Here’s everything that happened at city hall this week

Good morning,

Big thanks to everyone who responded to my request for introductions. Apparently many readers live in Mount Pleasant.

I’m especially impressed no one commented on my egregious spelling mistakes in the intro. Lesson learned — never rewrite your content last minute before hitting send! I promise I wrote this and had my editor review it. (Editor’s note: He did, it’s true.)

Today we’ve got news on a supportive housing project, the latest updates from city hall and some reader responses about their neighbourhoods.

Let’s get to it.

— Geoff Sharpe

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WEATHER

Friday: 7 🌡️ 3 | 🌧

Saturday: 6 🌡️ 3 | 🌧

Sunday: 7 🌡️ 4 | 🌧

Monday: 8 🌡️ -3 | 🌧

VANCOUVER NUMBERS

240: The number of acres a new park will occupy on Bowen Island. It’s about one percent of Bowen Island’s entire area. [Daily Hive]

10,400: The number of registered electric vehicles in Vancouver. There are also 359,324 gas vehicles. [Vancouver is Awesome]

-10: How cold the arctic outbreak will be next week, which is set to bring snow. [Daily Hive]

DEVELOPMENT

Supportive housing gets support

What happened: A proposal to build supportive, social housing in East Vancouver that faced opposition from local community groups, was approved by city council, according to CityNews.

The contentious proposal received pushback from the local community, with one person claiming while they are in favour of supportive housing, they just didn’t support housing in that specific area… Their opposition centred around concerns the placement of supportive housing would reduce the number of people who used the Italian Cultural Centre.

• Location: The rezoning location is located on Grandview Highway near Slocan Street.

Analysis: As always, there is vocal opposition to supportive housing in every community. Balancing the needs of local residents, with the critical need for building all types of housing, not just supportive housing, will be a real test for Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC councillors. With this zoning approval and the recent housing development False Creek North, they’ve shown positive signs towards addressing Vancouver’s housing shortage.

• Dig deeper: Want to understand why it’s so hard to build supportive housing? Zoning is partially to blame, according to the Tyee.

In other news: A formal zoning application was submitted to build 500 rental properties, retail and commercial space, on the property of the former MEC, according to Urbanized. The property is located at 130 West Broadway and will be close to the SkyTrain Broadway-City Hall Station.

QUOTE

“People can't survive on vibes alone, and I think we should be asking what tangible improvements we're making in the lives of residents.” Coun. Christine Boyle speaking about Sim’s focus on improving the vibes of the city. [CBC]

CITY HALL

A busy week at city hall

It was a busy week at city hall and we’re breaking down what it all means for you.

Single-use cup ban banned

What happened: City council officially voted to remove the $0.25 single-use cup fee. The vote was on party lines, with all four ABC councillors voting to end the ban. The fee will end on June 1.

Why the change: The ban on the ban (ha!) comes after much criticism levelled at the policy. While designed to reduce single-cup usage, there was little way to track the policy’s success. The revenue derived from the tax also was not used for environmental programs but kept by businesses, since the city cannot collect a sales tax.

• With that said, disposable cups are still a huge problem. As many as 82 million single-use cups were thrown out in Vancouver in 2018, according to CBC.

Resource or guide?

Opposition councillors accused Ken Sim’s ABC councillors of watering down a guide for Vancouver to centre reconciliation, justice and equity in the fight against climate change, according to Vancouver is Awesome.

Breaking it down: Coun. Klassen successfully submitted an amendment to change the “climate justice charter” from a guide to a resource. Councillors Carr and Boyle said it watered down the charter, making it less effective.

Background: The debate comes as staff told council that while Vancouver reduced its carbon pollution by 10 percent from 2007 to 2021. The city is not on track to meet its goals and reduce its emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2050, according to Vancouver is Awesome. Natural gas in homes and buildings, and gas-powered vehicles were mostly to blame for the lack of progress.

Other news

Council unanimously approved a $2.8-million grant to hire mental health workers in 2023. Vancouver Coast Health will hire 58 workers. The positions address many different mental health issues, including pairing nurses with police officers, more Assertive Outreach Team members to help those suffering from mental health or overdoses and a new service of “Moderate (Non-Police) De-escalation” among other positions. [Daily Hive]

Mayor Ken Sim sat down with CBC to talk about his first 100 days. The mayor focused much of the interview on the city’s energy and confidence — the vibes — proving once again that we live in a vibes-based world. [CBC]

Council approved $2.5 million for the Street Cleaning Grant program. It focuses on what’s called micro-cleaning, where people patrol the neighbourhood with brooms and shovels, collecting trash and needles. [Global]

The Parks Board announced the latest recipients of the Neighborhood Matching Fund, which gives up to $10,000 in matching contributions to volunteer groups across the city. Groups that received funding include Stanley Park Blog Restoration, Free the Fern Stewardship Society and the Cottonwood Community Garden.

