Like most Vancouverites I’m enjoying the best summer I can remember! Day after day of clear skies, warm sun and beautiful outdoor times. Unfortunately, this recent lengthy bout of consistently dry, sunny weather is the result of cataclysmic changes in global climate — cataclysmic changes that may very well spell the end of our species…
Three Cheers for the Beautiful Game
With Canada playing China in the first game of the first round of the Women’s World Cup in Edmonton on Saturday, I’m very excited. I’ve always been a big fan of the beautiful game, and we’re in for some of the best footy in the world. Monday, June 8 saw the first games kicking off…
Whatever happened to equality?
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Vancouver’s heritage policies and registers, which themselves are fit for a dusty museum shelf they’re so old and out of date.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….