It hit me while I was listening to the radio, driving along through the endless fields, how much France is still farm country — a place that resembles, in some ways, the Saskatchewan farm country southeast of Regina that we used to drive through to visit my grandmother in the late 1950s and early 1960s. […]

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I haven’t had a huge response to my call for expressions of customer satisfaction when it comes to the new 311 system. But there have been a few. So far it’s slow going, it sounds like. But that is to be expected from a complex new system. I remember when the city put in its […]

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No surprise, Canada Line is planning to appeal the recent court decision that awarded $600,000 to former Cambie business owner Susan Heyes for losses caused to her business by construction. As I said in previous stories, it was hard to imagine this decision wouldn’t be appealed, given the ramifications it has for construction projects across […]

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The city has just posted four reports related to past decisions on Southeast False Creek and the Olympic village. I wasn’t able to spot much new that hasn’t already been reported at some length. Two of the reports were on Jeff Lee’s blog last fall. But I welcome comments from those who have a finer […]

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When we think of European cities, we always think of their perfect old central cities that seem like models of urbanism. What we forget is that they struggle with the same problems of sprawling suburbs and massive commuter congestion as much, or more, than North American cities do. That was brought home to me when […]

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Sorry, I’m a bit behind on posting this, but here’s the story Rod Mickleburgh and I had in the Globe today on the mounting bills for Southeast False Creek. This comes from city manager Penny Ballem’s report that came out late Monday, where she tried to round up the total costs for all the city […]

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One of the stranger quirks of the last two days has been running into Brits who’ve decided to chuck their boring lives on the Rainy Island and become quasi-French. Last night, we had dinner at a beautiful old house in the middle of the countryside in Dordogne. The menu boasted that the restaurant had a […]

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Many cities have complained about the lack of rental apartments being built. Few have done anything. That’s largely because it’s been seen as beyond the financial ability of cities to start subsidizing something as expensive as housing. But Vancouver is going to give it a try, as I outline in my Globe story here.

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The last time I was in Paris five years ago, people were still allowed to smoke in bars and restaurants here. That made for quite an experience (and a lot of clothes-washing to get the smell out) for all of us. But this time, quelle difference. And it’s added even more flavour to the Paris […]

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It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for – Vancouver’s 311 system is supposed to be up and running as of Monday, June 15. That’s the new system that allows you to access all of city all just by dialing 311, where trained operators will be standing by to send you on to the right […]

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