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Arts groups struggle to stay on Main Street as development booms ahead of creation of new city spaces

September 2nd, 2013 · 40 Comments

Vancouver actually has a plan to try to create new cultural spaces in Mount Pleasant out of the money it will extract from developers for new projects. And, from the look of things, it will have a fair amount to play with, as projects start rolling up the street from the Olympic Village construction-crane festival. […]

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Who are the biggest investors in Vancouver condos? It’s not always who you think, if you look at the property records

August 23rd, 2013 · 71 Comments

There’s an ambitious publication in London that periodically produces a feature called “Who Owns London?” to try to understand what’s going on with commercial buildings in the City of London proper. That kind of property tracking is exceptionally hard to do. Even if you spend the thousands of hours needed to find out the official, […]

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Olympic village rental apartments sold for $41.5 million

August 23rd, 2013 · 2 Comments

After a year of trying to sell off these 119 apartments (which were built to be rentals as part of the NPA’s effort to create some nod to affordability after killing the previous COPE council’s plan for the village), the receiver finally found a buyer for these units at the Olympic Village. What this reduces […]

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Open forum on Metro and Vancouver issues: bring on your topic, except for bikes and bike lanes

August 15th, 2013 · 267 Comments

I still have a few days of low gear left, so here’s your chance to start a conversation on whatever you like — except bikes, because I think we’ve beaten that to death for the month.

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Cable-ferry project for Denman, Hornby Islands would cut costs in half but stirs controversy

August 15th, 2013 · 5 Comments

And now, closer to home, temporarily. So no bike-lane or TransLink uproars here in paradise. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t angst about transportation issues, as I discovered while here.   FRANCES BULA HORNBY ISLAND — The Globe and Mail Published Wednesday, Aug. 14 2013, 12:00 AM EDT Last updated Tuesday, Aug. 13 2013, 11:02 PM EDT […]

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Why other bike-lane cities watch Vancouver

August 15th, 2013 · 17 Comments

Posted extremely belatedly, but as the sharp-eyed observers likely know, I’ve been on another little jaunt, this time in B.C. (I expect Bill Lee knows my GPS co-ordinates and the history of the property where I’m staying. So … in the wake of the bike-lane decision, where this puts Vancouver on the map.

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Vision + Green councillors approve new Point Grey/Kits “seaside greenway” with many recommendations to continue making improvements

July 30th, 2013 · 340 Comments

Well, after five days and 134 speakers, by my count, city council approved the plan for the Seaside Greenway bike route, parks, pedestrian improvements through Point Grey and Kits. About 30 people came out to hear the final result. I thought they were all opponents, until a few people started hugging each other and congratulating […]

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Vancouver gets a high-rise school downtown to serve the baby boom there

July 29th, 2013 · 32 Comments

It’s strange to see where the children are and aren’t these days. In my Mount Pleasant hood, you could be knocked down any minute by strollers. They’re everywhere. Other places numbers of children are up: Fairview, Riley Park, the West End, Kits, Renfrew-Collingwood. (I’m looking at numbers of 0-4 yrs in the last census, compared […]

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One suggestion for Point Grey Road — take back the city land in front of existing houses and widen the road

July 25th, 2013 · 197 Comments

In just the last few days, I have heard dozens of suggestions from amateur engineers about what would make a better greenway/bike route through Kitsilano. Here’s one, to get the ball rolling among those who agree, disagree, or have a better idea that is neither of the above. I’m happy to put up other comments […]

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Developers to mayors/councils: We give you millions for community benefits, you take the credit

July 25th, 2013 · 29 Comments

One Twitter follower asked if I was writing for the Onion with this story in the Globe, so I guess the snark brigade will be out in full force here. Would be nice to have a more thoughtful discussion about developer contributions — do they deserve more acknowledgement or is their contribution in fact a […]

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