Frances Bula header image 4

City manager’s bike stolen from city hall

May 21st, 2010 · 28 Comments

I ran into Penny Ballem at Bob Rennie’s UDI speech at the Hotel Vancouver yesterday and was surprised when she waved a booklet of bus tickets, saying they were her way of getting around these days. I’ve only ever seen her on her bike until now. What happened, I wanted to know, thinking perhaps she’d […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Concord Pacific land assessment to be checked

May 5th, 2010 · 28 Comments

Mike Howell at the Courier has been on the case this week about why the big tract of land that Concord Pacific owns in the northeast corner of False Creek has been valued so low in land assessments, i.e. only $400,000 — less than the value of an average 33 X 120 lot in the […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Homeless in Vancouver climb to almost 1,800 but only 400 sleep outside

April 8th, 2010 · 5 Comments

The results of the city’s homeless count are in and, as the Vision Vancouver team hoped, it shows that the numbers of people sleeping outside was reduced by almost exactly the number of beds created in the mayor’s seven emergency shelters. The memo from city manager Penny Ballem spells out the dire consequences for the […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Ex-chief electrician gives his side of the story to the Tsakuminator

March 30th, 2010 · 38 Comments

Whether you think Mr. Tsisserev is a loyal employee who was unfairly dumped on or a dogmatic ,righteous and disgruntled ex-employee (people I talk to at city hall generally say the former) and whatever you think of Alex’s questions, this interview is a fascinating glimpse into the backrooms of city hall. http://alexgtsakumis.com/2010/03/30/exclusive-on-the-record-with-former-vancouver-city-electrician-ark-tsisserev-the-interview/

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Chief electrician docs released; payout $177,000 + letter saying reports of electrical problems wrong

March 26th, 2010 · 23 Comments

This is currently circulating at city hall, a place that is as porous as limestone these days. My only observations at this point are that the payout is not a lot, considering that Mr. Tsisserev was making in the $120-130,000 range the past couple of years. I’m sure there will be lots of commentary on […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Homeless count numbers will be a political tool

March 24th, 2010 · 4 Comments

The city had its own homeless count, a first, yesterday, which everyone covered. Here’s my version. Interesting to note that the city’s numbers will be out in a couple of weeks — just before the five community emergency shelters are set to close April 30. I await developments on this front.

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Vancouver engineering head retires

March 12th, 2010 · 11 Comments

I’ve been hearing about Tom Timm’s impending retirement for a year, one of the names that kept popping up on the list of “people most likely to get fed up and quit after Vision and Penny Ballem took over.” Then I also heard that he’d been saying even before that he was only going to […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Vancouver business elite discovers how messy solving homelessness is

March 8th, 2010 · 14 Comments

For years, I’ve heard that business leaders in the city are itching to give millions to solve homelessness and, related to that, the problems of the Downtown Eastside. And many have tried to tap into that. Former mayor Philip Owen and others started a fund through the Vancouver Foundation to try to encourage donations for […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Vancouver’s HR manager latest to quit

July 29th, 2009 · 30 Comments

Well, all I can say is Yikes. One more city manager bails, Kevin Ramsay, the recently hired head of HR. He’d replaced Mike Zora, who had become the object of union unhappiness, and from what I had heard, was doing a good job and managing to calm things down a little. But not any more. […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Adair appointment confirmed + more in Ballem memo

July 17th, 2009 · 9 Comments

This memo from city manager Penny Ballem is making the rounds today at city hall. I’m curious about the hint when it comes to the new deputy city manager. Who could it be? There have been rumours of at least one strong internal candidate for this one. We await the news. OFFICE OF THE CITY […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized