Patrick Condon
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Articles by Patrick Condon
The Bigger Condo Bailout No One Is Discussing
There’s been a lot of attention given to B.C.’s $1.4 billion “condo bailout” — plans to spend public money to purchase unsold condominium units to turn them into affordable housing. Announcements, Events & more from Tyee and select partners At Knowledge Network, Indigenous Brilliance Shines On The BC-based public broadcaster delivers 12 powerful films and original series to mark Indigenous History Month. But a far larger and more damaging giveaway has slipped through with little scrutiny.
The Bigger Condo Bailout No One Is Discussing
1 hour ago SolarEdge is rolling out its next-generation home solar and battery storage platform across the US, with orders for SolarEdge Nexis now open. The new platform is designed to eliminate some of the biggest headaches installers face when adding home battery storage, including lengthy installation …
The Angry Backlash Against Vancouver’s Council Was Avoidable
Last week Vancouver city council responded to public discomfort over their July 2023 city wide zoning change, which granted broad new “entitlements” to city landowners over what can be built on their properties. Announcements, Events & more from Tyee and select partners The Tyee Is Recruiting Our Next Editor-in-Chief Founding editor David Beers is passing the baton to a new leader. Is it you?
Vancouver’s Real Estate Drop Offers a Chance to Reset
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The Best of 2025: Maclean’s Top 10 Money Stories - Macleans.ca
Guy Ritchie's $180M Action Adventure Treasure Hunt That's "Ridiculous as Any Indiana Jones Movie" Refuses To Be Buried on Streaming Guy Ritchie is one of the undisputed kings of the gangster genre, but he has turned his hand to several unexpected detours in the last decade. Along …
Vancouver May Get a Major New City Plan. It’s Not Enough
The Vancouver Official Development Plan, to be voted on by Vancouver city council soon, deserves credit for its ambition. It is, in many ways, a thoughtful, well-crafted vision for a more equitable, sustainable and inclusive city. It speaks with care about reconciliation, climate responsibility and belonging. It identifies, quite rightly, that housing affordability is the city’s defining challenge.
Priced out
What happens when urban land prices escalate so rapidly that the majority of the next generation is shut out from home ownership and affordable rents? And what can we do about these rapidly escalating prices? These are two key questions that Patrick Condon explores in his influential new book.
Vancouver Is About to Blow a Chance for Transit Area Affordability
When subscribing to a newsletter edition you’ll also get early notice on Tyee events, news, promotions, partner messages and special initiatives. Further to the provision of the Personal Information Protection Act, personal information is kept confidential by TheTyee.ca and will not be sold, traded, released, shared or distributed to any other individuals, organizations or agencies without prior consent or notification.
Memo to Carney and Robertson on Fixing Housing
[Editor’s note: This letter, signed by 27 prominent B.C. experts in urban planning and architecture, was sent last week to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Minister of Housing Gregor Robertson, and was cc’d to, among others, B.C. Premier David Eby, B.C. Minister of Housing Christine Boyle and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim.] July 22, 2025 To: The Honourable Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, and the Honourable Gregor Robertson, MP, Federal Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Re: Advancing...
The gap between wages and housing prices is widening, fuelling the affordability crisis
Racial disparities played a significant role in shaping unequal COVID-19 mortality rates. What is less widely understood is how overcrowded housing conditions were an even deadlier variable. In California’s Bay Area, for instance, residents of overcrowded apartments — many of them recent immigrants — were found to be significantly more likely to die from COVID-19 than residents of demographically similar, but less crowded, apartments. Even less examined is the root cause of this overcrowding.
The gap between wages and housing prices is widening, fuelling the affordability crisis
The gap between wages and housing prices is widening, fuelling the affordability crisis Racial disparities played a significant role in shaping unequal COVID-19 mortality rates. What is less widely understood is how overcrowded housing conditions were an even deadlier variable.
