Every year, the mayors, councillors and administrators of B.C.’s 170-odd cities and towns gather to talk about municipal issues, a convention that provinicial politicians pay close attention to. It’s like getting a poll on what people all over the province are worried about. (It’s also heavily covered by media, since the provincial government just LOVES […]
Entries from January 2016
Collecting bylaw fines, medical marijuana sites, government cuts and more at this year’s UBCM
September 15th, 2009 · 1 Comment
Tags: Uncategorized
Park board manager latest to go
September 15th, 2009 · 9 Comments
This resignation/retirement has been expected for so long that I actually started to think that Susan was going to hang around. But apparently not, as today’s news release makes apparent. newsrele And here’s everyone weighing in on same: Charlie Smith at the Georgia Straight Citycaucus Civicscene Do you feel like you know enough now about […]
Tags: Uncategorized
Laneway houses face a major Hydro barrier
September 13th, 2009 · 17 Comments
An interesting story here in the Sun by Kelly Sinoski, highlighting the previously unknown fact — this in spite of two years of discussions about laneway houses — that it could cost up to $20,000 to run an electrical hook-up to them.
Tags: Uncategorized
Departures from city hall: Chapter 9
September 13th, 2009 · 4 Comments
Two more, this time from the legal department. The count is now: “Replaced”: 1; Retirements: 4; Quitting to Go Somewhere Else: 4 for the first nine months of the new Vision Vancouver administration. I am wondering if these two will be replaced under the current hiring freeze and given what I had always heard about […]
Tags: Uncategorized
Olympics analyst, academic to give a talk Monday
September 13th, 2009 · 4 Comments
I don’t post too much in the way of upcoming events, but this talk seems especially useful as we head into the Olympics frenzy for the next six months. I won’t be able to go due to a previous commitment, but anyone who does and wants to post comments afterwards would be most welcome. I’d […]
Tags: Uncategorized
Dianne Watts: Queen of B.C.
September 12th, 2009 · 13 Comments
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts continues to get glowing coverage from the B.C. media and favourable reviews from the public. Earlier this week, an Angus Reid poll — the one that said three-quarters of people thought Gordon Campbell should step down after this term — had Dianne Watts at the top of the list by a […]
Tags: Uncategorized
One more blog on the civic political scene
September 12th, 2009 · 32 Comments
I’m very tardy in noticing this, but I have finally stumbled across the new Vancouver civic politics blog just started up by Jonathan Ross at www.civicscene.ca. For those who don’t recall from previous exchanges on this blog, Jonathan is a political consultant who has managed campaigns at various levels, most recently in Vancouver for Kashmir […]
Tags: Uncategorized
Canada Line’s station layouts, design suck?
September 10th, 2009 · 44 Comments
An interesting critique at Think City on the flaws of the Canada Line stations. This complements an email I got yesterday from a reader, also questioning the design of the stations and line. One of his points: “All of the underground and above ground stations accomodate a maximum 2-car train. There is no room for […]
Tags: Uncategorized
Here’s the case for those saying the Olympics accelerate housing problems
September 10th, 2009 · 12 Comments
I got this note from Am Johal yesterday, who has been working for years on housing issues related to the Olympics. I leave it largely to him to make the case here, except to make the note to him and Helesia and others who have responded to my request for evidence by saying it’s subtle […]
Tags: Uncategorized
A plea for evidence on Olympics evictions, round-ups or displacement
September 9th, 2009 · 22 Comments
I had long planned to kick off September by issuing a challenge for reporters, activists, academics, politicians or someone to come up with some concrete evidence that homeless people are being shipped out of Vancouver to clean up the city for the Olympics or that those who are housed are being evicted to clear rooms […]
Tags: Uncategorized