The University of B.C. professor who drove the creation of UBC’s Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability makes you feel like there’s hope after all, when you sit down with him for even 10 minutes. John Robinson is an environmentalist, but not the doomsayer kind that warns you to lie in bed quietly with the […]
Entries from January 2016
UBC’s greenest building points to the future optimistically
April 24th, 2012 · 89 Comments
Tags: Uncategorized
Visions ramps up opposition to Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion
April 24th, 2012 · 145 Comments
The latest from city hall. As just an average person, I’d like to hear some explanations from those in opposition about how and where oil and gas should be transported. I’m an agnostic on this issue, but, as someone who observes that it takes oil/gas to run the modern world and even build bicycles, I’d […]
Tags: Uncategorized
Vancouver’s community amenity contributions: Making density livable? Or making housing unaffordable?
April 24th, 2012 · 108 Comments
Nothing like talking about how to make housing more affordable to get people going on everything they think is wrong with the world. One target in the talks: Vancouver’s community-amenity contributions — that money the city asks developers to give back to the city when their land is rezoned to allow them to build more […]
Tags: Uncategorized
What do zoning rules really allow for controversial developments? A discussion
April 22nd, 2012 · 83 Comments
I’m reposting this detailed comment from Lee Chappelle, a former property-use inspector with the City of Vancouver, about the Rize development because his post analyzes a key point in its approval. A number of councillors and staff said that the site at Broadway and Kingsway would have been allowed a 150-foot building without a rezoning. […]
Tags: Uncategorized
TransLink pressures, cancellations shred unity among regional mayors
April 19th, 2012 · 69 Comments
Divorces rise when the economy is bad. I’d suggest the same dynamic is at play among the region’s 21 mayors, who find themselves being squeezed by demand for more transit from residents, resistance to new taxes and fees from taxpayers, and a province that keeps hacking off more body parts in each go-round to find […]
Tags: Uncategorized
Rize tower approved: Council says “with major changes,” some opponents say “cosmetic changes”
April 17th, 2012 · 130 Comments
The Rize tower has been approved, with some conditions, which I don’t have the full text of here. The essence is that the developer has been directed to make a building that looks “ugly” (Andrea Reimer) fit in better. Vision/Council is saying major changes are required. The ever-reliable CityHallWatch is calling them cosmetic. Assessment from […]
Tags: Uncategorized
Rize tower council’s moment to take a stand on future development in city
April 17th, 2012 · 19 Comments
Vancouver city council can approve the Rize tower at Broadway and Kingsway today as is and defend it energetically, saying this is a good design that represents the way future development should be done, if it believes that ultimately people will come to point to the building as a good example. Or it can turn […]
Tags: Uncategorized
Los Angeles: A city of neighbourhoods or of cars?
April 16th, 2012 · 22 Comments
Those following on Twitter know that I’m in Los Angeles at the moment, a city that I love in spite of all of its problems. This is my fourth trip here in recent years and I discover new things all the time. This time around: Echo Park, the neighbourhood where we’re staying. Yet another of […]
Tags: Uncategorized
What can council decide on Tuesday about the Rize? A planner’s answer
April 16th, 2012 · 15 Comments
I’d been asking for explanations of what the limits are on what council can do when it makes its decision about the Rize tower Tuesday. Here is the answer from former senior planner Trish French below. I’ve checked with others too, who remind me that the point of a public hearing is for council to […]
Tags: Uncategorized
What should council decide on Rize tower Tuesday? Have your say
April 13th, 2012 · 149 Comments
The Vision council will be making a decision Tuesday, after five nights of public hearings and 130 speakers, what to do about the Rize tower rezoning at Kingsway and Broadway. It was clear from questions put to staff at the end of the last night of public hearings that councillors and the mayor are trying […]
Tags: Uncategorized