In case you’re missing it back in North America, BBC is ALL OVER the story about Michael Jackson’s reported death, with current non-stop coverage and many uses of “we haven’t confirmed this but it’s been on the TMZ website.”

[Read more →]

The residents around the two homeless shelters under the Granville Bridge started complaining a month ago about the activities in the shelters and their uncertain future. At first, they didn’t get a lot of attention, but the story exploded in the last couple of weeks and has turned into one of city hall’s major unchecked […]

[Read more →]

This story from the Toronto Star, praising Vancouver’s car-free days and Toronto’s lack of same, popped up on my screen today. It’s ironic given the debate that keeps raging in this city about changing the current proportions of the car-bike-walker sharing system. It reminds me forcibly of the way it’s so easy to praise from […]

[Read more →]

Montpellier is considered a hot number among cities, I’ve discovered since I’ve been here. It’s not only got a beautiful historic centre, but the city’s mayor, Georges Freche, has dedicated his last 30 years to taking it into the 21st century. He’s built business parks around the core, which have attracted the likes of IBM […]

[Read more →]

This just out from the folks at city hall Burrard Bridge protected cycling and pedestrian pathways to open on July 13 Protected pathways for cyclists and pedestrians are scheduled to be in place on the Burrard Bridge starting Monday, July 13. This trial addresses three key issues: safety, sustainability and affordability, and involves the following […]

[Read more →]

I see from my handy email service that there’s going to be a not-for-attribution technical briefing at Vancouver city hall on the Burrard Bridge bike lane today at 10:30 where all will be revealed on how this will work. Stay tuned for more exciting news.

[Read more →]

Vancouver had its turn two summers ago. Now it’s Toronto’s turn to have no garbage collection, daycare, building permits and so on. Only this time, their city workers are negotiating in the climate of what people here in France keep referring to as “la crise” — the economic crisis. Not a good time to be […]

[Read more →]

It hit me while I was listening to the radio, driving along through the endless fields, how much France is still farm country — a place that resembles, in some ways, the Saskatchewan farm country southeast of Regina that we used to drive through to visit my grandmother in the late 1950s and early 1960s. […]

[Read more →]

I haven’t had a huge response to my call for expressions of customer satisfaction when it comes to the new 311 system. But there have been a few. So far it’s slow going, it sounds like. But that is to be expected from a complex new system. I remember when the city put in its […]

[Read more →]

No surprise, Canada Line is planning to appeal the recent court decision that awarded $600,000 to former Cambie business owner Susan Heyes for losses caused to her business by construction. As I said in previous stories, it was hard to imagine this decision wouldn’t be appealed, given the ramifications it has for construction projects across […]

[Read more →]