Those newcomers vying for a seat on Vancouver city council might want to check into the meeting that’s still going on here at 9:30 at night, to see if this is really what they want to sign up for. Councillors are grappling with what sounds like an unresolvable dilemma of trying to find new artist […]

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Oh yes, another election. Don’t forget. The billboards are starting to go up. (There’s one a half block from my house with Peter Ladner and his smiling team saying something about creating a green and affordable city.) The Visionistas are happily out delivering lawn signs. Yes, it’s time for the main battle. Well, almost, as […]

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This election campaign in Vancouver is a treasure trove for research junkies, since the candidates’ full financial disclosures are listed online — sorry to all of you whose privacy feels violated. (Go to the section where the election information is kept and there’s a link in the top right to their nomination and financial-disclosure forms.) […]

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… that most of us got to have a couple of days without having to hear any more news that the world is coming to an end, in a financial sense. I still find it kind of strange to be bombarded with talk shows and headlines saying this bank or that country has failed and […]

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Here’s the full list of candidates, all, for those of you not in direct communication with city hall. As you’ll see, it looks like it will be a relatively clean election, since there is no “Pete Ladner” or “Gregory Robertson” in there to muddy the waters. I’ll skip the boring parts (“two parties with exciting […]

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Hey, we’re not the only ones. While people here are wringing their hands over Vancouver’s problems with the Olympic village construction (developer Millennium Developments is facing significant cost overruns and the city, which is legally required to make sure the village is ready on time, is facing some pressure to provide a guarantee for the […]

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For many people, the news that house and condo prices are dropping and that developers are even offering things like mortgage payments for a year, discounted mortgage rates or free upgrades on finishes is great. But the reality is that, even though prices are softening, they still haven’t — and won’t — drop down to […]

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While the focus so far this week has been on Millennium Developments and its current problems with cost overruns and financing, there’s another story in this city about what’s happening with development generally. As many people told me over the last two days, it’s been disastrous the last few weeks since the financial crisis started. […]

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So the Peter fans really liked Peter and the Gregor fans really liked Gregor, but the middle of the road seemed to be that there weren’t strong or detailed answers from either candidate at this point. See the comments attached to my previous post to get a flavour. Monte Paulsen also has an excellent summary […]

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Sorry, folks, couldn’t make it to tonight’s Peter Ladner-Gregor Robertson No. 2 debate in the debate-a-thon that this campaign has turned into. Your thoughts and impressions welcome, although I think we’ve all come to realize that it’s like people are living in parallel universes when it comes to judging the candidates. I’ve found it quite […]

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