A short, funny, thoughtful read here. The “but you’re not an economist” line gets thrown around a lot. Its purpose is simple: discredit the target and imply that their views should be ignored. And a typical dictionary definition here.    

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I quoted two Australian academics on the topic in my May story. But are these two out of step with everyone else, renegades who don’t understand the stats? There are, of course, many media stories and various experts saying foreign investment is having a huge impact. But there are also many, like Philip Soos and […]

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What is a reasonable price for a young family to have to pay in this city for housing? It’s a topic that frequently gets muddled in the news, as the rising price of west-side houses sets off a dynamite trail of news stories about how young families are being forced out of the city. But, […]

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This is going to be a longer post than my usual, so my excuses in advance, but I feel it’s important to address in detail a recent South China Morning Post item that impugns the credibility of someone I quoted and is also indicative of an ugly and unproductive debate that is happening in Vancouver. […]

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I was inspired to write this story because of my own dealings with the critter invasion. Like Sheila and Carol in this story, I feel like life has become a non-stop low-level battle against wildlife. I’ve had much of it, though not (I’ve discovered thankfully) rats eating my car wires. But rats elsewhere (one strolled […]

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And now, amid the rubble post-vote, mayors are trying to figure out what next. In Surrey, Linda Hepner says at least half of the light-rail project is going to be built by 2018. That’s a tall order. Everyone keeps blathering about private-public partnerships, but those private partners do not donate money. So Surrey would need […]

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Oh dear. I come back from Paris, a transit paradise, to this: 62-38 vote against funding new transit through the sales tax. I have to say, I was surprised by the results. Not that it was No, but that the numbers were so far apart — that means that in months of campaigning, with bus […]

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As my alert Twitter readers (aka William Lee) have noted, I am in France, observing contemporary urban culture. Here, as in Vancouver, I hear some same themes and drumbeats: the magazine cover in the Midi Libre I bought two days ago was focused on urging people to buy real estate now, while prices are low, […]

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I’ve been intrigued with the Neptis Foundation, a privately funded group in Toronto, ever since one of their reports wound its way onto a Metro Vancouver agenda about five years ago. This group has looked carefully at how cities add new residents, using aerial surveys and other tools to examine exactly how much land is […]

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The tussle over the waterfront hub continues. That is the piece of land that sits between the old train station and The Landing, which Cadillac Fairview wants to develop an office tower on. It’s also meant to be the gateway to a new piece of the downtown that the city has envisioned creating by extending […]

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