Our two-term councillor and recent mayoral candidate went to Cuba for the 50th anniversary of La Revolucion — a return trip after a visit in 1970, where Peter Ladner had the dubious pleasure of staying in the same hotel as FLQ refugees, if I’m recalling the story he told me correctly.
Always great to get postcards [...]

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This just arrived on my doorstep, from a clearly unhappy city employee not thrilled with the removal of employee parking, which has been traded for bus passes et all.
rom:   COV Broadcast Server
Sent:   Wednesday, April 08, 2009 3:26 PM
To:     City Hall Campus Staff - DL; Sustainability Group Staff - DL; SEFC Team [...]

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Lots of speculation about what is happening with the Burrard Bridge bike trial, which will involve closing two lanes of traffic. Councillor Geoff Meggs has a brief update on his blog here, but to add a few more details that I’ve heard from the inside.
City doesn’t want to start any trials until construction is finished [...]

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As the city prepares for a little Woodward’s opening ceremony tomorrow, the word has gone around at 12th and Main that the lucky departments being considered for a transfer into the city’s space at Woodward’s are cultural planning, social planning and housing.
That’s not sitting too well with many of them (about 35 people in all), [...]

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The judgment came down in the lawsuit between Downtown Eastside Residents Association guy Kim Kerr and former councillor Peter Ladner over Peter’s claim that Kim had made a threatening remark about Elizabeth Ball. I won’t repeat all the details — they’re here in the lawsuit, which you can read here.

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This news release just out from the city on the new CFO who has been hired. Some were thinking that Vision, grateful to Estelle Lo for her emails to Judy Rogers highlighting concerns about the Olympic village that were then leaked by someone to the media, might hire her back. Apparently not. Here’s the new [...]

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The city’s deputy city manager, James Ridge, got named the chief information officer or some such thing recently, according to city internal emails. That ought to allay the rumours, at least in that corner, that Ridge, who came to Vancouver from North Van a couple of years ago, was going to be one of those [...]

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Just when we were almost finished with the chicken jokes (related to the city plan to allow people to keep chickens for personal use in their yards), now comes this announcement from city hall that they’re digging up part of the lawn for a community garden. Here is the news release below.
City to create community [...]

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Check out what the former Talking Heads member and now independent musician had to say about Vancouver’s mayor in his blog here.
I thought he might mention Gregor’s stellar performance in the audience, where he waved his lit-up Blackberry, instead of a match or lighter, to show his enthusiasm during Byrne’s recent concert here in [...]

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That was the word from city manager Penny Ballem this afternoon. Although Councillor Suzanne Anton didn’t get a seconder to her motion, which I posted earlier, asking for clarification in how those contracts were awarded, Mayor Gregor did ask the city manager to give an explanation since “questions have been raised.”
Penny’s statement: “It was a [...]

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