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Entries from January 2016

Final Olympics night snapshot

February 28th, 2010 · 7 Comments

I missed the game (too much tension), following its progress by the screaming around me.I felt like I had to get out afterwards, because it was all just too much like an unreal Disney movie to me. Really, could old Walt himself have dreamed up anything better? Sports mega-event comes to (in global terms) relatively […]

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What can Vancouver really learn from the Olympics?

February 26th, 2010 · 49 Comments

There’s a lot of post-op Olympics delirium floating in the air these days, with everyone drunk on the successes and the street parties and the sight of people choosing to come downtown every day dressed in Canadian flag capes. And now, like summer-camp attendees who’ve had a really great week, we’re promising all kinds of […]

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Are we preparing to be cranky again? NY Times thinks so

February 24th, 2010 · 18 Comments

Okay, some international media coverage appears that reflects a little more some of the real preoccupations of a significant number of people here. But I don’t get why even the NY Times can’t get some basic things right. The taxpayers are not carrying $1 billion in debt for the village, at least not the way […]

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Our fling with the Olympics’ bad boy almost over — whew!

February 24th, 2010 · 4 Comments

I think I speak for all of us when I say: It’s been a blast, but we need some sleep plus a couple of days where the most exciting thing that happens is getting a free shampoo sample in with the mail. Although I know some of my harsher critics (as opposed to my quiet […]

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Granville businesses want more street closures

February 24th, 2010 · 5 Comments

I had such great response to my previous post (thanks all urban planners out there, Lance, Michael and others) on the success of the Granville Mall during the Olympics that I wrote a story for the Globe too on it, which you can read here. As you’ll see in the story, downtown businesses, the mayor […]

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A squeaker on whether Olympic village condos will sell for enough to save us from debt

February 22nd, 2010 · 15 Comments

Oh, surely with all these wonderful pictures of Vancouver being beamed around the world 24/7, we can rest assured that those Olympic village condos will sell for top prices and ensure that the Malek brothers/Millennium Developments will pay back all the money the city loaned them. Don’t be celebrating too quickly. Even the city’s chief […]

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Granville Street reborn as the No. 1 party spot

February 22nd, 2010 · 30 Comments

One of the many interesting phenomena that have emerged during the Games (which is actually turning into a giant social experiment in our city) is the way the massive crowds are redefining public space in Vancouver. They’re congregating in places no one quite expected and voting with their feet on what space they think is […]

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Downtown Eastside: Home of secret Games fans

February 22nd, 2010 · 3 Comments

This story was in Saturday’s Globe but for some reason isn’t on the website, so I’m posting it here, rather than linking it for now. 2010 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. Free tickets are nice, but neighbourhood hopes attention will lead to increased funding from province Rick Russell and Bill Lucas normally wouldn’t spend […]

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Surrey — Vancouver’s forgotten sister — gets a splash

February 20th, 2010 · 26 Comments

Big feature today in the Globe by Lisa Rochon on Surrey and its big plans for the future, after her visit out here for the TownShift competition.

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Transit ridership doubles in early days of Games

February 18th, 2010 · 33 Comments

TransLink officials have been hoping that the Games would let them show off what they could do with a healthy budget and a million riders. That hope is being realized. The system is actually hitting 1.5 million riders — almost double the normal 800,000. (My Globe story here.) I know (thanks to gmgw) that not […]

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