THE AGENDA

👶 A Vancouver couple with a newborn baby is facing a rent increase of 20 percent after the landlord claimed an additional occupant joins the apartment. Yes, that occupant is the baby… [CityNews]

🏍️ Property from the biker gang the Hells Angels will be seized under the Civil Forfeitures Act as part of a Court of Appeal ruling that the clubhouses are likely to be used for criminal activity. [Vancouver Sun]

☠️ Developers across Vancouver are reeling at the news of Coromandel Properties filing protection from creditors. It’s raising questions about the health of the entire industry, especially the impact of interest rates on development financing. [Globe and Mail]

💸 Vancouver is number one…at being the most expensive rental market in Canada according to a new report from Rentals.ca. The annual rate of rent increased by 23 percent in January and overall in Canada by 10.7 percent. [CTV]

🎉 The B.C. government is putting $30 million towards helping the struggling event sector throughout B.C. Many events in Vancouver, including the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Folk Festival, were cancelled due to lack of funding. [Global]

🚴‍♂️ A vandal continues to deflate Mobi bike tires at Commercial Street and 20th Avenue. A note left by a neighbour was papered over by a note from the suspected vandal vulgarly complaining about the lack of vehicle parking because of the bike station. [CTV]

COMMUNITY

What readers love about their community

On Wednesday we asked readers to introduce themselves and share a little about why they love their neighbourhood. Here are a few responses:

Yasmeen: “I am a photographer living in the somewhat boring Mackenzie Heights neighbourhood. It’s quiet but we do have a few gems at Mackenzie Village: Bigsby’s Bakehouse (best olive oil cake you’ve ever had); Monica Reyes Gallery (her second location); Quince Fine Florals (so beautiful)!”

Jason at Hastings Sunrise recommends Columbus meats in the area.

Kristi loves Mt. Pleasant, especially “how it’s always progressing. New homes, new restaurants, new parks.”

Lorraine lives in Kitsilano and loves “how vibrant the neighbourhood is, with people around all the time walking their dogs, cycling through.”

If you have a favourite spot in your neighbourhood, reply to this email.

WEEKEND EVENTS

Art + Music

VMF Winter Arts Hub | Vancouver Arts Gallery | Friday, 4 pm | Poetry, music and food from the Afro-Caribbean and African diaspora. Free.

Pop-up Latin Dance Classes | Annex 823 Seymour Street | Friday, 7:30 pm-11 pm | Learn how to Latin dance at this pop-up. Tickets $11.98.

Family

Maritime Museum Family Day | Monday, 10 am-5 pm | Lots of family events, Children’s Gallery and the chance to explore the area. Free.

Victoria Civic Theatre Family Open House | Saturday, 10 am-10 pm | Queen Elizabeth Theatre Lobbies | Free family fun tour of the opera. Free.  

Other

FanExpo | Vancouver Convention Centre | All weekend, 10 am onwards | If you love comics, horror, gaming or anime, you will want to check out this family friendly event. Tickets at $38-$48.

Just for Laughs Vancouver | All over Vancouver | Feb. 16-25 | Watch famous comedians like Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt and many others. Tickets $25 and up.

Vancouver Scavenger Hunt | Daily | Join in the open-world scavenger hunt with 120 objectives to find. It’s the perfect family fun event. Tickets $15.

Food

Lebanese Feast night | Jamjar Canteen North Vancouver | Saturday, 5:30 pm-11:30 pm | Discover the jobs of Lebanese food and drinks. Tickets $45.

Vancouver Whole Grain Bakers Guild | 730 E Hastings St | Sunday 2 pm | Meet and connect with like-minded bread and grain people. | Free.

Movies

Here’s the Lookout’s movie recommendations:

• Vertigo | VIFF | Sunday 11 am | Regularly rated as one of the greatest movies ever.

• Wallace and Grommit | Cinematheque | Sunday, 11 am | Clay animation movie of a beloved dog and his owner who love cheese.

• Oscar Shorts | VIFF | Ongoing | VIFF is featuring all of the Oscar-nominated shorts.

• Aftersun | Rio | Monday, 3:20 pm | Haunting father-daughter vacation trip that asks us about memory.

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• The Vancouver Aquarium welcomed two new harbour seals, who were too injured to be released back into the wild.

• This restaurant may have the best happy hour in Vancouver.

• Warning, there’s a text scam going around purporting to be the city asking for fine payment. The city does not send text alerts about that. [Twitter]

• If you use the Scrap-It program and get rid of your vehicle, TransLink will give you an $800, spread out over 16 months. [Vancouver Is Awesome]

• Looking for a new wine to try? Our food editor Jamie recommends Beaujolais. Here’s where you can buy it in Vancouver.

RECOMMENDATION

HISTORY

Ever wondered what the downtown and West End looked like in 1959? Well, here you go!

And here’s what it looks like now.

Thanks to Reddit user Dave2onreddit for sharing.

TOP PHOTO

Reddit user Sedated_Cat shared this beautiful image of Lighthouse Park.

GAME TIME

Congrats to Jim, Dan, Linda, Melanie, Jason and Avril who all guessed the correct location of VancouverGuesser — Main at 14th.

Think you can guess today’s Wordle? Play it now