🚧 A Timeline of Extraction: The Real Cost of Predatory Lending and Car-Centric Urban Planning

By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita

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📍 1996 – The Warning Signs

I nearly lost my job because of traffic. My car was broken. The exhaust was leaking into the cabin. No cell phones. No backup. I turned around and called from a landline. My coworkers didn’t get it—they never had to choose between car fumes and rent.

I had just finished school and owed $22,000. No public transit options. I moved, again and again, trying to stay afloat.

📍 2001–2020 – Choosing the Ethical Path

I gave up my car 24 years ago. I did what society claimed it wanted: I walked, biked, took the bus.

I watched traffic get worse, housing skyrocket, while brand-new homes sat empty. I saw newcomers arrive, forced into debt they could not afford. Not because they were irresponsible — but because there was no alternative.

📍 2023 – A 4-Hour Commute

Two hours in, two hours out. Granville Island to South Surrey. Because that’s what it took to hold onto a job. Until I couldn’t anymore.

📍 2025 – No Job, No Home, No Future?

Now I’m 63. Couchsurfing. Dog walking. This isn’t just my story. It’s becoming the norm in a system that rewards:

• Money laundering
• Urban sprawl
• High-interest predatory car loans
• Empty homes as “investments”
• Politicians addicted to infrastructure vanity projects like another bridge

🚫 About That Petition for a New Bridge…

There’s a petition to build a third crossing between the North Shore and Vancouver. But let’s be honest:

We don’t need another bridge.

We need affordable housing, transit access, and real solutions—not more concrete for cars that people can’t afford to own.

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🔍 Who Is This Addressed To?

• Ministers of Transportation, Housing, Immigration, and Finance
• Urban Planners and Developers
• Bank Executives and Auto Lenders
• Municipal Leaders
• Citizens who still believe this doesn’t affect them

❓ 5 Reflective Questions for Serious Accountability

1. What happens when thousands of newcomers are pushed into 7-year car loans at 20% interest just to work in places they can’t afford to live?
   → In 1 year: more debt, more defaults.
   → In 5 years: mass financial instability and no path to homeownership.
2. What are the long-term urban consequences of building cities for cars, not people?
   → In 2 years: More congestion, more emissions.
   → In 5 years: Public services collapse under stress from poorly connected sprawl.
3. What does it say about our values when banks approve car loans for the poor but deny basic housing solutions?
   → Now: Profits for lenders.
   → Future: A generation trapped in financial servitude.
4. How are we repeating the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis—except with cars—and what will collapse first?
   → In 1 year: Rising defaults, debt stacking, car repossessions.
   → In 2–3 years: A crash in auto lending markets, loss of financial trust.
5. How many lives are we willing to sacrifice to protect a financial system built on pushing products (cars, condos) instead of people’s needs (homes, transit, dignity)?
   → In 5 years: A lost generation. Broken dreams. More people like me.

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✊ This Is a Plea and a Warning

We are watching predatory lending, urban neglect, and corporate greed strip away the future for those who played by the rules, believed in work, and raised families with hope.

I am not ashamed of being 63 and dog walking. But I am angry that this is the only option left after I sacrificed, contributed, and stayed ethical when everyone around me profited off shortcuts.

“There is no bridge wide enough to carry us over the consequences of this crisis if it continues.”

– Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita