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Entries from January 2016

Council endorses liquor licence for Fox (former porn theatre) cabaret on Main

November 27th, 2013 · 20 Comments

Must be some high-fiving along Main about this.

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Imminent opening of Biltmore transitional housing in Mount Pleasant prompts community debate, promises to choose tenants ‘carefully’

November 27th, 2013 · 13 Comments

There was an announcement earlier this year that the Biltmore (or, what used to be the Biltmore at 12th and Kingsway and has until recently been a Howard Johnson’s) was going to be transformed into “transitional” housing for Vancouver’s homeless. At the time, the only queries I got on Twitter were whether that would affect […]

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Neighbourhood group moves from protesting one project or one area plan to entire vision for Port Moody

November 26th, 2013 · 70 Comments

Interesting to see what’s happening out in Port Moody, where a newly constituted neighbourhood group is now raising questions about the city’s entire Official Community Plan. I was wondering if there might be some of this starting when I went out to Metro Vancouver a few weeks ago and listened to presentations about “regional context […]

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Laneway housing of a different kind to come to Vancouver’s West End?

November 22nd, 2013 · 40 Comments

Council approved the West End overall plan Wednesday. There was lots of interesting information to mine in that report — the plan for where new towers will go (on the fringes, away from the interior where residents have objected strongly to any new development), the spending plan for new or refurbished community facilities, the little […]

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Non-profit group in Downtown Eastside under scrutiny from both major funders

November 22nd, 2013 · 9 Comments

There was news two weeks ago that PHS Community services was having its finances reviewed by BC Housing. Now Vancouver Coastal Health has confirmed that it is also auditing the group. My story here and below. WARNING: If you have any information you feel you have to share, do it in a private email to […]

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Things you can go to this week if you’re a hopeless urban wonk and this blog isn’t enough

November 18th, 2013 · 19 Comments

Posting for a friend: Urban events   PIBC PlanTalk – Availability, Utilization, and Intensification of Industrial Lands – Nov 19 http://www.pibc.bc.ca/events/pibc-south-coast-chapter-15 Metro Vancouver Dialogues – Great City Making Demands Innovation – Nov 19 + 22 + 28 + Dec 10 http://www.metrovancouver.org/REGION/DIALOGUES/Pages/default.aspx Vancouver Board of Trade – Chair Greg Moore, Long Term Infrastructure Planning: Sustaining a […]

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Proposed changes to Agricultural Land Commission alarm local pols, who promise to fight any giveaways

November 8th, 2013 · 110 Comments

Lots of shock yesterday re Mark Hume’s story in the Globe with a leaked copy of proposed changes to the ALC, which would see it moved inside a provincial ministry and have its mandate altered to take into account economic factors. Metro Vancouver’s planning committee was already planning to vote on a motion today asking […]

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With civic election just over a year away, NPA, COPE, TEAM, Cedar gear up to take votes from Vision Vancouver

November 6th, 2013 · 84 Comments

The civic election isn’t until Nov. 15, 2014. But you’d never know it from the jostling going on among parties hoping to harness the resentment they believe Vision Vancouver is sowing. A sign of the times — I wrote an article for Vancouver magazine about the energy people are putting into campaigns early — especially […]

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Businesses, politicians start building the case for more money for transit in Lower Mainland

November 6th, 2013 · 4 Comments

Catching up on old news here, but really, hard to keep up with ROB FORD distractions all the time. Anyway, as many of you know, there was a gathering of about 500 last week to talk about the role of transit in the economy. This was largely organized by TransLink and pushed forward by Mayor […]

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New developments in Vancouver far outpace what regional plan says population should grow by: residents

November 3rd, 2013 · 121 Comments

As some of you careful readers might have noted in the past, I am not always an admirer of the way opposition groups do war. Saying they’ve been treated disrespectfully by city hall politicians and staff, they then proceed to issue statements and write blog comments that make them sound like foul-mouthed 13-year-olds. Complaining that […]

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