Always instructive to get the view from far away.

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After being stung by four years of criticism about its giveaways to developers to create rental, Vision Vancouver politicians (oops, of course, I should say, “staff”) have decided to test a new model for building rental apartments. The city will give four pieces of land to a consortium of non-profit housing groups and the B.C. […]

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As many in the media have noticed, there’s been almost no discussion of social issues like health, education, the income gap, or housing in this election campaign. LNG, yes. Rent supplements or welfare rates, no. So here’s something that helps flesh out where the two major parties stand on housing and renter/landlord issues.

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You are going to be reading SO much about garbage in the next few years. Why? Because Metro Vancouver, like many other metro regions, is trying to move to new ways of dealing with it: More recycling, reusing. Fewer landfills. Possibly more incinerators or other strategies for disposing of the last bits that can’t be […]

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As several other media outlets have reported in bits and pieces over the last couple of weeks, there has been some messy politics surrounding the anti-gentrification protests in the Downtown Eastside. My story here rounds these up, though it only skims the surface of this everything that’s going on. In particular, it doesn’t begin to […]

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Doing anything about strategy during a campaign is excruciating. Hardly anyone wants to talk, unless they think they’ve got nothing to lose. Message box, yes. How we’re going to reach voters? Not so much. So the NDP declined to comment in any way about their social media strategy, in case you’re wondering about the lopsidedness […]

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We never used to pay much attention to the city’s financial statements, except for a cursory brief on what the total budget was or some quirky expenditure. Now, it’s an annual event to see where the city is with the Olympic Village and the $750-million construction loan it took out to pay for it. My […]

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While all of you have been merrily living your lives, some people in the city have been waiting for months for this city report to come out saying whether the Vancouver Art Gallery would get the Larwill Park site or not. And the answer yesterday was … yes, sort of. My story here, plus my […]

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The office-tower boom in Vancouver (and Burnaby, New West and Surrey) never ceases to produce chatter in the halls of the development/broker sector. It was the topic again at the city’s recent real-estate forum, where several panelists speculated on the impact of all that space hitting the market.

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Hmm, this is the second time I’ve seen this where Councillor George Affleck pitches an idea that the Vision council decides to adopt with no quibbling. (Other one was New Year’s Eve celebrations) It’s kind of a novel approach to political activisim — think up new things to do that fit with the governing party’s […]

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