My favorite thing is that the whole room can be against something and the city can pass it anyway. We had our taxes raised because we voted for a building with public pools. They then diverted all the funds to updating a small park behind the city hall, pocketed the rest for costs of future hearings and cancelled the pools.

I agree with you that public interfacing with local & State government representatives, should have an online pathway and sufficient time for a wider swath of local residents to participate.

hey don't take away my theater

These designs propose great use of space, but why don’t any of them look nice?

If a public hearing was on zoom and in the afternoon, there would be a lot more turnout ngl. Especially if the public hearing is advertised better.

In North America, and particularly in Canada, we’ve reached a point where security regulations for homes and apartment buildings are arguably excessive. These measures profoundly affect design and significantly increase costs for builders and homeowners alike. A striking example comes from my own experience living in a Montreal condo. Due to updated regulations, we were required to upgrade the original 1949 iron staircase rail, adding just four extra inches to meet the new code. The cost of this seemingly minor change? An astonishing $6,000 per unit for each of the 18 owners. This raises an important question: are these escalating standards truly proportionate to the benefits they provide, or are we burdening communities with unnecessary expenses under the guise of safety?

“A child care facility might have an adverse effect on the property value…” Now let’s talk about whether excessive concern about property value has an adverse effect on children needing care.

As someone who attends as many city meetings of my tiny rural town as I can, I can confirm that basically nobody shows up unless they have a complaint of some type. However, I will say that in my experience in a small town, public hearings do actually have more of an impact on city council votes than they do in a larger city that's basically so large that the momentum is basically impossible to stop. Part of this is that being a small town, they do generally have these type of hearings at the rezoning step, so it is early enough that there's less investment as well.

The problem with public hearings: old people

I will say - I'm in a few local groups on Facebook and they are wild. It's like NIMBY on steroids. People will complain about everything, and bring up the smallest things. "Did anybody hear that noise?" "Why are people keeping their Christmas decorations up past January? It's bringing down our property values!" "I think fireworks shouldn't be allowed. Think of our veterans who may be suffering PTSD and our dogs!!!" "It took 3 hours before the street in front of my house on a rarely used side street with only 5 other houses to get plowed after the snow last night. Why did they prioritize the busier street over my street?!"

A good start would be to put the hearing at the start of a project.

Houses for living, not speculation.

"If I asked people what they wanted they'd have said faster horses" - a Henry Ford misquote but one which is worth baring in mind. Just asking people straight what they want is a terrible way to go, this isn't how research works. You need to get this input in more round about ways.

I dont understand how you can raise concerns about projects potentially being denied due to a small group of people, but in the same breathe acknowledge that those same people are, a majority of the time, ignored. I think the overall benefits of public speaking outweigh the cons of large businesses freely bulldozing and constructing whatever they wish

I can only wish we had public hearings. Now I have a 1 acre bar and parking in my suburban home. Sunday mornings, the morning air ricks of piss and alcohol. Kids can't go to church in the morning till the drunks stugger away or drive to hit the utility poles so no power for 3 days

back in the day, in the 1960's-1980's, some parents or relatives (uncles, aunties, nieces, nephews, cousins) did ask their kid to pick up stuff from a convenience store, unaccompanied: like for a pack of cigarettes; if not, go somewhere using a subway train (to do an errand), if you live in the urban city (Boston, Chicago, Cincinatti, New Jersey, New York). a "Latch Key Kid" rode a bike to their friends' houses; got snacks from an ice cream truck and/or came home before the street lights went on. (I don't know about the hitchhiking part. They might get kidnapped in an unmarked windowless (white) van.... ) It is 10 p.m. "Do you know where your Children are ?" PSA's. Nowadays, the parents would be jailed/in prison for this kind of thing. "Stranger Danger." Helicopter parents: "When are you going out ? How long are you going to be out ? Where are you going to ? Who will you be with; Are you going out with a friend ? When are you going to come back ?" If the child gets kidnapped, then, a "Missing Person's" face (like an Adam Walsh and/or Amber Hagerman ('the Amber alert" system) could end up on the side of a Milk Carton. The parents would have to call CPS and make a police report about their lost child.

