New motion seeks to look into water metering in Vancouver

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Good morning,

Most of you probably saw the news over the weekend — we’ve hired our first employee here at Vancity Lookout!

You’ve seen Nate’s writing throughout 2024. He’s a long-time journalist in the city, having worked for the West End Journal, National Observer and CBC, amongst others.  I can’t tell you how excited I am to have him aboard. We’re already working on some exciting stories in the coming months. More on those soon. You can read the full announcement here.

With that, let’s get to today’s stories!

— Geoff Sharpe, Lookout managing editor

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

WEATHER

Monday: 3 🌡️ -1 | ☁️

Tuesday: 4 🌡️ -1 | 🌤️

Wednesday: 4 🌡️ -1 | ☁️

NUMBERS OF THE DAY

📈 4,484: The number of homes sold in B.C. in December, up 24.7 percent from the same month in 2023. Active listings have also grown recently. [CBC]

💰️ $3,000: The fine amount given to Heaven Bar & Grill, a bar on Granville, for allowing drinking after hours in June. [Business in Vancouver]

🏗️ 2%: The rise in housing starts (the number of homes that began construction) in 2024, up from 2023. Unfortunately, Vancouver dropped by three percent. [Business in Vancouver]

🏥 988: The number of British Columbians who died waiting for surgery from April 21, 2023, to March 31, 2024. Another 3,528 died while in the process of waiting for diagnostic testing. Doctors say those numbers have gotten worse in the last few years. [CityNews]e involve impaired driving is a great reason to not drink and drive. [CityNews]

CITY HALL

New motion seeks to look into water metering in Vancouver

After writing about Vancouver for over two years, one story I’ve written every year is about water issues throughout the spring and summer — household usage, electricity generation, drought, you name it. So it’s not that surprising to hear the latest news.

What happened: A motion will be debated at council this week, introduced by ABC Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung. would look into water usage metering for all homes and buildings, according to the Vancouver Sun. Metering means that homes and buildings would be charged based on how much water they use, like electricity. 

Background: The province has also been looking into this. The 2024 Budget had $50 million for piloting water metering in 21 B.C. communities, according to CityNews. Drought severity is only getting worse. 

• The entire Metro Vancouver region uses around a billion litres a day, or about 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Metro Vancouver residents per capita use more water than any other urban area in Canada, according to the Vancouver Sun. 

An issue of equity: New buildings all have metering, but older ones don’t, and around 13 percent of single-family homes have a metered connection. As pointed out by Kirby-Yung, the flat rate fee Vancouver have right now means that those with large yards, pools and big gardens are subsidized by everyone else’s fees.

The evidence: Over in Richmond, which has had metering since 2018, water demand dropped 35 percent, according to an analysis by the Vancouver Sun. West Vancouver is one of the few places with universal metering, achieved back in 2007, and was associated with a drop of 44 percent in demand. 

• Other benefits include reducing the need to expand water infrastructure and the reduction in the purchase of bulk water from Metro Vancouver Regional District, at a cost of $100 million in 2024.

Back in March, experts called for this to be adopted provincewide as a way to fight back against drought conditions that have plagued the province and the region in recent summers, according to Global. 

• Zoom out: Burnaby debated a similar motion in December. Costs were pegged for metering the entire city at between $70 million and $250 million, according to the Burnaby Beacon. One councillor called it a “very expensive data collection system.” You can read all about the city’s deliberations here, with the council approving the plan. 

What’s next: Kirby-Yung’s motion will be introduced this week. If approved, a report about timelines, costs, and ways to encourage adoption will be delivered at the end of April. Given the trends around the region and the province, it would be surprising if councillors didn’t approve the motion.

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METRO VANCOUVER

How much should mayors be compensated?

Should a mayor of one of the municipalities in Metro Vancouver make more than the mayor of New York, the Premier of BC and the Mayor of Toronto? Well, that’s what’s happening, and it’s causing a fair amount of backlash.

Background: There’s been a lot of debate, led by reporters, FOI requests and even local politicians, illustrating how the larger Metro Vancouver Regional District has spent some of its money in questionable ways. But now, that attention has moved over to the mayors within the region and how much they make. 

The numbers: Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley, who oversees a city population of 249,000 according to the 2021 census, makes $393,075 a year, according to Global. Now, to clear, this isn’t his salary in Burnaby, but includes various extra compensation, including $195,393 as mayor (slightly below Toronto’s mayor at $225,304), $109,000 as Metro Vancouver chair, $32,160 for working on the TransLink Mayors’ Council and $42,000 for being on TransLink’s Board of Directors.

• Yes, but: Now let’s be fair, these other jobs are additional responsibilities above and beyond being mayor. If someone is working extra, they deserve to be compensated. The question is, how much is fair? And should politicians like this be making almost half a million dollars working as an elected official? 

A call from inside the house: It’s not just reporting digging into money and local governance. New Westminster city councillor Daniel Fontaine has been beating this drum and is calling on the information to be more accessible fo the public. 

• Richmond Coun. Kash Heed called it “ridiculous” after learning that Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie was paid $362,000 in compensation. 

In Vancouver: While total compensation wasn’t clear, Sim will be making $210,444 this year only as mayor, up from $205,914, after a 2.2 pay raise this year. Pay increased 7.3 percent in 2023, 3.8 percent in 2022 and 0.3 percent in 2021.

NEW JOS

Discover your dream job in Vancouver:

• Lead, stakeholder engagement at Vancity (the bank, not our publication!)

