BC, opinion, prices, supply

VSB seeks input on Kingsgate Mall

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113 Comments

Did you know that the Vancouver School Board owns the land under Kingsgate Mall?

Well now you do.

The VSB is seeking ideas on what to do with this asset due to current budget shortfalls.

Surprisingly, the modest little mall has also been generating big money for the Vancouver School Board — upwards of $750,000 per year, The VSB has owned the East Broadway and Kingsway lot on which the mall sits since 1892 when the long-gone False Creek School first opened on the site.

But 124 years later and facing a $24 million budget shortfall, the VSB is now contemplating its future with Kingsgate, and asking for public input.

“One of the questions we’re asking is what do you think the school board should do with it,” said VSB chairman Mike Lombardi.

According to Lombardi, the VSB could see revenue from the property increase to $2 million annually — money which flows directly into the operations budget, offsetting the deficit. The lease with mall operator, Beedie Development Group is set to be renegotiated next year.

Selling the land is also a possibility, although money raised from a sale won’t help the budget shortfall because it would be restricted to capital projects like new school construction and building upgrades.

Read the full article over at the CBC.

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[…] –millionaire investors pay avg yearly tax of $1400 –saving for down payment a struggle –born too late –stampede to overpay –worlds loneliest city –earn the least, pay the most –negative mortgage rates […]

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Combat roach

Why this vote fudging remainds on exams cheating?

http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-787069-13822.html

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southseacompany

“Real Estate Report Offers Reason Why Canadians Don’t Want To Sell Their Homes”, Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/04/21/potential-home-sellers-in-vancouver-toronto-worried-about-becoming-buyers-report_n_9748742.html

” A new report suggests the red hot real estate markets in Vancouver and Toronto are discouraging some potential sellers from listing their homes because they’re afraid of becoming buyers themselves.”

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bullwhip29

China is cracking down on offshore accounts and corrupt officials with a new international manhunt
http://www.businessinsider.com/china-is-cracking-down-on-offshore-accounts-and-corrupt-officials-2016-4

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Lurker

Heard that one before.

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BubbleTea

Pure window dressing from China. Skynet has only netted 26 of 100 most wanted. According to Times.com in 2011, there were 18,000 corrupt officials that fled china since 1990’s with missing 120 billions dollars. And we see people like Michael Ching walking around Oakridge Mall.

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Ulsterman

Many of the VSB schools sit on land much of it large gravel pitches. I wonder if it would be possible for them to put up a single tower full of rental apartments on the larger lots? They already own the land so it’s just building and permitting costs. The rental revenues would probably eliminate the deficit. I hate that schools would have to develop their land, but given the current situation with budgets and the value of land, it may be the smart way to go.

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Zzzz

Unaffordability, not indie schools, to blame for declining VSB enrolment

But the PEN data doesn’t tell the whole story, which is why the Vancouver School Board (VSB) is doing brief exit surveys with families who move take their kids out of VSB schools. The district has completed 150 of these surveys so far out of the 575 parents they asked to survey. Although final analysis won’t take place until the fall, early numbers show Vancouver housing prices are the main culprit.

“Seventy-five per cent of parents said that’s the biggest reason for them. The affordability crisis in Vancouver is significant and serious, so it was no surprise to us,” said Mike Lombardi, vice-chair of the VSB and chair of Committee I.

http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/06/11/Independent-schools-not-to-blame-for-declining-VSB-enrolment/

At least we know why the kids are fleeing.

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ostritch

Local kids really only care about pot and their smartphones. At school they are taught about mental illness, homophobia, racism and sexism. Why not just save a bunch of money and cancel the whole public school system mirage. Just sell classroom spaces to foreigners only? And for big big bucks. They’re the only ones who do their homework anyway. Plus maybe 2% of local kids. These can become doctors, lawyers etc. The rest we can just send into the construction industry where they’re needed and they can build condos while high, as is done now. The slightly more avaricious ones can become agents. Problem solved.

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paulb

New
199
Sold
355

TI:8409

http://www.paulboenisch.com

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Maria

Canada is subsidizing foreign millionaires

http://www.theprovince.com/business/canada+subsidizing+foreign+millionaires/11868132/story.html

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Combat roach

Fucking Swedes, Germans, Austrians and other European scumbags…

Spacey, is this sounds better?

