I didn’t realize how strongly people felt about the question of One Big Police Force until I did some calling among mayors this week. The question of regional policing is not academic for these people, as they argue for and against, as you can read in my Globe story here.
Entries from January 2016
Vancouver vs everyone else on regional policing
February 28th, 2009 · 9 Comments
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Development permits in Vancouver plunge even more
February 26th, 2009 · 5 Comments
Councillor/journalist Geoff Meggs has another interesting tidbit from city hall, the latest report on development permits continuing the downhill slide. By the way, his post below that one is also pretty interesting — a dramatic account of the city meeting over a Fraser Street re-development project, which includes people crying and fainting. Who ever thought […]
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Private security in LA business areas lowers crime
February 26th, 2009 · 16 Comments
One of my very favourite things about Vancouver (heavy irony, folks) is the way we always think the problems here are unique to us and not actually part of a large trend hitting many cities. So I just love it when readers pass on to me interesting stories about how other cities are tackling exactly […]
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Many fresh faces on new NPA executive
February 26th, 2009 · 3 Comments
This post is a little belated, since NPA types told me early last week that a new executive was going to be chosen and on Thursday, just on schedule, the list of new names came out, which you can read, along with new president Michael Davis’s message, here. It’s interesting that the new executive is […]
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Lee Building victory unleashes city to go after other billboards
February 25th, 2009 · 8 Comments
After years of court battles between the owners of the Lee Building and the city over the billboard on the top of the building, the city finally won last year. The sign at Broadway and Main has been getting slowly dismantled since then. Now, with that out of the way, city staff are ready to […]
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A thousand car-free days in Vancouver not about to bloom
February 25th, 2009 · 7 Comments
The staff report is just in on neighbourhood response to holding car-free days every Sunday for three months during the summer. The new Vision council had been hoping to encourage that kind of activity in three or four districts this summer, following on the wild popularity of the one-day car-free festivals that have been taking […]
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The life of Paul Haden
February 24th, 2009 · 29 Comments
Last June, a man was found dead in an apartment near Broadway and Balsam, apparently after having inhaled fumes from the ecstasy that he was refining on his stove. The story intrigued me, especially since several people I know had known the man who died, Paul Haden. I wasn’t sure what I would find when […]
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Police still on the trail of The Missing Olympic Village Document
February 24th, 2009 · 4 Comments
Mike Howell, the hardest-working reporter on the civic beat and someone who makes me feel tired whenever I look at the volume of stuff he produces on a weekly basis, has been keeping on top of the city hall investigation into the leaked document on the village’s finances last fall. His story is here.
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Ritz-Carlton project death sure to prompt questions on Little Mountain
February 24th, 2009 · 1 Comment
It’s official. The Ritz-Carlton project being developed by the Holborn Company is now being cancelled, with letters going on to buyers this week, as reported by Bruce Constantineau at the Sun. This is sure to rev up the engines of those critical of what’s happened at Little Mountain, the social-housing project that the province awarded […]
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Mr. Mayor gets a warm reaction from developer crowd
February 22nd, 2009 · 10 Comments
Sorry, it’s taken me a while to get this up (I’ll spare you the details why), but I promised in my Twitter tweet to provide more details on Gregor Robertson’s speech to the Urban Development Institute, aka the developer crowd, Friday. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It […]
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