Frances Bula header image 4

Entries from January 2016

Surrey

October 30th, 2009 · 13 Comments

Every time I turn around, Surrey is doing some new thing that no one could have predicted 10 years ago: a multicultural music festival, a sobering centre, a bike park, a homelessness action plan. The latest is a design competition for the gigantic municipality’s future neighbourhood centres. (See news release below.) One day, a design […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Grumpy Vancouver has secret squad of Olympics enthusiasts

October 29th, 2009 · 32 Comments

My favourite kinds of stories are the ones that break stereotypes. In my fantasy world, we’d constantly be covering stories about Calgarians having the highest rate of art-museum visitorship in the country, Torontonians taking more yoga classes than anyone else, single mothers being more likely to get promotions to management positions and the like. So […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Thank you for all your witticisms

October 28th, 2009 · 10 Comments

I see that the Caption Contest has been a roaring success, thanks to the creativity of a number of you. Perhaps I should make it a regular feature. Then we could have weekly votes on the best caption with prizes awarded: Framed copies of original Penny Ballem internal emails, a chance to blog under my […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Caption contest

October 27th, 2009 · 43 Comments

Words fail me as I look upon this recent transmission of our mayor’s activities from London. I hope you are not similarly afflicted. Please send your best efforts at a caption that could capture the spirit of whatever the heck is going on here. (Those familiar with the New Yorker’s cartoon caption contests will know […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Weekend report: Two different parties in the Downtown Eastside

October 26th, 2009 · 10 Comments

Two nights, two art spaces, two different gatherings, and yet some parallels. Friday night, an eclectic group of people gathered at the Vancouver Centre for Contemporary Asian Art to say goodbye to Donald MacPherson, the city-hall drug-policy co-ordinator for the last nine years, who announced last month that he was off to new adventures (still […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Bob Rennie emerges with new identity: Centre of Vancouver’s art world

October 24th, 2009 · 20 Comments

The oldest building in Chinatown is going to be the gathering point for a collection of who’s whos tonight, as people from the art world, the media world, the developer world and the political world gather at Bob Rennie’s new art museum. My feature story on Bob and his new role, along with the museum, […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

TransLink mayors vote for $130-million, middle-of-the-bus-lane plan

October 23rd, 2009 · 22 Comments

Just an update for those not watching other media, but this is what came out of the TransLink Mayors Council meeting today as reported in advance by the region’s hardest-working reporter, Jeff Nagel, and today by the Vancouver Sun’s transportation reporter, Kelly Sinoski.

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Vision plan for making Vancouver a green zone

October 21st, 2009 · 22 Comments

Mayor Gregor Robertson launched the city’s green plan at the Resilient Cities conference yesterday, plus it got presented at council. You’re welcome to peruse the multiple pages and post your thoughts. I have to say, I am still confused by some parts of it. Perhaps I need to do more homework, but it’s not intuitive […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Who’s taking over stalled condo projects? A few risk-takers

October 21st, 2009 · 2 Comments

Here’s the story I had in the Globe this week about the interesting business of taking over stalled condo projects. It’s a bit of a specialty area that’s developing for lawyers and accounting firms, as they work with companies willing to take the plunge. They’re not the easiest development deals, as there are lots of […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized

Vancouver turns to New York for a lesson on making space for bikes

October 20th, 2009 · 7 Comments

My story in the Globe today about the NY Transportation Commissioner’s visit to the city.

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized