As I mentioned in my previous post, there are lots of simmering undercurrents in the city’s attempts to plan Northeast False Creek.
One of the biggest is what is happening with the Vancouver Art Gallery. If you’ll recall, Premier Gordon Campbell made the strangest announcement of all time last May when he said the gallery would [...]

[Read more →]

Influential city shaper Bob Rennie, who masquerades as a condo marketer, will be giving his annual address to the Urban Development Institute today where he analyzes the market and sales based on statistical research that he gets done for this talk every year.
The speech will have lots of facts and figures, along with Bob’s characteristic [...]

[Read more →]

Unbeknownst to most of you, there have been a number of workshops and open houses in what’s called Vancouver’s historic areas over the last few weeks to talk about potential height increases for those areas. City staff have asked the public to consider a few options, which they’ve graphically illustrated in a kind of cool [...]

[Read more →]

It was quite the scene at the stunning new Celebration Hall in Mountain View cemetery Saturday — I definitely want to be buried there now with the great views and lovely, modernist new hall for all my friends to party at when they send me on my way — as developers, architects, and housing advocates [...]

[Read more →]

Here’s my latest column in Vancouver magazine, where I got to spend some time with Peter and Shahram Malek of Millennium Developments — the developers at ground zero in the current financial/housing/Olympics twister. Everyone in town has been playing backseat driver to these two and speculation continues to be rampant about the end cost of [...]

[Read more →]

That most exciting point in the three-year cycle of any civic reporter approaches, as the deadline for disclosing campaign finance donations for all candidates and parties in the last fall’s election draws nigh. I know that the folks at Beyond Robson will mock me again for beating them repeatedly with long lists of numbers, but [...]

[Read more →]

I have a story in today’s Globe about what cities are trying to do to keep business, especially development, going in their neighbourhoods. Surrey’s efforts are just kicking off so not a lot of details yet, but there’s a LOT of talk in Vancouver these days about what the Vision council could do to thaw [...]

[Read more →]

Sorry to disappoint those of you who thought I’d gone dark because I was in the midst of a deep investigation. Instead, all I’ve done is escape to Seattle for a couple of days — always a great way to get a new take on cities, people, art and the economy.
It’s been great to eavesdrop on [...]

[Read more →]

Someone sent me a link to this New York Times article extolling the virtues of Vancouver as a second-home base for non-Canadians.
Hmm, I guess the world economy isn’t dead yet. And how nice to see this early indication of the Olympics sell.

[Read more →]

I have this story in today’s Globe and Mail about Tony Pappajohn, a local guy, who has been caught in the economic downdraft and credit squeeze. That’s put in jeopardy the beautifully designed new tower he was building on Hastings Street, a sad chapter for a family that’s part of the history of Vancouver.

[Read more →]