Boy, 14, shoots himself in head in his St. Paul home and ‘is not expected to survive,’ police say
Boy, 14, shoots himself in head in his St. Paul home and ‘is not expected to survive,’ police say “It is unknown how the juvenile was able to have the gun,” said Police Sgt. Toy Vixayvong. Jerron Chapman (With permission from GoFundMe) A 14-year-old boy shot himself in the head over the weekend in St. Paul and was gravely wounded, officials said Monday. The shooting occurred about 9:25 p.m. Saturday at the boy’s home in the 300 block of Bates Avenue, police said.
Police raid small-town massage parlor south of Twin Cities on suspicion of promoting prostitution
Police raid small-town massage parlor south of Twin Cities suspected of promoting prostitution One man said he had sex there three or four times, a court filing revealed. New Prague Police Department (New Prague Police Department) More than two years after receiving their first tip about suspected sex trafficking at a downtown New Prague massage parlor, police raided the business and arrested its owner on allegations of promoting prostitution.
How Art Works - Spacing Vancouver
as dialysis drop by drop, filters toxins from blood before they can poison the heart this venom, refined, is art. as antivenin drop by drop, binds toxins in blood holds open channels to source this venom, denatured, is art. *** Derek DeLand has designed the architecture of tall towers, urban tech hubs, entertainment, hotels, art schools, theatres, residential, Passive Haus, seniors housing, master plans, skateplazas, skateparks, public art and competitions.
- Spacing Vancouver
If writing about music is like dancing about architecture, and architecture about art is like Lego about crayons, then writing about architecture about art is like dancing about Lego about crayons. Let’s give it a scribble. ADFF: VANCOUVER film fest touched down in 2024 like a Concorde concrète, its victorious visual voyage piloted by Anne Pearson & Leah Mallen (YVR), and Kyle Bergman (NYC).
Year in prison for former MSP Chick-fil-A manager who stole $144K, spent part on OnlyFans
The former manager of a Chick-fil-A at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has been sentenced to a year in prison for stealing more than $140,000 from the franchise and a sister restaurant, money he later spent on a sex-oriented website and online sports betting.
1 person dead, 2 firefighters injured during house fire in west metro
A fire in a home in Rogers left one person dead and two firefighters injured, officials said. The blaze broke out late Sunday afternoon at a house in the 20700 block of Territorial Road, the Rogers Fire Department said. Firefighters found one person inside who was dead, according to the Fire Department. The victim’s identity has yet to be released. Two firefighters were slightly injured, the Fire Department said.
20-year term for man who targeted St. Paul home at random for burglary, raped woman at gunpoint
A repeat felon has received a 20-year term for breaking into a St. Paul woman’s home that he targeted for burglary in the middle of the night and raping her at gunpoint. Deonte Marquon Thomas, 34, of Maplewood, was sentenced Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct and first-degree burglary in connection with the break-in and sexual assault on April 15 shortly after 4 a.m. in the 300 block of S. Snelling Avenue.
Ex-Minneapolis firefighter who attacked Gopher football alum gets jail time and fine
Jail time already served is the sentence for a former firefighter who fired a handgun and attacked a former Minnesota Gophers football star in the Minneapolis neighborhood where they both lived. Eric Matthew Jagers, 55, was sentenced Monday in Hennepin County District Court to a nearly yearlong term after pleading guilty to second-degree assault in connection with the encounter that occurred on April 14 in the alley behind the 4000 block of S. 17th Avenue.
Minneapolis tallies another shooting with at least 3 victims this week; 2 dead Original
Minneapolis tallied another shooting with at least three victims this week, the latest coming late Wednesday downtown on or near Nicollet Mall, officials said. The first of the three incidents occurred Sunday night, when three people were shot, one fatally, in the 2500 block of Central Avenue NE., just north of Lowry Avenue, according to police. Christopher D. Thurmond, 32, of Maplewood, was identified as the person who was killed.
