As news of Bixi’s request for bankruptcy protection washed across North America this week, there was a lot of bike-share angst. Also, confusion. A lot of people think that Bixi = bike-share, so therefore if Bixi if having troubles, bike-share everywhere must be doomed to failure. I note that B-Cycle (currently operating in 21 cities) […]

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City design competition to come up with this year’s ideas for public playspace on Robson between the art gallery and courthouse now open. Entry form is here.

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First off, this decision is about an old-style ownership model for jointly owned properties, the fractional-interest model. So it’s not an exact equivalent of the strata ownership that prevails legally and everywhere else today. But this decision that I wrote about today is interesting because it shows the kinds of issues that are arising when […]

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This just out from the Surrey Board of Trade, who don’t sound like happy campers The Surrey Board of Trade wants the Transit Referendum question now. “I’ve called the Ministry of Transportation today and they indicated that there was no timeline on when the transit referendum question will be ready. I’ve written a letter asking […]

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The problems in staging this ‘let’s wing it’ referendum just keep going on and on. The latest.

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This just out from the VAG. I’m told by locals that the VAG discouraged anyone local from applying by themselves and instead encouraged them to partner up with an international firm.   Vancouver, BC — January 9, 2014 — The Vancouver Art Gallery has short-listed five architectural firms as finalists for the design of its […]

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I went to a meeting organized by the Residents Association of Mount Pleasant just before Christmas to talk about issues related to the transitional housing complex that’s about to be opened at the old Biltmore hotel, Kingsway and 12th in Mount Pleasant. Unlike a city-roganized meeting a couple of weeks earlier, concerning the transitional housing […]

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I still run into people who assume that Vancouver condos are all just a speculative game being played by offshore investors. Perhaps it still is, but it’s a long game these days. As recent B.C. Assessment Authority numbers showed, as they issued their 2014 assessments, condos are by and large not appreciating and values are, […]

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I wrote a story before Christmas about some of the dissent going on within COPE. But I have to say, my story was very milquetoast compared to this story reported by Carlito Pablo at the Georgia Straight. It reads like something taken directly from the pages of the Statement of the International Committee of the […]

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I’ve been wanting to do a feature for 20 years on this strange chunk of the city known as the Tea Swamp, ever since I first started the city beat. Sadly, I missed the opportunity to photograph and write about the crazy house (on Prince Edward, on the north side of the lane between 16th […]

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