Cascadia Report

Category: Vancouver

  • B.C. taking all workers

    “If you’re breathing, Canada’s West wants you,” an economist with CIBC World Markets said after release of the latest employment figures Friday.

    British Columbia’s jobless rate dipped to 4.6 percent and Alberta’s fell to a 30-year low of 3 percent in October, thanks to the booming energy industry. B.C.’s rate could fall below 4 percent in the next year, an economist said. Meanwhile Canada’s national rate was 6.2 percent, due to industrial downsizing in eastern provinces. In the U.S., the nationwide rate fell to a five-year low of 4.4 percent.

  • A tale of rising taxes in two cities

    Property taxes may be about to rise significantly in both Vancouver and Seattle. Exactly how much could become clear within the next week.

    Vancouver is bracing for a tax hike of up to 6.3 percent to cover city services and costs related to the 2010 Olympics, pending a city staff recommendation due on Halloween. This year taxes reportedly rose 4 percent, twice the inflation rate, but officials expect residents would rather pay more than have services cut.

    In Seattle, voters may decide to raise their taxes in next week’s election. The most audacious plan is a tax to pay for basic services such as roads and bridges — things the city hasn’t adequately funded in decades. The nine-year levy would boost property taxes by more than 4 percent in the first year. A series of other possible increases are on the way to cover underfunded transit projects, schools and other high-priority functions.

    Housing in both cities is increasingly unaffordable. It seems just a matter of time before residents reject additional levies that make housing more expensive.

  • Olympics organizers say they’re under budget

    The organizers of the 2010 Olympics said preparations for the games are on time and under-budget, contradicting a critical audit last month.

    The Vancouver Organizing Committee report shows the games pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars more in sponsorship money than expected. Construction is under budget, the group said, following an injection of government money. Full details are expected next spring.

    An earlier report slammed the provincial government and organizers for vastly underestimating the cost of the games, partly because forecasts didn’t include improvements to roads and other infrastructure.

  • B.C.’s key industry likely to slump for years

    British Columbia’s key forest products industry is in for several more lean years, despite the windfall from the recent lumber trade agreement with the U.S.

    Across Canada, the industry is likely to shrink through 2010 thanks to a slumping housing market in the U.S., according to a report Thursday by the Conference Board of Canada. The group forecast some help from a weakening Canadian dollar and gradual thinning of inventory, which should lead to higher wood prices. Refunds of millions of dollars in duties paid to the U.S., under terms of the recent lumber-trade agreement, should help soften the blow.

    Still, B.C. is likely to weather the downturn better than the rest of Canada because of its relatively efficient mills, an economist at the group said. Production in B.C. may shrink by 2 to 3 percent from 2004 to 2007, compared to a 20 percent drop in Quebec and Ontario.

  • Vancouver has a fix for pricey mortgages

    Vancouver is experimenting with a new way for families to meet sky-high mortgage payments: selling condos with built-in rental suites.

    Vancouver condos by condodomain.comThe first example is a project at Simon Fraser University, where 40 three-bedroom units have already sold. Owners get a three-bedroom condo, with one 240-square-foot bedroom featuring its own entrance off the main corridor, with a bed, bathroom and kitchen.

    The project is a far cry from Seattle, where the city council just grudgingly allowed homeowners to rent-out part of their property — with a raft of restrictions. Love of the city’s single-family home status quo takes precedence over improving livability since limiting supply keeps prices artificially high and stifles demand for urban services.

    In Vancouver, Mayor Sam Sullivan has said encouraging creative housing styles will allow the city to build more units with a wider range of options, which will help lower prices. One plan is to to consider reducing the number of parking stalls in new condo buildings, a step that would lower development costs and encourage transit use.

  • New steps toward more regional air service

    The prospect of commercial airline service at a second Seattle airport came into focus this week, with a report outlining how Everett’s Paine Field could support such service.

    The potential addition of regional air service is the latest example of airport supply meeting growing demand for air travel around Cascadia. Vancouver International and several smaller airports in the Vancouver area are already expanding.

    Businesses north of Seattle want commercial airline service to the Everett airport, which is far more convenient to the area than Sea-Tac. Combined with more frequent, faster trains between Vancouver and Portland, the extra air service could alleviate the need for a new Seattle-area airport in the future.