Man in prison for one murder now charged with second killing in Minneapolis from 2017 Original
A man serving a long prison term for one murder in Minneapolis is now charged with a second killing in the city more than seven years ago. Marvel Galvaston Williams, 36, of St. Paul has been indicted by a grand jury in Hennepin County on a charge of first-degree premeditated murder in connection with the shooting of Aaron Williams on May 30, 2017, in north Minneapolis. The indictment offered no details about the killing or how law enforcement first suspected Marvel Williams as the killer.
Reward posted in hopes of finding remains of woman allegedly killed in '09 by man on Texas death row Original
Bloomington police announced on Thursday a reward for information they hope will lead to the discovery of the remains of a woman who was killed in 2009 allegedly by a man who is on death row in Texas for a double murder. April Pease was 30 years old and living in a Bloomington homeless shelter when she disappeared on March 16, 2009, according to charges filed in Hennepin County District Court against two people.
Fatal dispute over meth leads to 40-year prison sentence for Albert Lea man
Paul Walsh, Patrick Condon, David Taintor, Star Tribune June 4, 2024 at 10:21 AM·1 min read An Albert Lea man has been handed a nearly 40-year sentence for killing one man and wounding another in a dispute over stolen methamphetamine.
Broken City - Land Speculation, Inequality, and Urban Crisis, By Patrick M. Condon
Patrick M. Condon is a professional city planner, teacher, and researcher with over forty years of experience in sustainable urban design. Patrick has taught in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia since 1992. He is the author of three previous books, including Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities and Five Rules for Tomorrow’s Cities.
Can We Build Needed Housing While Preserving Local Democracy? - Spacing Vancouver
Authors: Patrick Condon & Colleen Hardwick Vancouver’s success as a global city has spawned housing prices that rise farther and farther out of reach of city wage earners. Tied to that process has been a question of whose arguments hold more sway at city hall, those of everyday citizens or the real estate industry. There was a time when citizens were far more influential in Vancouver’s planning, an era we’ll revisit later in this piece as we make the case for honouring the spirit of those times.
Can We Build Needed Housing While Preserving Local Democracy?
Vancouver’s success as a global city has spawned housing prices that rise farther and farther out of reach of city wage earners. Tied to that process has been a question of whose arguments hold more sway at city hall, those of everyday citizens or the real estate industry.
1st-degree murder conviction for man who stabbed North St. Paul woman, burned her apartment
A 42-year-old man has been convicted of fatally stabbing a woman in her North St. Paul apartment and setting it on fire. Melvin Bilbro, who lived in the same building as his victim, was found guilty last week in a bench trial of first- and second-degree murder and first-degree arson in connection with the death on Aug. 25, 2022, of 43-year-old Shanna R. Daniels. Sentencing for Bilbro is scheduled for March 19, when he will be given the mandatory life without the possibility of parole.
From Tom Emmer to Taylor Swift, the 11 biggest Minnesota moments and stories of 2023
Readers were drawn to stories about pot, pop stars and our shared Minnesota identity. By Briana Bierschbach and Patrick Condon Star Tribune December 26, 2023 — 7:07am Fatigued after nearly three years of pandemic, and fresh off the latest contentious election cycle, Minnesotans were drawn to different kinds of stories in 2023. The Star Tribune's audience dug into all the twists and turns on the path to legal marijuana, just as you followed the travels and trials of a rogue moose.
BBC’s Planet Earth does a deep dive on West Coast whale poo
The humpbacks’ rebound is a good news story from a number of angles. Iron-rich whale poo fertilizes the ocean, supercharging the food web and the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. WHALE RESEARCHER Jackie Hildering and her colleagues never imagined their work on humpbacks would capture the attention of the globe’s premier documentary series. Or that whale poo would be of such interest to Planet Earth — BBC’s famous nature show.
Why YIMBYs and NIMBYs Need Each Other - Spacing Vancouver
PREAMBLE I will continue to work hard to find new opportunities for what I refer to as “those left behind”. This drives me daily and why I will never give up on the prospect that there are better solutions out there. I also detest the pejorative, polarizing terms and NIMBY. Yet it seems we cannot transcend these labels to find immediate solutions that serve all interests. Why is this? Who is responsible to lead by convening such varying perspectives to generate new ideas?
