LOCAL • Winters in Vancouver can be dark [Fraseropolis] • Surrey Building Stats from 2003 – 2011 [Civic Surrey] • Reader Soapbox: Son of STIR: New rental policy proposed for Vancouver [Vancouver Courier] • Controversial 22-storey Comox tower proposal going back before council next week [OpenFile] • Metro Vancouver refugees struggle to find affordable housing [Vancouver Sun] • Marpole looks back to its future [Vancouver Sun] CANADA • Canada's oil sands means "game over" for planet, warns NASA scientist James Hansen [Vancouver Observer] • The economics of energy conservation [Globe and Mail] INTERNATIONAL • ...

[caption id="attachment_9464" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of Los Paseos."][/caption] A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C. Looks like the City of Burnaby will be joining the likes of other municipalities, like Vancouver, in revisiting their city transportation plan. Great news for single mothers and their children who are at risk of homelessness as a new 36-unit supportive housing development officially opens at the YWCA Alder Gardens in ...

LOCAL • Architect behind "Vancouver Pair" proposal gives talk in Vancouver [OpenFile] • West Vancouver centennial marks growth from logging community to wealthy city of 45,000 [Vancouver Sun] • Urban farm near False Creek to grow organic produce [Vancouver Sun] • Vancouver mayor heads to Europe to share secrets of success [Globe and Mail] • No-one named “director of planning” in new Vancouver re-org [State of Vancouver] • Mayors must decide on joining TransLink board [Surrey North Delta Leader] INTERNATIONAL • You Hate Taxes, but You’re Not Moving to Nashville [Bloomberg View] • How Satellite ...

It's that time of year again.....Vancouver's farmer's market season is upon us.  Here are all the locations and start dates: Trout Lake Farmers Market Saturdays, May 12 - October 20 9am - 2pm each week North Parking Lot of John Hendry Park at Trout Lake between Templeton and Lakewood south of the 13th Avenue Alley Please note: There is no parking in the North Lot and no parking on 13th Avenue. Please park away from the area & walk in. Or better yet: walk, cycle or take transit if you can! Kitsilano Farmers Market  Sundays, May ...

Viaducts or Via-don'ts: The future of upper False Creek When: May 17, 2012 Time: 12:30-1:30 pm Location: Harbour Centre, Room 1425 Admission: Free For 25 years, the top end of False Creek, potentially one of the most beautiful and accessible parts of Vancouver, instead has been bare land traversed by two elevated roads. Is there an alternative to the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts that keeps traffic flowing? What is their impact on adjacent neighbourhoods? What might replace acres of asphalt parking lots and chain-link fences? Why haven't existing plans been implemented for two decades? Is now ...

A couple of interesting Vancouver city council reports are now publicly posted. The first one is a pedestrian safety study and action plan that is going to council next week - http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20120516/documents/ptec1.pdf Here are a few significant stats from the report: 82% of car/pedestrian collisions in Vancouver the pedestrian had the right of way Vancouver has 2nd highest walking mode share of peer cities, next to Boston Vancouver is fourth lowest in pedestrian fatalities, behind only ottawa, boston, and stockholm study finds pedestrian injuries cost society $127 million a yea...

Welcome to the first entry of a new section called Visual Thoughts. Taking inspiration from giants like Paul Madonna (All Over Coffee) and the prolific Will Eisner, Visual Thoughts will bring together drawings of the local urban landscape with words that speak to a theme related to the image. Why "Visual Thoughts"? Well, everyday we are bombarded with all types of visual flotsam. Images of everything—from buildings and ads to people and products—are hitting our retinas and interpreted by our brains. More often than not, these images and experiences trigger other fleeting thoughts. A conversation with friends, perhaps? A childhood experience? Maybe a random lesson taught by an elementary school teacher? Similarly, as we participate in the myriad of conversations we have with people everyday, the words people say often trigger visual thoughts. The bay window in our childhood home where we enjoyed sitting in the sun? The corner store we bought candy from on the way to school as a child? Or, the farms we drove by on the way to our family's house? In both cases, these apparitions are gone as quickly as they appear, and we continue about our busy daily lives.

LOCAL • In Cycling: Vancouver bamboo bikes up the green commuting ante [Vancouver Courier] • Vancouver jazz festival moves into heart of the city [Globe and Mail] • English Bay Cactus Club causing conflict between cyclists and pedestrians: neighbourhood group [OpenFile] • Social networking comes to your favourite bus stop in Vancouver [Vancouver Sun] • Most pedestrian-involved crashes caused by turning vehicles: Vancouver study [Vancouver Sun] • Why Surrey City Centre needs transit commitments now [Price Tags] • HandyDart service not keeping up to ...

Putting Design in Motion A Lecture on the Kinetic Architecture Systems of  TURNER EXHIBITS by Steve Groves, President Wednesday, May 9, 6:00 pm North Building, Room 245, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Granville Island Custom fabricator Turner Exhibits develops unique kinetic architecture systems for contemporary architects, including Olson Kundig Architects, Wendell Burnette Architects, and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. President Steve Groves will use examples of their recent work for these and other innovative architects to illustrate creative ways to rethink the traditional building envelope, and to break down the barriers between indoors and outdoors.  The lecture will show the importance of establishing clear ...

LOCAL • Century old school to meet wrecking ball [News1130] • Conflict of Interest at City Hall | Condo Tower Approved in Chinatown [The Mainlander] • Vancouver housing development for women and children gets $1.5 million boost from donor [Vancouver Sun] • Transit traction stalled in new funding quagmire [Business in Vancouver] • Moving to Downtown Surrey [Civic Surrey] INTERNATIONAL • Infographic: Burbs Going Bust [ArchDaily] • Building for the Needs of an Information-Based Economy [Urban Land] • Bellingham park faces big changes from coal-train traffic [Crosscut] ***