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 [...]

[Read more →]

I see that my learned friends over at Citycaucus noted that I recently got a list of the expenses related to the inauguration of the new Vision Vancouver city council in December. While they seemed pleased to get the information, they weren’t happy that I got it before them when they had asked for the [...]

[Read more →]

Well, we always wanted to be a world-class city. And now we are, as you can see from this article in the Guardian, documenting London’s troubles in financing its Olympic athletes’ village. And what’s the deal with Whistler? Why aren’t they having the same troubles? They seem to be doing just fine, as Bruce Constantineau’s [...]

[Read more →]

That’s what a group of us will be doing this afternoon on CBC’s The Point, with Aamer Haleem. The Point panelists, including Simi Sara here in Vancouver, and I will talk about why the trend to allowing and raising urban chickens has emerged, what are the upsides and downsides of chicken raising, and other fascinating topics. It’s [...]

[Read more →]

You can read news stories with complete paragraphs in other media if you want. (My pal Rod Mickleburgh was covering for the Globe today, and pretty much everyone else was there in force.) Here’s my take on what was new and interesting, beyond the basic news that the city is gearing up to go and [...]

[Read more →]

On the occasion of Barack Obama’s historic inauguration, I was reminded that I asked the city’s communications department a couple of weeks ago for a total on the inauguration costs for the new Vancouver city council. Various Non-Partisan Association types have been muttering for weeks about the costs, with their estimate of the total going [...]

[Read more →]

As expected by faithful readers of this blog, Mayor Gregor Robertson announced today that he is forming an advisory committee from the development industry to help the city during the completion phase of the Olympic village. They’ll be looking at possibilities for trimming costs over the next nine months. Yes, nine months until this baby [...]

[Read more →]

Just back from the early-morning gathering at the Rio Theatre on Broadway, where an eclectic crowd of us  watched Obama’s inauguration, with lots of young kids cheering and then oldies like us sniffling and tearing up.  People were in such a feel-good mood that they didn’t even boo when George Bush appeared at various points on [...]

[Read more →]

I can’t let this weekend go without mentioning how lovely the city looked this morning, especially for all my (perhaps) homesick overseas readers. With the combination of the wisps of fog floating around the downtown towers with blue sky behind, the effect was eerily beautiful. As I was driving into the city across the Georgia [...]

[Read more →]

Okay, now we have Penny Ballem locked in a room with Fortress trying to come to a deal on the financing. Next, the mayor and Penny have to figure out who is going to take Jody’s place. As I wrote for the Globe, the deputy city manager’s role in dealing with development projects is critical. [...]

[Read more →]