• Executive director of tourism development at Destination Vancouver

• Director of brand marketing at Earth’s Own Food Company

• Advisor, Indigenous and stakeholder engagement at WSP Canada

• Office workspace lead at Coast Mountain Bus Company

THE AGENDA

🌉 Cambie Street Bridge is in need of additional funding for seismic upgrades to the tune of $35 million, at least according to a city staff recommendation that will go before council. The total cost of the project is expected to be $220 million. The bridge currently does not meet the city’s seismic code. [CityNews]

👩 Adriane Carr, the longtime city councillor, Green Party leader, and advocate, resigned her position due to her dissatisfaction with Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC majority, and plans to spend more time with family. You can read all about it in our recent profile of her decision.

🚧 And so it begins (or is almost finished). The heritage building Dunsmuir House at 500 Dunsmuir St. was in the process of being town down over the weekend. The city ordered the building demolished after the owner, Holborn Properties, let it deteriorate, though the owner’s own report concluded it didn’t need to be torn down. The company is paying for the cost of the demolition. [Globe and Mail]

👮 Vancouver police officers are being investigated by the New Westminster Police Department for alleged neglect of duty. The case in question is Chelsea Poorman, who was found dead outside a mansion two years ago, after being reported missing. Police had said her death was non-suspicious, but the family questioned many of the police’s actions, including how she died. The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner did not provide other details. [Vancouver Sun]

🏒 Despite all the internal challenges, the Canucks beat the Oilers 3-2 on Saturday after two powerplay goals from Quinn Hughes. The team is now 20-15-10. Unfortunately, the team has not been playing well lately, losing six of their last eight games. [NHL.com]

⚽ Speaking of Quinns, Vancouver Rise FC’s high-profile signing of Olympic gold medalist Quinn puts the soccer team in a great spot for the first season of the soccer Northern Super League. [CTV]

Outside Vancouver

🚑 The Ambulance Paramedics of BC are blaming an overtime ban by BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS), which started Jan. 1, on an ambulance staffing crisis.  BCEHS says they are dealing with a $200 million budget shortfall and need to cut back on certain spending. The change means overtime shifts cannot be scheduled in advance, giving paramedics only a few hours’ notice. [CTV]

⚠️ If you have eggs from Compliments, Foremost, Golden Valley, IGA and western family, you should probably throw them out after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued a food recall about salmonella found on eggshells. [CTV]

🚍 If you regularly take transit to Surrey, you’ll appreciate the new Bus Rapid Transit lines when they launch, which will extend the R1 King George Boulevard RapidBus, and create a Langley-Haney Place BRT, which would run from Willowbrook Station in Langley Township and Haney Place in Maple Ridge. Public consultations will begin this year.

EVENTS GUIDE

Life Sciences BC Career Connect Day | Vancouver Convention Centre - East | Jan. 24, 9 am-4 pm | Tickets $30 

The Listening Circle: Poetry & Storytelling | Banyen Books and Sound | Jan. 30, 5 pm | Free

Swipe Right, a Comedy Show about Dating | Chill Pill Comedy | Jan. 31, 10 pm | Tickets $30 solo, $16 if you buy a pair

King Musu | Anvil Theatre | Feb. 6-8, 7:30 pm | Tickets $29

VAM Symphony Orchestra presents Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 | Orpheum Theatre | Feb. 16, 2:00 | | Tickets $9 - $19

Hollywood North Van Stand Up Comedy Show | Sailor Hagar's Brew Pub | Jan. 22, 7:30 pm | Tickets $11+

Taste of Chinatown! | Chinatown Storytelling Centre | Now until Feb. 2 | Free + various prices

Beetlejuice on Broadway | Queen Elizabeth Theatre | Jan. 21-26, 7:30 pm | Starting at $194

The GlenAllachie Single Malt Scotch Tasting | BC liquor 39th & Cambie | Jan. 21, 6:30 pm | Tickets $70

A Classical Piano Showcase with Shoko Inoue | Pyatt Hall at the VSO School of Music | Jan. 24, 6:00 pm | Tickets $50

Vancouver Opera presidents Flight | Queen Elizabeth Theatre | Feb. 6, 2025, 7:00 pm | Tickets $50

Mangia Bevi Elevated Italian Trattoria | The Skript Kitchen | Mar. 20, 2025, 6:00 pm | Tickets $134

Want to have your event featured? Learn how here.

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FOOD PREVIEW

Onigiri oh my

It was 1 am in Tokyo. One too many sojus after meeting up with a friend from Vancouver, and I was ready to head home. But not before grabbing something to eat.

If you tried to do this in Vancouver, you’d be hard-pressed to find much of anything good. Tokyo is blessed with many late-night options. But if you want something quick and fast, nothing beats Lawson, Family Mart or 711.

And, I would argue, nothing is better than a takeout onigiri, little rice triangles wrapped in crispy seaweed, filled with just about anything imaginable.

In tomorrow’s Vancity Lookout Eats newsletter, I review a small spot in a Vancouver mall that is serving up onigiri as good, and in a huge twist, almost as cheap, as that in Japan.

To get this review tomorrow, subscribe to our free food newsletter instantly.

GOOD NEWS MONDAY

This German expat in Vancouver is trying to help people make new friends. He runs letsadventurevan, an anti-loneliness project that coordinates events with strangers. Love this idea! [CBC]

You can join the community here.

QUIZ TIME

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Someone captured this photo of Dunsmuir House being torn down by the city this weekend.

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• Ever feel like it’s hard to make friends in this town? You’re not alone. [CBC]

• It’s been nearly one year since the maximum daily temperature dropped below 4 degrees in Vancouver. That’s bad news for the snowpack, as one commenter points out. [Reddit]

• A juvenile bald eagle was rescued from the Lions Gate Bridge under odd circumstances. [VIA]

• Vancouver Dine Out’s 2025 participants have been announced. The popular fixed-menu event runs from Jan 22 - Feb 9. [DOVF]