Vancouver

Radical U.S. environmentalists are out to get Canada! And seize the energy, oil, and wood businesses for the U.S.! Or, so a hypocritical government says.

Heritage Turkeys of the year

Posted Mon, Jan 9, 2 a.m.

Who did most to raze, wreck, uproot, neglect, and generally trash our historic treasures in 2011? The envelopes, please...

Best of 2011: Glittering Vancouver is now the poverty capital of Canada

Posted Fri, Dec 23, 2 a.m.

This dubious distinction points up how severe income inequality has become in Canada and the U.S. New evidence shows the terrible toll on people and economies such widening gaps can have.

The greenest voters you've ever seen are in ... Vancouver

Posted Tue, Nov 29, 2 a.m.

Bike lanes downtown, backyard chickens, food trucks: voters in British Columbia gave support to the mayor's re-election.

Urban ag grows up in Vancouver, even creating some political backlash

Posted Mon, Nov 7, 2 a.m.

The urban agriculture movement is gaining strength across B.C., enthusiastically adapted by everyone from businesses to backyard growers to pot-growers. So why is it being used as a wedge issue in Vancouver's latest election?

Can Seattle get its leadership groove back?

Posted Mon, Oct 17, 2 a.m.

The secret to urban success, says Ron Sims, is regional coherence. How do you achieve that? Leadership. But where does that come from, and how does it work? History offers some examples.

Glittering Vancouver is now the poverty capital of Canada

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 2 a.m.

This dubious distinction points up how severe income inequality has become in Canada and the U.S. New evidence shows the terrible toll on people and economies such widening gaps can have.

Seattle is killing retail by requiring too much of it

Posted Mon, Sep 19, 2 a.m.

By Mark Hinshaw

A better model, from Britain and Vancouver, is to concentrate stores on "high streets," turning others into mostly quiet residential streets. And there are other ways to animate streets than putting in struggling shops.

Urbanism needs to move beyond city boundaries

Posted Sat, Sep 3, 3:41 p.m.

By Peter Steinbrueck

Our fractured metropolitan regions are the big problem in creating sustainable solutions for climate challenges. High-towered, dense city living is only a small part of the solution, which is to develop "ecological urbanisms."

Vancouver looks to demolish two downtown viaducts

Posted Mon, Aug 1, 2 a.m.

These short inner-city viaducts are remnants of a stillborn downtown freeway system. The city continues to demonstrate that if auto routes are blocked, traffic and people will find other ways.

Vancouver's riot and the perils of naivete

Posted Wed, Jun 29, 2 a.m.

Gather 150,000 into a public place. Let many of them get drunk. Have maybe 300 cops on hand. The result was predictable mayhem, followed by an orgy of blame-shifting.

Vancouver's real estate gold rush is totally out of control

Posted Tue, Apr 5, 2 a.m.

Chinese buyers and other uber-rich investors have priced average citizens out of the Vancouver housing market, and there seems little chance of turning this around. Vancouver is now the third most unaffordable city in the world.

In the belly of the Burke Museum

Posted Thu, Feb 17, 6:56 a.m.

Behind the scenes at Seattle's museum of natural history and culture, you become aware of the incredible knowledge infrastructure we've created in this state museum. Plus, it houses mummies, spiders, fossils, spears, and Bobo's head: everything a budding Indiana Jones could want.

Slavery? Here?

Posted Mon, Jan 17, 2 a.m.

As the Civil War reaches its 150th anniversary, it's time to reflect on the impact of that era on the Pacific Northwest, and how political battles over slavery, secession, and states' rights were fought not just back East, but in the Rain Belt too.

Washington state rolling along on high-speed rail

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 2 a.m.

By C.B. Hall

The Portland-Seattle-Vancouver passenger-rail corridor isn't as far along as a few parts of the country, but the progress continues.

Who should pay for mass-transit expansion? It's a dilemma in B.C., too

Posted Thu, Dec 2, 2 a.m.

Provincial leaders have committed to expanding the SkyTrain, but they're wrangling with local mayors and the public over what type of tax to levy, and whether it should penalize people who drive the most.

An iPod or Xbox world's fair?

Posted Mon, Nov 15, 2 a.m.

Not yet. The world still likes real-world expos, and two nearby regions, the Silicon Valley (with Arnold Schwarzenegger leading the way), and Edmonton, Alberta, are hoping to host a world's fair by 2020.

Departure of B.C.'s forceful premier leaves province uncertain

Posted Tue, Nov 9, 2 a.m.

Shock, mixed with relief, greeted Premier Gordon Campbell's resignation announcement. He has backed lower taxes but also brought about North America's first carbon tax.

Vancouver Olympics: no medals for housing legacy

Posted Mon, Oct 25, 2 p.m.

The 2010 Olympics athletes' village is thought to be the greenest development anywhere, but selling off the housing units is turning out to be quite the government-challenging problem.

An ambitious world premiere at Vancouver Opera

Posted Wed, Oct 20, 2 a.m.

By Thomas May

The company commissions a compelling, large-scale, new opera with many similarities in story to Seattle Opera's recent 'Amelia.'