I called the city recently to try to figure out why there are such different numbers circulating as to the number of single-family houses in Vancouver? Some people (Bob Rennie, reporters) are saying 47,000, down from 67,000 some number of years before. Others (general manager of planning Brian Jackson, other reporters) say 75,000.

My question went off to the city’s wizardy stats-crunchers, who know all things StatsCan and more, and it came back with this response:

There are two sources of data, (census and BC Assessment Authority) and they use different definitions, so it’s not straightforward. (But when was it ever?)

To answer a query earlier in the week we looked at single family, and single family with a suite from the BC Assessment data. They identify all the structures in the city, and categorize them by type. We didn’t include any with two suites, as those might or might not look like a house (in theory, they’re not usually legal unless they’re often a big house cut up into strata apartments).

There were 75,510 structures in 1996, and 75,780 in 2015 – hence our statement of 75,000 no real change over 20 years. In 1996, BCAA thought 56,700 were single family, and 18,800 were with a suite. (They probably undercounted the suites in those days, as there were still many unauthorised that they don’t know about). That means in 1996 there were 94,300 dwellings in 75,500 buildings. In 2015, there were 43,100 single family, and 32,700 had a suite. So that’s 108,500 dwellings in total. That’s total stock – some will be empty, awaiting redevelopment (on Cambie) etc.

The 47,000 single family number is what Bob Rennie quotes: it’s a 2011 census number. It’s technically correct, although it undercounts a bit, as it’s the number of occupied single family dwellings. There were around 47,500, and there were also 2,000 more considered as unoccupied in the census (although 230 were occupied by temporary/foreign workers, so while they don’t count as occupied – somebody was living there).

That means there were 49,500 single family buildings in 2011, according to the census. Comparing the 2011 census to the 2015 BCAA, it looks like the census people might have missed a few thousand suites, although they’re doing much better than they used to. On top of that the 2011 census says there are about 25,000 houses with suites or duplexes (so 50,000 dwellings) – confusingly they label them all as ‘duplex’, and they don’t differentiate between up and down and back/front. Fortunately BCAA do separate types out, and so that’s what we counted (see above).

Bearing in mind the four years between the two data sets, and how many more houses are now built with a suite when they’re rebuilt, the two data sets are pretty close. 100,000 dwellings in 75,000 buildings, Census 2011, and 108,000 in 75,800 BCAA 2015. 49,000 without a suite in 2011 (and probably a bit less as they missed some) and about 43,000 in 2015.

An updated render of the Bing Thom tower for First Baptist church in my story, plus a closer look at the internal struggles the church went through to choose a developer and go through with this project.

It’s been a rough go for city residents across Canada the last 10 years. There’s been a definite sense that the things they care about are not at the top of the Conservative to-do list. But that has mysteriously changed this election. The prime minister announced some money for the Vancouver public library, for gawd’s sake. His party has also been flinging dollar promises around for transit in Calgary and Toronto. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau announced (on the grounds of the city’s engineering department, of all things) bags of money for the Broadway line. And of course he has something to say on Vancouver’s favourite topic, marijuana. The NDP’s Tom Mulcair has been talking a lot about money for housing. What the heck is this all about?

My latest column in Vancouver magazine looks at why this is happening. It’s not just because there are 30 new, mostly urban, ridings in the country.

Okay, throwing this out there for debate in the escalating frenzy. A senior lawyer with experience in labour law wrote me the following. You’ll have to take my word for it that this is a senior lawyer and not, say, Mike Magee. But I swear on my book of UBCM resolutions that it is. Based on what he has written, looks like Penny Ballem could actually have tried to argue to get $700,000, not $550,000.

There are a couple of points that need to be made (and aren’t being made) in the public discussion about Penny Ballem’s severance.

First, Ballem’s contract is available on the internet (just search for Penny Ballem employment contract).  No guarantee of authenticity, of course, but it sure looks like the real thing.  It’s dated 2009.  It contains clauses providing for dismissal with and without cause.  The contract very clearly provides that if she is terminated without cause she is entitled to 12 months’ severance plus 2 months for every completed year thereafter. Doing rough math, it’s been six years since 2009, so that makes 12 months on top of the original 12 months.  So it looks like her contractual entitlement was to 24 months.  Certainly it was at least 20 months.  That was the deal she made and the City agreed to when she took the job on.  Frankly, it’s the kind of deal I would tell a client in circumstances similar to Ballem to insist upon, given the risks associated with such a high profile position.  So there’s no surprise here.  It looks like the City is actually paying Ballem less than she is entitled to.