An immigrant learns to ‘Pay as You Go’ in beguiling debut novel
Book review Slide, the singly named protagonist and narrator of Eskor David Johnson’s “Pay as You Go,” launches into an amusing litany of complaints about his crummy apartment before the first page of this strange, beguiling debut novel is turned.
An immigrant learns to 'Pay as You Go' in beguiling debut novel
Slide, the singly named protagonist and narrator of Eskor David Johnson's "Pay as You Go," launches into an amusing litany of complaints about his crummy apartment before the first page of this strange, beguiling debut novel is turned. "The toilet isn't flushing properly ... sometimes at night, pieces of paint are landing in my mouth and I wake up choking ... the windows are dusty and they don't look out onto anything ... the microwave never heats up my food ... the stairway smells ...
Review: An immigrant learns to 'Pay as You Go' in beguiling debut novel
Slide, the singly named protagonist and narrator of Eskor David Johnson's "Pay as You Go," launches into an amusing litany of complaints about his crummy apartment before the first page of this strange, beguiling debut novel is turned.
An immigrant learns to 'Pay as You Go' in beguiling debut novel
Slide, the singly named protagonist and narrator of Eskor David Johnson's "Pay as You Go," launches into an amusing litany of complaints about his crummy apartment before the first page of this strange, beguiling debut novel is turned. "The toilet isn't flushing properly ... sometimes at night, pieces of paint are landing in my mouth and I wake up choking ... the windows are dusty and they don't look out onto anything ... the microwave never heats up my food ... the stairway smells ...
An immigrant learns to 'Pay as You Go' in beguiling debut novel
Slide, the singly named protagonist and narrator of Eskor David Johnson's "Pay as You Go," launches into an amusing litany of complaints about his crummy apartment before the first page of this strange, beguiling debut novel is turned. "The toilet isn't flushing properly ... sometimes at night, pieces of paint are landing in my mouth and I wake up choking ... the windows are dusty and they don't look out onto anything ... the microwave never heats up my food ... the stairway smells ...
Review: An immigrant learns to 'Pay as You Go' in beguiling debut novel
Slide, the singly named protagonist and narrator of Eskor David Johnson's "Pay as You Go," launches into an amusing litany of complaints about his crummy apartment before the first page of this strange, beguiling debut novel is turned.
An immigrant learns to 'Pay as You Go' in beguiling debut novel
Slide, the singly named protagonist and narrator of Eskor David Johnson's "Pay as You Go," launches into an amusing litany of complaints about his crummy apartment before the first page of this strange, beguiling debut novel is turned.
Draft provincial strategy could open door to reinstating grizzly bear trophy hunt
The proposed plan is vague, rushed and alarming say those concerned about grizzly bear conservation. TEARS STREAMED DOWN Trish Boyum’s face as she watched a relaxed mother grizzly bear flop on to her back and nurse her cubs, unconcerned about the proximity of Boyum and a Zodiac full of bear watchers.
Minnesota political leaders past, present react to death of Gov. Al Quie
Al Quie, who represented southern Minnesota in Congress for two decades before returning home to serve a single term as governor, has died at age 99.
Minnesota political leaders past, present react to death of Gov. Al Quie Original
Al Quie, a farm kid from Rice County who went on to serve two decades in the U.S. House and then a single term as Minnesota's governor, died on Aug. 18. Though out of political office for a full four decades, Quie remained active in public life in Minnesota for many years, and was well-regarded by Minnesota political leaders from both parties. Gov.
Calvin Sandborn’s optimism and passion inspires generations of environmental lawyers
After two decades leading the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre, and cheerfully fighting on behalf of the Earth and the communities that depend on its health, Calvin Sandborn is retiring (sort of). CHOOSE OPTIMISM, CHOOSE LOVE, live a life of purpose. That’s Calvin Sandborn’s strategy for coping in a world faced with increasingly dire environmental crises including climate chaos, forest fires and the biodiversity crisis.
