The Globe and Mail

It is too bad the EcoDensity debate got dragged into an election year. Over the last few months, this discussion has entered an unwelcome and unprecedented new phase. Talk about residential density in Vancouver is getting un-civil. An element of skepticism has entered the debate about the value of density. Given our urban trajectory over the past four decades, this is as startling as not liking snow on Grouse Mountain, or refusing an invitation to dim sum. What's worse, the grumbling is not coming from dwellers in downtown's condo forest who are about to lose their last remaining view to yet another tower, but from residents of long standing in some of our lowest density neighbourhoods, on both Eastside and Westside. The anti-density skirmishes are mounting. On the Eastside, a modest regime for granny flats, housing infill, and re-development of major streets east of Nanaimo along Kingsway prompts a hot reaction from a handful of objectors. What the community really thinks is even more in doubt now, because on February 5 a poll of residents was thrown out as flawed, City Hall arguing its results had been skewed through cloned submissions by anti-density forces.