The election season was so much fun that now I need to sleep somewhere for a solid week. So here I am, living in a campsite yurt on the beach in north Oahu, surrounded by feral chickens and a limited selection of local surfers who have hunted out this little gem, a perfect, building-free cove […]
Fabulaworld on vacation: Open forum on city issues
December 7th, 2011 · 65 Comments
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Challenge to creating low-cost housing: who benefits?
December 7th, 2011 · 99 Comments
One of the priorities that Mayor Gregor Robertson set out for this term is to explore new ways to create affordable housing in Vancouver. That will be one of this administration’s toughest challenges. The other goals he has — promoting a Vancouver economy, pushing to become “the greenest city,” and more — are relatively easy […]
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Rising ocean forces city, developers to build up land, dikes, and more
December 4th, 2011 · 210 Comments
Talk of rising sea levels always sounds so far away, Al Gore-ishly distant. But in the last few months, it’s come right to home for people all around the province as they’re coming to terms with new provincial guidelines that now set projected future levels significantly higher than past projections did. My story on what […]
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Parking department comes up with more ways to extract money from our wallets
December 3rd, 2011 · 107 Comments
This is what some might call abusing your role as a public commentator and others might say is courageous investigative reporting, but I just have to gripe momentarily about annoying policies — some new, some old — in the city’s money-making parking department. One is: Have you noticed that the city has shortened up its […]
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Shelter tug of war ends for another year with the 160 beds city asked for
December 3rd, 2011 · 4 Comments
It’s painful to watch the strange argument that erupts every fall as the city and ministry can’t seem to agree on funding new winter shelter beds. It ended Friday, with Housing Minister Rich Coleman’s announcement that he’s funding two new shelters (as well as announcing the eventual phasing out of the sometimes controversial First United […]
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Province funds new winter-shelter beds — but not the ones city asked for
November 30th, 2011 · 63 Comments
Another strange winter of tussling between the city and province over funding winter-shelter beds. As my story here outlines, the province is going to open some winter-shelter beds, but not in the areas where city staff say they’re needed. The last two years, the city has asked for — and eventually received, after some struggle […]
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Should bikes be banned from major arterials or at least rapid-bus streets?
November 28th, 2011 · 159 Comments
This is an idea that Adriane Carr talked about during the election campaign, saying she had heard from bus drivers (or at least one bus driver) that it made it harder for them to keep to schedules and manoeuvre when they had to deal with bike-riders on major streets like Broadway. I also saw this […]
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What Vancouver could get from viaducts land: open space, below-market housing, more?
November 27th, 2011 · 80 Comments
While everyone is distracted by the visions of being able to swim to the downtown along viaducts converted to pool lanes, courtesy of the re:CONNECT design competition, city planners and a consulting team have been working on potential real land-use plans for the area under and around the viaducts. There’s an area about half the […]
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“How the media and NPA got it wrong” — Vision pollster
November 23rd, 2011 · 95 Comments
Just because I know this will set off a big argument. And that’s fun + instructive. Here you go, Bob Penner’s analysis.
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More political geekfest number-crunching of the Vancouver election shows Aquino would have been elected by NE, Yuen and Wong by SE
November 22nd, 2011 · 47 Comments
A reader — “Rick” — sent me this breakdown, which I like because it gives a sense of how councillors ranked in different parts of the city. It seems to show that the NE votes straight Vision/COPE slate, the SW votes straight NPA slate, and it’s the other three quadrants of the city that mix […]
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