In our week in Rome, we had lunch with a friend of a friend, an Italian who works in government. He’s not originally from Rome, but has been posted there for the past two years. His assessment of Rome: A nice place to visit, but a hard place to live in. It’s a large city […]
Entries from January 2016
Is our city good to live in or good to visit only?
June 22nd, 2011 · 99 Comments
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The hockey riots: How did this happen?
June 16th, 2011 · 319 Comments
I’m in Rome, but we woke up around 7 this morning, typed in “Canucks win” in Google search and spent the next two hours, reading and listening (Twitter, all news sites, CBC livestreaming), appalled. The question all of us have to have is: How did this happen? All we heard from the police and city […]
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Summer break and open forum on city issues
June 14th, 2011 · 34 Comments
Time to rest up for the campaign season ahead. As some of you know, I’m off to Italy for four weeks, spending all of my time observing urban issues, of course. I see some posters up for some kind of referendum that was voted on Sunday and Monday. I’m on it. Just out for my […]
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Vancouver Magazine: Gregory Henriquez
June 14th, 2011 · 1 Comment
Gregory Henriquez and his father Richard are two architects who have marked this city indelibly. There has been a lot written about their individual approaches to architecture, available for all to read. Ihstead, in this profile, I look at the personal and professional relationship between the two and its effect on Gregory. http://www.vanmag.com/News_and_Features/Profile_Gregory_Henriquez
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Two main parties set to go in tough fundraising year
June 14th, 2011 · 3 Comments
So, in what is turning out to be so far a low-energy civic campaign season, Vision Vancouver acclaimed all of its candidates on Sunday after a last-minute bail from one school board candidate. Rob Wynen, a school PAC chair as well as a long-time parks advocate, switched over from park to school to fill the […]
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The Non-Partisan Association team: What we know, Round 1
June 7th, 2011 · 29 Comments
The NPA gathered Saturday to acclaim its candidates who will form a team of 19 altogether: 11 for council, four for school board, four for park board. Since some of these mostly newcomers will likely be elected as the city swings back a little from the Vision Vancouver sweep of 2008, it behooves all of […]
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Bruins logos not welcome on City of Vancouver vehicles
June 6th, 2011 · 21 Comments
What can I say to this? Hope no citizens spot any city employees eating Boston cream pie.
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Suburbs search for their public connecting spaces during Canucks games
June 5th, 2011 · 15 Comments
When there’s a big story in town, everything starts to connect to that big story. Therefore, a Canucks angle can be found for anything. In my case, it was urban space. I wrote this story after noticing how suburban hockey revellers and politicians alike seem to be looking for places where people can come together, […]
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More disarray over Evergreen Line funding, as talk of one-year delay, new carbon tax muddies waters
June 3rd, 2011 · 47 Comments
A new regional carbon tax. A possible one-year delay on the line, which would mean it doesn’t get finished until 2015. The province blaming the mayors for not coming up with a solution. The mayors saying, “Hey, how could we do anything when you guys were so busy having leadership races that it was impossible […]
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Transit-oriented development: Why it doesn’t happen in spite of best intentions
June 1st, 2011 · 40 Comments
The big planning talk these days is all about how to create density around transit, as transportation planning and land-use planning continue to merge with each other. But what happens in the real world often doesn’t match that ideal. Here in Vancouver, you can see very busy transit stations with not much around them and […]
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