Some days, the advertisements in your daily newspaper are just as fascinating as the stories. Today was one of those days. The Review section was a ringer with a ginormous double-page ad (not sure how much it costs, but believe it might be more than I earn in a year) advertising: A Vancouver masterpiece: A […]

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My infrequent but carefully selected events listing service is taking note of the following: Exploring the implications of demographic shifts. Who’s Coming to the Party? Join Glenn Miller, David Allison and Alan Boniface in this thought-provoking dialogue that will inspire and direct us to make changes in how we build and develop, in order to […]

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We’ve been seeing a lot of action at city hall lately when it comes to bike lanes in a few areas. But there’s a much bigger, more comprehensive re-think coming in the fall, when the city will start talking about an update to its 1997 Transportation Plan. One topic for sure that is going to […]

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I have to mark the passing at city hall of two women who went beyond the call of duty in serving the city. One is Ronda Howard, until recently the assistant director of citywide and regional planning. Although former head city planner Larry Beasley is synonymous with Vancouver, he did his job with people like […]

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One of the stranger news items that popped up earlier this year was the report that Arthur Erickson’s brother and executor had filed suit against the woman who was Arthur’s steadfast promoter and champion in his later years. The lawsuit was just the latest chapter in all kinds of messy tussling that had preceded his […]

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Mike Howell at the Courier has been on the case this week about why the big tract of land that Concord Pacific owns in the northeast corner of False Creek has been valued so low in land assessments, i.e. only $400,000 — less than the value of an average 33 X 120 lot in the […]

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When you cover politics in this province, you inevitably end up covering polling. (Current interesting issue is Mayor Gregor Robertson’s numbers. I’ve been told consistently for the past year that his approval rating is at 70 per cent, which is very respectable in the politician world, but don’t know if that’s taken a hit in […]

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The MSM (mainstream media) has taken a beating in recent years, as everyone from the far right to the far left to the far centre takes a run at everything they do wrong. But they do some things right, thanks to the dedication of many journalists who see their work as more than just a […]

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I spent a lot of time in Richmond in the late 1970s and the 1980s. I worked as a commercial fisherman with boats based in Steveston for several years, had a set of relatives there and took my son to Suzuki violin classes every week for more years than I care to remember. It was […]

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My assignment: Compare and contrast the annual general meetings of Vancouver’s two major political parties, the Non-Partisan Association, once all-powerful, now hunting for its way forward, and Vision Vancouver, the new ecocapitalist party, still riding high on its 2008 win. (Someone once said being a journalist is like having homework the rest of your life. […]

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