My tweets yesterday conveyed the confusion many of us were feeling as we listened to the complex explanations of how Olympic village losses are defined in accounting terms by city manager Penny Ballem. I still can’t claim to understand all of it. One thing that was pretty clear was that there are two very different […]

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The story today in Gary Mason’s column, which I explore more in my story, is the real number for the losses at the Olympic village, why the assets from Millennium Development’s large real-estate empire didn’t cover that, and what the consequences are for us taxpayers. I have to add here that I feel personally misled […]

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Some confusion is still swirling around the news the city released Friday about the assets it has recovered from Millennium Developments, the loss it has said it is likely to declare, and more. There’s too much information to digest all at once, but here is the city’s PowerPoint and here are the highlights as I […]

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As I reported earlier this week, Metro Vancouver was preparing to ask the province to step in and order binding resolution for the standoff between the region and Coquitlam, the only municipality that has delivered a resounding no to the new Regional Growth Strategy. To no one’s surprise, it voted this afternoon to do that. […]

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As I type this, speakers, councillors and staff are talking about a bylaw amendment that staff came up with to try to resolve the Falun Gong hut in front of the Chinese consulate situation. My story from this morning’s Globe here and a stream of tweets emerging from the meeting, with staff explaining so far […]

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A lot of love letters to Vancouver this week, as the city launches its official birthday celebration today. I have to admit that, much as I frequently feel grumpy about my city, I have woken up more than once and thought first thing in the morning, “I’m so glad that I didn’t grow up in […]

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Do you, like Andie McDowell, in sex, lies and videotape, lie awake at night worrying about where all the garbage will go? I have to confess, I occasionally do. Every bag of trash that I fill seems like another straw on the planet’s back. (A sign that I’m a hopeless liberal, probably.) So it was […]

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Local politics has been overshadowed for the last several months by two provincial leadership races and now a federal election. That’s been rough for the NPA, whose adherents, thanks to CityCaucus’s energetic attacks on Vision, had been getting some traction last summer and early fall in their efforts to show Vision Vancouver and Mayor Gregor […]

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As attractive metro downtowns have resortified and the economy slowed, office building was sluggish in many places. But apparently now starting to pick up there … and here. I note that a new office building — on the site of the University Club, which will have its facade preserved — is going to Development Permit […]

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Provincial and federal politics have been casting big shadows lately, but life is still burbling along on the municipal scene. Some of the news this week. – The NPA says it has people panting to run for a nomination when the party chooses its candidates June 4. – The city is planning an underwater bike […]

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