Vancouver

Picture taken Mid-September 2023, when the weather was balmy and days were decently long...

Vancouverites have had a little over a year to get to know Mayor Ken Sim and his A Better City Vancouver party, who currently hold a majority on city council.

They’ve delivered some campaign promises (100 cops, but not 100 nurses). Plus some goodies that have excited locals, like the return of the Stanley Park miniature train.

They’ve also made strong moves that came swiftly and suddenly. In April, the city and the Vancouver Police Department conducted a “street sweep” of homeless residents on Hastings Street that cost over half a million dollars. Most recently, Sim and ABC councillors have rushed to permanently dissolve the city’s 135-year-old elected park board, a surprise decision that has created a rift with the party’s own commissioners who sit on that board.

These actions have offered some insight into the first-time mayor of a brand new political party, one that swept into power last year with messaging on public safety and a savvy campaign that ran a full-ish slate of candidates amidst a confusing crowd of contenders.

However, the curveballs — including property tax hikes from a mayor who previously criticized such a thing — leave many questions remaining about what the city might look like in the next three years under the ABC government.

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A Metro Vancouver social enterprise combating hunger and food waste is seeking community support to stay open as rising costs threaten to shutter its operations.

Langley-based ReFeed Farm partners with grocery stores, food retailers, manufacturers and restaurants to rescue food headed for the landfill.

Founder Stuart Lilley says the farm's circular model meant it used all 11 million pounds of discarded food it rescued last year, sending one million pounds to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank and saving an estimated 10 million pounds of carbon emissions.

"We support food banks, we support the food industry and yeah, the demands are there, but the resources to be able to sustain it, aren't," Lilley told CBC News on Saturday.

Mayor Ken Sim has vowed to put an end to the elected body, and Blyth and eight other former commissioners have shown up to support the four park board commissioners who are fighting to keep it. Three of those commissioners are from Sim’s own ABC party, making this an especially bitter conflict.

Vancouver is the only city in Canada with an elected park board, and there’s been a continuing discussion about whether it’s necessary to have an elected board or if the responsibilities should be folded into city council to save resources and money.

But while Sim included a promise to get rid of the elected park board in 2018, when he lost to Kennedy Stewart, it wasn’t in the ABC platform when he ran and won in 2022.

The B.C. Coroners Service (BCCS) issued a public safety warning Wednesday amid "a recent increase in deaths caused by toxic drugs."

The service says the number of toxic drug deaths has risen faster than expected since October when it warned the province was on track to surpass its previous grim record for the number of toxic drug deaths in a year.

The BCCS says preliminary numbers indicate toxic drugs are suspected in more than 200 deaths in November and the province has averaged about seven toxic drug deaths per day for the past seven weeks.

Vancouver Park Board commissioners heard a sobering presentation this week over severe problems the city's largest outdoor pool is facing due to its age and storm-related damage.

While they await the results of a feasibility study over the future Kitsilano pool, commissioners heard Monday night that the facility was leaking 30,000 litres of water an hour due to cracks and breaks in recirculation pipes.

"It is not a typo. It's a hard number to wrap your head around," said Matthew Halverson, a facilities manager with the city.

Crash happened around 3:30 p.m., according to authorities

On Hornby St. It doesn't have any construction barriers or anything.

All-time leading international scorer's final game is win over Australia in Vancouver