I am sitting by an east facing window at our Chicago apartment. It is a hazy May morning. Nine weeks have passed since last I saw Fernwood - except vicariously. As Kiley Verbowski explains in her story on our project in Capital News Daily, Don headed to Chicago a year ago to help his mom. It makes the most sense for the family that we all be together here for now. Not long ago I sat in on a Zoom meeting on Reopening the Border - listening to experts from The Border Policy Institute and The Pacific Northwest Economic Region to better understand the issues surrounding resuming normal border relations. Net net, don’t think there is much hope for us to be able to return until late summer. In the meantime, my posts will be from afar. Only a few of the photos that Kiley took accompanied her article. To these new photos of hers I added one more (by Elysia Glover) because it gives me joy to see the wildflower garden getting established - with Elysia’s help.
One of the ways that I stay in touch with local issues in Victoria is to read the daily briefs from Capital News Daily. Their editor, Jimmy Thompson has a thought provoking story How to Make Space examining blanket zoning as an option to get more housing built faster. Thompson notes “Canadian cities lag behind other G7 nations when it comes to providing housing, falling short by nearly two million homes, according to a Scotiabank report released in May. “Very often within city limits, measures to increase density pit current owners versus prospective residents,” the report reads.”
In the US, the housing shortage is a problem we have manufactured over time. We could build all the housing that is needed if we had the political will to do so. There is movement afoot on this front with Elizabeth Warren’s historic bill to confront the housing crisis. More on this topic in future posts.
From Where I Sit Victoria Looks Pretty Great.
Let us come back home. Please. We are vaccinated.