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In the land of the Vancouver Special, modernist houses begin to pop up in the most unexpected places

December 23rd, 2013 · 26 Comments

One of the things that is always startling about Vancouver is — in a place with spectacular natural beauty — it has some of the weirdest, tackiest, most awful single-family housing around. And it’s not even one kind of awful. We have endless varieties these days. The modest World War 2 bungalow renovated with a […]

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Vancouver is already prepared for the new world of sex work

December 23rd, 2013 · 7 Comments

And this is how people in Vancouver (as opposed to everywhere else in the country) viewed the Supreme Court ruling on sex work.  

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A reminder of the old ground rules for sex work and how Vancouver was moving to make it safer long before today

December 20th, 2013 · 4 Comments

A year ago, I was visiting brothels, madams, and feminist advocacy groups all along Hastings Street to talk to women about the benefits and dangers of doing sex work in the city. A reminder, in light of today’s Supreme Court ruling, of the situation then.

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Vancouver development permit board approves new casino site, mayor says will take extra precautions to ensure no gambling expansion

December 16th, 2013 · 23 Comments

In case anyone was wondering, this just out: Statement from the Mayor on relocation of casino       I have been very clear that I am opposed to any expansion of gambling in the City of Vancouver. Today’s decision by the Development Permit Board ensures that the proponent will have to align operations with […]

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Vancouver’s civic scene undergoing upheaval as COPE morphs, NPA spends money aggressively, and little parties bloom

December 10th, 2013 · 70 Comments

Okay, blogsters, here’s the kind of story that’s made for a niche audience — the kind that most of the voting public isn’t paying attention to right now, but which you, dear political junkies, are intensely interested in. So, to recap the story I wrote today – COPE is undergoing major transformations as many long-time […]

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Demand for online-sellers distribution space makes developers look hungrily at farmland

December 10th, 2013 · 5 Comments

As I’ve mentioned in other tweets and posts, I keep hearing commercial brokers and analysts talk about the desperate need for industrial land near Deltaport, i.e. agricultural land.(For a sample of the kind of chatter going on, take a look at this.) Others have pooh-poohed that, saying no, there is no likelihood. But the talk […]

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The Vision Vancouver annual fundraiser: a precis

December 4th, 2013 · 29 Comments

For those who missed my scintillating tweets on Monday night, when I was at the Vision Vancouver fundraiser at Floata, here’s a recap, plus a bit more about the 650-person event, which included some singing by the Jewish contingent and people imitating salmon swimming upstream at a certain point. Designated talking point of the evening […]

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City sets maximum rents for units in buildings where developers get rental incentives

December 4th, 2013 · 32 Comments

The city put out the strangest report (approved Tuesday) I’ve seen in a while, where it spelled out what the maximum rents could be for units where developers are getting exempted from the usual developer fees (about $140 a square metre for most of the city; some specific areas have slightly different ones.) The rents […]

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Council endorses liquor licence for Fox (former porn theatre) cabaret on Main

November 27th, 2013 · 20 Comments

Must be some high-fiving along Main about this.

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Imminent opening of Biltmore transitional housing in Mount Pleasant prompts community debate, promises to choose tenants ‘carefully’

November 27th, 2013 · 13 Comments

There was an announcement earlier this year that the Biltmore (or, what used to be the Biltmore at 12th and Kingsway and has until recently been a Howard Johnson’s) was going to be transformed into “transitional” housing for Vancouver’s homeless. At the time, the only queries I got on Twitter were whether that would affect […]

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