So, thanks to the resignation of Geoff Meggs from council, as he goes off to be chief of staff for John Horgan in the new NDP government, there will be a by-election sometime in mid-October. Even though whoever wins won’t make a difference to the balance of power on council — Vision will still have […]

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Thirty years ago, I was a rookie reporter at the Vancouver Sun. I got sent out to cover the funeral of a sex-trade worker — something we actually did back in those days when we covered so much more in the city. It was a searing experience for me. I’ve never forgotten it or the […]

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There’s going to be a lot of conversation in the next year (and more) about Northeast False Creek, the last big piece of False Creek waterfront that’s going to be developed. Every piece of the creek’s development has generated debate, starting in the 1970s when the TEAM council of the day decided to convert former […]

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Vancouver’s impending empty-homes tax — the first in the country — is prompting a lot of angst as owners facing bills of $4,000 to $100,000 a year decide what to do. You urban-life keeners will remember that most of the units identified as empty are condos. The city’s electrical study identified 10,800 homes in the […]

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The story of the battle over development in Chinatown is an endlessly mesmerizing one. There are so many political forces, so many internal battles, so many different groups, so many issues. There’s also an incredible amount of misinformation, “facts” that have taken on a life of their own in the social-media world. A curious person […]

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Victoria council’s recent move to start clamping down on short-term vacation rentals prompted me to do a quick canvas to see what is happening in various cities around B.C. with this issue. Whoa, was that an eye-opener, to hear about the struggles various towns are going through as they try to strike a balance — […]

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I got asked earlier this year by Nick Rockel, the editor of BCBusiness, to write a story based a cascade of financial data about Canadians that Environics Analytics had gathered. Since I’m obsessed with this general topic — how we spend money in ways that we don’t acknowledge, the impact that money and possessions (or […]

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If you think the current Chinatown debates are heated, wait until things really get going with Northeast False Creek. The city is going to present the proposed ideas so far in a big fair/demo on June 10, with material from all of the many participants involved (park board, stewardship community work on the Hogan’s Alley […]

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A knowledgeable person helpfully compiled this list of past projects and possible future ones in Chinatown, so you can get a sense of the change in the area. The unit counts might be off a bit here and there, but all those projects that have been completed, are under construction or have been actually submitted […]

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It’s a 12-story condo plus retail plus social housing building on an interior block of Chinatown, meant to fill what is now a surface parking lot (formerly a gas station). But the project by Beedie Development Group has turned into a pitched battle, with opponents seeing it as the nail in the coffin for historic […]

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