Second, at common law, an employee who is dismissed without cause is entitled to “damages in lieu of notice.”  The amount depends upon things like the responsibilities of the job, the length of service, the age of the employee, and so on.  The senior executive of a billion dollar a year plus organization with thousands of employees etc. etc. who is fired without cause at age 65 or thereabouts would ordinarily be entitled to at least 24 months’ severance.   Certainly more than the 20 months she will be paid.

You might want to argue that Ballem was overpaid while she was city manager, but it looks as though her salary was comparable to other big city managers in Canada.  The real point here is simply that the arrangements for her severance were made when she was hired, they were the basis upon which she agreed to take the job and the City was able to hire her.  So there is no surprise that, having decided to terminate her without good reason, the City is obliged to pay her what they promised six years ago.

We could see this one coming after the last Supreme Court judgment.

VANCOUVER, Sept. 21, 2015 /CNW/ – During the 2014 civic election campaign the NPA, through its election materials, and mayoralty candidate Kirk LaPointe, made allegations of impropriety on the part of Mayor Gregor Robertson and Councillor Geoff Meggs in seeking a campaign contribution from CUPE Local 1004 and accepting contributions to Vision Vancouver from Local 1004 and its provincial and national counterparts.

The NPA and Mr. LaPointe acknowledge that Mr. Justice Myers, in a judgment dated April 17, 2015, found that there was “no evidence … that Local 1004’s contribution was anything other than a lawful political contribution”.

The NPA and Mr. LaPointe accept this judgment, withdraw their allegations, and apologize for any harm that may have been caused to the Mayor and Councillor Meggs.

Mayor Robertson and Councillor Meggs are pleased that a comprehensive settlement has been concluded which will result in dismissal of the defamation action and disposal of the appeal of Mr. Justice Myers’ decision. As part of the settlement the defendants have made a contribution towards costs in the defamation action.

As the issues involved in these actions have been resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned, it is time to move on. Such being the case, none of the parties to the actions will be commenting on the settlement or the events giving rise to the three lawsuits.

SOURCE Harper Grey LLP

FIRST BAPTIST TOWER

Vancouver has been the home to a lot of same-looking slim glass towers for going on 30 years now. But, thanks to developer Ian Gillespie trying to push some innovation and a spate of office developers looking for something new and different, we’re starting to see some differences in design and some out-of-town architects on the scene.

I had a story earlier this week about the cluster of towers being planned for Georgia Street at the point where it rises up the hill to downtown: the lovely wood-accented Kengo Kuma tower being done for Ian Gillespie, the James Cheng tower “obelisk” being done on the point of land where Pender meets Georgia, the Ole Scheeren Jenga-style tower being done for Bosa Properties nearby. (And Kirk Williams at CBC, following the story, added Gregory Henriquez’s origami tower to the list.)

A little further away but equally striking in design is the tower being planned for the land behind the First Baptist Church on Burrard. A couple of images are above. I’ll have a story next week about the interesting history behind this development.

(My story pasted below for those at their Globe article ceiling.)

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The rumours about city manager Penny Ballem leaving the city had been circulating for so long that many of us got lulled into wondering if, in the end, nothing might happen.

So the announcement Tuesday that she was out came as a surprise, as the mill had been quiet for a while. (My story in the Globe here on the day’s events and also pasted below.)

The mayor’s decision to terminate her contract has prompted a flood of response. (And curiosity about why now. One rumour is that headhunters looking for a new head of engineering, head of community services and head of planning were reporting back that potential candidates were saying, I won’t work with her.)

Of course, lots of relief and jubilation from the large group of current and former staffers who detested her abrasive, nano-managing style. Also relief from many in the development industry who found that it had become pointless to go to the planning department, since all decisions were being made by the city manager (sometimes right down to the FSR that would be granted).

But that wasn’t across the board. I talked to someone who works on health care in the Downtown Eastside who was very sorry to hear she was gone, as Penny was driving through lots of needed changes on the city side to help improve things there. Another former planner said that what people often didn’t see was how progressive she was in much of what she was trying to do. Her efforts on homelessness were superhuman.

And former head of engineering Peter Judd, in a good story by my competitor/colleague Jeff Lee at the Vancouver Sun, exemplifies the point of view of at least some people at city hall who said, yes, she’s tough and demanding, but she gets things done and demands the best from people.

A complex, controversial person who undoubtedly has had a lasting impact on the city, whichever way you look at it.

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This went out to staff in the same few minutes as the news release.

