The election season was so much fun that now I need to sleep somewhere for a solid week. So here I am, living in a campsite yurt on the beach in north Oahu, surrounded by feral chickens and a limited selection of local surfers who have hunted out this little gem, a perfect, building-free cove [...]

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One of the priorities that Mayor Gregor Robertson set out for this term is to explore new ways to create affordable housing in Vancouver. That will be one of this administration’s toughest challenges. The other goals he has — promoting a Vancouver economy, pushing to become “the greenest city,” and more — are relatively easy [...]

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Talk of rising sea levels always sounds so far away, Al Gore-ishly distant. But in the last few months, it’s come right to home for people all around the province as they’re coming to terms with new provincial guidelines that now set projected future levels significantly higher than past projections did. My story on what [...]

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This is what some might call abusing your role as a public commentator and others might say is courageous investigative reporting, but I just have to gripe momentarily about annoying policies — some new, some old — in the city’s money-making parking department. One is: Have you noticed that the city has shortened up its [...]

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It’s painful to watch the strange argument that erupts every fall as the city and ministry can’t seem to agree on funding new winter shelter beds. It ended Friday, with Housing Minister Rich Coleman’s announcement that he’s funding two new shelters (as well as announcing the eventual phasing out of the sometimes controversial First United [...]

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Another strange winter of tussling between the city and province over funding winter-shelter beds. As my story here outlines, the province is going to open some winter-shelter beds, but not in the areas where city staff say they’re needed. The last two years, the city has asked for — and eventually received, after some struggle [...]

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This is an idea that Adriane Carr talked about during the election campaign, saying she had heard from bus drivers (or at least one bus driver) that it made it harder for them to keep to schedules and manoeuvre when they had to deal with bike-riders on major streets like Broadway. I also saw this [...]

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While everyone is distracted by the visions of being able to swim to the downtown along viaducts converted to pool lanes, courtesy of the re:CONNECT design competition, city planners and a consulting team have been working on potential real land-use plans for the area under and around the viaducts. There’s an area about half the [...]

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Just because I know this will set off a big argument. And that’s fun + instructive. Here you go, Bob Penner’s analysis.      

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A reader — “Rick” — sent me this breakdown, which I like because it gives a sense of how councillors ranked in different parts of the city. It seems to show that the NE votes straight Vision/COPE slate, the SW votes straight NPA slate, and it’s the other three quadrants of the city that mix [...]

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