“Neighbourhoods where homes typically sell in the $2 million to $6 million range also have the city’s highest welfare levels.

Under the immigrant investor program, a typical scenario might see a foreign businessman buying a house, then sending his wife and children to live in Canada while he remains overseas.

No one is earning income in Canada, so this family qualifies for welfare.

Our taxes are buying their champagne and caviar.

And don’t forget they use Canada’s free health care and education systems, without paying taxes.”

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Terry

My Chinese neighbors explained to me that their community has consultants who help them claim all kinds of taxpayer subsidized benefits….welfare, food kitchen, HST rebates, BC energy rebate, properly tax deferral, and of course….free medical.

Oh, their house is appraised at $3.2Mil.

Canadians are suckers!

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Cat in the hat

I like the heading, drive anger from people who should be very anger, but don’t.

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franko

I don’t think politicians should be all that smug about the 70% homeowner thing. All the boomer type homeowners I know among friends and rellies are more concerned about their kids and grandkids never being able to afford a house, and maintaining the culture of the community. And what good is the inflated value of their property as long as they are alive and need a place to live.

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sox

Quebec’s Power Corporation had shares in Chinese company cited in Panama Papers
“During André Desmarais’s tenure on the CITIC Pacific board, Power Corp. accumulated shares in the Hong Kong-based holding company, which works mainly in the steel, iron-ore mining and real estate sectors.”

CITIC Pacific’s parent company is CITIC Group, owned by China’s Central People’s Government.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/power-corporation-panama-papers-chinese-1.3544919

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sox

International student knifed 52-year-old landlady to death in Toronto.
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2016/04/20/murder-charge-laid-in-cindy-torbar-death

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Best place on meth

I know exactly what spacetard is about to respond with, so I’ll just beat the fucker to it.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/lin-jun-alleged-victim-of-luka-rocco-magnotta-was-dead-before-reported-missing

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sox

US Central States Pension Fund, one of the largest pension funds in the nation, has filed an application to cut participant benefits, which would be effective July 1 2016, as it “projects” it will become officially insolvent by 2025. In 2015, the fund returned -0.81%, underperforming the 0.37% return of its benchmark.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2016/04/20/one-of-the-nations-largest-pension-funds-could-soon-cut-benefits-for-retirees/

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sox

NZ former ambassador to China, Tony Browne, believes New Zealand’s on the verge of signing a treaty.
He told Larry Williams China’s existing extradition deals with countries like Canada prohibit execution of extradited nationals, and New Zealand’s deal is very likely to do the same.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/larry-williams-drive-with-anz/audio/tony-browne-china-extradtion-treaty/

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West Coast Woman

I don’t know if anyone’s posted this link before, but it’s a very good article showing how our governments at all levels have failed to take actions to protect the residents of Vancouver, and tax-paying citizens and residents of Canada

https://thewalrus.ca/the-highest-bidder/:

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patriotz

And why haven’t governments done anything? Here’s as good an explanation as any:

People who already own homes would be unfairly hurt by a policy that would lead to a drop in real-estate values. If the current homeowner has taken out a mortgage for say 90% of the worth of their home, and values then drop by 10%, the homeowner has lost 100% of her or his equity.

The unspoken message here is that politicians know full well a crash in the RE market is possible, and they don’t want to be blamed for it by the 70% who are homeowners.

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YVR

Plus a housing crash would kill the economy. Unemployment in the Vancouver area will be massive. after the crash It is not just about pissed home owners. It is about jobs, taxation and all the spin offs. The politicians will ride it until it pops.

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vim

…..and nothing has changed under Trudeau. Just like it was under the Conservatives.

I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again

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patriotz

Nobody got fooled. Trudeau said very clearly in the leaders’ debate he would not restrict foreign ownership or take actions that may reduce prices. I don’t agree with that, but nobody can claim he wasn’t honest.

