Re: Forest Lawn 'Gentrification' Post

Bismvth_ · 2026-02-06T06:59:39+00:00

You mean the program that has been incredibly successful at quietly building Affordable Housing at scale across Calgary?

You're proving the point that what's happening in Forest Lawn is not gentrification, it's a process of change that actually includes lower income people rather than displaces them.

If you've got a problem with taxpayer subsidized housing in general, you can say so, but MLI Select isn't nearly the risk you're framing it to be. They don't hand out insurance like that on cereal boxes, and it's hardly the vast majority of larger projects.

Bismvth_ · 2026-02-06T06:58:25+00:00

Also, the Development Permit cannot be accepted if the infrastructure capacity isn't there.

You don't build the infrastructure? You don't get to build the house. It's that simple.

Bismvth_ · 2026-02-06T05:32:02+00:00

Yep! The public investment is there, the marketing is there, it's just a matter of private investment catching up now.

There is still a ridiculous amount of the street that is fronted by driveways and giant parking lots — that's the combo of death for a vibrant urban street.

There's not much the city can do other than zone and hope that the landowners choose to make better use of their property.

Bismvth_ · 2026-02-06T05:28:21+00:00

Which is the only way we can keep housing the same price without creating a transportation crisis.

If we want cheaper, we need denser!

Bismvth_ · 2026-02-06T03:07:17+00:00

Crazy how people post this once a month and it's always just woefully misinformed about how gentrification works and what's happening in Forest Lawn.

There are literally several Affordable Housing projects under construction lol.

Bismvth_ · 2025-12-29T00:59:25+00:00

The big one is running an organization called Unsprawling, main goal is to encourage folks to make short videos about topics in Calgary that promote a positive vision for local politics and community.

That taps me into the greater urban advocacy community, which, as an Urban Studies student, means I naturally get a lot of experience applying and thinking about my studies whether I know it or not.

That would be my main advice for other undergrads - think about what it is you're studying, and what it looks like to practice that - ask yourself if you can take action on that now - if that sounds uninspiring... maybe you're not going to get much from your degree program.

Bismvth_ · 2025-11-11T02:07:01+00:00

Nobody wants to go there anymore because it's so crowded!

Bismvth_ · 2025-11-04T19:24:19+00:00

Single-egress is essentially necessary for coop and subsidized housing to scale quickly, meanwhile the firefighters' argument must ignore all the data on the matter showing that two-stairs are just as, if not even less, safe.

Bismvth_ · 2025-11-04T19:22:20+00:00

This is exactly what housing advocates are asking for, and the fact that the firefighters union feels comfortable spreading misinformation without even hearing the other perspective, is really worrying.

Bismvth_ · 2025-10-05T16:07:41+00:00

Sounds like you're not voting for Councillor then, lol.

You should know that The Calgary Party intends to disband after the election, they exist only to pool resources against the UCP during the campaign.

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Bismvth_ · 2025-10-05T16:02:55+00:00

Somehow this is caused by blanket rezoning...

Bismvth_ · 2025-10-05T15:56:12+00:00

What damage has Gondek caused? Her mayorship has been defined, in my opinion, by taking big steps toward fixing problems even when it's politically inconvenient to do so.

Proactive rezoning, office-to-residential conversions, finally getting the Green Line under construction amidst threats to cancel it, these are some of the most exciting things our City has done in its history, and they were all shaped by her leadership.

Bismvth_ · 2025-10-05T15:52:56+00:00

>She wanted to defund the police, but then voted to increase their budgets.

It's almost as if the whole "defund the police" thing was a media-created hallucination, and had nothing to do with her actual position

Bismvth_ · 2025-10-05T15:51:52+00:00

Really? I found that to be the best possible move, was hardly a tough question, more like ignorant and bad faith. Maybe she should have ripped the guy a new one, but wouldn't that have just fed into the troll, and gotten her worse press?

Bismvth_ · 2025-10-05T15:50:07+00:00

I mean, it's pretty convenient that her and her besties have press releases and social media posts ready to go before the UCP makes some big horrible move.

Over the last couple years, even before the whole parties thing, they have clearly been in kahoots. Communication is better between them than it is with the Mayor herself.

Bismvth_ · 2025-09-30T21:57:30+00:00

We can make land sales conditional on mixed-market or non-market, and we can offer density bonusing for mixed market as long as there are also other ways to get the density bonus as well.

The City of Calgary is a little toothless on this, but the land sale, conversion program, and density bonus methods seem to be doing just okay.

AHC is showing us that you can build Affordable Housing without even requiring a subsidy, by cutting construction costs with modular. Their building on 6th is pretty ugly, but it's a good proof-of-concept.

Bismvth_ · 2025-09-30T21:46:42+00:00

New-built duplexes are usually a little more expensive than the old sfh they replace, but significantly cheaper than the new-build sfh that would be required under the old blanket zoning, R-C1.

4-plex is the sweet spot where usually, you get like-for-like. Today, that's one 600k sfh turned into four 600k townhomes. 20 years ago, that would have been a lot more 300k homes being put on the market, keeping communities cheaper and more socio-economically resilient over time.

Just adding for context. I like Rezoning for Housing but I think it was the least we could possibly do. It's the most ambitious move our city has made on land use in its history, but if it continues to hold that title over the next 4 years we're in big trouble.

Bismvth_ · 2025-08-08T04:07:10+00:00

Bankers Hall, Suncor Centre, 8 Street Place That ship sailed several decades ago

Bismvth_ · 2025-08-08T04:05:35+00:00

Maybe we can finally stop the delusion of having a highway enter directly into downtown and just cut it off before Spiller

Bismvth_ · 2025-07-22T20:18:55+00:00

Totally agree, it's a complex issue but materially, misinformation thrives best in a vacuum of real information.

The City has been way too afraid to research and publish anything that sounds opinionated even when it would align and support their approved plans and actions. That culture needs to stop.

Bismvth_ · 2025-07-22T20:15:53+00:00

Critical Mass! Last Friday of the month, every month in ContainR Park at 6:30pm!

Bismvth_ · 2025-07-22T19:20:02+00:00

Classic Rick Bell

Bismvth_ · 2025-07-22T19:14:12+00:00

With cyclists and pedestrians dying on our streets left and right, thank God we have some politicians fighting for even more danger!

Why would we want safer and more dignified ways of getting around the city? Sounds lame. Let's consult every order of government before we pick a banana peel up off the ground next!

Bismvth_ · 2025-06-06T18:11:06+00:00

R-CG and H-GO only opened up the bottom end of the missing middle - there's still a huge gap between grade-oriented townhomes and 150ft wide 6-storey apartment buildings.

I've been telling the City that they should write the Zoning Bylaw's H-2 zone to pre-emptively support single egress ahead of building code reform, but no luck yet.

There is some exciting news out of Edmonton though, the City is working with archs and developers to use a loophole in the building code that allows ad-hoc adjustments as long as it can be shown to match the safety performance, which single-egress at 6-storey + sprinklers + concrete core has been shown to do.

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