It is going to be a crazy election fight this year in Surrey if Barinder Rasode keeps going with her bid for mayor. She has got some heavyweights with her, including Mark Marissen (very experienced hand at rounding up the Indo vote for the federal Liberals), Jatinder Rai and, I hear, a veteran Conservative campaigner […]
Big battle of political campaigns set for Surrey as Hepner, Rasode and maybe McCallum? teams gear up
June 27th, 2014 · 1 Comment
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Barinder Rasode aiming to be first South Asian woman mayor in North America
June 17th, 2014 · 3 Comments
While everyone awaits the announcement on June 19 that Councillor Linda Hepner will be the candidate for Surrey First, breakaway councillor Barinder Rasode is out and running. Her strategy of using her rented office space as a place for community events is kind of interesting — I haven’t seen that one before. And she seems […]
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Dianne Watts announces stepping down from throne; now the scramble begins
April 29th, 2014 · 4 Comments
As we all know, Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts announced Saturday, while she was opening the new city hall, that she won’t be running again in November. Not a huge surprise, as there had been rumours for weeks and lots of hints about the event Saturday. But now it brings out into the open the jostling, […]
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Surrey councillor Barinder Rasode quits Dianne Watts’ party, says “systemic failure” at city hall
April 17th, 2014 · 3 Comments
This is erupting all over. Here is Rasode’s actual email, courtesy of the Surrey Now.
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Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts make heavy bet on new downtown — but it won’t come instantly
February 24th, 2014 · 35 Comments
Surrey’s efforts to remake itself as an urban place, rather than just a bedroom suburb, are exciting and have generated a lot of media coverage. What that coverage (some of it mine) doesn’t always convey is the reality of what a big job this is. Surrey doesn’t even have a vestigial version of a downtown […]
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Surrey to test out a new way of talking to the public with Vision Critical
April 5th, 2013 · 5 Comments
I’ve heard any number of bureaucrats and politicians express alarm at the state of public dialogue these days, as citizen groups start social-media campaigns at the drop of a hat to oppose casinos, funeral parlours, traffic going by their front windows, and more. As a result, many are looking for new ways to talk. Surrey […]
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What would happen if everyone got together and decided to come up with the money for transit utopia?
April 1st, 2013 · 54 Comments
This was a deliberately provocative article, so I’m expecting lots of challenges. Yes, there are many other futures that can be detailed (built $23 billion in transit and had no money left for anything else, is one I’m sure will turn up here). I found out a lot more about some of the details as […]
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Surrey casino, Chapter 3: Surrey councillors speak out about the botched process, why they supported a casino, and the tough conversations ahead for the Surrey First party
January 25th, 2013 · 31 Comments
And …. more fallout. As some councillors noted, casino decisions really strain a marriage. Here’s what they had to say. Story also attached below
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TransLink and province: Back to square one re funding?
October 13th, 2010 · 51 Comments
Okay, I officially give up trying to understand what is going on between TransLink and the province or among TransLink’s mayors. They signed a memorandum of understanding just weeks ago that seemed to pave the way for an agreement between Victoria and TL on how to fund future transit projects. And now they’re back this […]
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NPA to become “Vancouver First”?
June 22nd, 2010 · 29 Comments
Members of Vancouver’s oldest civic political party get to vote June 29 on whether they want to change their name from the Non-Partisan Association (or Civic Non-Partisan Association legally) to Vancouver First. (Full wording of the motion here.) This is the follow-up to a membership meeting a couple of months ago where there was extended […]
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