In case no one guessed, I’m pretty much in full-time baking mode here with occasional forays into the outside world to discover what new commercial enterprises have opened and closed since last Christmas. A few heart-warming stories to come over the holidays but I’m going to go into low gear until after New Year’s Day here.

As always, this is your space now to start whatever conversation you want in our little colloquium of urbanistas.

With the release of Wally Oppal’s report from Missing Women Commission of Inquiry now out, there’s been a lot of examination in what police (and everyone) did wrong.

(Note to self: Media might want to look at why so many weren’t interested in this story in the beginning, until Vancouver Sun reporter Lindsay Kines started doggedly pursuing it.)

There will also likely be a lot of discussion about what should be improved.

But, as I discovered as I was researching my Vancouver magazine column for the issue out next month, there have already been some changes made. Police reports on prostitution, and arrests I’m guessing, have plummeted in the last 10 years, now a tenth of what they used to be. The Vancouver police department has a new draft policy on dealing with people involved in sex work, and an officer, Linda Malcolm, dedicated as a liaison to the sex-worker trade.

The city has also been looking at its bylaws and licencing to deal with sex work taking place at operating businesses (some with permits, some without) in different ways, so that its staff are targeting actual problems (noise, exploitation, criminal behaviour, coercion, neighbourhood disruption) as opposed to trying to regulate the sex business.

We often think of women on the street when we think of sex for sale. They are the most visible aspect of any city’s usually flourishing sex trade, and they are the ones who are the most vulnerable.

But a growing group of researchers, policy makers, women working in the business, and others are making clear — in spite of the criticism they get from others — that they represent only 10-20 per cent of the sex industry in any town, and that sex workers are far better off doing business indoors than on the street.

Here’s my story, in advance.

A timely question, as the city’s four temporary winter shelters are just about to open, with some communities (Yaletown) in an uproar and some apparently oblivious (I’ve been told the Mount Pleasant shelter opened recently near Sixth and Ontario to zero public comment).

Answers over on City Plumber, kids.

Robin Silvester, Port Metro Vancouver CEO, always worth paying attention to.

Here’s my Globe story on what he had to say recently:

The Vancouver region’s industrial land needs to be protected the same way its farmland has over the past 40 years – with an industrial land reserve to prevent it from being rezoned for anything else, says the CEO of Port Metro Vancouver.

After years of being criticized for producing somewhat skimpy budget numbers, the city’s finance department came up with a veritable bible about city activities and spending. My story and the report.

As I’ve said elsewhere, a vast improvement but it would still be nice to see in easy-to-understand numbers how much the city is spending in total (with breakdowns) on the issues it says are its main priorities: affordable housing, homelessness, green initiatives. We are shifting spending into these areas, but without a clear idea of how much of city resources is being dedicated to these ambitious efforts. Perhaps next year.

Council heard an update today from its engineers on plans for the line which answers some of these questions. I’ll be posting that story later. In the meantime, here’s what I had today

And, for keen readers, here is belatedly the story that came out of council on the city’s position re the Broadway line.

[Read more →]

Over there on the left of the screen, people.

Hope this one ends well. From a recent listing.

	Prime West End! The Randi Lynn is a three storey plus penthouse 23-suite apartment building.  Only 3 blocks to Sunset Beach—a prime English Bay address in the heart of the popular West End district, offering tenants immediate proximity to the employment, entertainment, shopping, beaches and recreational areas of Vancouver’s downtown core. Rents significantly below market.  Needs upgrades.