something they can rent for $2500/month???
I almost thought of renting there when I saw the price…but I am too scared of the neighbourhood…..
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Boombust Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
“…new condos for transients from Montreal, what a concept.”
I have to AGREE…more rather than less. Watching tonight’s CTV NEWS, there was a story about that shelter someplace near downtown that is causing problems and will be shut down in two days or so…
ANYHOO, I said to my wife, “As if WE owe some twenty year old off the bus from Ontario a place to live.”
AND, if they’re not from out of town, they’re likely mentally ill. Woe is US for shutting down places like Riverview. Another stupid imported idea from the USA.
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Dave Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
business manager for the local union representing mechanical insulators
Enough said right there. How credible are they?
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No Longer Looking Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
“How credible are they?”
What makes you think they’re not credible. Sounds to me like they’d no more than anyone.
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No Longer Looking Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
no=know
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No Longer Looking Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I have to wonder if the helping hand of government is retreating for the hardcore elements, and the other hand is ready for a slap down. We’ll see between now and 2010. I have to admit, reluctantly, the time has come.
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Crash Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
The whole OlyVil fiasco is just another reason why I will not be buying in Vancouver. And I have to wonder what other corners have been cut with the rushed construction of these buildings.
I’ll be looking to probably buy in Burnaby, but not before summer 2010 once the dust has (hopefully) settled at least somewhat in the R/E market.
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Dave Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
No Longer Looking:
More credible than the architect, the engineer, the owner or the city inspector? I would put that union at the bottom of the credibility list.
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RennieWhereRU? Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Unrelated topic. Heard whispers that British Airways is almost bankrupt. Cancerned cause I have fair few frequent flyers and wondering if I should book flight with partner airline? Anyone shed some light on this?
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Chilled Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
16 Dave Says: June 29th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
business manager for the local union representing mechanical insulators
Enough said right there. How credible are they?
——
A heck of a lot more credible than those who oversaw the LAST leaky condo fiasco.
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Hovering Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Denialisrampant:
whoah
that bird flu conspiracy is such a load of crap
You don’t actually buy this stuff do you Denial ?
it must be true cause of all the bold text..
next you’ll be saying the UN is taking over America, you don’t have to pay taxes cause you’re a natural person and the world is going to end in 2012 (o.k. I believe that last one – those Aztecs made a damn good calendar)
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patriotzed Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
rp:
Property taxes will not cover a $450M loss, and nor will development fees in the middle of a housing bust. Vancouver’s citizens will be paying *extremely* high taxes for years and getting *minimal* services in return, and that’s after the province bails them out (which it must do).
CoV can borrow long term right now for about 4%. That’s an annual debt service of $18 mil on $450 mil or about $40/year per capita amortized.
Yes that’s real money and CoV taxpayers will be paying it, but “bankruptcy” and “extremely high taxes” are not in the picture. Nor will be any help from Gordo. He has his own bills to pay.
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Dave Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Chilled:
The last time insulation guys designed a building, this is what happened:
http://www.news.com.au/heralds.....63,00.html
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doug r Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
I guess we should be happy the Olympic Village hasn’t toppled over yet, unlike this tower in Shanghai…
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajour.....ss_WSJBlog
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....AD994BFN80
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Denialisrampant Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Dave:
#26, very funny picture. Did they forget to pour a foundation?
On the missing insulation fiasco. I have seen crews coming in from the valley so stoned that they couldn’t finish a sentence. The amount of dope being smoked on the site is unbelievable. It’s a real big problem in the building trades. Things going undone and installed upside down, inside out; electrical wiring going nowhere, boxes without wiring,exploding light fixtures, plumbing unglued, isulation missing, windows not screwed in, doors backwards, tile wonky, all very common, its not a secret on a building site.
They call it ‘dope’ for a reason.
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Dave Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Denialisrampant:
Sadly I don’t think that is anything new.
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Dave Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Denialisrampant:
It is some type of foundational failure for sure. There could be a lot of underlying causes.
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rp Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
patriotzed: CoV can borrow long term right now for about 4%. That’s an annual debt service of $18 mil on $450 mil or about $40/year per capita amortized.
Sure, but that’s not paying off any debt and as their position deteriorates the rates will go up. They are facing large shortfalls now, while collecting $300M/year in developer fees? See page 10 & 11 of:
http://vancouver.ca/fs/budgetS.....FI2008.pdf
You are correct that this is not a disaster *now*, however to me it looks like a disaster waiting to happen. If new development stalls they will have a gaping hole in the budget. Their credit has already been downgraded. If that happens again or interest rates go up, double whammy. Given how this has already unfolded, I don’t think the city will sort out a mouldy condo mess in any kind of cost effective way. $450M could be considered a minimum.
