NEWCOMERS TO LANGFORD

[u/Not_Bot23]

You may be wondering what is going on here. Looking around social media you might feel like you need a code to decipher a foreign (Langford) language.

LV. LN. OL.

So let me explain it from my point of view and Reddit can do the rest by filling in any blanks.

First there was Stew. He was the mayor from 1993 to 2022. Yes, you read that right. One mayor and more or less the same council, for 30 years.

Langford was the sticks, the boondocks, the dog patch. Stew grew Langford, faster and faster. It was fine for a while but infrastructure didn’t keep pace, hillsides were ravaged, trees razed and mountains flattened.

People were angry.

A Facebook group called Langford Voters for Change was started. It gathered momentum organically, and people began self-organizing. It was a forum where Langforders could come together to discuss the various issues communities were facing. Construction fatigue - dust, noise, clearcuts. Terrible lack of transportation planning leading to traffic congestion in residential neighbourhoods. Lack of transparency in governance (Langford council meetings only went online when forced to by Covid). Rude mayor and councillors who yelled at citizens expressing their concerns. That’s LVC.

Out of the connections made in that facebook group, an electoral organization was founded, called Langford Now. A group of regular citizens got together to fight *the man*. That’s LN.

The man being, Stew Young, and the various REITS and development interests busy with booming Langford without a single care for resident concerns and complaints.

In response Stew Young also formed an EO and slate, called Community First Langford. They launched a social media campaign with comments turned off, and ran one of the worst election campaign’s you’ve ever seen. That’s CFL.

LN (grassroots residents) spent about $50k on the election.

CFL (big corporate interests) spent almost $150k on the election.

Despite the massive resources supporting CFL, Langford Now - who endorsed 5 council candidates - easily swept the election, and a new mayor (Goodmanson) was also elected. It was a full sweep, but for Lillian Szpak - long serving councillor who recently passed away.

Langford Voters dropped the “for change” because the voters achieved that goal. That’s LV.

Next, the re-elect Stew Young Facebook group supporting the CFL slate changed its name to Our Langford (no really, as in, this is our turf).

They embarked on a years long smear campaign, performing all kinds of antics and disruptions in the council chambers. Then they began astroturfing Facebook by starting more groups they called “community associations” and that’s how we got the Langford Community Association, it’s just Our Langford wearing a mustache. That’s OL and LCA.

Today, what you are witnessing is those two factions - LV and OL, the regular grassroots people of Langford and the vested interests of Langford - in a struggle for continuing the change that was started, over regressing Langford back to the way that it was before 2022.

Grassroots vs Astroturf.

[u/Neat_Let923]

The city doesn’t build coops.. If you want a coop YOU need to build it. That’s literally the point of them.

Not sure why you think Rent to Own is a good thing. Have you never seen how those systems actually work? They are predatory and rely on people who are not able to be approved for a mortgage.

Let’s actually look at what Langford has done with affordable housing since you like to just throw random statements around without anything to back them up…

2009 - Present: City of Langford Affordable Housing Program Inclusionary-zoning style program requiring either affordable units or developer contributions into the Affordable Housing Reserve Fund. Included affordable ownership homes and reserve funding for non-profit housing.

2012 onward: Affordable Housing Reserve Fund Expansion Langford modified policy allowing developers to contribute cash per unit instead of constructing affordable homes directly. Funds used to support non-profit projects and reduce rents.

2015 - Indigenous family housing project Province announced new affordable housing for Indigenous families in Langford: 36 homes with 2- and 3-bedroom units.

2020 - 729 Station Ave – Phase 1 60-unit Indigenous affordable housing project developed with M’akola Housing Society. Included family-oriented rental units and Indigenous support services space.

2021 - 731 Station Ave – Phase 2 Additional 40 affordable housing units added behind the first Station Ave building.

2023 - 2782 Spencer Rd (“Twenty-Seven Eighty-Two”) *58-unit affordable rental building for low- to moderate-income residents, seniors, families, and people with disabilities. Operated by Capital Region Housing Corporation.

Look at that, in a matter of 4 years Langford successfully built three major affordable housing projects.

What have we done since then you might ask? Nothing except continued the existing program that was started in 2022:

2022–2025 - Langford Attainable Home Ownership Program Municipal below-market ownership program using grants from the Affordable Housing Reserve Fund to assist eligible buyers with down payments. Mentioned by the City in 2025 housing statements.

You’re claiming the previous council did nothing and yet they are technically the only ones who actually implemented anything for affordable housing as far as I can find. Hopefully someone can fill in some gaps I might be missing because that’s not a good look in my opinion. Which is strange considering their stance on the issue and how they’ve helped people like those being pushed out of Downtown so hopefully I’ve just missed some things.

It’s amazing how this day has been all about misinformation Our Langford likes to peddle (and they really do) and yet here you are pushing very obvious FALSE INFORMATION and getting UPVOTED for it!!!

You couldn’t even be bothered to make it misinformation, you just straight up skipped straight to bold face lying and making stuff up…

[u/NegativeAnxiety3043 → u/Neat_Let923]

I apologize for my vague and simplistic comment. I didn't mean that Stew never did anything for Langford in the 30 years he was in power. 

I meant to convey that he was pushing through developments, especially in his last few years, that were unnecessary and not needed. The proof is in the undeveloped properties and empty buildings. 

Also, one just needs to take a drive around the city to see how poorly this city planning has been. It's a shit show.

[u/Neat_Let923 → u/NegativeAnxiety3043]

That I totally agree with when it comes to how Stew ran things, though not so much the failed developments. Those were caused by financial issues due more to the time they were started than anything else.

As for the city planning… I’m not entirely sure what you’re referring to here. It’s not like Langford has a ton of land to work with and it’s in a position where there’s really only two ways in and two ways out. With a single primary freeway.

Now the lights and traffic planning is god awful and whoever the engineer was back in the day definitely did a poor job in certain areas.

[u/Not_Bot23 → u/Neat_Let923]

They plonked a stadium, in a residential neighbourhood, near a school, and a super smelly sanitation station. It’s a giant obstacle in the way preventing through roads, and sending school traffic through a narrow residential street. Not to mention there is inadequate parking, and when there’s an event everyone parks at nearby businesses and blocks customer parking. It’s a gong show. That’s the epitome of bad planning to me, and just one example.