Media got a snap invite yesterday morning to attend a “technical briefing” about the viaducts. It turned out to be not so technical, as there were still quite a few details missing (no answers to: when will exactly the park be built, are there hard targets for affordable housing, how much extra density will Concord […]
Vancouver viaducts on the road to demolition, to be replaced by park, housing, new roads
October 7th, 2015 · 205 Comments
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Oh my goodness, more rules for recycling
October 5th, 2015 · 52 Comments
This just out from Vancouver. I guess they are not that impressed by this argument published in the New York Times recently, saying recycling is mostly inefficient. Oh well, more opportunities for me to feel virtuous, aside from peeling the labels off my cans and putting cans in one place, labels in another. The City’s […]
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Vancouver Art Gallery design: Have your say
October 5th, 2015 · 7 Comments
The city architect/planner who used to oversee the big moves and small details of Vancouver’s major buildings — Ralph Segal — weighs in here on the art gallery. I myself am still trying to understand the design (it looks somewhat better seen close up than in Twitter pictures), so I have no strong thoughts. I’m […]
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City names new acting general manager of planning and development
September 29th, 2015 · 1 Comment
The city’s general manager of planning, Brian Jackson, is having his last day at the city Nov. 6, so the city needs someone statutorily as the planning director. This message just went out from acting city manager Sadhu Johnston. Today, September 29, 2015, Vancouver City Council approved the appointment of Jane Pickering as the Acting […]
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Has the number of single-family houses in Vancouver shrunk by 20,000? Or not at all?
September 29th, 2015 · 10 Comments
I called the city recently to try to figure out why there are such different numbers circulating as to the number of single-family houses in Vancouver? Some people (Bob Rennie, reporters) are saying 47,000, down from 67,000 some number of years before. Others (general manager of planning Brian Jackson, other reporters) say 75,000. My question […]
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Church becomes a developer with some trepidation
September 29th, 2015 · No Comments
An updated render of the Bing Thom tower for First Baptist church in my story, plus a closer look at the internal struggles the church went through to choose a developer and go through with this project.
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Why the federal candidates are suddenly sucking up to cities in this election campaign
September 23rd, 2015 · 2 Comments
It’s been a rough go for city residents across Canada the last 10 years. There’s been a definite sense that the things they care about are not at the top of the Conservative to-do list. But that has mysteriously changed this election. The prime minister announced some money for the Vancouver public library, for gawd’s […]
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Vancouver city manager severance debate 2.0
September 23rd, 2015 · 11 Comments
Okay, throwing this out there for debate in the escalating frenzy. A senior lawyer with experience in labour law wrote me the following. You’ll have to take my word for it that this is a senior lawyer and not, say, Mike Magee. But I swear on my book of UBCM resolutions that it is. Based […]
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NPA, LaPointe apologize to Vision mayor, councillor over statements during election
September 21st, 2015 · 10 Comments
We could see this one coming after the last Supreme Court judgment. VANCOUVER, Sept. 21, 2015 /CNW/ – During the 2014 civic election campaign the NPA, through its election materials, and mayoralty candidate Kirk LaPointe, made allegations of impropriety on the part of Mayor Gregor Robertson and Councillor Geoff Meggs in seeking a campaign contribution […]
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Striking tower at First Baptist Church site the latest in Vancouver’s new “sculpture garden” of new-design buildings
September 18th, 2015 · 11 Comments
FIRST BAPTIST TOWER Vancouver has been the home to a lot of same-looking slim glass towers for going on 30 years now. But, thanks to developer Ian Gillespie trying to push some innovation and a spate of office developers looking for something new and different, we’re starting to see some differences in design and some […]
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