Urban

05/04/22
Author: 
Kenneth Chan
SkyTrain Expo Line (Shutterstock)

Apr. 4, 2022

To avoid major cuts in service levels, the federal and provincial governments jointly announced today they will be providing TransLink with an additional $176 million in pandemic-time operating subsidy funding.

An additional $28 million will also be provided to BC Transit.

25/03/22
Author: 
Susan Lazaruk
Transit advocate Nathan Davidowicz at Oakridge Skytrain Station in Vancouver. PHOTO BY ARLEN REDEKOP /PNG

Mar. 24, 2022

A transit user advocate says raising fares discourages passengers from returning to the transit system, which is down 50 per cent of pre-pandemic ridership numbers

Beginning July 1, it is going to cost more to ride transit in Metro Vancouver.

 

With little discussion at a TransLink board meeting on Thursday, the transit authority approved an average 2.3-per-cent fare hike, bucking a nationwide trend to combat low ridership by freezing fees after two years of the pandemic.

 

14/03/22
Author: 
Joanna Slater

Mar. 14, 2022

BOSTON — On a recent raw winter morning, Barry Hurd was sitting on a bench waiting for the bus after a trip to the supermarket.

Hurd, 64, gets by on his monthly disability payment, but it’s not easy. “The food is high, rent high, everything high,” he said. “Unless you win the lottery, you’re not saving.”

14/01/22
Author: 
Jean Swanson
COPE's Jean Swanson isn't planning on being a one-term member of Vancouver city council.

Jan. 13, 2022

This is a written version of a speech that COPE councillor Jean Swanson delivered in a January 13 Zoom call to party supporters and various media people: 

“I’ve been pondering for a while. Should I retire, or should I keep working for housing, renter protections, ending homelessness, racial and Indigenous justice, climate action, and supporting working and low-income folks in the city?

28/11/21
Author: 
Carlito Pablo
Activist Nathan Davidowicz points out that Vancouverites make up 50 percent of regional transit users, but says they're sadly lacking in their fair share of bus service. CARLITO PABLO

November 24th, 2021 

Nathan Davidowicz says residents should be within a five-minute walk to a bus stop.

Nathan Davidowicz estimates that Vancouver needs about 50 kilometres of additional bus service.

The longtime transit advocate explained that this would put every resident in the city within five minutes by foot to a bus stop.

“That’s what accessibility is,” Davidowicz told the Straight in a phone interview.

18/11/21
Author: 
Lisa Cordasco
Housing Minister David Eby is threatening to municipalities in the pocket book if they frustrate efforts to built various forms of social housing. PHOTO BY PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA /PNG

Nov 15, 2021

B.C. Housing Minister David Eby suggested he might use that stick with municipalities that refuse to acknowledge there is a housing supply problem that needs to be addressed.

B.C. Housing Minister David Eby is threatening to bring a financial hammer down on municipalities that do not cooperate in addressing the province’s housing affordability crisis.

Eby told a conference on affordable housing on Monday that his government “could withhold funding for programs if a municipality refuses to work on the supply challenge.”

18/11/21
Author: 
Lisa Cordasco
Co-op Housing Federation of B.C. executive director, Thom Armstrong, said B.C.'s $7 billion dollar plan to create 114,000 affordable housing units by 2028 is "the most comprehensive in the country." PHOTO BY JASON PAYNE /PNG

Nov. 15, 2021

"The City of Vancouver has added more housing units per capita than any city in North America over the last 30 years yet housing prices have increased faster in Vancouver than any other North American city." — Patrick Condon

Housing advocates are expected to urge government officials to devote more effort to acquiring land for affordable housing rather than just building affordable housing units during a three-day conference starting Monday.

10/11/21
Author: 
City of Burnaby Lawyer Greg McDade

Nov. 9, 2021

The link below is to the text of a letter from City of Burnaby Lawyer Greg McDade to the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) objecting to the regulator's decision to grant Trans Mountain permission, going far beyond what Trans Mountain even requested, to destroy any trees in Burnaby for whatever reasons for the indeterminate future. Can you say "captured regulator?" 

               Gene McGuckin

04/11/21
Author: 
Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
Portland, Oregon - (Stephanie Yao Long/Staff)

Another reason why Canadian municipalities need to acquire the power to levy taxes beyond simple property taxes.

               -- Gene McGuckin

Mar. 26, 2021

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