“I’m sorry” – Ken Sim about five times in the last month.

Also featuring Annette Reilly of the Vancouver Green’s statement.

Links

Vancouver byelection: Seven candidates from five parties make their pitch

Vancouver sees 2,876 ballots cast on first day of advance voting for byelection

Byelection candidates question ABC Vancouver’s debate absence

‘Oops’: Vancouver mayor apologizes for series of recent slip-ups

Vancouver municipal council by-election candidate forced to apologize for e-mail outreach to police officers

A Police Union Leader’s Controversial Run for Vancouver Council | The Tyee

Audio leaked of Vancouver byelection candidate discussing running mate – BC | Globalnews.ca

Ken Sim Bitcoin video (Bitcoin)

ABC Vancouver’s ‘repudiation of the rule of law’ shows gap in B.C.’s municipal oversight, Ombudsperson says

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim gets booed at Juno Awards | News

Candidates for Vancouver Municipal Party Say They Attended Multiple Events with Conspiratorial Far-Right Groups By Accident

Policies/platforms

• ABC Vancouver
• COPE
• Vancouver Greens
• OneCity
• TEAM

Vancouveratta

Bure once helped pull off the ultimate Vancouver Canucks April Fools’ prank | Sports

We turned the mics over to the candidates for the Vancouver byelection so you can hear directly from them.

Featuring Lucy Malone (OneCity), Colleen Hardwick (TEAM), Sean Orr (COPE), Jaime Stein (ABC) and Theodore Abbott (TEAM). Unfortunately, we didn’t receive clips from Ralph Kaisers (ABC) or Annette Reilly (Greens) by our deadline.

With 38 days until the Vancouver by-elections, we delve into the DUI allegations against Mayor Ken Sim, which were reportedly dismissed by police investigations. We discuss Task Force Barrage, a new initiative targeting organized crime and public safety. As well: Rebecca Bligh and is out of ABC, Adam Palmer is out of the VPD – the latter by choice. ABC announces its byelection candidates. And, Surrey withdraws from the Metro Vancouver Regional Growth Strategy, community newspapers close and our Vancouveratta.

Links

• Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, police, cleared of ‘baseless’ DUI allegation – BC | Globalnews.ca
• OPCC says allegations against Vancouver mayor ‘baseless’ but won’t publish report
• Vancouver mayor, police to roll out plan to tackle crime, public safety concerns
• After four decades of policing in Vancouver, Chief Adam Palmer retires
• ABC Vancouver Introduces By-Election Candidates
• VDLC Endorses Vancouver City Council Byelection Candidates
• Vancouver Coun. Rebecca Bligh kicked out of ABC caucus | CBC News
• Leaked document shows new plan by Vancouver city council to alter the Downtown Eastside – The Globe and Mail
• Vancouver council gets update on efforts to ‘uplift’ Downtown Eastside – BC | Globalnews.ca
• ABC Vancouver park board politicians violated policy on open meetings, watchdog finds
• Integrity Commissioner Report PBIC-003: Complaint against Vancouver Park Board Commissioners Bastyovanszky, Christensen, Haer, H
• City of Surrey to withdraw from Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy
• Tax dollars subsidized IKEA, The Brick electric vehicles, Metro Vancouver board hears – BC | Globalnews.ca
• Burnaby Now, New Westminster Record, Tri-City News to close
• Vancouveratta: The Vancouver Daily World – Wikipedia

Byelection candidates, supportive housing pause, Metro Van boycott and the Delta Police spark an international incident.

Links

• OneCity candidate – Lucy Maloney: OneCity Vancouver By-election Candidate
• COPE – COPE Nominates Local Housing Activist and Writer Sean Orr as By-Election Candidate — COPE Vancouver
• Greens – Annette Reilly – Green Party of Vancouver beats Pamela Dudas – Green Party of Vancouver
• TEAM – Colleen Hardwick and Theodore Abbott
• Vancouver mayor rejects new supportive housing projects, promises ‘crackdown’ on gangs – CTVNews
• Two ABC Vancouver councillors question Ken Sim’s plan to ‘freeze’ new supportive housing
• B.C. housing minister says Vancouver’s plan for Downtown Eastside could increase crime | CBC News
• Downtown Eastside at ‘tipping point’ as London Drugs considers leaving Woodward’s building
• Vancouver mayor to boycott Metro Vancouver meetings over ‘broken’ governance – BC | Globalnews.ca
• B.C. fires Victoria School Board over ban on police in schools | CBC News
• End to public access at some Vancouver school fields has neighbourhood group frustrated | CBC News
• This is the proposed car-free transformation of the Granville Entertainment District
• Summer boozing allowed at 7 Vancouver beaches on ‘permanent basis’ – CTVNews
• Shelter is Survival – BC Civil Liberties Association
• Kelowna blows past provincial housing target
• 30 metre-long B.C. fence along stretch of U.S. border sparks international investigation | CBC News
• Border fence erected along stretch of Canada-U.S. border now taken down – BC | Globalnews.ca.
• Revelstoke city council votes to rescind 1985 policy forbidding nuclear weapons – Salmon Arm News – Castanet.net
• Here’s why Vancouver has ‘nuclear weapons free zone’ signs
• ‘It’s not a fight we’ve won’: Vancouver’s iconic nuclear war activists renew calls for peace | CBC News

Two byelections at the same time folks. With Vancouver’s longest-serving councillor, Adriane Carr, stepping down and Christine Boyle’s election to the BC Legislature, Vancouver needs two new councillors. We look at the race and everything else that’s happened recently.

