The Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction opened three years ago with the promise that it would be the place that would take on the hardest cases of people who were mentally ill, drug-addicted, sick and homeless, give them treatment and help them transition to a stable place to live. It’s struggling, as I […]
Entries from July 2015
The struggle to house our homeless and mentally ill is straining the system
October 16th, 2011 · 70 Comments
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NPA wades into Olympic village mess, demands numbers … that are already there
October 12th, 2011 · 110 Comments
Civic politics junkies have been waiting to see whether the NPA would get into the ugly topic of the Olympic village, a tricky one for them as the party risks getting mud on its own face. As you’ll recall, the uproar over the village’s financial mess three years ago dominated the election campaign. Today, Suzanne […]
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Fact-checking Vision campaign promo-tweets: Week 1
October 10th, 2011 · 35 Comments
Some of you have full, rich lives that aren’t routinely punctuated by tweets from the three main parties competing for seats on Vancouver city council. In others words, you’re not me. I am getting these tweets. Vision, in particular, started running them in the last week like crawlers at the bottom of the news, occasionally […]
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Campaign strategy in Vancouver: VV ‘Not a slam dunk’; NPA, Go after the mayor
October 8th, 2011 · 49 Comments
Thanksgiving weekend is traditionally the time when civic election campaigns in Vancouver really get underway. This year, things got rolling a little earlier, with the NPA starting its campaign in early September, and Vision and COPE upping their activity level last weekend. My colleague Ian Bailey and I took a look at what both campaigns […]
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Even with $1.24 billion of new money, TransLink plan won’t match population growth by 2020
October 5th, 2011 · 77 Comments
Martin Crilly’s report analyzing TransLink’s plan — being voted on this Friday — for what to add to the system and how to pay for it is fascinating reading. Better than the average airport novel, if you ask me. Mr. Crilly, for those who don’t know, is the regional transportation commissioner who weighs in with […]
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City artists lose another building as city drafts policies to preserve cultural space
October 4th, 2011 · 14 Comments
Vancouver is the best of cities for artists, with a thriving arts scene that combines the world-famous (Jeff Wall, Rodney Graham, Stan Douglas), the new-pop (New Pornographers, Destroyer, and Said the Whale), the experimental (Boca del Lupo, Ballet BC recently). And it’s the worst of cities for artists trying to find spaces to actually live, […]
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Anti-casino advocate enters council race as an independent
October 3rd, 2011 · 17 Comments
There hasn’t been an independent candidate elected to city hall since Carole Taylor in 1986, but that doesn’t ever seem to stop a few brave souls from trying to beat the considerable odds. First up in the independent category this time is Sandy Garossino, who led the Vancouver Not Vegas coalition. I haven’t been able […]
Tags: 2011 Vancouver Civic Election
Vision campaign kicks into gear, NPA tackles bike lanes (sort of), COPE opens office
October 2nd, 2011 · 66 Comments
The civic election campaign is now officially underway, with Vision rolling out its radio ads, paid staffers like Mike Magee and Kevin Quinlan now out of the mayor’s office and into the campaign office, COPE opening up its office, fundraising dinners set and more. My story here looks at part of the pitch going out […]