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vim

Trudeau promises affordable housing for Canadians September 9, 2015 TORONTO – Liberals will invest in the middle class and those working hard to join it by making it easier to find an affordable place to call home, said the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, Justin Trudeau, today. “Safe, adequate, and affordable housing is essential to building strong families, strong communities, and a strong economy,” said Mr. Trudeau. “We have a plan to make housing more affordable for those who need it most – seniors, persons with disabilities, lower-income families, and Canadians working hard to join the middle class.” A Liberal government will restore federal leadership on affordable housing by investing in a comprehensive National Housing Strategy that will: Prioritize significant new investments in affordable housing and seniors’ facilities, as part of the Liberals’ historic ten-year investment of nearly… Read more »

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vim

Patriotz, note the bold text above in the Liberal promise….right now, that looks like a massive FAIL in my opinion.

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patriotz

“Review” is not a promise to do anything, in fact it’s a promise not to actually do anything and I think the public knows it. The promises to put more money into social housing are worthwhile, and the NDP had similar promises. But if you think any party is going to come out and say they will act to bring prices down, forget it. By the way did you identify the politician I quoted?

My real point is that it’s not the politicians who are the problem, it’s the 70% of voters who are homeowners who are the problem.

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vim

I disagree. Only a small segment of that 70% bought in the last 10 years and would actually shift party loyalty over a softening market. Government has failed badly here…at all levels. Just looking at how they are only now scrambling to address the offshore tax revelations, is one small example of this.

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Best place on meth

“to keep home ownership within reach for Canadians living in these areas”

That sounds like a promise to DO something.

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franko

Justin doesn’t want to be bothered with unpleasant situations, McCallum isn’t quite sure where Vancouver is, and Patriotz is trying to find his way out of the corner he has painted himself into.

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Zero Down Forty

Yes, and what they’ll do is continue to subsidize homeownership, artificially keeping prices high.

That way:

1. The 70% that own are happy.

2. New young buyers think that they’re getting help to buy and are happy.

3. Real estate industry is happy.

Win-win- win.

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Best place on meth

You just can’t trust anyone from communist china. Is anybody still not clear on the fact that these people are the enemy?

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-justice-china-idUSKCN0XI29V

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BubbleTea

Result of our out of control immigration policy. Shut the door and fire the immigration department.

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space889

@Nom Nom Nom – There is a difference between acknowledging Canada’s immigration program let in a LOT of corrupt officials and refusing to deport them back to China to face their crimes, and saying every rich Chinese person must be a corrupted official scumbag, or that every Chinese is a locust that should be squashed. You can’t see the difference between the views then there is no point in having an intelligent conversion about it.

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bullwhip29

pretty clear that a disproportionate % of those that have made their way over here represent the 0.1% class of all chinese who made their 100’s of millions seemingly overnight through questionable business dealings. regular, average, hard working people dont make this kind of money nor do they wind up dead in the trunks of cars or diced up into bite sized morsels

http://i1.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/868/875/2015-07-29T22-52-12.933Z–1280×720.jpg?w=670&quality=70&strip=all

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space889

Most native Shanghai residents who had a gov’t/company dorm unit during the 80s, and simply be a bit smart and accumulated some properties are pretty much now all sitting on $1M+ CAD in RE assets alone. The old condo unit my family lived in is probably worth at least $500K+ CAD now.

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bullwhip29

say what you want..that’s fine with me. the truth is that the mafia own and control basically everything in china and russia. millions of regular joe’s have been booted out of their homes and have had their properties expropriated. connected individuals that no longer fit into the master plan get whacked on a daily basis. what do you think operation fox hunt is all about? it is perfectly understandable why people that fall into this camp want to get the eff out of there.
http://i.imgur.com/X5eNYkw.jpg

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space889

And seriously, when you have 30 years of 10%+/yr growth, it’s not that hard for the entrepreneurial to become rich, even without resorting to corruption. Unless you believe no one out of 1 billion+ people can possibly be entrepreneurs.

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BubbleTea

China Could Be Preparing to Challenge Canada’s Sovereignty Over the Northwest Passage
http://time.com/4302882/china-arctic-shipping-northwest-passage/
China has control of housing, might as well take over the NW Passage and the rest of Canada. Cristy and Trudeau, you trader.

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bestplaceonearth

hey bears, vancouver approved affordable home ownership program. get on the list,
or just sit there and bitch. it’s up to you.
this is truly the best place on earth, don’t you agree.

on another note, the thugs made a big mess at the beach yesterday.

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Best place on meth

Who cares?

We have a much bigger problem with foreign thugs turning the real estate market into their personal casino.

