As expected by faithful readers of this blog, Mayor Gregor Robertson announced today that he is forming an advisory committee from the development industry to help the city during the completion phase of the Olympic village. They’ll be looking at possibilities for trimming costs over the next nine months. Yes, nine months until this baby […]

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Just back from the early-morning gathering at the Rio Theatre on Broadway, where an eclectic crowd of us  watched Obama’s inauguration, with lots of young kids cheering and then oldies like us sniffling and tearing up.  People were in such a feel-good mood that they didn’t even boo when George Bush appeared at various points on […]

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I can’t let this weekend go without mentioning how lovely the city looked this morning, especially for all my (perhaps) homesick overseas readers. With the combination of the wisps of fog floating around the downtown towers with blue sky behind, the effect was eerily beautiful. As I was driving into the city across the Georgia […]

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Okay, now we have Penny Ballem locked in a room with Fortress trying to come to a deal on the financing. Next, the mayor and Penny have to figure out who is going to take Jody’s place. As I wrote for the Globe, the deputy city manager’s role in dealing with development projects is critical. […]

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So I think I speak for all of us when I say: Enough. We get it. The Olympic village is a mess. Somebody is to blame, though we’re not completely sure who yet. We’ve now all read more in-camera city-hall minutes than any of us would have ever believed possible, minutes that have way less […]

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I’ve put this insert into my recent post about deconstructing the Olympic village and I’m repeating it here to make sure it doesn’t gets missed. Daniel just called me to clarify that he is absolutely not the person who gave in-camera documents and Jeff Lee has posted on his blog that it is not Daniel […]

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Okay, one more bit of news for you to wake up to in the morning. Eyebrows are lifting slightly around town at the news that Mira Oreck, the Vision Vancouver campaigner who was literally welded to Gregor Robertson’s side during three months of the campaign making sure he got from event to event on time, […]

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My pal Jeff Lee over at the Sun had an interesting story in Friday’s Vancouver Sun with details about the in-camera meeting back in June 2007 where the Non-Partisan Association majority voted in favour of the $193-million loan guarantee and completion guarantee for Fortress, so that Millennium could get its financing for the Olympic village. […]

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A little bird called me today and read out an email from a Vision board member that has somehow escaped to a larger audience than intended. The email, from Marcella Munro, went out this morning to the rest of Vision’s tight communications team, which frequently debates how well they are doing on their message. That […]

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This just in from the land of former city-hall staffers. David Hurford, who became legendary in this city for his ability to churn out press releases documenting Mayor Sam Sullivan’s every action, has moved on. He’s sent out this email to some: As of this week I have started as director of community and public […]

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