THE YORK - John Lafford + Mike Wilson-AIL Group

Sep 4, 2025

Weekly progress update video - York Street Sackville New Brunswick - seven storey 90-100 rental units - available for occupancy in 2027. ‪@tantramarnb‬ "densification" and "smart"growth building downtown across from Mount Allison University Convocation Hall - see website @ laffordrealty.com

5 Why Communities Resist Density

Aug 26, 2021

High density housing is not the cure-all for our housing crisis, according to our speakers. High density urban planning in Hawaii has been stymied because of poor housing design, and a lack of community engagement. If housing does not take into account its design and community input, then it creates conflict. Wendy talks about the psychology of housing and NIMBY-ism is a symptom of feeling threatened. Susan Kirsch presents on why communities resist density and embrace choice. Choon James states the importance of Oahu's sustainability and warns about the strain high density development could cause on the island's limited resources. Ron Iwami talks about preserving the beauty of the land and would rather Hawaii's lands be used as public gathering spaces or as ways to mitigate our food importation. Dr Wendy Sarkissian is a planner, advocate and author. She is expert in housing, community engagement, social planning and professional ethics. She seeks spirited ways to nurture an empowered and engaged citizenry. Wendy is the award-winning co-author of several books on community engagement and housing. She holds a doctorate in environmental ethics and a Masters of Town Planning. She is a Life Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia. Wendy was formerly Adjunct Professor in the School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Susan Kirsch, Director, Catalysts for Local Control with a mission to educate, engage, and empower citizens to preserve a strong middle class of home owners and democracy itself Roles as a Community Advocate: Founder, Livable California; Chair, 2020 Nix-the-Nine Campaign; 2016 Candidate for the Marin County Board of Supervisors, Founder, Citizen Marin Choon James is originally from Singapore. She’s been a real estate broker in Oahu for over 30 years. She's been involved with land-use planning and good governance issues at Honolulu Hale. Choon is a long-time activist with “Keep The Country Country” to preserve rural resources, farmlands and open spaces for a thriving, diversified, and sustainable Oahu. Ron Iwami President of Friends of Kewalos, a non profit organization dedicated to Protect, Preserve, and Malama Kewalo Basin Park and the surrounding shoreline to ensure the recreational user will continue to have access and the ability to enjoy the area for future generations to come.

Mayor Rob And Zoe April 17 - Port Moody Staffer on Youtube [ British Columbia Politics ]

Re:  Liberal Federal Candidate Zoe Royer:  Zoe Royer for Port Moody - Coquitlam | Facebook

Apr 17, 2025

I’m speaking out because people deserve to know the truth. Zoe Royer, who just announced she's running for federal office, has a history at Port Moody City Hall that should worry everyone. She was a city councillor for eight years. In 2022, even though she had strong support in past elections, she chose not to run again. Instead, she oddly ran for council in Coquitlam and school trustee in Port Moody at the same time. Many of us at City Hall knew why — if she ran again in Port Moody, information about serious ethical problems might come out. She hoped we would forget. We didn’t. While Royer was a councillor, her family business, CityState Consulting Group, was working in real estate development. That’s a huge conflict of interest. As a councillor, she had access to private information about land, planning, and city legal matters — the exact type of information a developer would want. This went on for years, and staff at City Hall often saw things that made us uncomfortable. Eventually, it all came to a head when she directly tried to intervene in a lawsuit between the city and a landowner — a landowner who had hired her family's consulting company. I have an audio recording of a meeting where Royer asked Mayor Rob Vagramov to help settle the lawsuit in her client’s favor. She even made a presentation with slides. The mayor warned her several times that she was deep in a conflict of interest and said he wouldn't go near it "with a 20-foot pole." She kept pushing anyway, even threatening to go to the Ombudsperson if the mayor didn’t act. This wasn’t a closed meeting — it was a Zoom call between her and the mayor, and legally, I can share it. It was obvious to everyone that Royer was using her public office to help her private client. She had already spoken to the city manager, who worked under her, and then went to the mayor. She tried to spin the issue by claiming she was helping the environment or saving the city legal fees, but it was clear she was there for her client, not the public. That’s not just unethical — it’s illegal under community laws meant to protect people from corruption. After a lot of thought, I decided it’s time to speak up. I didn’t release this information back in 2022, and I regret it. It’s important that voters know who they are electing. We need leaders who work for the people, not private businesses. This is especially important now, when trust in government feels so low and so many politicians are too close to big money and developers. Today, Thursday April 17, 2025, I’m releasing this summary and the recording publicly. I hope journalists and voters in the Port Moody-Coquitlam area will take this seriously. Before we vote, we deserve to know if the people asking for our trust have already betrayed it.

Found the video at Reddit here:  🚨 I Work at Port Moody City Hall. Voters Deserve to Know the Truth About Zoe Royer. 🚨 : r/Portmoody

More here on development in Port Moody...

Port Moody approves final rezoning for Inlet District redevelopment project - Tri-City News

More here:  Port Moody’s Coronation Park redevelopment plan greenlit | Watch News Videos Online

Densification in the age of "smart"growth..