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Entries from July 2015

CityCaucus blogger to run for council?

April 14th, 2011 · 17 Comments

It looks like that to many with this post. http://www.citycaucus.com/2011/04/why-i-think-mike-klassen-should-run-for-vancouver-city-council#more

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New bylaw allows protest huts in front of consulates

April 14th, 2011 · 16 Comments

This just out Revised bylaw for structures for political expression on public streets A proposed bylaw for permitting and regulating structures on city streets for political expression has been redrafted and will come before City Council on April 19. The bylaw includes a number of revisions to address concerns raised by the public and members […]

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Rize tower @Broadway/Kingsway to come down 7 stories, density down almost 20 per cent

April 13th, 2011 · 40 Comments

This just in from the Rize people This Mount Pleasant site was previously identified by the city’s Mount Pleasant Community Plan (the result of three years of community consultation by the city with area residents) as one of two sites suitable for high rise and high density, partially due to its proximity to the busy […]

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Ballem explains why city will declare only $48-million write-down on village

April 13th, 2011 · 22 Comments

My tweets yesterday conveyed the confusion many of us were feeling as we listened to the complex explanations of how Olympic village losses are defined in accounting terms by city manager Penny Ballem. I still can’t claim to understand all of it. One thing that was pretty clear was that there are two very different […]

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Real loss at the Olympic village $230 million but no tax increase to cover that

April 12th, 2011 · 58 Comments

The story today in Gary Mason’s column, which I explore more in my story, is the real number for the losses at the Olympic village, why the assets from Millennium Development’s large real-estate empire didn’t cover that, and what the consequences are for us taxpayers. I have to add here that I feel personally misled […]

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Numbers on Olympic village loss, Millennium assets taken over, and receiver fees

April 10th, 2011 · 15 Comments

Some confusion is still swirling around the news the city released Friday about the assets it has recovered from Millennium Developments, the loss it has said it is likely to declare, and more. There’s too much information to digest all at once, but here is the city’s PowerPoint and here are the highlights as I […]

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Metro Vancouver asks province to solve stalemate over anti-sprawl strategy

April 8th, 2011 · 10 Comments

As I reported earlier this week, Metro Vancouver was preparing to ask the province to step in and order binding resolution for the standoff between the region and Coquitlam, the only municipality that has delivered a resounding no to the new Regional Growth Strategy. To no one’s surprise, it voted this afternoon to do that. […]

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New rules for protest “structures” on Vancouver streets up for debate

April 7th, 2011 · 99 Comments

As I type this, speakers, councillors and staff are talking about a bylaw amendment that staff came up with to try to resolve the Falun Gong hut in front of the Chinese consulate situation. My story from this morning’s Globe here and a stream of tweets emerging from the meeting, with staff explaining so far […]

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Happy birthday, Vancouver. Can’t wait for you to grow up.

April 6th, 2011 · 16 Comments

A lot of love letters to Vancouver this week, as the city launches its official birthday celebration today. I have to admit that, much as I frequently feel grumpy about my city, I have woken up more than once and thought first thing in the morning, “I’m so glad that I didn’t grow up in […]

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How Vancouver will make its garbage disappear: two visions

April 6th, 2011 · 12 Comments

Do you, like Andie McDowell, in sex, lies and videotape, lie awake at night worrying about where all the garbage will go? I have to confess, I occasionally do. Every bag of trash that I fill seems like another straw on the planet’s back. (A sign that I’m a hopeless liberal, probably.) So it was […]

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