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Entries from January 2016

Vision and NPA offer significantly different ideas on how to create affordable housing

October 31st, 2011 · 52 Comments

I caught part of Vision Vancouver’s town hall meeting Sunday night that was focused on housing issues, where it was obvious that there’s high anxiety among regular voters over the cost of housing in the city and uncertainty about what the city can do. “David” asked what the city can accomplish given that the price […]

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Tags: 2011 Vancouver Civic Election

The oppo research on civic-election candidates starts to seep to the surface

October 28th, 2011 · 58 Comments

I predicted weeks ago that we’d be seeing nasty stories surface about various candidates in the Vancouver civic election. I’m sad to see that I was completely right. No election seems to be complete these days without someone digging up a candidate’s bad report card, stupid Facebook photos, previously unrevealed lawsuit, and the rest. First […]

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Tags: Uncategorized

Why can’t we have a movie theatre with a liquor licence in Vancouver?

October 28th, 2011 · 21 Comments

I’m no libertarian, as many of you may have guessed over the years. But frequently the strange rules of doing business in this city baffle me. The latest is what’s happened with the Rio Theatre at Broadway near Commercial, which has turned into one of those businesses that help create a neighbourhood. It has had […]

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Tags: Uncategorized

Mayor says tents must go, but staff navigate more delicately with Occupy campers

October 28th, 2011 · 1 Comment

After Mayor Gregor Robertson said earlier this week that the Occupy Vancouver movement has a right to protest, but not to a permanent camp, I did the reporterly thing of calling to find out what was happening at ground level. My story here describes that, although not completely. I had heard that deputy city manager […]

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Tags: Uncategorized

Occupy Vancouver: An acid test of leadership for Robertson and Anton

October 26th, 2011 · 45 Comments

The media’s (that’s me!) relentless focus on Occupy Vancouver can be seen as a bad thing — a trivializing of all the major issues in the city that need to be discussed. I prefer to see it as a positive. Perhaps more than 30 per cent of people will now know there’s an election campaign […]

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Tags: Uncategorized

Vancouver’s NPA: Why it’s dominated city politics for so long and expects to do so again

October 25th, 2011 · 50 Comments

The real election season has finally arrived. Contradictory polls are multiplying and candidates are jousting over various issues that make not one whit of difference to the lives of most people in this city. It’s also when voters are starting to think seriously about whether they’ll cast a ballot at all and, if so, who […]

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Tags: 2011 Vancouver Civic Election · Uncategorized

Low-key Robertson campaigning on Sunday: kids, seniors, cops, Occupy Vancouver

October 23rd, 2011 · 91 Comments

Strategists keep telling me this is going to be a “technical” election — one that’s one by mobilizing the ground troops to get out the vote — and, after today, I believe it. The second Mayor Gregor Robertson platform announcement took place in an east-side park to the sounds of kids playing soccer and autumn […]

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Poll shows Robertson at 68, Anton at 32, divided support for council

October 21st, 2011 · 53 Comments

Another poll from Barb Justason, who’s provided us the voters with information for this campaign that usually the political parties keep to themselves. My Globe story is here. The basic numbers: 68 per cent of decided voters opting for Mayor Gregor Robertson; 32 per cent for NPA challenger Suzanne Anton. Twenty per cent are undecided, […]

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Tags: Uncategorized

The behind-the-scenes struggle over how to tackle homelessness

October 20th, 2011 · 35 Comments

A city report and several media stories this week, including mine, offered the public a confusing glimpse of what’s going on with efforts to house the homeless. The city report left many with the impression that the real homeless are somehow being bypassed as non-profit housing operators choose who is going to live in the […]

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Tags: Uncategorized

Olympic village by the numbers: $466 M still owing; 304 condos left to sell; more

October 18th, 2011 · 41 Comments

City manager Penny Ballem gave an update on the Olympic village numbers today, which was sort of helpful but still didn’t answer some of my questions. However, here’s her slide show, to get us started. As many of you know, development consultant Michael Geller and I have been having a back and forth about this […]

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