Vancouver council is expected to approve laneway houses today, which will give 65,000 homeowners in the city’s RS1 and RS5 (single-family) zones the right to build a 750-square-foot house at the back of their lots. I have a story on this move, which others across the country are watching with some interest and some bemusement, […]
Laneway house vote today
July 28th, 2009 · 21 Comments
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The future of Vancouver’s downtown decided
April 22nd, 2009 · 32 Comments
While many of you were watching a couple of hockey teams face off on Tuesday night, there were two other teams facing off at city council over an issue that is key to what kind of city people think Vancouver is about: how much housing should be allowed downtown and how much of the downtown […]
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A visit with the two brothers building the Olympic village
March 29th, 2009 · 4 Comments
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 […]
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Which is the best way to solve homelessness?
March 5th, 2009 · 10 Comments
This illuminating email exchange went is making the rounds today in the city, with two very different approaches to finding solutions to homelessness. Hello Michael, Would you publically, along with HEAT, Streets to Home, BCS, Gregory Henriquez and Housing Providers, have a press conference and say to the province and feds that we need them […]
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Olympic village: The cost of green design + why Millennium was chosen
January 11th, 2009 · 5 Comments
As people post their comments, it reminds to add other little bits and pieces of information that I know. 1. Michael Geller wondered how much the city’s standards for environmental design added to the project. General manager Hank Jasper told me, when I had my tour of this site this week, that his estimate was […]
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Olympic village details: The sequel
January 10th, 2009 · 10 Comments
Thanks to all the previous posters for their thoughtful and extremely detailed analysis of the economics of this project. I think we have pretty much all agreed here that we don’t have enough specifics to be able to truly understand what is going on financially with the project in terms of construction costs or the […]
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A sign of healthy condo projects — cleared sidewalks
January 3rd, 2009 · 9 Comments
My last post elicited a few comments, including this interesting one from Michael Geller about the condo projects that haven’t properly cleared their sidewalks et al. (See below my intro comments.) Since the snow is now coming down even more heavily (I can’t believe it, actually), I thought I’d just continue with the snow postings. […]
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As the year draws to a close, opinions and debates flourish
December 31st, 2008 · 14 Comments
Don’t ask me why, but I’m spending my leisure time these days reading Robert Putnam’s “Bowling Alone,” (yes, I know, several years late) a thoughtful and heavily documented analysis of the decline of civic engagement in American society since the 1950s. As we’ve become a more individualistic society, Putnam argues, our participation in political parties […]
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The Vision party is still going on and may continue for some time
November 16th, 2008 · 17 Comments
Just got home at 3 a.m. because I’m a quitter, leaving many Visionistas behind me either dancing up a storm or analyzing the intricacies of the Olympic athletes’ village project, down at the Shark Club. (Yes, that’s where this bunch of alleged lefties repaired to after dancing til midnight at the Hotel Vancouver.) I’m not […]
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Independent candidate wins at Last Candidate Standing
November 9th, 2008 · 3 Comments
While controversy over the city’s $100-million loan is raging in the media/blogosphere, the campaign is still winding along on the lower levels for many people. And, at those lower levels, one of the more fun moments of the past week was the Last Candidate Standing event organized Friday night by Vancouver Public Space Network and […]
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