This interesting story unfolding in Victoria, news that Paragon Gaming told the B.C. government quite some time ago that it would be a “deal breaker” for any new development built by them if BC Place didn’t have a retractable roof. Sean Holman at publiceyeonline reporting on this here.

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Cities all over the Lower Mainland are falling over themselves these days to attract businesses, but Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts is the champ at delivering her message the loudest and clearest that the door is open in her city — complete with property tax holidays and fee breaks. Yet again, she gets lots of attention […]

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GUESS WHICH MAYOR GOT TO PLAY A GUEST TURN WITH THIS TOP EUROPEAN CLUB? There was a scary moment last week for sports fans when it looked like Vancouver wasn’t going to get the UFC. Now that seems to be on. And sports fans have something else to celebrate: We will be getting Manchester City […]

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The province is tightening up its lobbying rules a little bit on Thursday, making it clearer who needs to register as a lobbyist and removing the $150 fee to encourage people to do so. No attempt made to regulate what lobbyists can do, except for what is being called the “Ken Dobell” amendment, which prohibits […]

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Whether you think Mr. Tsisserev is a loyal employee who was unfairly dumped on or a dogmatic ,righteous and disgruntled ex-employee (people I talk to at city hall generally say the former) and whatever you think of Alex’s questions, this interview is a fascinating glimpse into the backrooms of city hall. http://alexgtsakumis.com/2010/03/30/exclusive-on-the-record-with-former-vancouver-city-electrician-ark-tsisserev-the-interview/

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The province is hoping to get through the city’s rezoning process, complete with public hearings, for the downtown casino in the next eight months so that Paragon can start digging and, soon after, start paying its lease to the province to help pay for the roof. But city types are already sending warning shots across […]

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An interesting letter from artist Roy Arden that has made its way to me. I submitted the letter below to the Vancouver Sun ‘Commentary’ section. Although it is under the word count limit, they wanted to publish an edited version. The edited version did not correct grammar but removed the reference to the media and […]

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I have seen culinary street-food heaven and it is this: travelling street-food trucks.  Los Angeles has become a home for this new form of gastronomy, which has also become the site of a new form of fusion cuisine, the Asian taco.  I’d been hearing about this new thing for a while now — trucks roaming […]

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This is currently circulating at city hall, a place that is as porous as limestone these days. My only observations at this point are that the payout is not a lot, considering that Mr. Tsisserev was making in the $120-130,000 range the past couple of years. I’m sure there will be lots of commentary on […]

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Here’s the official news on the mega-entertainment complex planned for beside BC Place. Let the brawling begin. By the way, I’ve been told by the city that Pavco had already made inquiries about how high the towers could go and have been told that the province, just like everyone else, will have to respect the […]

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