Welcome! (and blog navigation)

[ez-toc]Welcome to my blog!

I’m clear and transparent about my thoughts on municipal and regional issues, and I have posts on a range of topics. You can search for topics using the search icon 🔍 at the top right corner of the website, or you can browse from the broad categories below.

Note that some of the posts are older, and facts (and my views) may have changed since publication. If you have questions, please tell free to ask me: dave@davethompsonvictoria.ca.

Housing & Affordability

• Keeping Renters Safe: Why Victoria Needs a Maximum Indoor Temperature (May 2026)
• Affordability and safety for students (Feb 2026)
• New homes, vacancy rates, and rents (Jun 2025, updated Mar 2026)
• My op-ed: Affordability requires abundance. We need more housing. (Vancouver Sun) (Jun 2025)
• Op-ed: Victoria council hard at work on affordable housing (Times Colonist) (Mar 2025)
• Moving chains: credible information vs. misinformation (Oct 2025)
• Letter to the editor: “As people move up, cheaper homes available” (Times Colonist) (Oct 2025)
• Where is “affordable housing” truly affordable? (Apr 2025, updated Dec 2025)
• The 2024 Housing Strategy Report (Jul 2025)
• Benefits of more homes – David Suzuki Foundation (Feb 2025)
• Moving chains: why new homes help affordability (Dec 2023)
• Who can afford new apartments? And what happens to rents of vacated apartments? (Dec 2023)
• The economic benefits of social housing (Nov 2023)
• Is your municipality protecting its housed and unhoused residents? (Dec 2025)
• BC, Victoria, and short-term rentals (AirBnB, VRBO, etc) (Nov 2023)
• Where is below-market and supportive housing going? (Nov 2023)
• Missing Middle heights (Jan 2023)
• Missing Middle history in 10 links (Dec 2022)
• Housing – Initial Actions (Oct 2022)
• The Missing Middle Housing Initiative is likely on hold (Oct 2022)
• More on Missing Middle Housing (Sep 2022)
• We need to get past Missing Middle and address our other housing problems (Aug 2022)
• Missing middle housing and rental (Villages and Corridors) – my letter to Mayor and Councillors (May 2022)
• Affordable housing – my letter to Mayor and Councillors (Apr 2022)
• We need better protection for renters (Mar 2022)
• Airbnbs and the housing shortage (Aug 2022)
• The big secret about community association land use committees (Jul 2021)

Building in the Right Places (series)

• Building in the right places (Oct 2023) – overview and op-ed companion
• Building in the right places, part 2 – near transit stops (Jul 2024)
• Building in the right places, part 3 – near protected bike-and-roll routes (Aug 2024)
• Building in the right places, part 4 – walkable, complete communities (Sep 2024)
• Building in the right places – City Statement (Nov 2024)

Homelessness & Street Disorder

• Unregulated drug deaths in this region and elsewhere (April 2026)
• Change is happening on Pandora (Jan 2026, updated Mar 2026)
• Helping people access the detox-treatment-recovery pathway (Sep 2025)
• Homelessness and street disorder are not unique to Victoria (Sep 2025, updated Jan 2026)
• Julian Daly at UBCM: Disordered Downtown – Rethinking care for those in need (Oct 2025)
• Unregulated drug deaths are actually going down (Jun 2025, updated Oct 2025)
• Street disorder and solutions (Jun 2025)
• Street problems – where to advocate for improvements (Jun 2025)
• Pandora: People need better places to go (Jul 2025)
• Chatting with people at Our Place on Pandora (community coffee chat) (Jul 2025)
• What are the plans for Pandora and sheltering? (Jul 2024)
• Whack-a-mole is not a solution to homelessness (Jul 2024)
• Federal bail reform (Sep 2025)
• The City’s approach to homelessness – and to possessions left on sidewalks and parks (Dec 2023)
• What’s being done about downtown (Dec 2023)
• Bylaws, encampments, impounding, storage etc (Dec 2023)
• How will we address outdoor sheltering? (Nov 2023)
• Update on homelessness, sheltering and city parks (Times Colonist op-ed) (Nov 2023)
• A temporary washroom for Pandora (Oct 2023)
• Encampments, and the role of the province and local governments in the Capital Region (Sep 2023)
• The disaster on our streets (Sep 2023)
• Homelessness – an emerging shared vision (Jul 2023)
• VicPD Chief Manak spoke to Council Thursday (Sep 2023)
• A neighbour’s perspective on Tiny Town, 940 Caledonia (Mar 2024)
• Property taxes and rent increases (Nov 2023)

Transportation & Mobility

• Regional trail widening (May 2026)
• Closing two gaps in the protected bike-and-roll mobility network (Mar 2026)
• Victoria has company: moving forward with protected bike-and-roll infrastructure (Feb 2026)
• Space needed to transport 60 people (or, why we need bus lanes) (Jul 2025)
• Yes to more AAA protected bike and roll routes (Jul 2024)
• Time for more red light and speed cameras (Jul 2025)
• Car crashes in Victoria (Jul 2025)
• ICBC data on motor vehicle crashes (Jul 2022)
• Parking – correcting the record (letter on CBC radio) (Sep 2025)
• Check parking report, ignore the wild claims (letter in Times Colonist) (Sep 2025)
• The truth about parking in Victoria (Sep 2025)
• Pedestrianizing spaces in downtown (and elsewhere!) (Jan 2024)
• Streets are for people (Jan 2024)
• A downtown perspective on sidewalks, bike lanes and streets (Mar 2024)
• Safe spaces for people (Aug 2022)
• Victoria’s protected “AAA” bike and roll routes (Jul 2022)
• Victoria Streetcar and Rail Maps (Nov 2023)

Climate & Environment

• Leveraging Regional Growth to Mitigate Climate Change (Feb 2026)
• Shore power – letter to MP Will Greaves (May 2025)
• Accelerating climate action regionally (May 2024)
• Zero carbon new buildings (Nov 2024)
• Care about climate change, or new building approvals? (Feb 2023)
• Are energy efficient new homes better for climate change? It depends… (Jul 2022)
• Can cities take action on climate change? (Jun 2022)
• The surprisingly good news for Victoria about the climate emergency (Capital Daily op-ed) (Oct 2021)
• Asphalt fumes and odour (Aug 2025)
• Victoria needs more trees and green space (Times Colonist) (Jul 2025)
• Victoria’s trees, urban forest, and OCP Update (Apr 2025)
• Urban trees – let’s do better (Aug 2022)
• Polycrisis, climate change, collapse: a coffee chat (Aug 2025)

Official Community Plan (OCP) Update

• OCP adoption – my remarks (Oct 2025)
• OCP – public hearing (Sep 2025)
• OCP Update: the shape of development in Victoria, and the seismic code (Mar 2025)
• OCP Update: Yes, Council had time to absorb it (Mar 2025)
• OCP Update: changes and next steps (Mar 2025)
• OCP Update: safe, practical transportation options (Feb 2025)
• OCP Update: Context (Feb 2025)
• OCP Update: the need for modernization (Feb 2025)
• OCP Update: Public Engagement (Feb 2025)
• Victoria residents have been providing OCP input – lots of it (Apr 2025)
• More on the OCP Update survey (Apr 2024)
• OCP: Surveys are just one input (of many) (Apr 2024)

Governance & Civic Issues

• My op-ed: We are living through a crisis in the quality of public information (June 2026)
• Ten advocacy tips (Mar 2025)
• Council members listen to all opinions (Apr 2025)
• Opinions – yes, many (May 2025)
• Victoria awards and accolades (recent, just a sample) (Dec 2025)
• Public input: most oppose Police budget increase. And what that means. (Feb 2025)
• Law enforcement decisions up to police in Victoria, not council (Victoria News) (Jul 2025)
• Victoria needs an effective, efficient code of conduct (Times Colonist op-ed) (Aug 2023)
• Closed Council meetings (Dec 2022)
• City Council decisions and good governance (Jul 2022)
• Crystal Pool – preventing cost overruns (Feb 2025)
• Crystal Pool – is Dave on the “No” side? No. (Jan 2025)
• Crystal Pool Motions (it got spicy today) (Jan 2025)
• Crystal pool project costs (Jan 2025)
• Citizens’ Assembly recommends Saanich and Victoria amalgamate (Apr 2025)
• The Citizens Assembly Amalgamation Report – and Minority Reports (Jul 2025)
• Cultural assets needed in downtown Victoria (Times Colonist) (May 2025)
• Community and placemaking – Oaklands Rise (Aug 2022)
• I’m listening to your concerns and your ideas for the City (Jul 2022)
• Coffee-chat: your ideas for Victoria’s future (Apr 2026)

Elections & Voting

• My re-election platform: your ideas are welcome, as always (June 2026)
• Have a voting plan – and ideally vote early! (Oct 2022, updated to 2026)
• Students can vote! (October 17 – save the date) (Aug 2022, updated to 2026)
• Key voting info – a quick rundown (Aug 2022, updated to 2026)
• Election info: renters can allow access to their building (Aug 2022,  updated to 2026)

This list gets updated occasionally. If you notice a missing or broken link, please get in touch.

Note that circumstances may have changed since older posts were written and my views on some may have evolved so please reach out if you have questions, updates, corrections or any other thoughts on any posts.

All posts, like the rest of this website and all my other communications, are my own views only – not those of Council, the CRD, or the City.