I have seen some strange media circuses in my life, but the one that happened the last two weeks — as people attempted to report on the final report from the housing affordability task force — was one of the weirder ones in the annals of communications. I will attribute some of this fiasco to […]

[Read more →]

Another scintillating question and even more scintillating answer on City Plumber re the ever-troublesome question of traffic and the city.

[Read more →]

My story today about the Canada Post building at Georgia and Hamilton/Homer now being on the market. Besides the issues identified in the story, this also has implications for the Vancouver Art Gallery. The gallery had been asked to explore other options for a new site, besides the Larwill Park site two blocks away that […]

[Read more →]

Former senator Michael Kirby managed to get $110 million through the Mental Health Commission of Canada to put into studying the best strategies for getting homeless people back into housing and a stabilized life. It’s a project that could potentially point the way to answers for many countries. Five cities participated in that study, Vancouver […]

[Read more →]

The lawsuit that has been filed by former Vancity senior vice-president David Berge against his ex-employer is hard to fathom, pitting, as it does, people who have normally been part of a small world unified in their aim to approach business, development and the environment in a different way from the usual corporate capitalist model. […]

[Read more →]

There’s been a lot of talk over the years about a bike route along Cornwall and Point Grey Road. Former NPA councillor Peter Ladner was an early proponent. The city’s current map of future bike-route plans identifies it as a key connecting route from the already bike-ified Burrard Bridge out to the west side. Now, […]

[Read more →]

Mayor Gregor Robertson made an announcement this morning at council about Dave’s retirement (and the whole room stood up to applaud Dave in the middle of the meeting) and the following note also went out from city manager Penny Ballem. (As an aside, I think there’s a sense that it’s safe for Dave to retire […]

[Read more →]

I’m fascinated by farms and farmers, maybe because I come from farmers on both sides on my family — French-Canadian and Ukrainian from different parts of Saskatchewan. (I’ve always treasured the story about how my Uncle Peter (Ukrainian side) made my cousin’s future wife come and pick rocks out of the field in Dysart, so […]

[Read more →]

Time for a change of pace here, kids. So this is the result of a trip to Los Angeles in the spring, where I had possibly the best journalism assignment OF MY LIFE. Eat Mexican food til it comes out your ears and write about it. (For those who care, I paid my own way […]

[Read more →]

This came in through today’s whitewater rafting on the information rapids: the Toronto Transit Commission’s report to council on why it should get a five-cent fare increase. On page 8, the report writers include a comparison chart of the subsidies provided to various transit systems in various cities. (My attentive readers will remember that my […]

[Read more →]