As many know, Mayor Gregor Robertson announced last week that the city would hold off on proceeding for the moment with one of the tower applications for the West End. The community group that has been doggedly campaigning for a change to the city program that led to this tower application gave it cautious approval […]

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In keeping with my sense that the civic-election campaign has already started, more than a year from the election, here’s some news from the polling front. This poll from Barb Justason confirms that Vision and Gregor Robertson are still riding high with the public. But, in spite of that strength, she says there are signs […]

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Slowly, slowly getting my post-summer brain into gear this week as I re-enter the slipstream of Vancouver politics. I note that it feels like campaign time already, though the election is over a year away. This promises to be a tough fall. Those of you who don’t like fights should tune out now, because opposition […]

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As promised, I am going to try to give my mind a rest (though I will check out the Green Line in Portland shortly — thanks for the suggestion) and therefore not be posting until Sept. 1. The comments section is open here for anyone to post anything they like related, however vaguely, to urban […]

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(Sorry, late posting on this due to sporadic ability to connect from paradise) A new round of layoffs at the Vancouver Art Gallery has prompted staff and their union rep to speak out even more vocally this past week than the unhappy mutterings I’ve heard for the past few months. As my story says in […]

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As promised, the first of my two stories in the Globe Saturday. This a comparison of the rapid-transit lines in Seattle and Vancouver, both celebrating a one-year anniversary this summer but with very different histories and outcomes. I know this has already generated some comments elsewhere but for those who missed them …

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I’m sitting under an apple tree on Hornby Island, not Hornby Street, having just read my way through the 171 comments on the Hornby bike lane. All I can say is  … well, nothing. It’s too mind-boggling, the level of passion that is going into this stretch of pavement. Though, as someone pointed out, also […]

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I know you’re all panting to let the city know your views on this. Don’t waste your breath on me. Go directly to the source. Here’s the city news release. Hornby bike lane open house welcomes public input City of Vancouver transportation staff will be at the Pacific Centre Mall rotunda Wednesday to meet the […]

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For years I covered drug-addiction issues in the Downtown Eastside and people would inevitably talk about the lack of addiction treatment in the province. Other critics would also say that, out of Vancouver’s alleged Four Pillars approach to drugs, only one pillar was really getting funding: harm reduction. That always puzzled me because a lot […]

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In giddy anticipation of their one-year anniversary, TransLink sent out an updated count of their ridership this morning. Not too surprising to anyone who rides the line regularly, which seems to be packed at all times and is particularly jammed with suitcase-toting people heading out to the airport at all hours. Figures released by TransLink […]

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