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Entries from January 2016

City Plumber: Why are some bike lanes painted green and others not?

July 31st, 2012 · No Comments

Check the left side of the screen for this Q and A, folks. Comments re the exorbitant cost of green paint, the mollycoddling of cyclists, the city’s shameful lack of action on green painting, etc., should be posted over there, not here

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Vancouver looks to create a new office district around stadiums, which developers and brokers say is going to be a tough sell at first

July 31st, 2012 · 16 Comments

Besides building a lot of rental units around the Rogers Arena, the Aquilini empire is also being required to put in 200,000 square feet of office space as part of the city’s drive to create new “job space” downtown. Nearby Canadian Metropolitan Properties is also going to have to build a whack of office if […]

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City of Vancouver website about to see big changes — fans of current site should be documenting what’s there now

July 31st, 2012 · 16 Comments

I’m hearing from multiple people that the city is about to launch a revised website that removes thousands of pages that are now available. There is also some chatter of giving new or slightly different names to various neighbourhoods. For all who care, you should go on the site now and get screenshots of the […]

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Use some of our road space for housing — one of the winners in Vancouver’s design competition

July 30th, 2012 · 42 Comments

Take a close look at this idea. It could be a reality. Many design competition entries are fanciful exercises that don’t go anywhere. But this one has a high-powered team, if you’ll notice,  and I have heard this idea being talked of favourably around city hall at various points.  

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Vancouver’s new general manager of planning and development: A quick introduction to the man in the hot seat, Brian Jackson

July 30th, 2012 · 6 Comments

He lives in the city. He walks his dog everywhere here. He’s looking forward on helping Vancouver achieve its affordable-housing goals. He starts his job Aug. 27. My little Q and A with Brian Jackson.

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First, all Vancouver homeowners became landlords. Now they’re all turning into mini-hotel operators

July 30th, 2012 · No Comments

I’m a fan of vacation rentals. I’ve stayed in them all over the world, from Hornby Island and Portland to Bologna and Chicago. The good ones are the next best thing to home exchanges for getting into regular neighbourhoods. (There are some not great ones, for sure. I’ve had the odd less-than-stellar experience, which is […]

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Mayor throws a little cold water and caution onto viaducts plan

July 25th, 2012 · 75 Comments

It was confusing yesterday to see most media outlets report the big news out of council as the city’s plan for a “super-road,” something that has been in city documents for over a month. This was the slideshare the city posted May 28, which provided the framework for the public open houses in June that […]

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Vancouver’s new GM of planning and development: Visionary, bureaucrat, consensus-builder, developer deal-maker, all of above?

July 24th, 2012 · 16 Comments

Brian Jackson doesn’t start his new job as Vancouver’s general manager of planning and development for another month but everyone’s got an opinion already, surprising considering he’s been an under-the-radar planner for many. My first quick interview with him suggests he’s got loads of personality to unleash on the city, where he happens to already […]

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What changes has the city made to the intersection at Pacific and Burrard to make it safer?

July 24th, 2012 · 19 Comments

Dear blog collaborators, especially those who bike/drive Burrard more regularly than I. Someone sent me this question. Can you answer it? I had a bike crash July 20, 2012 at Burrard and Pacific. I was knocked out and taken to SPH.  What has the city done since your May 28th piece mentioned COV was planning […]

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Vancouver appoints suburban director of development as newly created “general manager of planning and development” for city

July 24th, 2012 · 3 Comments

City news release here, which Bill Lee kindly posted in a previous thread as I was crazy busy (plus he included a bunch of tweets). My story in the Globe, with assessments from various people in and out of B.C., will be up on the website later. The City of Vancouver has appointed Brian J. […]

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