Ford’s everyman Frank Bascombe is back for one more brush with existence
Is Frank Bascombe a loser? Does it matter? As “Be Mine,” Richard Ford’s fifth (and supposedly final) book about fictional avatar Bascombe, gets underway, the onetime sportswriter/now retired real estate agent is twice divorced, emotionally estranged from the adult daughter who was once the apple of his eye, regularly hiring a massage therapist in order to flirt with and daydream about her, and – as ever – unusually prone to nosy, idle speculation about the lives of people he doesn’t know.
In Richard Ford's 'Be Mine,' a boomer reckons with his past and present
Star Tribune Is Frank Bascombe a loser? Does it matter? kAmpD “q6 |:?6[” #:492C5 u@C5’D 7:7E9 W2?5 DFAA@D65=J 7:?2=X 3@@< 23@FE 7:4E:@?2= 2G2E2C q2D4@>36[ 86ED F?56CH2J[ E96 @?6E:>6 DA@CEDHC:E6C^?@H C6E:C65 C62= 6DE2E6 286?E :D EH:46 5:G@C465[ 6>@E:@?2==J 6DEC2?865 7C@> E96 25F=E 52F89E6C H9@ H2D @?46 E96 2AA=6 @7 9:D 6J6[ C68F=2C=J 9:C:?8 2 >2DD286 E96C2A:DE :? @C56C E@ 7=:CE H:E9 2?5 52J5C62> 23@FE 96C[ 2?5 — 2D 6G6C — F?FDF2==J AC@?6 E@ ?@DJ[ :5=6 DA64F=2E:@?
Review: In Richard Ford's 'Be Mine,' a boomer reckons with his past and present
FICTION: Ford's everyman Frank Bascombe is back for one more brush with existence.
In Richard Ford's 'Be Mine,' a boomer reckons with his past and present
FICTION: Ford's everyman Frank Bascombe is back for one more brush with existence. "Be Mine" by Richard Ford; Ecco/Harper Collins (352 pages, $30) --- Is Frank Bascombe a loser? Does it matter?
Review: In Richard Ford's 'Be Mine,' a boomer reckons with his past and present
Is Frank Bascombe a loser? Does it matter? As "Be Mine," Richard Ford's fifth (and supposedly final) book about fictional avatar Bascombe, gets underway, the onetime sportswriter/now retired real estate agent is twice divorced, emotionally estranged from the adult daughter who was once the apple of his eye, regularly hiring a massage therapist in order to flirt with and daydream about her, and — as ever — unusually prone to nosy, idle speculation about the lives of people he doesn't know.
Tax increase lightning rod for those unwilling to accept election results
Langford’s municipal political scene is not alone in being “ideologically diverse”—some might say “toxic.” Is there a way to move towards constructive conversations? FOR MOST BRITISH COLUMBIANS, last October’s municipal elections are a fuzzy memory likely to provoke little more than a yawn.
Why thousands of board games are buried beneath Mankato
Listen and subscribe to our podcast: Via Apple Podcasts| Spotify| Stitcher Somewhere beneath southern Minnesota lie the remnants of about 40,000 board games once created and sold as an antiestablishment alternative to mega-selling Monopoly. Manufactured in Mankato, the game Anti-Monopoly found success in the mid-1970s amid America's rampant inflation and institutional distrust. Then, much like in Monopoly, the ownership class quashed the competition.
Patrick Condon: Behold Vancouver, where there are housing solutions to be found
Behold Vancouver, where since 1960 we have more than tripled the number of housing units within city limits. In 1960 the city was already “built out,” with no undesignated or unoccupied parcels. Thus, this tripling was all “infill” densification or changes in land use from industrial to residential use. This was an unreservedly good thing – in all but one respect. This giant surge of new housing supply did not lead to more affordable housing as we all hoped.
Millions of salmon heading home to B.C. caught by Alaskan fishers
Climate change, collapsing runs, and severe imbalance in fisheries are leading to calls for changes to the Pacific Salmon Treaty and even consumer boycotts.
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