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Entries from January 2016

Vancouver stages good-news presser about Olympic Village debt, but raises a dust storm of questions about numbers

April 29th, 2014 · 30 Comments

As those of you who were on Twitter yesterday know, there was a lot of uproar at Vancouver city hall yesterday as journalists tried to make sense of the numbers swirling around like a meteor shower as the mayor and city manager attempted to make the case that the city had turned the Olympic village […]

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Dianne Watts announces stepping down from throne; now the scramble begins

April 29th, 2014 · 4 Comments

As we all know, Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts announced Saturday, while she was opening the new city hall, that she won’t be running again in November. Not a huge surprise, as there had been rumours for weeks and lots of hints about the event Saturday. But now it brings out into the open the jostling, […]

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Is the Canada Line at maximum capacity? No. Will it be in a decade? Depends on …

April 22nd, 2014 · 108 Comments

For the last year, every time I’ve gone to a public hearing or meeting about development, I’ve heard people fret about how there’s not enough capacity to absorb the new people who will be coming with the developments. Not enough schools, hospital space, parks, libraries, you name it. And it used to be that, along […]

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Dianne Watts: “Saddened and disappointed” by Rasode’s actions, “will not engage in electioneering”

April 17th, 2014 · 8 Comments

This just out from Mayor Dianne Watts’ office SURREY, BC – “I am saddened and disappointed that Councillor Rasode feels she is unable to work within the team environment to bring issues forward to council and our committees. Myself and council will continue to support Councillor Rasode in her role as the Chair of Community […]

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Surrey councillor Barinder Rasode quits Dianne Watts’ party, says “systemic failure” at city hall

April 17th, 2014 · 3 Comments

This is erupting all over. Here is Rasode’s actual email, courtesy of the Surrey Now.    

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Anyone want a job bringing a civic political party back to life? COPE is looking for an organizer

April 16th, 2014 · 13 Comments

Okay, before you sent the angry comments, I know that COPE is full of life, brimming over with passionate policy advocates and their ideas on how to end inequality in this city. But I meant back to life on council, school board and park board. Anyway, here’s the job posting. In the leadup to the […]

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Hillcrest community centre sees battles erupt inside and outside board

April 15th, 2014 · 18 Comments

What a mess. The two groups of board directors from Hillcrest Riley Park were at B.C. Supreme Court most of yesterday (somewhat to the bemusement of Judge Anthony Saunders, who had been called in from New Westminster to deal with this pressing case) with tales of directors being ousted from the board, unexplained spending, charges […]

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Vancouver mayor hopes to channel immigrant, international-investor money out of real estate, into other businesses

April 14th, 2014 · 27 Comments

There’s nothing that makes a person realize how much their city is just a pebble on a beach that the ocean’s tides are washing over more than going to an international convention about real-estate development. (BLOCK that metaphor, someone is begging right now.) Three thousand people gathered at the convention centre last week to talk […]

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Vancouver election time: $50,000 dinners, $25,000 lunches, candidates coming and going + more

April 8th, 2014 · 397 Comments

Tried to wrap up all various things going on election-wise with the two big parties these days, which is a fair amount. This is all I could cram in to my Globe story. But to sum up what’s in there, plus more: – NPA fundraiser/gala May 7, where they will announce some candidates. Apparently no […]

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Hillcrest/Riley Park community centre politics generate tizzy

April 7th, 2014 · 23 Comments

People keep sending me this change to the Riley Park community centre bylaws, which I note, among other things, will require anyone elected to the board to be approved by the other directors. Not sure how that will work. Anyway, lots of buzz about this. RILEYPARKAMENDMENTS  

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