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Entries from January 2016

Why the city changed course in the days before Occupy Vancouver about protest camps

November 11th, 2011 · 12 Comments

After the Non-Partisan Association sent out a news release yesterday claiming that Mayor Gregor Robertson had “over-ruled” its own Large Events Oversight Committee’s recommendations not to allow tents at the Occupy Vancouver protest, media jumped on the story. Turned out that was a teensy-weensy bit of over-hype. The committee didn’t make any recommendations, only heard […]

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Vision council hears divided message from unions about Occupy camp

November 11th, 2011 · 3 Comments

Unions have been one of the groups most interested in how the Occupy camps are faring around the world. These unaffiliated protest camps were not a union idea and they certainly don’t preach a labour-influenced message. But they do talk about something union leaders are often trying to get a public conversation going on: income […]

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Occupy Vancouver plans “Run on the Developers” march for Saturday

November 10th, 2011 · 6 Comments

Oh bruther, just when you think things are calming down.This news release from the Vancouver police. “Run on the Developers” March Vancouver – Vancouver Police will be keeping a close eye on the Occupy Vancouver “Run On The Developers” march this Saturday. The march is scheduled to leave the Vancouver Art Gallery at noon and […]

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Firefighters endorse all Vision, one COPE, one NPA, one Green

November 10th, 2011 · 31 Comments

Firefighters have issued their list of endorsements for council. I’m a bit surprised — thought they might be leaning a little more to the Non-Partisan Association, but apparently not. Here’s what they had to say. “In these demanding times, we are convinced Mayor Robertson understands the incredible challenges facing the Vancouver Fire Department,” says Union […]

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NPA candidate calls for moratorium on laneway houses

November 9th, 2011 · 69 Comments

Okay, a bit confusing that a council candidate is opposing the laneway houses that the NPA’s mayoral candidate is supporting, but anyway, this ought to get Bill some support from irate residents in Dunbar and Point Grey. NPA Council Candidate Bill McCreery calls for a moratorium on laneway housing. Over the past two years laneway […]

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Tags: 2011 Vancouver Civic Election

New poll coming on what people thinking of Robertson’s handling of Occupy Vancouver

November 8th, 2011 · 39 Comments

Yahoo, just got a call from a polling firm. Can’t believe I haven’t been contacted before, with all the polling that’s been going on in town. But today got the robo-call from Forum Research with only a key few questions. That’s the same firm that did a Canada-wide poll on mayors recently and came up […]

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Robertson/Anton homelessness debate turns into Occupy circus at times, but brings big issue back to the fore

November 7th, 2011 · 41 Comments

What a craaazy night at St. Andrew’s-Wesley, for a night that included threats of a riot inside the church, hymn-singing, multiple requests to people to PLEASE STOP YELLING, and some actual information about what the two main candidates have to say about homelessness and affordable housing in the city. The tweetreporting by my various colleagues […]

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City had a policy of fighting tent protests aggressively. What happened?

November 7th, 2011 · 4 Comments

Gordon Campbell had to deal with a protest camp on the Vancouver Art Gallery Plaza. It took him a month to get rid of it. Then it moved to city hall. That was just one interesting historical factoid that I discovered when I looked at the city’s past history of getting injunctions to clear protest […]

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Occupy Vancouver has Vision/Robertson on a roller coaster

November 7th, 2011 · 4 Comments

This is Survivor Civic Election like we’ve never seen before. As I’ve been saying here and there, we get to watch the politicians react to new developments every day and decide whether they’re reflecting our values. That has made this election unlike anything I can remember. Bob Ransford, who’s been watching politics for a long […]

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Battle of the fundraisers: Vision wins at projecting confidence, money

November 7th, 2011 · 14 Comments

One was at the Bayshore. The other was at the Greek community centre. In the old days, the first fundraiser would have been the Non-Partisan Association’s, the second would have been COPE’s (except it would have been held in a community centre of some eastern European nationality). But the tables have turned and it was […]

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