The region’s business groups have been out in force the past week, protesting TransLink’s parking-stall tax, complete with all the doodads of a contemporary marketing campaign (social media, instant ways to blast your local politician) and their research that proves, as it always does, that businesses are being done in by evil cash-grabbing governments. Business […]

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The saga of the Streetohome Foundation, a group set up in 2008 as part of Vancouver’s drive under then-city manager Judy Rogers to get other partners helping solve the homelessness problem, has been an interesting one to follow. It’s got two-dozen high-powered business leaders on its board, but it’s been a bit stymied from the […]

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The crew that run the Cascadia Scorecard love to compare these three cities and here are their latest numbers. To their own surprise, they’ve ranked Portland as the laggard. But I’d love to study these numbers more, as I have to wonder if they are pulling stats from just Vancouver proper or the whole region, […]

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It’s been almost a year since city staff came to council with the final estimated bill for the social housing at the Olympic village — $110 million instead of the original $65 million it was supposed to cost — and some options with what to do about it. There’s still no decision as staff wrestle […]

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For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, this cartoon from the latest New Yorker captures current planning at its best, don’t you think? Close Close tp://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2010/01/04/cartoons_20091228#slide=8#ixzz0bxDcORG5

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Several sources have notified me that Melina Scholefield, the one-time manager of the city’s sustainability group, is packing it in at city hall. (Here’s the official blurb on her job: Melina Scholefield Manager of Sustainability Melina manages the Sustainability Group, a branch of the City dedicated to climate protection, green architecture, active transportation, sustainable systems […]

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The news that Ryan Merkley had been hired as a temporary communications director came in a week in December when I was swamped with other things, so I didn’t note his impending arrival. However, here is my post noting that Ryan, a prolific Twitterer by the way (see evidence at Tab 1, his photo of […]

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As indicated by media reports earlier this year (Mike Howell in the Courier, I think), the city is re-opening one of the two shelters under the Granville Bridge. This time, it will be open 24 hours, which is intended to prevent the line-ups and crowd mayhem that nearby condo residents objected to last time. Presumably […]

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There’s been a lot written about the Woodward’s project in the last few months and much more to come as the complex opens fully over the next few months. Here’s my take on it for the Globe’s ROB section, focusing on the gamble different groups had to make to go in. The city’s director of […]

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Amid the gloom and doom of the budget, the cutting, the slashing, the tax increases and fee increases, I have found one tiny bit of brightness. The city’s website highlights a piece of information previously unknown to the paying public — people who pay their parking by phone will no longer be charged the obnoxious […]

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