Peter Ladner and Suzanne Anton are not impressed. That’s the politest way of putting their reaction to the news from the VPD this morning that no charges can be laid in the case of the missing Olympic village documents. Ladner can’t believe the police need people to agree to polygraph tests in order to complete […]

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Police announced this morning that they won’t be laying any charges in connection with the Olympic village documents that went missing last fall. They say it’s partly because some councillors declined to take a polygraphy test. As far as I can determine, that includes all the Vision councillors at the time — Raymond Louie, Tim […]

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Unbeknownst to most of you, there have been a number of workshops and open houses in what’s called Vancouver’s historic areas over the last few weeks to talk about potential height increases for those areas. City staff have asked the public to consider a few options, which they’ve graphically illustrated in a kind of cool […]

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I got a copy of a letter last week from the Fraser Valley Regional Library board that expressed an anxiety felt by many out there. It began: Over the past few weeks the Board of Fraser Valley Regional Library, along with other libraries across the province were concerned to hear rumors over possible significant reductions […]

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Just had lunch with SFU urban-studies program director Anthony Perl, who was beyond dismayed with council’s decision to opt for a one-lane bike trial Thursday. Perl says he’s now come to believe the city needs an advocate for pedestrians, as exists on Portland’s city planning staff, since they are the group that now has to […]

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Here, we’re all in an uproar about the Burrard Bridge. In Toronto, they’re all in an uproar about that council’s latest move to protect pedestrians — banning turns on red lights at certain intersections, as the Star has been reporting at length in the last few days.

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In their first step towards taking away car space for bikes, Vision councillors opted this afternoon for the compromise solution of taking away only one lane on the Burrard Bridge instead of two lanes. The bike trial, which will start in four to six weeks, will go like this: All pedestrians confined to the west […]

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The city recently co-sponsored the design competition FormShift, to encourage people to come up with new possibilities for new forms of density in Vancouver. The awards were handed out (see previous posts) and now there’s going to be a little panel debate on the competition and design in general here in the city. People who […]

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Okay, it wasn’t a money-saving device. City hall had to be evacuated last night after a black puff of smoke emerged from a vent in the chambers. (Apparently, the result of a fan dying in the air conditioning unit.) So council, along with city manager Penny Ballem and various staff gathered around fibreglas eagle in […]

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City council only made it through about half of the 20 speakers who showed up this morning to voice their opinions on the proposed Burrard Bridge bike-lane trial now up for councillors to decide on. (Decision: two lanes for bikes, one lane, do nothing or buy Hummers.) From the look of the list, only Charles […]

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