This bulletin just out from the mayor’s office. Mayor announces HEAT shelter numbers from December “No barrier” facilities provide shelter for almost 300 a night Almost 300 homeless people found shelter every night over the past three weeks in emergency facilities opened by the Homeless Emergency Action Team (HEAT), Mayor Gregor Robertson said today. More […]

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The raging debates over the snow and city responses to it continue. I’m finding it fascinating how much of the attention is focused on Vancouver, where the whole issue has turned into a debate along political party lines. I guess the snow in Surrey, Coquitlam, North Van and so on is truly non-partisan. I heard […]

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Just before Christmas, MLA David Chudnovsky sent a little missile in my direction, saying that I had been suckered by government propaganda (yet again, I think was the implication) when I put up a blog item about the provincial government delaying the bid process on some of its 12 social housing projects to try to […]

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I noticed this article in the New York Times on the weekend, suggesting that San Francisco is considering a congestion tax (in the first part of the story) but then (in the second part of the story) hinting that there’s less enthusiasm for it in these economically troubled times. Nothing like a recession to work […]

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Just got back (near midnight at this point) from several of hours of driving around the main streets in Vancouver. Don’t ask. Clearly an act of insanity, but the point is that I’ve been on the road for several hours since the snow started falling around 5 p.m. The streets were and are at the […]

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I’m prepping for classes, as are tens of thousands of people around this province, and found this thought-provoking quote in a book I’m reading as part of that prep: “Significant learning and critical thinking inevitably induce an ambivalent mix of felings and emotions, in which anger and confusion are as prominent as pleasure and clarity. […]

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Vision Councillor Raymond Louie seems to be the go-to guy on all things snow these days, along with Murray Wightman from city hall staff, so I called him up early this morning (just before he was going out to shovel snow!) to get the update. I am not going to announce breathlessly that I have […]

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My last post elicited a few comments, including this interesting one from Michael Geller about the condo projects that haven’t properly cleared their sidewalks et al. (See below my intro comments.) Since the snow is now coming down even more heavily (I can’t believe it, actually), I thought I’d just continue with the snow postings. […]

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Okay, it’s Saturday morning, we’re at Day 22 of snow in Vancouver, it’s snowing again and I’ve definitely had it. (The record, btw, is 33 days in 64/65. Our first snowfall landed Dec. 13.) I like snow and I’m not a complainer. (The last few weeks have brought home to me, once again, the reality […]

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There’s been a fair amount of opinionating about the recent Non-Partisan Association board meeting, which saw a struggle between two slates for the 11 directors positions that were open. There are posts here and here, giving two quite different perspectives on what actually went on at that meeting. Not sure how many people will be […]

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