Science, technology, politics and dance
Airbnb hosts seem to be getting around the new City of Vancouver’s licensing requirements by using brazenly fake licences. Some fine examples include “12345678str”, “000000000” and “Exampp”. To meaningfully protect our long term rental market from being decimated by Airbnb and other short term accommodation platforms, we must take the following steps: Introduce licence auto-verification, […]
Read More →
The 4.5% allowable rent increase for 2019 announced by the BC government will hit Vancouver renters hard. I pledge to offer Vancouver’s renters a rental rebate financed by Airbnb fines. Such a move would help rental households without burdening either the Vancouver taxpayers or our city’s landlords. The latest Airbnb scan I conducted last night […]
Read More →
Airbnb hosts seem to be getting around the new licensing requirements by using licences issued for other businesses, including licences for massage therapist, computer services and health services. To meaningfully protect our long term rental market from being decimated by Airbnb and other short term accommodation platforms, we must take the following steps: Introduce licence […]
Read More →
I hear from my fellow Vancouverites everyday about how they’re being thrown out onto the streets to make way for luxury condos that remain empty as safety deposit boxes in the sky. I hear from friends and neighbours about being renovicted as their landlords turned entire rental towers into illegal Airbnb hotels. Vancouverites are fed […]
Read More →
My speech at the City of Vancouver Public Hearing on rezoning applications for a condo project where I asked the Vancouver City Council to limit pre-sales to local income taxpayers. Your council has been approving rezoning applications, just like the one before us, at a breakneck rate. Tens of thousands of new homes have been […]
Read More →
Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Office of the Prime Minister 80 Wellington Street Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2 Dear Prime Minister, Please don’t hand over $14B of our tax dollars to Westbank’s Ian Gillespie I’m dismayed and distressed to hear that the Government of Canada is considering handing $14 billion in taxpayer dollars to real estate developer […]
Read More →
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson announced last week with much fanfare that the City of Vancouver has signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbnb to help the city crackdown on illegal short term rentals. I got a hold of the full text of the MOU1)https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fhQagqnZxXHX2DGmAysApgO5xYN0OSaa/view?usp=sharing through a Freedom of Information request. Buried inside the five pages […]
Read More →
Update II: Prof. Pavlov has finally published his materials and methods, almost a month after his graph was published. In the words of great scientist Carl Sagan “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”, and Prof. Pavlov’s original graph was an extraordinary claim with an extraordinary lack of evidence. But I’m happy that he has finally made […]
Read More →
Deputy Commissioner Brenda Butterworth-Carr Commanding Officer BC RCMP 14200 Green Timbers Way Surrey BC V3T 6P3 2018 May 20 Dear Madam, Please investigate W. Brett Wilson for offering to pay BC NDP MLAs to cross the floor On or about 2018 May 19, Calgary, Alberta-based businessmen W. Brett Wilson tweeted the following (please see attachment […]
Read More →
I’ve just filed a complaint against Sutton West Coast over the part they played in disrupting BC Attorney General David Eby’s town hall. Here’s the full text of my complaint: Sutton Group West Coast Realty (“Sutton West Coast”) took out a full page advertisement on Vancouver Courier newspaper published on or about 2018 April 28 […]
Read More →