Last week, I tipped my hat to Mayor Stewart Kennedy for his $30-million proposal to address homelessness. This initiative was a welcome and significant step forward in addressing our current emergency homelessness crisis due to COVID-19. It was also a major first — never before has a Vancouver mayor proposed spending such an amount of…
Category: City Hall
$30 million for housing is welcome. But how far will it go?
Recently, Mayor Kennedy Stewart proposed that the city spend $30 million addressing the homelessness emergency crisis arising from the pandemic. The funds are for buying or leasing hotels, apartment buildings and single-room occupancy hotels to provide housing for those on the streets or squeezed out of shelters with COVID-19 distancing requirements. I’m so pleased to…
“Pinnacle” landmark to a failed political party isn’t what Vancouver needs
City council will decide Wednesday Sept. 30, whether or not to approve Pinnacle International’s rezoning application for a proposed 55-storey luxury high-rise at the north end of Granville Bridge. (Over the years, the project has crept up from 52 to 54 and, now, 55 storeys.) By the time you read this blog, city council may…
Sharing the gold gleaned from real estate development
Last week, Mayor Kennedy Stewart called a special city council meeting regarding a motion he was introducing to address Vancouver’s homelessness crisis, especially the 300 or so unsheltered people now living in Strathcona Park. I’m pleased to see that at this Monday’s council meeting, councillors directed staff to look into and report back on the…
Is the NPA on life-support?
When the provincial NDP were elected in 2017, one of their first orders of business was a very positive change to campaign financing at the municipal level. Within months, they passed legislation prohibiting donations to municipal political parties from corporations and unions, and banning individual donations over $1,200. Vancouver’s two developer-friendly municipal parties — Vision…
Real solutions exist to homeless encampments: Look to the ’70s, and Portland’s Right to Dream Too
Nobody won at Tuesday night’s Vancouver Park Board meeting addressing the city’s latest and biggest homeless encampment in Strathcona Park. After two onerous nights of debate — in which nearly 100 speakers outlined their sympathy for the homeless park dwellers; for the board itself, having to deal with such a thorny issue; and for Strathcona…
COVID-19: The neighbourhood catastrophe waiting to happen
For weeks, the coronavirus pandemic has been totally transforming our lives and devastating economies worldwide, right down to our own local neighbourhoods. COVID-19 is a neighbourhood catastrophe waiting to happen in the DTES. Its first confirmed case appeared yesterday. It’s very difficult, if not impossible, for most of the residents there to keep a safe…