The Olympic village just can’t catch a break. The project that everyone thought would be a showpiece for the has turned into the construction project that everyone loves to report bad news on. The latest is this story in the Province, with complaints about the building practices going on. It’s not unheard of on major […]

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I posted earlier that my travels through France had reminded me what an agricultural country it is still. One of my regular blog commenters responded that I was perhaps romanticizing French farm life, given how much it is being eroded by global agro-business and the younger generation’s disinterest in the hard labour entailed. It’s true […]

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This comment got appended recently to the long string from last month on view corridors. I doubt many people will have continued looking at that post and it’s an interesting comment, so I’m re-posting it here as a separate entry. (And for those wondering if there will be an end to the view-corridor debate, the […]

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In case you’re missing it back in North America, BBC is ALL OVER the story about Michael Jackson’s reported death, with current non-stop coverage and many uses of “we haven’t confirmed this but it’s been on the TMZ website.”

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The residents around the two homeless shelters under the Granville Bridge started complaining a month ago about the activities in the shelters and their uncertain future. At first, they didn’t get a lot of attention, but the story exploded in the last couple of weeks and has turned into one of city hall’s major unchecked […]

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This story from the Toronto Star, praising Vancouver’s car-free days and Toronto’s lack of same, popped up on my screen today. It’s ironic given the debate that keeps raging in this city about changing the current proportions of the car-bike-walker sharing system. It reminds me forcibly of the way it’s so easy to praise from […]

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Montpellier is considered a hot number among cities, I’ve discovered since I’ve been here. It’s not only got a beautiful historic centre, but the city’s mayor, Georges Freche, has dedicated his last 30 years to taking it into the 21st century. He’s built business parks around the core, which have attracted the likes of IBM […]

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This just out from the folks at city hall Burrard Bridge protected cycling and pedestrian pathways to open on July 13 Protected pathways for cyclists and pedestrians are scheduled to be in place on the Burrard Bridge starting Monday, July 13. This trial addresses three key issues: safety, sustainability and affordability, and involves the following […]

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I see from my handy email service that there’s going to be a not-for-attribution technical briefing at Vancouver city hall on the Burrard Bridge bike lane today at 10:30 where all will be revealed on how this will work. Stay tuned for more exciting news.

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Vancouver had its turn two summers ago. Now it’s Toronto’s turn to have no garbage collection, daycare, building permits and so on. Only this time, their city workers are negotiating in the climate of what people here in France keep referring to as “la crise” — the economic crisis. Not a good time to be […]

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