The Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts will be no more in just a few short years. This has the potential to very positively reshape Northeast False Creek and Vancouver’s first neighbourhood — Strathcona. One of the biggest issues city planners and Vancouver city council will have to wrestle with when the viaducts go down is what…
Category: Planning
Secure housing with a heart
With the need for non-market housing becoming more and more urgent, I’m very excited about the new development at the corner of Kerr St and 55th Avenue in Vancouver. The new firehall No. 5 for Champlain Heights will be built there. Four floors of the new building will be housing for mothers and children, with…
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…
UBC SkyTrain will haunt us for generations to come
I am so disappointed that Vancouver city council voted by a margin of 9 to 2 to approve the SkyTrain extension from Arbutus all the way to UBC. Even the three Green councillors all voted in favour of this very un-environmental proposal! As I pointed out in my recent blog on this topic, UBC professor…
The sky-high price of gullibility: The case against underground SkyTrain to UBC
The possibility of an underground Broadway SkyTrain all the way to UBC has been in the news again lately. I so hope that this does not come to pass. Let me explain why. First, let’s talk briefly about some of … Continue reading
Unanimous vote on Vancouver tenants’ rights is a game changer
On Tuesday, December 4, COPE Councillor Jean Swanson tenants’ protection motion finally came before city council for a vote. In the week leading up to the vote, more than 300 tenants spoke eloquently to council about the need for protection when landlords decide to renovict them. See my last blog (Secure tenants make for a…
Secure renters make for a better Vancouver
COPE Councillor Jean Swanson’s motion [PDF] to give tenants protection from landlords during renovations was referred to committee at city hall November 27 so that members of the public would have an opportunity to speak to it. The motion proposes immediate changes to the city’s Relocation and Protection Policy. There are a number of changes,…