Access Public Space #1 Gardening the Streets

Today, Finance Minister Mike de Jong released nineteen days worth of real estate transaction data. In it, there were a total of 5,118 transactions. 260 (5.08%) of these properties were purchased by foreign nationals. Now, five percent might not sound like a lot, but consider this. When a resident buys a property, they will almost always sell another or vacate a rental — leaving total housing supply unchanged. When a foreign buyer acquires a property, they probably don’t. In light of the huge surge in Chinese capital flight recently, it’s safe to say most Chinese purchasers are buying properties without selling another. That indeed seems to be the case, as pointed out in my last post. Further, if those foreign buyers leave those homes empty, or only use them as vacation properties, available housing supply shrinks. It’s impossible to say how many of those homes will remain unoccupied, but even if we assume that only half of them are,  housing supply effectively decreased by 130 over those 19 days in June. At that rate, available housing supply could decline 2,500 over the course of the entire year. When you consider housing starts for the Vancouver metro area have been averaging 20,000 the last few years, if 2,500 homes are effectively removed from total supply, this is equivalent to a 12.5% drop in housing starts. That’s very significant.

From quick dinner recipes to simple vegan breakfast ideas, these 28 easy vegan recipes for beginners will have you enjoying a plant-based diet, no matter how much time you have! Want to eat less meat but find plant-based cooking daunting? I get it. These nourishing recipes are all delicious and healthy, use a handful of simple ingredients and come together quickly. From easy vegan dinner recipes to breakfast recipes that are perfect for weekly meal prep, there’s something here for everyone. And the best part? These recipes are quick, allowing you to focus less on your vegan diet and more on your loved ones! Love what you see? Get my once-monthly newsletter with my latest recipes straight to your inbox! Yes, I agree to the processing of my personal data to receive email marketing. /* real people should not fill this in and expect good things – do not remove this or risk form bot signups */ Leave this field empty if you’re human: 1 Easy Eggplant Stir Fry with Garlic Sauce This delicious eggplant stir fry is such an easy plant-based meal. Made with a savoury garlic-soy sauce and cooked until succulent, it’s great served with rice or noodles as a main course. Check out this recipe 2 Easy Beet & Black Bean Burgers (Vegan) Taking less than 30 minutes, these vegan burgers are made with simple ingredients – black beans, beets and sweetcorn. Perfect when you want a good veggie burger, but a healthier one! Naturally gluten free too. Check out this recipe 3 Easy Fresh Vegan Spring Rolls These fresh vegan spring rolls with peanut sauce are the most delicious easy meal I know – no cooking required. Stuff your rice paper wraps with crunchy vegetables such as bell peppers, cucumber and carrot, add some smoked tofu and dip in savoury sauce! Check out this recipe 4 Quick & Easy Spinach Pasta Sauce This creamy vegan spinach pasta sauce is one the whole family can enjoy. It’s quick to make, has a great savory flavor, is packed with nutrients and is a great midweek meal. Oil-free and nut-free. Check out this recipe 5 Easy Chickpea Spinach Curry with Coconut Milk This one-pot chickpea spinach curry takes 25 minutes and is perfect as a quick weeknight dinner or big batch meal served with brown rice. Easy vegan meals don’t get much simpler than this. Naturally vegan and gluten-free. Check out this recipe 6 White Bean & Artichoke Vegan Sandwich (gluten-free) This delicious white bean & artichoke sandwich is perfect if you’re looking for healthy lunch ideas for work. It’s quick to make and protein-packed! Check out this recipe 7 Easy Carrot Lentil Soup (30 Minutes) This quick carrot lentil soup recipe is perfect for weekday dinners. Naturally vegan, it contains just 10 simple ingredients and comes together in less than 30 minutes. The perfect creamy soup for colder days! Check out this recipe 8 Healthy Crispy Tofu Ever wondered how to make perfect crispy tofu? This simple method is less hassle than frying and will give you crispy tofu every time. Great added to rice bowls, stir fries and noodles. Check out this recipe 9 Easy Chickpea Pizza Crust (Gluten-Free) Made with just 5 ingredients, this Chickpea Flour Pizza Crust is ideal for pizzas or flatbreads. Ready in minutes, it’s a great quick meal and will satisfy those comfort food cravings! Gluten-free. Check out this recipe 10 Easy Pasta Al Pesto (Linguine with Pesto) This easy pasta al pesto is the perfect weeknight meal. All you need are a few simple ingredients including basil and olive oil, and 15 minutes. You can even add cherry tomatoes for extra colour and flavour! Check out this recipe 11 Easy Roasted Cherry Tomato Soup A simple summer recipe for easy dinners, this roasted cherry tomato soup will tickle your tastebuds. It’s flavour-packed and comes together in 30 minutes, with cherry tomatoes, onion, fresh herbs and vegetable broth. Check out this recipe 12 Beet Pasta Sauce Of all the creamy pastas, this 20-minute savoury beet pasta sauce might be my favourite. Made with cooked beets, coconut milk, cashews and lemon zest, it can be served with pasta for a delicious weeknight meal. Check out this recipe 13 Easy Vegetable Stew with Lentils (Vegan) This one-pot easy vegetable stew is healthy, hearty and takes less than 30 minutes to make. Great as a quick weeknight dinner on chillier days. Check out this recipe 14 Creamy Pasta with Mushrooms & Broccoli (Vegan) Coming together in under 30 minutes, this creamy pasta with mushrooms and broccoli is the perfect weeknight dinner. Can be gluten free if you use gf pasta! Check out this recipe 15 Easy Maple Roasted Carrots Simple yet satisfying, these maple roasted carrots are the delicious side dish everyone loves because they’re so easy and taste delicious. The perfect pop of colour for your dinner table. Check out this recipe 16 Cookie Dough Overnight Oats 7 ingredients and 5 minutes are all it takes to make these easy cookie dough overnight oats. Perfect as a healthy breakfast or on-the-go snack! Check out this recipe 17 Best Easy Matcha Smoothie (5 Minutes) With banana, kale, vanilla and the addition of matcha, this easy matcha smoothie is perfect for a quick breakfast or snack. It’ll wake you up and keep you full! Check out this recipe 18 The Best Tiramisu Overnight Oats (Healthy) These

