The best Vancity Lookout stories of 2025

Running back our biggest stories of the year

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Nate Lewis & Geoff Sharpe
December 24, 2025

Our tradition here at the Lookout for our final story of the year is to review our best stories from the past 12 months. What always stands out to me is just how many stories we produce. In fact, with just one full-time employee (and a small team of freelancers), we produced over 140 different stories, 90 of which Nate wrote.

Our mission at the Lookout is to do the in-depth, hyper-local journalism that bigger publications are increasingly doing less of, telling the stories of people, organizations, and neighbourhoods that are the heart of Vancouver. I feel that the stories below best exemplify that mission. 

The non-profit freeing ferns along a little-known trail network in Champlain Heights

It was quite a year for Free the Fern, the ecological stewardship group in Southeast Vancouver, which won a major victory at City Hall by getting unanimous support from the civic government to protect its unique network of trails. Reporting on the group got us connected with several other people and issues in the neighbourhood. It’s an example of the type of community reporting we want to do more of in 2026. 

Controversial FIFA field moved from South Van to UBC

In a surprising turn, the city made a last-minute decision to move a FIFA training site from South Van out west to UBC. We were one of the news outlets leading the charge in covering the issue, and it’s an example of the possibility for change when community members organize for their neighbourhood. 

A year of broken trust has left the embattled park board shorthanded

Nate came across a small detail in an obscure park board document that shed light on the broken trust amongst park board commissioners and community partners. It’s a dynamic that’s reverberated across Vancouver civic politics for the past two years and doesn’t show any signs of changing until next fall’s election.

“Love all, feed all”: After nearly 20 years serving meals on the Downtown Eastside, Guru Nanak’s Free Kitchen is opening a permanent location

Grounded in Sikh principles of service and equality, GNFK is expanding its operations on the Downtown Eastside with the help of substantial volunteer support and financial donations. Its permanent location still hasn’t opened, but GNFK continues to be one of the many community organizations stepping up to serve some of the city’s most vulnerable people. 

Over the spring, we commissioned a three-part series from freelance journalist Hanna Hett to look into TransLink’s funding challenges. The second part in the series was our favourite, looking at how a lack of funding would impact Vancouver South, a community that’s historically overlooked by government and media. 

Go hungry, leave happy at Happy Noodle House

One sad part of  2025 was that I didn’t  get to review as many restaurants as I’d like. It comes with running a local news publication. The places I like writing about the most are the ones that don’t get mainstream attention, usually family-run and smaller, but serving up good quality food. 

Happy Noodle House is that type of restaurant. In my mind, it’s the perfect Chinese restaurant, a place to get excellent, high-quality takeout, both traditional and more Western-style dishes. I hope to find the time to write even more of these stories in 2026. 

From dishwasher and punk rocker to city councillor: Sean Orr’s unique path to City Hall

Sean Orr’s victory in the Vancouver city council by-election – an election we covered extensively here at the Lookout – was the municipal politics surprise of the year. The former dishwasher is unlike any councillor ever elected in the city. Freelancer Stephen Smysnuik sat down with the councillor for an in-depth profile that generated quite a bit of buzz. 

Without a tax exemption, co-ops face a tough choice

Residents at a Kits co-op signing a new lease were faced with a difficult decision: eat a million-dollar tax bill or give up decades on their new lease term. They ultimately decided to take the shorter lease, but it’s a situation that the members of many other Vancouver co-ops will face as a glut of co-op leases expire over the next ten years and the provincial tax remains in place.  

Nero Tondo takes local to new extremes

Hands down, this was my favourite review of 2025. Nero Tondo would eventually go on to Michelin fame and many other accolades. But when I stepped into that space, the restaurant was only three weeks old. Armed with a vision of hyper-local cuisine and a gregarious and welcoming team that cut its teeth at the Acorn, Nero Tondo became my favourite meal of 2025. 

Vancouver's arts scene is at a breaking point

Recent decisions and longtime pain points are putting Vancouver’s arts community at risk. Nate took a deep dive, interviewing leaders from a broad spectrum of arts and event organizations. It’s an ongoing issue in a city where tough economics make it hard for grassroots arts and culture to flourish.    

Difficult decisions ahead as Vancouver grapples with how to replace aging, underfunded recreation facilities

Some of Vancouver's most important facilities are being underfunded and neglected. It’s a dire situation where deteriorating facilities, rising costs, and questionable governance mean the city will be hard-pressed to fund maintenance, let alone build new public facilities. 

Inside the stalled renewal of Britannia Centre

This story Nate published back in October was one of my favourites of the year — and it got a lot of attention from readers as well. It gets at the heart of what we’re doing at the Lookout: putting a spotlight on an essential community service and why it’s important, while looking at how governments have shifted resources away from a much-needed renewal project. 

Powell Rooms SRO set to become a unique model of community-owned housing

Nate ended the year on a high note with an exclusive story on how a local land trust is buying an SRO to preserve it as deeply affordable housing and childcare space. It’s an example of a different model to address the housing crisis, especially in the Downtown Eastside where the city has recently passed sweeping changes to housing policy.