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Entries from January 2016

Vision will have open nominations except for mayor; he gets a leadership review

January 30th, 2011 · 38 Comments

Vision finally made its decision on how the nomination process is going to work for all its candidates. It’s a race for everyone except the mayor, who gets a performance review. (Hope it’s as much fun as mine always were.) Get ready, get set, go. Actually, some candidates have already. Geoff Meggs launched his campaign […]

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The latest morale-busting staff disaster at Vancouver city hall

January 27th, 2011 · 22 Comments

Of all the departures from city hall since Vision Vancouver took charge, Carlene Robbins’ abrupt exit on Monday is the most puzzling. A lot of reporters knew Carlene. She and her boss, Barb Windsor, rode herd on some of the city’s hardest and least glory-accruing problems. They pushed the landlords of slummy hotels and rooming […]

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New York looks at banning electronic devices for pedestrians crossing streets

January 26th, 2011 · 66 Comments

More tales from the Land of Municipal Oversight of Human Behaviour.

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Chinatown, Downtown Eastside at odds over high buildings

January 25th, 2011 · 35 Comments

To follow up on the events from last week, I called people in Chinatown about their thoughts on council’s strange little manouevre last week, which entailed delaying a decision on allowing taller buildings in the Downtown Eastside but moving ahead to a public hearing on the same topic in Chinatown — all of which pre-empted […]

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The tricky game of appealing property assessments

January 24th, 2011 · 50 Comments

Every year, all of us (heavily mortgaged) landowners get that property assessment notice in the mail and think generally one of two things: 1. Aha, I’m worth way more than I was last year. But wait a minute — does this mean I have to pay more taxes or 2. Ha ha, my assessment didn’t […]

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And now Vision does an end run around DTES/Chinatown height issue

January 20th, 2011 · 61 Comments

Getting more confusing. The DTES/Chinatown height report was scheduled to be discussed at the 2 p.m. meeting, with 80 speakers scheduled. But now Councillor Raymond Louie has already introduced a motion in the last hour that sends Chinatown to public hearing and DTES off for a social-impact review.(Georgia Straight blog post here.) WTF? Can’t keep up.

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Mayor backs away from tall buildings in Downtown Eastside, tho Chinatown okay

January 20th, 2011 · 9 Comments

What a surprise. (Not, when I think about it for 10 seconds.) After a last-minute, intense lobby against a proposed city policy to allow taller buildings on a select group of sites near Chinatown — a lobby that included the city’s two former directors of planning and former mayor Mike Harcourt — Mayor Gregor Robertson […]

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Brigade of academics petition city hall not to raise heights in DTES, Chinatown

January 19th, 2011 · 56 Comments

Never seen anything like this before. A large group of profs, many with in-depth knowledge of gentrification and housing dynamics, have mobilized to oppose allowing taller new buildings in the Downtown Eastside and Chinatown. Dear Mayor Robertson and Councillors: Re: January 20, 2011 Council Meeting on the Historic Area Height Review Update. We, the undersigned, […]

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Northeast False Creek residents plan forum on casino

January 19th, 2011 · 7 Comments

There’s a community-sponsored forum on the casino being planned for Feb. 7, as a post from Sean Bickerton has informed us. I’m reposting his info here for those rare people who don’t read all the comments. Here’s his full set of comments. I am assuming this will be in addition to the public meeting that […]

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Bulk of bike-crash sites on Burrard in past years

January 18th, 2011 · 55 Comments

I’m not surprised Burrard has crashes, as this interesting story from Mike Howell in the Courier details. I rode the suicide lane on that street once back in the old days (buses on one side, a steady stream of cars and trucks on the other) and decided that I wanted to live until at least […]

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