Staff team,

Today City Council has voted to initiate an important senior leadership transition for the City of Vancouver, and I want you to have the full details right away.

Dr. Penny Ballem will be concluding her service as Vancouver City Manager after nearly seven years of exceptional service, and a comprehensive global search process will soon be underway to select a new leader to fulfill that role.

Dr. Ballem has driven transformative change across the organization in her time at City Hall, and she has demonstrated outstanding commitment to the City of Vancouver and all of its residents. She was instrumental in the remarkable turnaround of the finances of the Olympic Village and a successful winter Olympics, delivered innovative policy leadership on a wide array of City priorities, and successfully managed a billion-dollar organization that routinely ranks as one of the best places to work in Canada.

As we look toward making continued progress on Vancouver’s most significant priorities though, Council has decided that our city’s toughest challenges will benefit from a new approach and a fresh perspective.

An international search process will soon commence to select a new City Manager. In the interim, Sadhu Johnston will serve as Acting City Manager. In his six years as Deputy City Manager, Sadhu has been instrumental to Vancouver’s Greenest City progress and our innovative economy, building on his wealth of prior senior administrative experience in Chicago, where he also served as Chief Environmental Officer.

We have an incredibly experienced and dynamic staff team at the City of Vancouver. I cannot thank you enough for the remarkable ways that this team serves our city every day, and I am very confident about how we can expand Vancouver’s success as one of the greenest, most innovative, and most inclusive cities in the world.

On behalf of my colleagues on City Council and everyone at City Hall, I want to thank Dr. Ballem for her extraordinary service to Vancouver and the lasting contributions she has made to the future of this city.

Thank you and see you soon,

Gregor Robertson
Mayor, City of Vancouver

Fresh off the UBC beat, I seem to have gotten embroiled in a few real-estate stories the last few days.

The talk of the town the last few months (well, really, since the Cambie corridor exploded from single family to multi-family, but even more so now) has been the intense competition for multi-family sites around town. I heard about it when I was working on the story I did about land assembly a few months ago. Brokers and developers in Surrey and Vancouver were talking about a new wave of investors. Then an architect mentioned the land assembly going on in North Vancouver, being done by some very young new offshore investors who were buying up homes around lower Lonsdale.

My stories this week explored some of that. Colliers came out with a report today about the jump in sales values of multi-family sites.

I also went looking for one of the “offshore” buyers being talked about. It turned out he was not quite as offshore as I’d imagined. Yes, Kevin Cheung is getting his equity stake from his dad’s development business in Shanghai. But he lives here, went to Churchill and UBC, and he and his wife just had a baby at St. Paul’s last week. So … a kind of new Vancouverite, with a foot each in two worlds. The story here.

I’m sure you all have a lot of thoughts about this. If we could keep it civil and factual, much appreciated.

Organizing a forum for tomorrow at city hall. Warning: This is a small room, so won’t be much room for the public, who are specifically invited, unless the venue gets changed. Seems a bit odd to me, as does the timing — a few days after other mayors have been in the news, speaking out (Nenshi) or getting attention for efforts they’d already been making earlier (Tory), and also with one day’s notice. Kinda scrambly. News release below

Mayor Invites Public to Forum on Syrian Refugee Crisis

As part of the mobilization of mayors across the country to support in the humanitarian crisis facing Syria, Mayor Gregor Robertson (who also serves as the Chair of Canada’s Big City Mayors’ Caucus) is inviting the public and key stakeholders to a public forum at 7 pm. Tuesday September 8 at City Hall.

Chris Friesen, Chair of the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance (CISSA-ACSEI), will be joined by senior officials from Immigrant Settlement Services and Eyob Naizghi, Executive Director of MOSAIC,to share background information with the public, many of whom wish to help but are still unclear as to what are the various actions they can take to help address the crisis and assist those in need.

The invitation is open to anyone who wishes to attend. The City hosts the Mayor’s Working Group on Immigration and the Vancouver Immigration Partnership, whose members form part of the mobilization of civil society in Vancouver to address key issues facing immigrants and refugees. The work on the Sanctuary City which has taken place over the last year in the city will be a solid platform for launching an initiative to help with the Syrian refugee crisis.

When: 7 pm. September 8th, 2015
Where: Town Hall meeting room, Main floor, Vancouver City Hall
Who: Mayor Gregor Robertson and City Council, Chris Friesen – Chair of the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance (CISSA-ACSEI), and senior officials from
Immigrant Settlement Services and Mosaic.