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Entries from January 2016

One way to protect Vancouver from land speculation: community land trusts

February 16th, 2017 · No Comments

I used to hear the term “community land trust” about once a year. Now, I seem to hear about it almost every month. Cities like New York and London are looking to community land trusts as a way to deal with the general real-estate insanity that appears to be prevailing in key cities around the […]

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Vancouver’s unclear rules on lobbying raise questions as ex-chief of staff looks for work

February 16th, 2017 · 3 Comments

Gregor Robertson’s former chief of staff, Mike Magee, has told any number of councillors that he has no plans to do any lobbying work for developers or others as he strikes out in his new post-city hall career. But he is visiting with people in the development community and, not surprisingly, observers are unclear about […]

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TransLink minister muses about a new kind of development tax to support transit … and mayors are worried

February 16th, 2017 · 2 Comments

There’s been vague chatter for months now indicating that the province has its eye on the profits developers are making as they build towers next to SkyTrain lines (calling Derek Corrigan at Brentwood) as a possible source of revenue for big new spends on transit. But TransLink Minister Peter Fassbender amped up the temperature on […]

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As condo fever continues, gas stations, banks, mini-malls disappear

February 7th, 2017 · 6 Comments

I write about, I think, some fairly weighty issues that deserve public attention. But, I have to say, nothing seems to attract attention like when I do a story about disappearing gas stations. I guess it speaks to people’s sense of how the city is changing. At any rate, I did a story a while […]

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Living with roommates at 30+, sometimes with babies added

February 6th, 2017 · No Comments

A fun assignment recently, to take a look at the prevalance of room-mating as the housing crunch continues unabated. There’s no doubt that the phenomenon of sharing is on the upswing in many high-priced cities. I remember reading a story from London that said the big dream for young people there was not their own […]

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