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…
Category: gentrification
Broadway corridor: The lesser of two evils
As you may be aware, TransLink will soon be building the first phase of an underground SkyTrain line along the Broadway corridor from the Commercial-Broadway station to Arbutus. If Vancouver city council has its way, by 2030 the new line will extend all the way to UBC at a cost estimated as high as $3.8…
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…
Cleaning up campaign donations
Those of you familiar with my blog will recall how pleased I was when the provincial government introduced regulations governing the funding of municipal election campaigns in 2018. These new restrictions prohibited donations from unions and corporations — including developers. They also limited donations from individuals to a maximum of $1,200. However, even during the 2018…
Mayor Stewart: Stick to your 3% empty homes tax!
UPDATE: I’ve created a petition to help keep up the momentum. Please sign and share it! Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart was on CBC radio’s Early Edition with Stephen Quinn Tuesday morning. While he has moved forward on several of his campaign promises, including creating a renters advocacy office and pushing for more medium- and high-density…
No quick fixes to sky-high property taxes
Vancouver’s commercial businesses — big and small — will soon get a break on their property taxes. City council has passed a motion to shift 2% of property taxes from commercial businesses and onto residential properties over the next three years. It will see a shift of 1% in year one, followed by 0.5% in…
Good news for Vancouver renters
There’s been a lot in the news lately about issues that impact renters, and I’m happy to say most of it is good news. First up is the announcement of a new resource at city hall — the creation of a Renters Office. This office, with its newly dedicated staff person and phone line, will…