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Dave Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
rp:
The City of Van has a LOT of assets. They own a lot of land and can either sell or better utilize it to generate shortfalls in revenue, if needed.
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HorsDevors Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Yeah, the ’stoned workers’ problem is nothing new – I remember a post on this site from a few years back about that:
http://vancouvercondo.info/200.....toned.html
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Chilled Says:
June 29th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
I’ve been on enough construction sites in Vancouver to state that the people you see toking up in the morning and on the job ARE NOT union tradesmen. Probably general labourers and the like. Not that it makes a difference, really, but most of the journeymen electricians, plumbers, drywallers, elevator mechanics, heat and frost workers, etc are more ‘professional’ than the professional people many of you dudes deal with daily.
Sure there are exceptions, deal with it, but please don’t slag all ‘unions’ and attribute drug use to the construction industry in general.
http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servle.....lumbiaHome
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HorsDevors Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 7:10 am
Dave: “More credible than the architect, the engineer, the owner or the city inspector?”
I guess it depends on who’s doing the work of wrapping those pipes (or not doing the work as the case may be). Is it the architect? the engineer? or the mechanical insulators? And of course it depends on how thorough the inspectors are. We’re renovating our office right now, and I can tell you that city inspectors are a thorn in the side on some issues, but completely overlook others. They’re only human.
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patriotzed Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 8:24 am
rp:
Sure, but that’s not paying off any debt and as their position deteriorates the rates will go up.
Yes it is paying off debt, that’s what “amortized” means. And what do you think “long term” means?
And the CoV’s most valuable assets are not the properties it owns outright but all the real estate within its limits. The CoV can tax at any rate it wants which makes it in effect the ultimate owner of all property in the city. And the CoV’s tax rates are lower than many other metro Vancouver judisditions, never mind many other Canadian cities. And let’s not hear any nonsense about people abandoning houses if tax rates up – property taxes are vastly lower than ownership costs and rental value and would still be so even if taxes doubled. Higher taxes would simply push down the market price of the property so that ownership costs net of taxes would be the same as before.
Also the CoV’s fiscal stability is much better than senior governments – both its revenue and expense sides are more stable, because they are far less subject to cyclical variation.
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Denialisrampant Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Chilled:
#34 Seriously Dude, Every bodies smoking dope on the worksites. It’s the union guys with the steady work who are growing the dope in their basements to sell to the casuals.
Meanwhile the bad news can’t be hidden. The economy continues to shink for the 9th straight month. More unemployment coming in waves as the lay off settlements and EI run out.
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LordHuggington Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I’m not sure I’d want to touch a condo in this city with a barge pole given the horrendous track record they’ve had over here. First the leaky condos fiasco, now all sorts of murmurs of sub par construction quality from possible defective drywall, a continued stream of buildings going under envelopes for repairs, and now this. It just makes it near impossible to trust the quality of construction in this region. If I were in the market for a condo, I’d be worried how many of these places are ticking time bombs for a major assessment because there’s something wrong with it that could have been nipped in the bud when it was first going up.
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asalvari1 Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Dave:
Dave, is that your professional opinion on close inspection of the picture?
Or you just play smart-ass after reading the text – its clearly spelled how this happened.
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asalvari1 Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Dave:
Dave, I fell revealed that you are not running this city. Its bad now, but man, you would bring totally new levels here..
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Anonymous Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Dave admitted he’s a troll and has also pretended to be illiterate.
He gave out all the names he’d used. Ignore it.
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Anonymous Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 10:53 am
#14
“Who in their right mind would pay $1.5MM for something they can rent for $2500/month???”
Who would pay $2,500 to live in the DTES when $2,500 gets you a nice suite in False Creek North or Bayshore Drive?
Seriously you’d have to be on crack (and have a reasonable income) to choose the poorest postal code in Canada over the nicest waterfront areas in Vancouver.
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Suguar Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 11:49 am
RennieWhereRU?: It is hardly a whisper…two weeks ago it was headlines online.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/......html?.v=1
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Vancondobear Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Actually #42 – to be honest I might have to disagree with you on your alternate choices.
I currently live in one of those waterfront False Creek North condos and I just find the neighbourhood too cheesy for my liking. A LOT of wannabes.
As per Bayshore Drive, I guess it is ok but nothing to do around there really. Plus A LOT of empty condos doesn’t help the neighbourhood feeling.
In gastown there are some decent restaurants (Boneta, Salt, etc…)now and a feeling of a city starting. But you are right – bordering on the edge of scarytown. Worth $1700/month in my opinion. 2 bedroom that is…
Just my 2 cents.
