Originally published October 25, 2017 in Vancouver Courier newspaper. On December 7th, Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan (featured in story below) was voted by his peers to chair the Mayor’s Council, defeating Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. Watch for my forthcoming post with arguments *in favour* of Surrey light rail. When it comes to the future of transportation […]
Originally published in Vancouver Courier The resounding defeat of the Congestion Improvement Tax by voters in the recent transit plebiscite was a blow to local government politicians who were counting on it as a new revenue source. With no “plan B” to fall back on, members of the Mayors’ Council are threatening to go it alone on […]
Originally published in Vancouver Courier. In 2004 during the last week of June, then four-term city councillor Sam Sullivan invited me to join his campaign team for the “no” side in the October referendum to approve a ward system for Vancouver. It was a daunting challenge as I recall. Our campaign war chest was empty, we […]
Originally published March 12th on Huffington Post BC—got a strong response from readers! A few weeks back I wrote about my experience of working on the ill-fated 1992 Charlottetown Accord “Yes” referendum campaign, and provided some so far unheeded advice to the pro-transit tax side. Metro Vancouver’s mayors, I argued, must humble themselves with the voters in order to […]
Originally published in Vancouver Courier and Huffington Post. Twenty-two years ago last fall, I began a young political campaigner’s dream job, working in the B.C. war room for the Yes forces in support of the Charlottetown Accord. For the first and only time in Canadian history, all the major political parties — Progressive Conservatives, Liberals, […]
This post was featured earlier in Vancity Buzz. Image above sourced from Price Tags blog. Now that the wraps have been taken off the design plans for Evergreen Line stations the reality is setting in – rapid transit is finally coming to Metro Vancouver's Tri-Cities area. However, questions continue to linger about Translink's capacity to handle […]
Urban commentators Paul Hillsdon & Gord Price beside Surrey’s iconic SFU campus For a city-making nerd like me, the opportunity to visit a place and get a guided tour on the state of urban development is one I cannot easily pass up. That’s why I was pleased when after I asked Paul Hillsdon to show […]