Population and Housing

[ac3r]

Japanese fire trucks can be very big as well, but they also have different specialized vehicles that are sent out for different calls. The way they respond over there is different in many ways as well which is a main difference. They focus more on actual fire fighting and rescue situations. They also don't have to do things like send an entire engine out on a call just to blow Narcan up some dumbasses nose every 35 minutes. The calls and responses to calls are just structured differently, so you can dispatch specific vehicles for specific situations.

I wouldn't say the buildings are more or less prone to catching fire or anything...fires are just as common there, especially in the cities. When I was living in places like Tokyo and Osaka it was pretty common for apartments to have a bad fire. It can be a result of cooking appliances (using gas/propane ones indoors is common for some cooking, even if frowned upon), small spaces, poverty and so on in addition to the density of people living in one spot. But also with Japan being a very culturally and politically conservative rules based society you are certainly going to have less idiots.

And...our fire trucks are big because who cares? They are. We can make them big so we do. There's nothing wrong with that. I don't see why they need to be small in this part of the world. It's Waterloo Region, not inner Naples. I can't think of a single situation in regional history where a large fire truck was considered a negative thing.

[KevinL]

Keep in mind that these trucks are as small as they are because of how narrow the streets are there (along with other parts of Asia and Europe). They've never been able to fit big trucks down all their streets, so have always had small trucks in the fleet. Truck size then informs the types of vehicles that get used, etc.

[danbrotherston]

Somehow they can manage with smaller-scale fire trucks in Tokyo. And their buildings are far taller than ours ...

Do they build buildings less prone to catching fire? It seems like we build flimsy houses out of wood that catch fire and burn down easily.

I think Japan is rather famous for having wooden houses too. That said, we don’t typically build apartment buildings out of wood. Only houses.

[tomh009]

And...our fire trucks are big because who cares? They are. We can make them big so we do. There's nothing wrong with that.

Considering that these days most of the fire truck dispatches are essentially for paramedic assistance, the massive pumper trucks are huge overkill.

[ac3r]

Until you need one.

[bravado]

And they would get to me faster if they were smaller in a dense urban setting…

[MidTowner]

Interesting move from City council in London: https://www.ctvnews.ca/london/article/co...-bedrooms/

They will remove as a right fourplexes barely two years after putting them in place. Instead, they will have a max of three units, second and third units will have max floor space relative to the first; and- most perplexing of all- there will be limits on the number of bedrooms in these ADUs (in London they use the term ARUs).

This is evidently in response to a single development where someone divided a single family home of almost half an acre, to build two fourplexes consisting of four bedroom units.

[danbrotherston]

Interesting move from City council in London: https://www.ctvnews.ca/london/article/co...-bedrooms/

They will remove as a right fourplexes barely two years after putting them in place. Instead, they will have a max of three units, second and third units will have max floor space relative to the first; and- most perplexing of all- there will be limits on the number of bedrooms in these ADUs (in London they use the term ARUs).

This is evidently in response to a single development where someone divided a single family home of almost half an acre, to build two fourplexes consisting of four bedroom units.

"Oh no, more housing got built! The humanity of it, must put an end to that."

I'll say it again, people in power do not want more housing. They don't want homelessness either but when presented with the choice, they'll take homelessness over more housing.

[bravado]

The cycle continues (stolen from bsky)

The Zoning Circle of Life:
-reform zoning to allow new building
-reform works
-city sees lots of new building conforming with reformed zoning
-neighbours freak out, demand restrictions
-council caves, reform is reversed
-housing crisis deepens
-people suggest zoning reforms to allow new building

Maybe if we just wait a few more decades, giving people the power to selfishly deny valuable assets to others will eventually start to work and people will become altruistic again!

[ac3r]

Here's an idea...what if we stop electing the same boomers to office year after year?

[bravado]

It makes you wonder what the limit is for voter turnout when it stops being even remotely possible to label the system as "democratic". 20%? 15%? Why don't people care?

[ac3r]

I think our region/cities aren't big enough for people to care. When you live in a city with millions of people, the do tend to pay more attention to local politics and vote. But when you have a region of close to 700k and three cities with less than 300k, none of the local politics really feels like it impacts you on a day to day basis (even if it does...barely). The most important decision making continues to occur regardless of who gets elected, so many don't feel the need to change mayors and such when everything already works fine enough. Garbage gets picked up, the roads get cleared, taxes aren't offensive etc so people are comfortable.

I would suspect in addition, our weird local political makeup also makes things more confusing. We're 1 region, 3 cities and a bunch of townships. Yeah you only vote in a regional election then your city/township, but there are still so many layers. It may also be worsened by the fact the region is very transient. A good amount of the population is studying here (who don't vote, of course) or doesn't really plan to live here long term so they don't give a shit about any of it.

Maybe it's possible to attract more interest in it...but local politics has never been something most people have ever paid attention to either in 1925 or 2025. At least until you're a city as big as Tokyo, Toronto or Rio de Janeiro.

[MidTowner]

With our convoluted local system, we had almost exactly the same voter turnout as London did (barely 25%) last municipal election. So it's not our crazy system.

I don't really think it's our size, either. Yes, Toronto mayoral races get a lot higher turnout. But smaller communities can, too- Centre Wellington (Elora/Fergus) is usually over 50%, for instance.

I don't know what the problem is.

[MidTowner]

Kitchener residents riled up over size of backyard build

Ward 4 councillor Christine Michaud: "“For this particular one? Yes, I’ll be honest, yes, I do think it is against the spirit [of the bylaw]. It’s still absolutely legal, and it’s what we agreed to."

“My interpretation and hope for the additional dwelling units is typically what you see in nice, little, tiny homes, or something that your mother-in-law or father-in-law might move into,” she explained.

The building is 75.2 square metres (809 square feet), the limit is 80 square metres. There is a proposal to reduce that limit to 75 square metres.

My mother-in-law is a boomer who lives in a gigantic house. It would be hard to convince her to live in something less than 800 square feet. Maybe Councillor Michaud's in-laws want a bachelor apartment in a tiny home, but when they pass away how desirable will that be for anyone else?

But, anyway, we have rules and then when developers follow them, the councillors talk about the "spirit," and the bureaucrats talk about how a developer "built it right to the max" (this in reference to the fact that the building in question is equal to the 4.5 metre height limit. Kind of nutty.

[danbrotherston]

Oh just fuck these people.

Crying about an 800 square foot bungalow. "It's not what I envisioned"....oh fuck right off.

I mean, they're basically saying they didn't think anyone would actually build anything. Because an 800 sq ft bungalow is about as low impact as you can possibly get when building an actual detached house in Canada. I mean, they talk about a "gentle density" or "mother in law suites" but this is just copium. They don't want to believe they are opposing housing, so they delude themselves into believing this kind of thing, but when faced with actual housing getting built, they still make the paper throwing a tantrum.