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...bdk... Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
#44. it is true gastown has some restaurants.
Bayshore Drive has Denman if you want to go bohemian or ethnic.
Carderos, Lift, Crime Lab, Market at Shangri La if you want to go upscale.
Robson if you want to be with the tourists.
False Creek North has the suppliers whereas gastown has the end users.
Even $1700 seems high for having to step over crack pipes and needles to get into your building and you wouldn’t want your girlfriend walking around after 5pm
Time will tell I think Woodwawrds is going to define the condo bust in Vancouver
http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....1295.story
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realpaul Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Anonymous:
#42 , it doesn’t make any sense at all to want to live anywhere near the cesspool called False Creek at any address. There are 26 sewage outfalls lining the walls of False Creek from both sides.
Everybody in Yaletown that just took a shit or flushed their infected needles down the toilet just flushed it straight into False Creek. And this is your ‘upscale’ neighborhood? Shitside?
You’re right on one thing, only an idiot would choose to live there. What kind of delerium do you have to be in to not pay attention to ONE BILLION LITERS PER DAY OF RAW HUMAN EXCREMENT IN YOUR PLAYPEN?
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read on Says:
July 1st, 2009 at 12:10 am
can someone tell me why a union needs a business manager? what business have they to manage?
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Anonymous Says:
July 1st, 2009 at 12:13 pm
#46
The original Realpaul had thoughts on real estate and was half intelligent.
This new realpaul is an imposter that rants about poop and cops.
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realpaul Says:
July 1st, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Anonymous:
#48 , I’m glad to have brought the ravers, hiders and deniers out of the closet on the cop issue. The Socratic method is meant to be abrasive and thought provoking. It continues to surprise me ( not) that everyone doesn’t realise that everything that happens in our society relates back to real estate. it’s called ‘The Big Picture’
If we regress into a dictatorship of baton wielding nazi’s free-wheeling through the streets killing citizens at random as in some other countries then what does that do to the sanctity of real estate prices in the long term? You have to think a little bigger picture dude. If our communities are no longer safe from EVERYONE including the police force then we have nothing!!!!!
We have to understand that all of these ‘values’ we hold dear have been hard fought for and we must fight to hold on to them. Freedom isn’t free.
Today we see the ultimate betrayal of our civic rights perpetrated by the civic government.It is on Canada day that we have seen our right not to submit to illegal search and seizure suspended by the TRANSIT BOARD? Are you effing kidding me?
Ironic that the day we give our shout out to the freedoms we enjoy in this country is the very day our rights and freedoms are suspended on the pretext of ‘civic pride’. It’s a slippery slope when your rights are suspended ‘just for one day’. Thanks, my family members fought and died for your freedom, I’m not going to overlook an encroachement on those freedoms by any party.
So dude, rememeber me when your freedoms are suspended because you didn’t decide to defend them. Every right to freedom is precious. None are frivolous or trivial.
Think Big, Think Free.
Happy Canada Day.
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read on Says:
July 1st, 2009 at 2:31 pm
rp – (46)
a billion eh?
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dboy Says:
July 1st, 2009 at 4:32 pm
realpaul:
Only person polluting Vancouver is you. You are certainly full of more shit than any of the waters around vancouver.
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realpaul Says:
July 1st, 2009 at 5:49 pm
read on:
#50, the official number is 800 Million ++, look it up straggler. If the truth hurts you, too bad. trying to justify living in ‘Shitside’ by avoiding the facts is just plain stupid. If you are that concerned about your property value you should be screaming at the ‘Shitty Council’, not me. Living in ignorance is not the answer.
#51, If the truth hurts, too bad.
Can’t hide from the facts chumbo.
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...bdk.. Says:
July 1st, 2009 at 11:08 pm
realpaul this is a vancouver condo blog.
your right wing rants are cute and all but go find some fascist right wing bush loving blog.
Obviosuly the original real paul and this dufus are two different people. run along now troll. the original realpaul talked about real estate. this one is just a tool
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realpaul Says:
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:50 am
…bdk..:
#53 Sorry but hiding behind the tired rant of ‘fascist’ calling doesn’t make a braindead opinion any more correct. You name calling morons-deniers just don’t get the big picture. The deniers contingents remind me of the forest monkey’s who beat their chests, throw grass, twigs and dirt in the air when they get frustrated. You won’t win an argument with me through misdirection. These are some pretty weany comebacks, actually serving to prove my point. Boo Hoo.
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Anonymous Says:
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:54 am
realpaul=Troll
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion