As we all know, developers make windfall profits every time their property is rezoned by Vancouver City Council to increase density. Many years ago, Vancouver’s City Council of the day wisely decided that henceforth any rezoning over a certain size would come with a very positive requirement — the developer would have to designate 20…
Is the transit glass half-empty or half-full?
Most of the transit activists I’ve worked with over the years are conflicted by the transit plebiscite. You can find lots of good reasons to vote in favour — more SeaBuses, more desperately needed HandyDART service, more late night bus service, as well as a much-needed increase in overall transit services in our region. Unfortunately,…
All we’re asking for is a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t
City watchers are still buzzing about a meeting held behind closed doors last month at UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning. It was all about what Michael Geller describes as Vancouver city hall’s “diminishing respect for the importance of urban design and planning.” The biggest deal breaker was the re-zoning application for the contentious…
Never Never Land: Where a boy never grows up and promises never come true
Vancouver’s annual two-day homeless count recently wrapped up, and it’s clear that Vision Vancouver’s promise of ending homelessness this year is something straight from Never Never Land. Critics have missed the point when they say that Gregor Robertson was unrealistic or naïve when he made the promise in 2008, when he first campaigned for office,…
Heritage Disappearing While the Dust Settles
Finally — finally — the city is moving with its Heritage Action Plan to update Vancouver’s heritage policies and registers, which themselves are fit for a dusty museum shelf they’re so old and out of date. But the whole process has been like molasses in January, dribbling slowly now into spring and on into summer….
Hats off to the New Yaletown decision
The BC Supreme Court decision against the re-zoning and land swap for a new condo tower beside Emery Barnes Park in New Yaletown has lots of people talking (again). There’s plenty to discuss about the lack of fairness, meaningful communication and transparency with Vancouver’s Vision-dominated City Hall, which seems to be joined at the hip…
Crimes in the Making – Vancouver’s Affordable Housing Crisis
In a world drowning in wealth; in the richest era ever in the history of humankind; in one of the richest nations on the face of the planet and one of the richest cities in that nation, it’s a crime we have people living on the streets of Vancouver. It’s even more of a crime…