Posts from — September 2010

Is there a rental housing crisis in Metro Vancouver? Anyone who has rented — or studied the matter — knows there is.

At least 80,000 rental families are spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Only a trickle of new rental stock is coming on the market and much of the existing stock is nearing the end of its useful life.

But renters are unorganized, without a  voice.

To remedy that problem, Metro Vancouver’s  has launched a new website through the Metro Vancouver Housing Committee. Rentersspeakup.org is designed to give tenants a voice and provide ammunition for a new coalition emerging to press senior levels of government for action.

If you are a tenant, say your piece.

Pete McMartin summarized the plans well in this weekend article.

Pinoy Fiesta prizewinners gather at Pinoy Plaza in Vancouver.

A new generation of Filipino community leaders has taken up the challenge of renewing and expanding Pinoy Plaza, a legacy of Expo 86 created in just 10 months before the 1986 World’s Fair.

Tucked under the Expo Line Skytrain, just a few hundred feet west of the Nanaimo Station, Pinoy Plaza  was a gift to the city as well as a mark of the Filipino community’s emerging confidence. Visitors can enter under an arch to a small plaza, surrounded by a brick wall bearing the names of scores of Filipino-Canadians who donated to the $20,000 project. A berm, intended ultimately to hold bleachers, provides a small amphitheatre for outdoor performances.

Today, the plaza was the location for the presentation of prizes to the best participants in August’s Pinoy Fiesta, another project that was a big success despite tight organizing deadlines. Jay Razon and Jojo Quimpo are collaborating to lead the work on the Fiesta and the Plaza.

“We had great support from Filipino seniors,” says architect Bert Morelos, who designed the plaza. “But most of them have now passed on, and it is great to see a new generation taking up the task.” [Read more →]

Despite the clear success of Amtrak’s second train from Seattle to Vancouver, true high speed rail service along the Cascadia corridor may be as much as a generation away. Nonetheless, decisions we make today could determine whether or not Vancouver is at the end of the line.

That’s why I’m proposing this motion at next week’s council meeting. I want to make sure future planning decisions do not compromise our opportunity to be the terminus for west coast service.

Long before high speed rail becomes a reality, Vancouver could be the beneficiary of a dramatic expansion of passenger rail service, with all the economic and sustainability benefits that implies.

You only need to consider the existence of a Starbucks, at the entrance to Granville Island — right on the alignment of a possible future extension of the Olympic streetcar line — to see what worries me.

Vancouver has already completed a planning process for a new Central Waterfront Hub. It’s critical for the city protect and enhance rail access to that hub, both along Burrard Inlet and from the Grandview Cut.


While Vancouver’s businesses fret about the impact of the Hornby St. bike lane, Victoria businesses prepare for cycle-powered compost pick-up, courtesy of the Business Improvement Association.