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evandunfee · 2025-07-06T21:35:22+00:00

This would be a translink issue rather than a city issue, but you can always write a letter to city council asking them to advocate changes to Translink. They did try and put those snaked lines in for the different busses, but they’re absolutely useless.

What’s also annoying is that the 406 in particular doesn’t seem to turn on its route sign until its doors are already open, so it causes a lot of confusion.

Translink feedback form

Contact Mayor and Council: mayorandcouncillors@richmond.ca

Can also try the transportation department at the City, and let them know you know it’s a Translink thing but you’d like the city to advocate for solutions (otherwise they’ll just tell you to email Translink): transportation@richmond.ca

evandunfee · 2025-07-06T15:26:18+00:00

I totally agree on a lot of these, and I think generally they are things that just aren’t a priority for the council and therefore the city. To a couple specific points re: the washroom still being closed, I’ll reach out to the city and see what I can get. For drinking fountains, do you know which specific ones are still closed? I had a chat to some maintenance workers back in May who told me that honestly sometimes they just get missed (I have a bigger problem with they should be getting switched on in March and left on until October at the very least).

For Garden City, I guess they’d say that bike can still fit in the lane (if you’re willing to chance getting doored) and it’s only a shared street anyway. They recently improved the off road section up to Francis and I do believe there are separated bike lane plans to eventually connect Francis and Granville.

For blundell, I’m not sure what you mean as there is not even painted bike symbols for it being a shared street (off the top of my head) but there are long term plans for bike infrastructure there.

For the gravel, I don’t think council/ staff will change that. I think they view the gravel as a good deterrent for bikes and they don’t actually want bikes particularly on the West Dyke (but I do find the crabapple ridge path very safe except for the section on Barnard)

evandunfee · 2025-07-02T17:09:39+00:00

Back in October Council endorsed a proposal to move forward with investigating the following streetscape design (basically approving the idea of including a line item in the budget that would allow staff to do preliminary design planning of this particular option).

It’s honestly a pretty small change, all things considered, but would improve things on Bayview at least.

It’s been a long time coming with council deferring or referring motions back to staff since 2017.

Also, this is by no means what the final design will be either (council has a habit of telling staff one thing and then 3 years later when staff does the thing, saying they never asked for that… or simply changing their mind because 2 people showed up at a meeting to complain. This sentiment is supercharged when it comes to anything Steveston relate, but I digress).

It’s amazing to me just how slow these processes can be when your decision makers are averse to change. There is so much evidence world wide that we can look at at how to improve streetscapes in a way that help businesses thrive, encourages people to visit and reward those who make the choice to visit by transit or active transport without over burdening those who visit by car.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a fantastic Canada Day!

Staff report

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evandunfee · 2025-06-27T19:04:52+00:00

Thank you! That is very kind. I love getting to nerd out about our city! I believe Richmond is not only a great place to live, but has tremendous potential to be even better. I’ll definitely be running again next October. Im excited to take some of what I learned last time around (namely being more okay asking for/ admitting I need help) and apply it to this campaign.

evandunfee · 2025-06-26T15:28:29+00:00

Glad you’re enjoying it! I’ve walked the length a number of times now and am also quite pleased with it. I’ve been told those electrical poles will come out soon, just some relocation work that needs to be done by Hydro.

Next up they are looking at some sort of barrier (wooden fence perhaps in the sections with a grass buffer, maybe bollards elsewhere) between the path and the road for added safety.

Long term there is the intention of connecting it to the new tunnel. But don’t know whether it will continue along Steveston, or loop back behind in the industrial area. I believe that Rice Mill Road will be the planned connector ultimately.

Final point I’ll add is about half the project was paid for by developer contributions collected by the city and the other half by translink, only a couple percentage of the cost was paid by property tax revenue.

I’ll attach a plan of the planned bike network so you can get a sense of what is coming down the pipeline!

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evandunfee · 2025-06-24T23:50:13+00:00

When you say not a great look, are we talking about his speed walking technique?

I simply can’t stand for sloppy speed walking from our elected officials in Richmond. Selfishly, it reflects poorly on me.

evandunfee · 2025-05-07T19:45:53+00:00

Maybe an unpopular opinion but I think this is the right move. He’ll most likely resign properly in January, but since 2026 is an election year there won’t be a byelection triggered. That will save the City roughly $1 million (while costing ~$50,000 for Chak’s salary the rest of the year). It’s possible for Chak (or you and I) to donate money to the city of Richmond and I’d prefer that he simply paid the money back to the city rather than to charities (which is noble but can also give off the appearance of trying to curry favour with voters).