Your video is so damn close but jut misses on what the real issue is. The issue isn’t public hearings it’s nimbyism. Public hearings time and fiscal costs are symptoms of nimbysim.

So, the US just discovered EU flats XD.

I attended a public hearing where half of the participants were articulate, empathetic, and knowledgeable individuals; however, the other half presented arguments marked by misinformed and vitriolic rhetoric. It was deeply disheartening to witness such a stark display of ignorance and a troubling lack of empathy among attendees. When it comes to the issue of new development, it has become painfully clear that the private sector is ill-equipped to tackle the pressing challenges of public housing. This situation starkly reveals the conflict between the interests of the real estate industry and the damaging consequences of a pervasive "me first" capitalist ideology that has taken root in our society. We are left with a noticeable deficiency in genuine community cohesion and social connectivity. It is absolutely imperative that we advocate for an increase in socialized and publicly owned housing initiatives, steering away from the dangerous path of allowing private entities to commodify our essential human needs.

Every opposing voice to a daycare can just cry me a river. What a sad and pathetic thing to complain about. Meanwhile, parents are on waiting list to get their child into a daycare. I like public hearings, they are good in theory but often are bombarded by those who want to the status quo. Unfortunately, those who want change can't make it to such hearings without taking time off from work or taking time away from family.

You're doing great work. As a fellow Vancouver Film maker, it makes me incredibly excited to see a fellow Vancouverite out here.

0:43 "Hooray" 🤣

I went to a public hearing once and people said silly things.

Fuck NIMBY assholes and there desire to have everyone feel just as shitty and backwards as them.

Alright, it fails..... single random person in the back awkwardly cheering '"hurray"... its sad i know... but for some reason this made me laugh

Another example of a theoretically great idea, that miserably fails to work practically

The ideas here are extremely un-American. The communities are the only things that matter. What is America without communities? It’s a prison. These ideas are garbage. The people come first. Always

my problem here is the politicians were already elected to do this stuff. If we're going to do this crap then why do we even have the politicians? Why not just let the public vote on everything?

unless it directly affects the person their input should be disregarded.

Is this some sort of CCP propaganda video??? This is a "Trust the government" propaganda video if I e ever heard of one. Public hearings importance are as they are a litmus test of the locals willingness to participate within their local governance. If you support something go to the meeting, if you oppose go to the meeting, instead of making a video complaining about it, GO TO THE MEETING!!! It's like people who don't vote complaining about who gets elected...

Changing the terms of the sale after the sale is not ok.

This is why we chose to live in an old home we inherited that has no insulation and no HVAC. we refuse to pay the insane housing costs they’re asking these days.

Ban all public hearings

Karens will never let this happen, as an immigrant in Canada, I miss the ability to walk across the street for groceries, pharma, or a 24hr cafe/diner/bar within walking distance. The silence in the suburbs gives me insomnia, and Downtown Vancouver is unaffordable no matter how much my income rises.

Can't speak for Canada but this is a perfect example of 1)the down falls of democracy and 2)why the US is a Republic not a democracy. Public hearings are just theater so the uneducated masses think they have power in government.

Getting in the way of housing and infrastructure. I think you have it backwards. We need to reduce immigration so out cities can slow their growth. This current urban area growth is not sustainable and should be curtailed by focusing on settling new areas of tbe country ie areaa that cannot be farmed. Canada will soon lose its farmland.

One of my friends works as a director and reporter for my town's local community access channel. He is typically responsible for recording committee meetings and public hearings. These meetings can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours long. Sometimes he only finds out a meeting is going to occur a few days prior. I've had to reschedule plans with him at the last second due to the town suddenly announcing they'd be holding a hearing in 3 days. Most people can't drop everything to attend a public hearing on such short notice!

