This week I’ve literally got two bits for you on our BC housing situation. Here’s the first bit: There’s been lots in the news lately about making housing more affordable but, I’m sad to say, very little about this news is of substance. At the end of the day, the crisis of homelessness will be…
Category: Vancouver
Vancouver-Mount Pleasant voters are a bellwether
Byelections are never easy for whatever party holds power at the time, and Feb. 2 was no exception. The incumbent BC Liberals lost both byelections — Vancouver-Mount Pleasant and Coquitlam-Burke Mountain. The interesting takeaway for me was not the fact that the Liberals lost. I say this in spite of the fact that one of…
Time to “tap out” TransLink’s senior managers
Most folks are surprised when I tell them that TransLink spends 10 cents of every farebox dollar on the process of actually collecting that dollar. Economists refer to this as the “friction cost.” By comparison, the collection of income tax is incredibly efficient, with a friction cost so small that it amounts to a rounding…
Let’s put HandyDART users back in the driver’s seat
As co-chair of the HandyDART Riders’ Alliance, I was scheduled to speak at the public session of the TransLink Board of Directors’ meeting in New Westminster on Wednesday. (Check out CBC Radio’s coverage of some of the points raised by my co-chair, Beth McKellar, here as well as a video clip of some of the…
Check out the new DTES markets
Many of you may be aware of the street vending that used to happen along the 000-block of East Hastings Street between Columbia and Carrall streets. For a large number of people living in the Downtown Eastside this was a desperately needed opportunity to earn income by selling things such as used clothing and dishes…
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…