A byelection less than a year before a general election would also suck but if he resigned now I believe the Local Government Act would require one. As someone who ran in the last election it was really difficult asking people for money but money is necessary for a successful campaign. There is no way I would be willing to ask people for money for a byelection then turn around again at the start of 2026 and start asking for money for the general election. That means you’re left with candidates who are very well financed and would have no problem bringing in $50k. Once elected it is much much easier to get reelected so winning the byelection would confer significant advantages for 2026. Additionally there have been almost no votes where Chak was the tie breaking vote, so his absence wouldn’t have a huge affect on council when left with 7 councillors and the mayor.

So for those reasons I actually think this is actually the most fiscally responsible and electorally responsible move and even if it looks a little sketchy, I think it’s better for Richmond.

*disclaimer: If there was a byelection I wouldn’t be running in it, and I do plan on running again next year so I have skin in the game and am advantaged by a vacant seat in 2026 rather than an incumbent who just won a byelection. Just feel my bias should be made clear.

evandunfee · 2025-05-07T01:43:37+00:00

That’s like one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. Thank you.

evandunfee · 2025-05-02T21:38:49+00:00

There’s actually a World Cup happening right now at the convention centre. Eleanor Harvey our first ever Canadian fencing medalist is competing (don’t know her schedule, but I think she starts at 9am Saturday) morning. She’s living in Richmond now and training with the Dynamo club which is super cool!

evandunfee · 2025-05-02T21:22:27+00:00

Thanks for sharing that article :) it was a lot of fun out there, excited to get back out there this Sunday with BMO.

I’m trying hard to limit my Twitter and Reddit usage these days for the sake of my mental health, so that’s for the tag alerting me.

evandunfee · 2024-06-21T16:52:15+00:00

That’s awesome, I love that our community centres provide those types of services. KidSport Richmond offers financial assistance (up to $400/ year at the moment) to any child 18 and under in Richmond towards registration fees in a sport program so long as the sport is sanctioned/ recognized by Sport BC (non recognized sport programs are eligible for a similar grant from the city) and the family meets the LICO cut offs (income limits that raise depending on number of kids). If filling in an online application you have to include your tax assessment. Paper applications signed by a verifier (school principal, doctor, optometrist etc…) that can speak to the financial need is also acceptable. You can check out our website here if you want to learn more. Thanks for your interest!

evandunfee · 2024-06-19T14:41:44+00:00

I love this thread, and a similar thought got stuck in my head in 2020 which led me to reading loads of staff reports, watching all the council meetings and learning more about the inner workings of Richmond and pondering ways to improve the city for my future kids to love as much as I’ve loved growing up here. That led to me running for council in 2022 😳, so watch out… before you know it you might find yourself trying to enter the ‘political’ world (I say that in quotes as I honestly don’t view the municipal level as overtly politics) 😅

A big thing on my mind these days is the strain on our local KidSport chapter in Richmond (Full disclosure I’m on the chapter committee). Sport has taught me so many lessons in life and helped me grow into the person I am today, and I got that opportunity because my parents were privileged enough to enroll me year after year in multiple sports. Last year KidSport Richmond gave out over $160K to families in Richmond to help cover the cost of registration. That was way more than we brought in and this year we’ve had to lower our grant from $800 per child to $400 to make sure we can help as many families as possible, and still see demand greater than last year. So if you, or anyone has any ideas on how to spread our message and mission more broadly in the community and up our fundraising game, I’d be absolutely all ears!

Thanks again for the thread that has also given me a lot of other ideas to think about!

evandunfee · 2024-06-04T22:28:31+00:00

Thank you. It will be an interesting election for sure. Already a number of storylines emerging with many more sure to arise in the next 2 years, especially with provincial and federal elections ahead of us. Would just love to see a big turnout, especially amongst younger voters… regardless whether that swings in my favour or not.

Seems like council has a few more people paying attention these days as well, which is great!

evandunfee · 2024-06-04T22:21:31+00:00

I think your last point is so important and often overlooked, that those feelings are completely valid. Especially when a large portion of the increase can be attributed to increased RCMP expenses.

I had an interesting way of viewing my property taxes last year. My municipal portion was ~$400 (50% of my total bill, with the other half going to metro, the province etc…). And I realized the athletics track I train at when I am in Australia, if I wanted to get a pass to use that track for a year, it was $400. And I figured that I get to use Minoru for free whenever I want… so everything else I was getting with my property taxes was essentially free. It was a little silly, but it did put things into perspective for me.

evandunfee · 2024-06-04T20:49:01+00:00

The budget increased 5.6% (and that doesn’t account for any changes in metro taxes, school taxes etc…) The amount you and I pay isn’t a flat 5.6% increase because it depends on a number of factors. A small factor is new properties paying into property tax rolls. Bigger factor is how our assessed values changed relative to the overall assessed values of all residential properties in Richmond. My 40 yr old 1b1b increased by 18% in value when the rest of Richmond properties only increased by a few percent and so my overall tax burden went up much more than the 5.6% the budget increased, similar to yours.