Random citizen assemblies are the most efficient way to get a real democracy that is not biased by the interests of people to show or not at hearings. I'm glad you're mentioning that. It should be obvious to anyone, but our electoral systems have made us believe that we are not competent enough to give our opinions while very interested, often not more competent people run for office, and get to make all the decisions.

City is usually a municipal corperation in which the public is not an employee of yet the city is about revenue not about the peoples rights

Democratic governments work for the people, and operate under the consent of the governed. Stuff the commie propaganda.

Hey this is smart first of all go check out the building bylaws it's not like the United States where you just lay a concrete pad down then you can build on that pad and then go see how lakes rivers and oceans go see how far you're supposed to build from that point actually lot of the newer buildings broke that law but they actually gave money as a bride to the city nobody likes the law broken but everybody breaks the law now the city breaks its own laws for a prophet go look at the parking laws is it good example how the city breaks its own laws for a profit check out white rocks waterfront you would feel more comfortable there they got exactly what you are talking about we have the SkyTrain the new line that they're building it all runs underground right up to Abbotsford Street actually that's a waste of money where they could have went from VCC Clark station hit main Street station then hit Olympic village station run it down 4th Avenue hit all the beaches right after BCIT Ben from BCIT go around the other way and hit 22nd station and hit all the beaches off of that side and they could have built four tracks for the same cost of running it underground okay so if they did build what you suggest you're talking about a bunch of restaurants shops local stores ice cream parlors pubs if you're lucky my own one of those shops you're basically good for only three months out of the year so you're you're going to have to gouge the people for the rest of the 9 months of the year then you're going to have to sell the park off to the ones that are interested and those would just be basically landlords the shop owners are going to have to rent off the landlords look what an storefront would cost you downtown now you're closer to the water more desirable how much would that be and parks are owned by the provincial government and those corrupt politicians I said 7 million an acre plus property taxes that would jump up the sales tax now look at all the garbage that would end up in the ocean when everything is up and running that money doesn't benefit the people it benefits the pockets of our politicians look at the concession stands look at their prices that are there when you got Earls cactus club there's no parking for those Patriots and besides when I go to White Rock you're obligated to buy something me personally I don't like that atmosphere leave it alone and don't change it because there will be a lot of laws broken now the laws that are being broken right now are railings along the whole thing somebody could easily fall off their bikes land right on the rocks somebody could kill themselves easily when you own the property you have to have railings around balconies basement suites I'm surprised that nobody killed themselves there yet or are we just never hear about it so that's the city breaking their own laws before you put shops in get a railing up

Honestly I would probably enjoy volunteering for something like the residents' assembly, but there's no way I would show up for a public hearing.

what the hell is with this "reject capitalism, embrace das Krapital" content? You want shrink the housing crisis, then more competition and more choice is better not the opposite.

"Public hearings are really about protecting land owners." I.E. the homeowners. The presenter here is saying "land owners" to make it sound like an outside force, but he's talking about all of you, the people who actually live in the area, own & maintain the land, and have a vested, sometimes multiple generations long vested interest in its use and he's implying that you shouldn't have a say. Don't be fooled.

So, we can reduce or eliminate costly and time-consuming public hearings, thereby giving the government even _more_ control over our lives and neighborhoods. *OR* We can cut some of the far more costly and time-consuming unnecessary government regulations and bloat while letting people continue to have a say in their own neighborhoods. Seems like a pretty clear choice to me.

Public hearings may make our already slow municipal systems more inefficient, but I see them as an important check/balance. I can only imagine how emboldened city councils would be without the extra measure of public hearings. The developers are already in the pockets of the municipal governments in the lower mainland. Let's not give them any more power.

You just opened my eyes to luxury housing, I had no idea it was actually really beneficial

You love it. Someplace else.

wouldn't it be cool if we started with public input meetings before making plans? 'what does our community need?' 'ok let's start planning that'

This meetings are creating scarcity in housing and other things, and as a consequence super expensive housing and homelessness