It looked like it was going to ho-hum day at city council, with councillors Suzanne Anton and Raymond Louie continuing their energetic pillow fighting over the the budget, the Olympic village, the kinds of candies given out for free in the mayor’s office, and so on. But, instead, at the end of the budget presentation, […]
Vancouver ponders pay, hiring freezes to keep budget in line + Thoughts on manners
February 4th, 2009 · 15 Comments
Tags: City Hall Talk
Olympic project manager felt sidelined, hobbled
January 16th, 2009 · 7 Comments
Sources in city hall tell me that Olympic project manager Jody Andrews tendered his resignation today, effective immediately, after several weeks of being stripped of responsibilities and pretty much ordered not to talk to the public/media about the village. The relatively young 40-something Andrews, who has worked at the city for 18 years, was put […]
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One taxpayer’s suggestion for the Olympic village
January 12th, 2009 · 14 Comments
Should be lots of fun today, with a public council meeting scheduled for 2 at city hall on the Olympic village. I’m sure Suzanne Anton is practicing her punches right now, with coaches on all sides. If I’m not mistaken, it will be available to watch on the city’s website, so all of you who […]
Tags: City Hall Talk
Pennsylvania Hotel opens supportive housing
January 8th, 2009 · 5 Comments
It was quite the party scene in the Downtown Eastside today, as the Who’s Who of the neighbourhood and the province’s social-housing mafia gathered on Carrall Street to celebrate the opening of the new Pennsylvania Hotel with 44 housing units. Much oohing and ahing over the lovely new rooms, refurbished lobby and the restored ancient […]
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The NPA starts its rebuilding today
December 29th, 2008 · 2 Comments
The city’s septuagenarian political party, the Non-Partisan Association, will be meeting today to choose a new board of directors — one that will have the difficult task of figuring out where the party, which suffered its second disastrous defeat in six years, will go. Charlie Smith has some perceptive analysis of the NPA’s potential winning […]
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The first council meeting sets the stage for three years
December 17th, 2008 · 12 Comments
I really think there should have been a sports commentator at today’s first meeting of the new Vision-controlled council. Or several really, to handle the various rounds that ensued as council proceeded through the many motions put forward to kickstart the Vision agenda. We could have started with one of those hushed-voice golf types for […]
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City to put $300,000 from contingency fund into homeless effort
December 12th, 2008 · 0 Comments
I see from this story by my Vancouver Sun counterpart Catherine Rolfsen that NPA Councillor Suzanne Anton is objecting to the city (or, to be more precise, Vision Vancouver) putting $300,000 from its contingency reserve into funding shelters, which it hasn’t typically done in the past. She’s right on that. However, the city has been […]
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New council starts to take control with appointments
December 5th, 2008 · 4 Comments
The agenda for Monday’s meeting is up and the new council has put out its recommendations for who will sit on which boards and committees, which you can go through here if you’re that kind of detail-obsessed person. Interesting things of note: Gregor and the most senior members of the Vision team are going en […]
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The Mayor Sam Sullivan non-roast roast
December 2nd, 2008 · 8 Comments
It was a strange event, befitting a strange term of government. And the tribute to Mayor Sam Sullivan, attended by about 400 in a banquet room at the Westin Bayshore, also felt kind of sad. Although several people said many nice things about Sam, mostly about his personal courage in overcoming his disability, the ashes […]
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South Vancouver gets its moment of glory on inauguration day
December 1st, 2008 · 4 Comments
In what seems to be a determined effort by Vision Vancouver to reprise 2002 but do it better, the team has decided to have its inaugural ceremony at Bing Thom’s beautiful new Sunset Community Centre. For those with short memories, i.e. most of us, the winning COPE crew in 2002 decided to take government out […]
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