It’s been almost a year since city staff came to council with the final estimated bill for the social housing at the Olympic village — $110 million instead of the original $65 million it was supposed to cost — and some options with what to do about it. There’s still no decision as staff wrestle […]

[Read more →]

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, this cartoon from the latest New Yorker captures current planning at its best, don’t you think? Close Close tp://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2010/01/04/cartoons_20091228#slide=8#ixzz0bxDcORG5

[Read more →]

Several sources have notified me that Melina Scholefield, the one-time manager of the city’s sustainability group, is packing it in at city hall. (Here’s the official blurb on her job: Melina Scholefield Manager of Sustainability Melina manages the Sustainability Group, a branch of the City dedicated to climate protection, green architecture, active transportation, sustainable systems […]

[Read more →]

The news that Ryan Merkley had been hired as a temporary communications director came in a week in December when I was swamped with other things, so I didn’t note his impending arrival. However, here is my post noting that Ryan, a prolific Twitterer by the way (see evidence at Tab 1, his photo of […]

[Read more →]

As indicated by media reports earlier this year (Mike Howell in the Courier, I think), the city is re-opening one of the two shelters under the Granville Bridge. This time, it will be open 24 hours, which is intended to prevent the line-ups and crowd mayhem that nearby condo residents objected to last time. Presumably […]

[Read more →]

There’s been a lot written about the Woodward’s project in the last few months and much more to come as the complex opens fully over the next few months. Here’s my take on it for the Globe’s ROB section, focusing on the gamble different groups had to make to go in. The city’s director of […]

[Read more →]

Amid the gloom and doom of the budget, the cutting, the slashing, the tax increases and fee increases, I have found one tiny bit of brightness. The city’s website highlights a piece of information previously unknown to the paying public — people who pay their parking by phone will no longer be charged the obnoxious […]

[Read more →]

I’ve been writing about Chinatown for 15 years and it never fails to fascinate me, the way it resists what is happening anywhere else in the city and the way I learn something new, peel away another layer, every time I look at it again closely. Last year, Chinatown went through a huge upheaval as […]

[Read more →]

And one more upbeat post for the new year: my story on a guy whom many hope is showing the way to the urban-agriculture future. Thanks to Peter Ladner for bringing Ward Teulon and his urban farming to my attention.

[Read more →]

And here we are, made it through another year and we’re heading into the new one. The days are getting longer; in only about eight or nine weeks, I can hope for a few bulbs and buds — the biggest thrill; and we have That Event to get through yet. I’m sure that many of […]

[Read more →]