Links

• Vancouver Coun. Adriane Carr resigns, setting up 2-seat byelection | CBC News
• Vancouver council confirms details of 2-seat byelection on April 5 | CBC News
• Team promises 2 candidates
• Hardwick confirms her interest
• Vote Socialist takes a pass
• But Sean Orr seeks COPE nomination
• Bob Kronbauer: The NPA is gone and nobody gives a crap
• VANCOUVER POLITICAL PARTIES UNITED IN DEMANDING ELECTIONS BC DISCIPLINE FOR KEN SIM PARTY’S CAMPAIGN FINANCE IRREGULARITIES
• Opposition parties demand Elections BC complete investigation before Vancouver by-election
• You may have to pay to spray as Vancouver considering water metering for all homes, buildings
• Vancouver city council votes to look into residential water metering – BC | Globalnews.ca
• Vancouver property tax to increase by 3.9% in 2025
• Vancouver City Council approves 2025 operating and capital budget with 3.9% property tax increase
• No, Vancouver is not that unsafe, actually – Ian’s article on crime
• Burnaby unveils ‘housing library’ for pre-reviewed multiplex home designs
• Standardized designs arrive to help build more homes faster
• BC Court of Appeal social housing judgement
• Eby says there ‘will be affordable social housing’ in Kits neighbourhood, despite pushback – BC | Globalnews.ca
• Kingsgate Mall: Developer wins multi-million-dollar rent battle with Vancouver School Board – BC | Globalnews.ca
• BC Supreme Court Beedie vs VSB judgement
• Palestinian Symbols Banned at Vancouver Public Library
• Vancouver Public Library staff banned from wearing watermelon pins to show support for Palestine
• Vancouver mayor defends bitcoin motion, says it’s better than gold | CBC News
• New West to become first B.C. city restricting the delivery of graphic abortion images
• ‘There is nothing historic about Peachland,’ argues councillor in debate over welcome signs
• Hidekazu Tojo – Wikipedia
• California roll – Wikipedia

Two-years of Ken Sim, Crab Park residents evicted, some upcoming byelections, Burnaby affordable housing requirements axed, New West mayor chastised and Surrey gets its first weed store.

Links

Q&A: Ken Sim reflects on two-year anniversary as Vancouver mayor

Chip Wilson Day

Vancouver’s CRAB Park residents left with few options as eviction looms | CBC News

13 local politicians were elected to the B.C. Legislature. Not all are giving up their municipal roles | CBC News

Christine Boyle announces resignation from Vancouver city council

Burnaby eliminates affordable rental requirement in low-income neighbourhood

New West mayor’s all-expenses paid trip to Dubai breached ethics rules: Commissioner

Green light: Surrey council approves 12 new pot stores across the city

Metro Vancouver approves 25.3% increase to regional tax bill in 2025

Metro Vancouver sells land set aside for Bowen Island Campground

Paradox Hotel Vancouver – Wikipedia

Sarah Kirby-Yung is mad at Rebecca Bligh. Pete Fry is mad at Ken Sim. Everyone is acting like children. It’s the council we know and love. But at least with a majority, they passed most everything they wanted (for better or worse). And at least Vancouver’s mayor hasn’t been deemed likely to leak confidential documents via Staples print centres again.

Links

• F-bomb dropped in heated Vancouver city council exchange
• The video (shoutout Spencer Powell)
• Pete Fry told to “live with it”
• On procedure
• Just a very busy meeting
• Gastown pedestrian pilot staff report
• Vancouver’s non-ABC councillors set to be stripped of extra roles and pay
• Vancouver passes motion granting police traffic camera access
• Amendment to subject camera plan to charter review passes with ABC split
• Vancouver councillors call for lobbyist registry at city hall
• MOTION – Establishing a Community Policing Centre in Gastown and Area to Enhance Safety and Security
• Sim amends his own motion
• MOTION – Protecting and Enhancing Greenspace for the East End, Chinatown, Hogan’s Alley and Strathcona – Standing Committee on
• ABC Vancouver’s promise to hire 100 mental health nurses sits at 35
• No rezoning: Vancouver could expedite new social, supportive housing | Urbanized
• Vancouver city council allows developer to delay major Oakridge project
• Contentious natural gas decision could test unity of Vancouver’s ABC majority
• Questions raised about role of Vancouver mayor’s adviser in controversial natural gas vote
• After B.C. election, what happens next as Christine Boyle vacates her Vancouver council seat?
• Park Board to raise revenue for upgrades by charging extra fees for Vancouver events and attractions
• Burnaby thwarts provincial transit-oriented housing laws — again
• Mayor Hamer-Jackson leaked documents in April; investigation ruled it unlawful | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan’s News Source
• Vancou’d have been: Spanish Banks and Point Grey were nearly turned into a gigantic industrial port
• How a proposed airport at Spanish Banks almost changed Vancouver forever | Globalnews.ca
• The Grand Campus Washout – UBC Centennial

ABC backtracks on the city’s integrity commissioner, while ending City Hall lighting for (foreign) national holidays. Burnaby signs a gag order with TransMountain. Police in the region are over budget and saying some wildly bigoted things. A quirky by-election in Harrison Hot Springs. The Park Board’s existential plea, legal battles over tree removal in Stanley Park, and the return of the ghost train serve as the lighter notes.

Timestamps and Links

01:20 Integrity Commissioner Controversy

• ‘Pause the pause’: ABC Vancouver reversing course on integrity commissioner freeze

04:46 City Hall Lighting Policy Changes

• Vancouver council limits groups from lighting up city hall, Burrard Bridge

09:39 Public Opinion on Mayor and Council

• Majority of Vancouverites feel Mayor and city council are out of touch: CityNews poll 

12:22 VPD Budget Overrun and RCMP Accountability

• Vancouver Police department overspending by millions: report
• ‘Atrocious’ comments by RCMP officers alleged in internal probe | CBC News

17:07 Victoria Citizens Assembly on Amalgamation

• Victoria-Saanich amalgamation report begins after years of delay 

20:29 Burnaby’s Gag Order with Trans Mountain

• Burnaby barred from ‘negative public communications’ about Trans Mountain under $20M deal – BC | Globalnews.ca

22:57 Vancouver Park Board’s Fight for Existence

• Vancouver Park Board votes to remain an elected body

26:01 Stanley Park Tree Removal Lawsuit and SCC Rejects Vancouver’s SRO Vacancy Control Appeal

• B.C. court rejects attempt to stop tree removal in Stanley Park | CBC News
• Supreme Court of Canada – SCC Case Information – Summary – 41198
• B.C. law change will let City of Vancouver enact SRO vacancy control | CBC News

30:47 Harrison Hot Springs By-Election

• Harrison Hot Springs elects new mayor, councillor in byelection | CBC News

33:25 Stanley Park Ghost Train Returns

• Stanley Park Ghost Train to ride again in October

34:48 Vancouveratta: BC’s First General Election

• 1871 BC Election Map
• Electoral History of B.C. | Elections BC

Pete Fry foils Ken Sim’s effort to put the Integrity Commissioner’s office into a medically-induced coma. The Park Board releases a legal opinion suggesting a mid-term abolition may be unconstitutional. Surrey wants a Charter. A North Van chemical company runs an astroturf campaign. The People’s Park defeats the fire station. And lots of housing – and little parking – coming to Vancouver’s east end.

Links

• Vancouver council defers vote on integrity commissioner’s review | CBC News 
• Vancouver Park Board seeks legal advice over dissolution motion | CBC News
• PRIVILEGED LEGAL OPINION – Memo to B. Bastyovanszky 4 Sept 2024.pdf
• Surrey, B.C., council votes unanimously to request city charter | CBC News
• Mayor Brenda Locke calls for more control, exemptions with proposed Surrey Charter
• Campaign against B.C. chlorine plant was secretly funded by rival | CBC News
• Vancouver pauses plan to build temporary fire hall on Strathcona green space
• East Village: Over 900 rental homes and social housing units in towers up to 39 storeys to transform East Hastings Street in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
• This Week in History, 1935: A “religious cult” run by “a charlatan” bamboozles a wealthy housewife | Vancouver Sun

Council controversies: Brian Montague’s integrity commissioner review, Vancouver’s rollback on climate action policies, and the city’s purchase of an almost completed market rental building. Delayed suicide prevention barriers on Granville Bridge, TransLink’s funding crisis, and the debate over Vancouver’s view cones. Cities try to meet the deadline to pass multiplex bylaws, except West Vancouver. City council and the park board battle over bike lanes in the West End. And we dig into a heavily redacted FOI on when Ken Sim decided to move to abolish the Park Board.

Links

• 01:57 Integrity Commissioner Review
• 05:05 Climate Action Report and Natural Gas Debate
• 09:47 Granville Bridge Suicide Barriers Delayed (see also re debris)
• Vancouver to get new dedicated bus lanes on these key routes
• 13:43 TransLink Funding Crisis and Potential Cuts
• 21:08 View Cones Debate
• 26:43 City Purchases Market Rental Building
• 30:36 Ken Sim’s Quick Fix for Kits Pool
• 33:37 Bike Lane Battle: Park Board vs. Council
• 36:06 FOI Requests and Park Board Abolishment
• FOI fight
• 43:01 Provincial Housing Compliance and West Vancouver’s Defiance
• 45:55 Surrey’s Push for a City Charter
• 48:33 NIMBYs Oppose New Fire Station
• 50:56 Vancouver’s New Sign and Historical Homages
• 53:45 Farewell to AM 730 Traffic Radio

Outro audio credit: TikTok @unCOUVER