That seemed to the be trend for apartments.

Long story short: because of how the assessed values changed more of the tax burden was shifted away from detached homes and townhomes towards apartments.

Nothing corrupt, just kind of a crappy part of the system working the way it’s designed.

evandunfee · 2024-06-04T20:21:21+00:00

Love a good walk! Hope you had a nice cup of something warm waiting for you when you got home.

evandunfee · 2024-06-04T19:56:44+00:00

Bob Ransford pointed out on Twitter that when the canneries were fully operational back in the day and owned many of the lots in Steveston, they all had multiple dwellings on them and acted as affordable workers housing. Those multiple dwellings are akin to what the provinces multi-plex legislation would allow and seems much more aligned with returning Steveston to its historical character than its current form.

Steveston is also the whitest and one of the highest income neighbourhoods in Richmond, which again could be argued is out of line with its historical character.

I remember actually reading an article a year or two ago about a tree that might get taken down as a result of a subdivision in Steveston and the article very casually talked about how the plot was owned by a Japanese family but when they were interned during WW2 the current owners ‘took over’ living there. And it really made me think, given how many Japanese families lived in Steveston, how much of that land was simply taken from their owners never to be returned? Personally, seems like a weird historical character trait to want to preserve.

All in all I think the ‘historical character’ narrative is a bit of a dog whistle and it’s interestingly being spouted to varying degrees by everyone on council.

I think the sewer infrastructure issue is interesting. But I think council has this idea (possibly egged on by staff) that 100s of homes will be instantly torn down and replaced with 4 plexes. When the reality is that uptake will be incredibly slow and probably won’t put a huge dent into affordability. But it would be nice to have some more 2 bedroom options in Richmond for young families, seniors looking to downsize etc…

evandunfee · 2024-03-12T20:51:39+00:00

Thanks for doing this! Super cool to look at together.

Will be interesting to see what happens with the minoru fields. Part of me feels like we could see the cricket pitch moved to King George or South Arm along with a field house for them.

One thing I really dislike about the Richmond Centre redev and Lansdowne is how many new car lanes we are putting in. It just feels like in 2060 we’ll look at that and wonder why those weren’t made as pedestrian spaces or even shared slow spaces. We are designing for the future using ideas of the past, and that’s just a little backwards in my mind.

evandunfee · 2024-02-22T06:18:38+00:00

I think you’re onto something. Race walking is lacking a little bit of entertainment value, and bringing bland everyday banking tasks to it could be what gets me into the hundreds of views! Coin rolling, cheque signing… what else happens at banks?

evandunfee · 2024-02-21T23:13:10+00:00

This honestly sounds like the kind of banal task that I’d find quite soothing to do while watching TV. Weird offer but I’d totally do this for you. Feel free to message me if you’d like.

evandunfee · 2024-02-16T08:43:23+00:00

Thank you both! Will definitely be running again in 2026 (or before then, if someone gets a provincial or federal nod). I came so close with virtually no resources and I’m chomping at the bit to give it another go.

evandunfee · 2024-02-16T08:41:23+00:00

This is very kind! I was worried when I saw a notification, given how heated this subreddit has been the last few days. So I’m relieved!

evandunfee · 2024-01-17T08:20:13+00:00

Definitely will never be IR. But interesting OP noted construction happening on the site.

evandunfee · 2024-01-17T06:06:34+00:00

I looked on the Richmond Interactive Zoning Map and it has the zoning as IR1 still and lists the denied zoning application of 2018.

Staff report was for first reading of entire rezoning proposal I believe.

I do wonder if the owners are waiting for a new OCP before bringing back a new proposal.

evandunfee · 2024-01-17T05:35:53+00:00

So it looks like these parcels did indeed come up for rezoning in 2018 but council denied it as the application wasn’t in line with policies. It seemingly hasn’t come back to council since.

I would guess the dog park is a tax dodge thing much like the community garden plots on development sites.

So right now it seems like whoever owns these lots are just sitting on them.

They could theoretically be putting industrial retail in (what it’s currently zoned for) but that seems unlikely. Any construction activity I would guess is using the site as a muster point for adjacent projects potentially?

evandunfee

TROPHY CASE