Here’s my reported story on the ongoing standoff in the Township of Langley between the mayor and council. And here’s the lengthier Vancouver Sun story on same, which has many more details.

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Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is on Day 9 or so of his China visit. In an interview with Anthony Germain in Shanghai, he was asked whether he doesn’t have foresee difficulties working with an authoritarian regime like China. The mayor said no, going on to give a relatively bland answer about making connections with people. […]

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We all think the sun rises and sets on Vancouver politics, but this erupting storm in Langley township shows there is life — and contentious politics — elsewhere in the region. The Langley Advance has the most complete coverage of this strange tussle between council and mayor that has resulted in the mayor being censured, […]

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Vancouver’s Olympics albatross continues to weigh heavily. The latest: The bid deadline for the non-profits bidding to operate the city’s three buildings had to be pushed back to Sept. 27 from Sept. 7 last week because there is so much confusion about the city’s demands. The bid has prompted a flurry of questions about the […]

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I wanted to be able to think for 10 minutes before plunging into this mess and I have now. I don’t claim to have found the light at the end of the tunnel, but at least I’ve had a bit more time to reflect and make some preliminary phone calls. So, for those of you […]

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 As the date for a Sept. 15 public meeting on the large new project at Marine Gateway approaches, this letter is going in to city and council from one particularly knowledgeable resident: Trish French, former assistant director of planning with the city until last year. She is not impressed with the current plan, for the […]

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Just kidding with that title, but that’s what it feels like already. Anyway, I didn’t cover any of the brouhaha this week so far but here it is in summary: Cycling group announces survey saying lane will bring more cyclists and business into downtown; city holds technical briefing; business group announces survey saying every business […]

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The Vancouver Art Gallery submitted its formal proposal for the Larwill Park site to the city in July and is waiting for their response. I haven’t seen the proposal and so don’t know if it’s the request to option the land for two years, with the intent to raise the money for the building during […]

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Anyone who covered urban issues for longer than a week inevitably ended up speaking at some point to Warren Gill, an urban geographer and someone who loved the city. In recent years, he had become SFU’s vice-president of university relations. He was always thoughtful in explaining the way cities work and he actually helped change […]

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Other blogs posted links to the Vancouver magazine story I did about Mike Magee Mayor Gregor Robertson’s chief of staff, back in August while I was on vacation. So you may have seen this already, but just in case, here it is. Magee is definitely the strongest, most go-to chief of staff I can remember […]

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