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 voting department heads) — can also award contracts of up to $2 million in value at any time. That added up to 39 contracts…
Category: City Hall
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 job doesn’t make much sense. Remember, this raise was approved by the councillors themselves. When…
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 Marpole to south False Creek, to the city for $55 million. Many years ago the…
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 gold. He also had the most unbelievable work ethic, and he combined these qualities with…
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 restrict people’s ability to cross borders while money could flow freely. For centuries, nation-states could…
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 decided to remove them. At first blush, Council’s decision would appear to be the right…
Penny Ballem: Vision Vancouver’s “Fall gal”
Once again, this time at cost to you and I of over half million dollars, Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vision Vancouver majority have missed the point. Let me explain. There is no disputing the fact that Dr. Penny Ballem is an incredibly capable city manager, perhaps one of the most competent in the city’s…