    Airline flights at Everett are discouraged by a 1979 agreement with the neighboring communities. Some neighbors still say occasional airline service would be a disaster, causing school test scores to plummet, asthma, pregnancy complications, dropping property values, and an overall lower quality of live. The airport is mainly used by Boeing, which builds 747s and 767s there, Goodrich Aerospace and smaller private planes.

  • Cascadia not alone with extreme commutes

    Commuter tales of woe are becoming more frequent in Cascadia. Yet they’re not unique, according to an article Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal.

    As traffic worsens, commuters are hitting the roads and trains far before sunrise, stretching the traditional “rush hour” and spurring businesses to meet the extra demand. In 85 U.S. urban areas, congestion occurred an average of 7.1 hours a day on major urban roads in 2003, up from 6.2 hours a day in 1993 and 4.5 hours daily in 1982, according to the Texas Transportation Institute.

    Some commuters to downtown Seattle leave home as early as 4:15 a.m. in order to beat clogged freeways. Sound Transit’s earliest commuter train from Tacoma to Seattle now leaves at 5:45 a.m., a change from 6:20 a.m. when the service started in 2000, the story notes. The first daily West Coast Express commuter train into Vancouver leaves at 5:27 a.m.

    One result is longer hours for service businesses. According to the story, more than 90 percent of McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S. now operate on extended hours — opening at 5 a.m., closing at midnight or are staying open 24 hours. McDonald’s restaurants generally used to open as early as 6 a.m.

  • Traffic shifting away from Seattle’s port

    The number of containers passing through the Port of Seattle dropped again in September as traffic continued shifting to California and to other Cascadia ports.

    Last month Seattle traffic dropped 7.6 percent, the seventh monthly drop so far this year. Port officials blame the decline on the draw of the large southern California market and say that cruise ships and other business will help Seattle weather the downturn.

    The numbers underscore the need for investment in efficient infrastructure in order to hold onto trade-related business. Vancouver’s port has continued to grow by investing in better on-shore transportation links, and Tacoma is poised to become the largest Puget Sound port this year. Seattle reportedly has the capacity to double its traffic to 4 million 20-foot containers a year by 2013, and Tacoma — which has more space — says it will be able to handle 6 million by 2025.

  • Vancouver’s model for downtown living

    Vancouver’s downtown elementary school is so popular after two years that it’s running out of space.

    The crunch suggests the city is doing something that Seattle should emulate, according to this article examining the merits of living downtown for families. It includes the obvious point that Seattle can’t open schools downtown until there’s enough demand. Far more important is streamlining regulations to encourage more units of all kinds, which would eventually lead to more stores and other amenities. Middle-class residents and families will follow.

  • Picks from Sunday’s papers

    1. A Seattle Times poll found that 51 percent of Seattleites want to rebuild the waterfront viaduct freeway. One-quarter each wanted a tunnel, a surface-street option or hadn’t decided. Unfortunately the poll simply confirms the obvious because cost was apparently the main factor presented to the 400 people who were questioned. An efficient surface-street and transit package would win support if people were told of the construction hassles and massive size of a proposed new aerial viaduct.

    2. The strength of British Columbia’s economic boom may depend on what the Canadian central bank does with interest rates. The Bank of Canada is expected to leave rates unchanged at 4.25 percent on Tuesday but could indicate plans to cut them in the future. Central Canada’s economy is on the ropes, thanks partly to the slumping auto industry. Could a sign of lower rates to help the rest of the country overheat B.C. and Alberta?

    3. Polls suggest that Republicans may take the governorship in Oregon, a trend bolstered by a pair of profiles in The Oregonian. Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who won in 2002 by 3 percentage points, comes off as a technocrat who doesn’t have much to show for his four years in office. Republican Ron Saxton, a Portland school board leader, says a governor needs to take on teachers’ unions in order to improve education. Saxton has raised more money to fund his TV ad campaign and could benefit from voter frustration.

    4. Seattle-area rental costs are soaring — a subject Cascadia Report has experienced first-hand. Some neighborhoods have a vacancy rate of less than 1 percent, according to a real estate survey. Rents rose 7 percent in the last year and are expected to climb another 4 percent this year. Blame job growth, a slowing market for new homes and condo conversions for the trend.