This just out from the VAG. I’m told by locals that the VAG discouraged anyone local from applying by themselves and instead encouraged them to partner up with an international firm.   Vancouver, BC — January 9, 2014 — The Vancouver Art Gallery has short-listed five architectural firms as finalists for the design of its […]

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I went to a meeting organized by the Residents Association of Mount Pleasant just before Christmas to talk about issues related to the transitional housing complex that’s about to be opened at the old Biltmore hotel, Kingsway and 12th in Mount Pleasant. Unlike a city-roganized meeting a couple of weeks earlier, concerning the transitional housing […]

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I still run into people who assume that Vancouver condos are all just a speculative game being played by offshore investors. Perhaps it still is, but it’s a long game these days. As recent B.C. Assessment Authority numbers showed, as they issued their 2014 assessments, condos are by and large not appreciating and values are, […]

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I wrote a story before Christmas about some of the dissent going on within COPE. But I have to say, my story was very milquetoast compared to this story reported by Carlito Pablo at the Georgia Straight. It reads like something taken directly from the pages of the Statement of the International Committee of the […]

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I’ve been wanting to do a feature for 20 years on this strange chunk of the city known as the Tea Swamp, ever since I first started the city beat. Sadly, I missed the opportunity to photograph and write about the crazy house (on Prince Edward, on the north side of the lane between 16th […]

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Yes, sorry, I’ve been slacking off over the Christmas holidays. But the rumballs are all gone — can’t have those for breakfast any more — and it’s time to begin tackling 2014. To get all of you warmed up, as you’re slowly dragging your butts back into work, I’ll post a couple of the features […]

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One of the things that is always startling about Vancouver is — in a place with spectacular natural beauty — it has some of the weirdest, tackiest, most awful single-family housing around. And it’s not even one kind of awful. We have endless varieties these days. The modest World War 2 bungalow renovated with a […]

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And this is how people in Vancouver (as opposed to everywhere else in the country) viewed the Supreme Court ruling on sex work.  

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A year ago, I was visiting brothels, madams, and feminist advocacy groups all along Hastings Street to talk to women about the benefits and dangers of doing sex work in the city. A reminder, in light of today’s Supreme Court ruling, of the situation then.

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In case anyone was wondering, this just out: Statement from the Mayor on relocation of casino       I have been very clear that I am opposed to any expansion of gambling in the City of Vancouver. Today’s decision by the Development Permit Board ensures that the proponent will have to align operations with […]

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