A unique approach to creating childcare spaces?

Good morning,

Fowls, lawsuits and lawsuits against fowls, it’s a wild newsletter today!

Meanwhile, if you’re a food fan, the Financial Times — yes, the finance publication — has two great stories on breweries and Chinese food. Worth reading for sure.

Today, we’ve got:

• 👶 Build childcare spaces differently

• 👷 What the Metro Vancouver strike means for you

• 🧑‍⚖️ A failed lawsuit against a city councillor

Let’s go!

— Geoff Sharpe, Vancity newsletter writer

PS — You may notice more typos than normal. My colleague Robert, who reviews the newsletter, will be away for a while, so more errors than normal may slip through. We’re all part-time on the newsletter, so apologies in advance!

DEVELOPMENT

A unique approach to creating childcare spaces?

Vancouver faces a crisis with the lack of daycare centres for children. Now, a new motion set to be debated later this week could seek to address that with a novel solution.

What’s happening: Council will debate a motion to build pre-fabricated daycare centres, along with housing for workers, on city land, according to the Vancouver Sun.

Background: In the intro of this story, I don’t use the word crisis lightly. Vancouver is dealing with a shortfall of around 14,911 licensed childcare spaces, according to the city and reporting by the Vancouver Sun. Part of the problem are lack of approvals from the city, with the licensing department rejecting applications because of parking, noisy kids and other things like that.

• Fees have gone down thanks to government funding, according to the Vancouver Sun, but there just aren’t enough spaces being created. Without daycare, parents can’t return to work which, among other things, impacts the economy.

The details: The motion would ask city staff to look into what public land could host these spots, with the goal of building quickly and affordably. The city owns 125 properties with 2 1/2 square kilometres of land available. Areas that are in the most need would be prioritized, with non-profits operating the facilities.

Yes, but: The plan envisions the provincial government and BC Housing providing funding. As well, this shouldn’t take away from the need to build childcare facilities in other parts of the city.

• Another unique part is providing housing for the workers because they’re paid so little and cannot afford to live near where they work.

What it means: This seems like a win-win policy all around, a project that every group should support. Advocacy groups like the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C. have advocated for this approach for years. The addition of housing as part of it is critical, and could very well be a model for the future. Expect this motion to pass.

VANCOUVER NUMBERS

🏠 $59.8 million: The amount a mansion is selling for in Vancouver, which also happens to be the most expensive listing in Canada. [CityNews]

💰 21 cents: The amount the price of gas is expected to drop this week in Metro Vancouver. [Global]

🌡️ 25 degrees: It may get up to this temperature in the Lower Mainland this week. [Urbanized]

🏢 17%: The decline in condo sales in Metro Vancouver, from 12,159 units between January and August 2022 to 10,075 this year. [Business in Vancouver]

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LABOUR

Metro Vancouver facing a strike

What happened: Metro Vancouver workers have given strike notice, after 18 months of negotiations with their employer, according to the Vancouver Sun. The union said 97.2 percent of workers voted in favour of authorizing the strike back in August.

• To be clear: It is not the city of Vancouver workers on strike, but Metro Vancouver, which runs services for the Metro Vancouver 21 municipalities.

The employees work in jobs such as water treatment, air quality monitoring, parks, affordable housing and more. Job actions are expected going forward to put pressure on Metro Vancouver to act.

Negotiations: The union is asking for higher wages so that workers can continue living in the city they work in, as well as opposing the removal of a rule that ensures workers are paid consistently in each city. The employer offered an 11.5 percent wage increase over three years, and a $2,350 signing bonus according to the CBC, but also is asking for “a series of cost and procedural efficiencies.”

Zoom out: Unions across Canada have won large wage increases as inflation and cost of living have skyrocketed.

What it means: Essential jobs will be maintained, such as water treatment services. But places like parks could see closures or changes, depending on what Metro Vancouver decides to do. Job action will likely escalate further as time goes on.

DREAM HOME

I’ve been covering more affordable units lately. But every so often it’s fun to report on a really nice place, even if 99 percent of us never be able to afford it. That’s why we call this section dream home!

This place doesn’t scream a price worth millions of dollars, but once you enter the property, you realize why.

With a beautiful patio and deck, you’ll spend hours outside with friends. The design has a real West Coast vibe, with lots of wood panelling. But it also doesn’t feel overly modern. It’s really classic.

With 3,511 square feet, four bedrooms and four bathrooms, there’s lots of space. But at this price, it just feels overpriced, even with how nice it is…

House of The Week is a home selected by the Lookout team and is not a paid advertisement. All ads are labeled as such. If you’re a realtor who wishes to feature your home in our newsletter, please contact our sales team.

THE AGENDA

🧑‍⚖️City Coun. Christine Boyle had to spend $7,000 defending herself against a lawsuit from Mayor Ken Sim, which she successfully won. The reason for the lawsuit? She shared her vote after an in-camera session, stating she voted against a plan to kill the city’s living wage. [Vancouver is Awesome]

🔥 A massive fire in Kerrisdale at 41st Street and East Boulevard on Sunday night and Monday morning resulted in five commercial buildings impacted, and three people being displaced. The investigation is ongoing to understand what happened. [CityNews]

🚗 If you’re travelling outside the lower mainland, be aware that you’ll need winter tires. The changeover started on Oct. 1 and goes until March 31 and in some cases April 30. Highway 99 to Whistler and Highway 1 are the main ones people in Vancouver should be aware of. [Vancouver is Awesome]

🏠 A landlord is calling on the government to bring in tougher regulations on short-term rentals after they discovered their unit was being rented by tenants on Airbnb. [CBC]

🧑‍🎤 It’s been tough in Canada for actors, writers and the entire media industry. But all sides are feeling positive, and if things work out, productions could be back in full swing by next spring or summer. [Vancouver Sun]

🐝 A beehive was stolen from a North Vancouver church last week. The 20,000 bees disappeared and the church has no leads on who took it. [Global]

👎 “Bland prose bereft of nuance” is how a judge ruled in favour of a Vancouver resident keeping guinea-fowl hens as pets, saying the bylaws were poorly written by the city. [Globe and Mail]

⛰️ The name of Mount Garibaldi may be a thing of the past. The Squamish Nation has submitted a request to the BC government to change the name to Nch’ḵay̓. The name Garibaldi is from an Italian who never set foot in BC. [Urbanized]

VIDEO OF THE DAY

If you like charts, you’ll love this new video by the popular YouTube account UsefulChats. The video breaks down the history of Vancouver from 7,000 BCE to the present day.

GOOD NEWS

Here’s some good news to start your day:

A Simon Fraser University physicist Michael Hayden has contributed an incredible finding to the investigation and research of antimatter. I won’t even try to explain the findings, as it’s extremely complicated, but Hayden’s work allowed researchers to see gravity’s effect on antimatter for the first time. Congrats Hayden! [SFU]

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• Burnaby’s Wendy Leung was named the 25th Ms. Vancouver. [Vancouver is Awesome]

• Sad news for Strathcona residents — the Union Market is closing down after 31 years after the owners decided to move on to new things. [CityNews]

• Here’s a fun video by CBC on Canada’s last minor league team, the Vancouver Canadians. [YouTube]

• The Paella Guys are opening a new restaurant called Casa Molina at 211 Manitoba St. [Vancouver is Awesome]

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GAME TIME

Congrats to Jacquie and Gordon who both correctly guessed the answer to Monday’s quiz. The year that view cones were brought in was 1989.

Today’s Vancouver Guesser might be a tricky one. Can you name the building just beyond the grassy hill? Hint — a lot of people visit. Reply with your name and the correct answer and you might be featured in the newsletter!