Mothers’ Day is a poignant day for those of us whose mothers are no longer with us. As some of you already know, my mother died a couple of months ago after several difficult years. In those years, and in the weeks since her death, it’s been brought home to me how many people are […]

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Jeff Rubin is someone who is influencing city planning considerably these days. The former CIBC chief economist lurks in the minds of planners as they contemplate his Peak Oil scenario. I’ve heard people in both Vancouver and Toronto say, for example, that one of the reasons to preserve industrial land close to central cities is […]

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This out in the last few days from City of Vancouver general manager Penny Ballem. Your thoughts welcome on what this means, especially you, Brent Toderian. This follows on rumblings I’ve been hearing from here and there in the city about the higher-ups pondering not having a director, but a cluster of people heading up […]

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As the economic world goes to hell in a handbasket, we’re still obsessed here in B.C. with the idea that someone is riding a bus for free. To that end, Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom introduced new legislation today that will 1. Give TransLink new tools to go after fare evaders who are ticketed but don’t […]

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The party’s over. That’s what some realtors are quietly telling their west-side clients who were rosily dreaming of selling their shacks for $5 million. There’s been a slowdown in the higher end of real estate on the west side and, I suspect, a few other pockets as well that were attractive to a select group […]

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Apparently Toronto Mayor Rob Ford charged towards the reporter screaming that he was spying on him, as per this story, now making the rounds on Twitter. Various reporters across Canada are already suggesting what their mayors would do in the same situation: offer lemonade; write a sharp letter to the editor if the reporter actually […]

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Listening to Vancouver councillors talk this morning about the security measures needed for oil tankers in the harbour, you would never know there’s actually a port authority already ensuring this. It was quite fascinating to listen to Kerry Jang say he doesn’t believe the current security measures, like having three tugs attached to any tanker, […]

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The University of B.C. professor who drove the creation of UBC’s Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability makes you feel like there’s hope after all, when you sit down with him for even 10 minutes. John Robinson is an environmentalist, but not the doomsayer kind that warns you to lie in bed quietly with the […]

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The latest from city hall. As just an average person, I’d like to hear some explanations from those in opposition about how and where oil and gas should be transported. I’m an agnostic on this issue, but, as someone who observes that it takes oil/gas to run the modern world and even build bicycles, I’d […]

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Nothing like talking about how to make housing more affordable to get people going on everything they think is wrong with the world. One target in the talks: Vancouver’s community-amenity contributions — that money the city asks developers to give back to the city when their land is rezoned to allow them to build more […]

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