Appeared in the North Shore News – February 13, 2015 The bicycle is one of the greatest inventions in history, a freeing vehicle, a pioneer emancipator of women — and now a vehicle of protest. To start at the conclusion: The North Shore’s nearest analogy to the gang warfare elsewhere in Metro is on the…
Month: February 2015
Metro gorillas made monkeys of the rest
Appeared in the North Shore News – January 29, 2015 The fix is in. As always. I just keep hoping it gets a little more artistic. I am always disappointed. The waltz orchestrated by a Gang of Three — stacking the deck as high as possible to grease the Yes vote on the regional transportation…
Terror a tactic, deeper strategy is grimmer
Appeared in the North Shore News – January 16, 2015 The bell of free speech is ringing loudly these days. But free speech hurts. Somebody. Some interest. Some wallet. That is why there are always attempts to stifle it. Read on. First, the obligatory statement of revulsion for Islamic or any terrorism. But the West…
Atop the Christmas list for West Vancouver’s ailing retail sector: some business prosperity
Appeared in Business in Vancouver – December 22, 2014 West Vancouver, the wealthy widow of Metro, might well ask Santa for Christmas: please, how about some nice fresh prosperity for our businesses? Especially for the main business stem, Marine Drive, Ambleside. A former councillor once drily counted something like 13 beauty salons by any name…
Character and characters abound on DTES
Appeared in the North Shore News – December 19, 2014 Dressed – in sports jacket and tie, a disappearing theatre uniform – for a ballet matinee sold out at my price point, I took an unscheduled stroll to the Downtown Eastside. Perhaps “stroll” can be misunderstood in this context. A walk. The Lotus Hotel marks…
There’s a new kid on the development block
Appeared in the North Shore News – December 5, 2014 If you loved the Weegies, as I tenderly call the West Vancouver Citizens for Good Government, you may adore the West Vancouver Housing Association. The WVHA is a new kid on the development block. Literally. It has a storefront in Dundarave. Two well-placed, mystified West…
BIV 25th Anniversary: 25 years on: B.C. retains its economic and lifestyle allure for easterners and others
Appeared in Business in Vancouver – December 4, 2014 The photo of a woman recently caught my eye. Days later I casually read the caption. No! Really? She was a meltingly brown-eyed blossom of a teenager when we casually met 25 years ago. Now she was a middle-aged woman. Still very attractive. But … 25…
Weighing up the new realities of wealth inequality
Appeared in Business in Vancouver – December 2, 2014 There are more rhinestones than gems in the Internet’s homespun humour. But this has endured in my mental filing cabinet: “Everyone who drives faster than you is a fool, and everyone who drives slower than you is an idiot.” Its appeal is that it can be…