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Recent Posts
- Omar Khadr; torture; & holding governments to account July 14, 2017
- The shadow of Geoff Meggs July 7, 2017
- City Hall delays; The most vulnerable pay June 26, 2017
- NDP-Greens’ take on pro rep: the great transformer June 8, 2017
- The nightmare of SRO conditions can be solved in an instant May 26, 2017
- Don’t shoot the messengers May 14, 2017
- Hanging by a thread May 10, 2017
- When orange is the new green May 3, 2017
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Category Archives: City Hall
The nightmare of SRO conditions can be solved in an instant
With income assistance rates frozen for over 10 years now, welfare recipients have a very small amount available for rent. With the province of BC providing a single person on welfare with only $610 a month, SRO landlords are very … Continue reading
Affordable housing: Gregor Robertson still doesn’t get it
It’s perfectly clear to anyone paying attention that we have a housing crisis in Vancouver today — a crisis that has been with us for quite some time and is only continuing to get much worse. But the only thing … Continue reading
Empty homeless promises now painfully true
Tuesday the numbers from the annual homeless count were released. The headlines say it all: “Record number of homeless on Vancouver streets“. For those of us who genuinely believe there is absolutely no excuse for homelessness in any society, let … Continue reading
Posted in affordable housing, City Hall, homelessness, social justice, Vancouver, Vision Vancouver
Tagged homeless count
1 Comment
Vision-run public hearings: From bad to worse
Tuesday night the City of Vancouver held a Public Hearing on a controversial rezoning application for a Cressey development at East 18th and Commercial Drive in the Cedar Cottage area. Many citizens took time out of their busy schedules to … Continue reading
Posted in City Hall, Harry Rankin, influence peddling, Planning, Vancouver, Vision Vancouver
Tagged Adriane Carr, Cedar Cottage, Cressey, public hearing, Raymond Louie, Tim Stephenson
4 Comments
City Hall’s secret cash machine
Did you know that our Vision-Vancouver-dominated City Council has a Bid Committee that operates in secret? Council gave it authority to award contracts of any size without going out to tender whenever Council is on summer break. The Bid Committee — composed of City Hall bureaucrats (namely the city manager, director of finance, and … Continue reading
Posted in City Hall, fiscal responsibility, influence peddling, Transit, TransLink, Vancouver, Vision Vancouver
Tagged Bid Committee, Bob Ransford, city manager, corruption, Mayor Daley
1 Comment
City council: rewarding inefficiency
City council’s pay was in the news recently — city councillors will receive a whopping $9,000 annual raise, moving their salaries to roughly $80,000 a year. Allowing people to give themselves a raise for taking longer to do the same … Continue reading
Posted in City Hall, fiscal responsibility, Harry Rankin, Vancouver, Vision Vancouver
Tagged Gordon Campbell, raise, vancouver city council
Comments Off on City council: rewarding inefficiency
Arbutus Corridor: Making housing out of thin air
At long last there is some very significant progress on the Arbutus Corridor. Just last week the City of Vancouver and CP Rail, the owner of the land, reached an agreement. CP will sell this 9-km rail corridor, stretching from … Continue reading
Posted in affordable housing, Arbutus Corridor, Canadian politics, City Hall, economy, LRT, Planning, social justice, Transit, transportation, Vancouver
Tagged CP Rail, False Creek, Marpole
2 Comments
A tip of the hat to my old friend, Harry
Today is the 14th anniversary of Harry Rankin’s passing. Many of you may know that Harry Rankin is my hero and mentor. I know it sounds a bit corny to say it, but he really did have a heart of … Continue reading
Posted in Canadian politics, City Hall, COPE, equality, Harry Rankin, social justice
2 Comments
Trans-Pacific Partnership — Free trade agreement or investors’ Bill of Rights?
There was a time when borders were wide open for people and much more restricted to capital flowing in or out of countries. Only toward the end of the 20th century did it change when significant controls were enacted to … Continue reading
Posted in Canadian politics, City Hall, equality, food security, social justice, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Vancouver
Tagged TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership
1 Comment
Making gold dust out of viaducts
No. 1 issue on City Council’s agenda over the past few months has been the removal of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts. Last week this issue was finally put to a vote. With 5 in favour and 4 against, Council … Continue reading
Posted in affordable housing, City Hall, homelessness, influence peddling, Planning, social justice, transportation, Vancouver, viaducts, Vision Vancouver
Comments Off on Making gold dust out of viaducts