City Hall Insider: April 28 2026

Good morning, 

Nate with you, on a Tuesday strangely. The change in our regular schedule is because today’s the day we’re publishing Vancity Lookout’s very first City Hall Insider, a newsletter for paying subscribers who want to go deeper on all things municipal. 

To be clear, this is new for us. We’re experimenting with some different sections and approaches, while keeping the well-loved format and quality of our regular newsletter. That means we’re creating this as we go to some extent and we want you all to be involved in steering where we take our coverage. 

To that end, we’d love your thoughts on what you liked, what you didn’t, what you want more or less of in future issues, and any other ideas you might have about our fledgling project. We’ll use that feedback to inform the stories we look into and the type of information we include in the various sections we’re piloting. 

Most importantly, thank you to all of you who are paying to support local, independent journalism. We couldn’t do any of this without readers like you. 

Let’s get into it!

— Nate Lewis, Vancity Lookout

As always, you can send your tips, leads, and story ideas to Nate at [email protected].

PS - If you find this newsletter valuable, please consider forwarding it to your friends. New to the Lookout? Sign-up for free. 

EXPLAINER 

What is a capital plan?

Editor’s note: In our Explainer section, we dive into important, and often complex, processes at City Hall to help readers (and ourselves) better understand how they work and the impact they have on our daily lives. 

Capital plan is one of those terms you’ve undoubtedly seen before, likely with a year range tacked on beside it. You probably skim over the phrase when reading an article, in this very newsletter perhaps, and have a vague understanding of what it means. 

But what is it actually, and why is it important? Where does the money come from? And how does it relate to the yearly budget or the election? In today’s Explainer, we’ve got the answers. 

POINT OF ORDER

Point of Order is our new analysis section, where Nate provides his analysis on the specifics and broader context of an issue. If you have your own thoughts you want to share about the story or Nate’s analysis, email him at [email protected], and your comment might be included in a future newsletter.

Light on lifeguards, ABC suddenly values park board independence

An attempt to restore lifeguards at Vancouver’s beaches has been caught up in a jurisdictional dispute. In mid-March, news broke that the park board planned to remove lifeguards from five beaches this summer, according to CTV. That decision led park board Comm. Scott Jensen to bring forward an urgent motion late last month requesting the city provide up to $600,000 to restore lifeguard service at four of those five beaches. The motion was passed unanimously, including support from two ABC commissioners. 

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