Vancouver's 'EcoDensity' Plans Stumble

"The idealist in me waits for a bold set of recommendations from Mayor Sullivan, but the student of real-politik in me is doubtful."

"The mayor and his Non-Partisan Association colleagues are in fund-raising mode, and the development industry is getting uneasy about the EcoDensity push. Sure, developers like density, but they like predictability even more, and this is a fundamentally conservative industry that has prospered by getting things done behind closed doors. As demonstrated by significant development industry support for Vision Vancouver's Jim Green in our last civic election, developers are less interested in ideology than in getting someone they can work with in the mayor and councillors' seats."

"Complicating Mayor Sullivan's diminishing options for an EcoDensity policy is city hall's bungling of communications on proposed land use changes in the Norquay neighbourhood, along Kingsway on the far Eastside. Opponents have risen in noisy opposition to mild proposals for slightly increased housing densities along their pleasant streets, and the Norquay proposals have been widely reported as the first public test of EcoDensity."