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bestplaceonearth

oh yeah, let go protest , join the ndp and no to everything.

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Shut It Down Already

He gives the 420 losers a pass because of their skin colour. Imagine a large public gathering of Chinese leaving garbage like that – he’d probably call them traitors or whatever his favourite word happens to be at the time.

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Oracle

Told you guys Patriotz was a paid shill for the immigration industry. But you guys wouldn’t listen.

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space889

Hmmm….finally some good news for the racists on this blog. Turns out you aren’t racists after all since Chinese and all Asians in general are just an urban legend!

http://www.thebeaverton.com/culture/item/2622-hollywood-producers-association-study-proves-asians-actually-just-an-urban-legend

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Hyper-mega-Bull

wasn’t that patriotz’s stance for years? “HAM is just a myth guys! HAM is only active in the high end guys! Yellow helicopters guys! Nothing to see here!”

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sox

Serve you right, for listening to the propaganda of RadioOTTAWA.

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bullwhip29

China’s debt-fueled economy ‘eerily’ echoes U.S. on brink of 2008 crisis, George Soros warns
http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/chinas-debt-fueled-economy-eerily-echoes-u-s-on-brink-of-2008-crisis-george-soros-warns

>>>when the big purge occurs, it will be spectacular in nature. 2008-09 was only a warmup act. what happens when all these crooks blink at once and try to access their “parked” money which is sitting nicely in OSB and stucco lined safety deposit boxes located in Vancouver?

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bullwhip29

Vancouver real estate firm’s new ads feature ‘shadow flipping’ homes
http://www.24news.ca/the-news/economic-news/218163-vancouver-real-estate-firms-new-ads-feature-shadow-flipping-homes

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bullwhip29

Saving for a home down payment a struggle in Toronto. And forget about Vancouver
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/saving-for-a-home-down-payment-a-struggle-in-toronto-and-forget-about-vancouver/article29704915

>>>it is not the DP that is the issue with many folks as the option to shake down the rest of the family still exists. the problem is that even a well paid professional couple cant afford the 5-figure mortgage payments on a modestly appointed detached home on Vanc’s westside and many other municipalities like richmond, north shore and so on where asking prices are well above $2M.

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space889

But but but no one has to buy, and renting is such a great option and really really increase quality of life, right? Nothing better than having landlord subsidize your cheap rents, and be your bitch when it comes to repairs. Isn’t that what the bears have been saying all these years??

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yoyo

Well said space….not just saying it, but doing it! Saving here faster than annual price rises and just waiting for a drop. It will come and I’m sure you’ll still be around here when it does.

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bullwhip29

remember everyone, we are paying for this…

Park Board anticipating massive 4/20 cleanup effort
http://www.news1130.com/2016/04/20/park-board-anticipating-massive-420-cleanup-effort/

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space889

All for a good cause right?! Celebrating a new narcotic that’s not as harmful as cigarettes. Just slowly rots your brain over a few decades and decrease motivation to actually get off couch and contribute to society. But collecting benefits, yeap, keep those $$$ coming.

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Royce McCutcheon

“Just slowly rots your brain over a few decades.”

I’ll drink to that!

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Nom Nom Nom

You have been slowly rotting our brain over the past few years….

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Best place on meth

For someone who whines so much about painting an entire group with the same brush, this asshole sure has some vicious opinions of all marijuana users.

Probably hates gays too.

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yoyo

Yup….the local rags covering pot “freedom” wall to wall. Not that we expect them to cover trivial things like affordability of shelter in Vancouver. Of course their subscription base is growing because of their awesome levels of relevance.

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southseacompany

“How booming cities made urban planning Canada’s hottest job”, Canadian Business

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/lists-and-rankings/best-jobs/2016-urban-planner-canadas-hottest-job/

“Urban growth—not to mention truckloads of infrastructure spending coming down the road—spell opportunity for urban planners”

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southseacompany

“The fear of missing out when shopping for a home”, BNN Video

http://canadaam.ctvnews.ca/finance/the-fear-of-missing-out-when-shopping-for-a-home-1.2868612

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bullwhip29

more paid advertising, nothing more. bankers selling mortgages and loans no different than the faux-economists/salesmen representing the realtors

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Hyper-mega-Bull

if you had listened to those people you would have done well. well, except for the home equity loan shill bill good.

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