As a public service, and transparently because I need to also refer to these in my own work in the area, I am sharing three peer reviews that have not yet been published by Immigration, Refugess and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) nor made available on the published Algorithmic Impact Assessment (“AIA”) pages from the Treasury Board Secretariat (“TBS”). First, a recap. Following the 3rd review of the Directive of Automated Decision-Making (“DADM”), and feedback from stakeholders, it was proposed to amend the peer review section to require the completion of a peer review and publication prior to the system’s production. The previous iteration of the DADM did not require publication nor specify the timeframe for the pper review.  The motivation for this was to increase public trust around Automated Decision-Making Systems (“ADM”). As stated in the proposed amendment summary at page 15: The absence of a mechanism mandating the release of peer reviews (or related information) creates a missed opportunity for bolstering public trust in the use of automated decision systems through an externally sourced expert assessment. Releasing at least a summary of completed peer reviews (given the challenges of exposing sensitive program data, trade secrets, or information about proprietary systems) can strengthen transparency and accountability by enabling stakeholders to validate the information in AIAs. The current requirement is also silent on the timing of peer reviews, creating uncertainty for both departments and reviewers as to whether to complete a review prior to or during system deployment. Unlike audits, reviews are most effective when made available alongside an AIA, prior to the production of a system, so that they can serve their function as an additional layer of assurance. The proposed amendments address these issues by expanding the requirement to mandate publication and specify a timing for reviews. Published peer reviews (or summaries of reviews) would complement documentation on the results of audits or other reviews that the directive requires project leads to disclose as part of the notice requirement (see Appendix C of the directive) (emphasis added) Based on Section 1 of the DADM, with the 25 April 2024 date coming, we should see more posted peer reviews for past Algorithmic Impact Assessment (“AIA”). This directive applies to all automated decision systems developed or procured after April 1, 2020. However, 1.2.1 existing systems developed or procured prior to April 25, 2023 will have until April 25, 2024 to fully transition to the requirements in subsections 6.2.3, 6.3.1, 6.3.4, 6.3.5 and 6.3.6 in this directive; 1.2.2 new systems developed or procured after April 25, 2023 will have until October 25, 2023 to meet the requirements in this directive. (emphasis added) The impetus behind the grace period, was set out in their proposed amendment summary at page 8: TBS recognizes the challenge of adapting to new policy requirements while planning or executing projects that would be subject to them. In response, a 6-month ‘grace period’ is proposed to provide departments with time to plan for compliance with the amended directive. For systems that are already in place on the release date, TBS proposes granting departments a full year to comply with new requirements in the directive. Introducing this period would enable departments to plan for the integration of new measures into existing automation systems. This could involve publishing previously completed peer reviews or implementing new data governance measures for input and output data. During this period, these systems would continue to be subject to the current requirements of the directive. (emphasis added) The new DADM section states: Peer review 6.3.5 Consulting the appropriate qualified experts to review the automated decision system and publishing the complete review or a plain language summary of the findings prior to the system’s production, as prescribed in Appendix C. (emphasis added) Appendix C for Level 2 – Moderate Impact Projects (for which all of IRCC’s Eight AIA projects are self-classified) the requirement is as follows: Consult at least one of the following experts and publish the complete review or a plain language summary of the findings on a Government of Canada website: Qualified expert from a federal, provincial, territorial or municipal government institution Qualified members of faculty of a post-secondary institution Qualified researchers from a relevant non-governmental organization Contracted third-party vendor with a relevant specialization A data and automation advisory board specified by Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat OR: Publish specifications of the automated decision system in a peer-reviewed journal. Where access to the published review is restricted, ensure that a plain language summary of the findings is openly available. We should be expecting then movement in the next two weeks. As I wrote about here, IRCC has posted one of their Peer Reviews, this one for the International Experience Canada Work Permit Eligibility Model. I will analyze this (alongside other peer reviews) in a future blog and why I think it is important in the questions it raises about automation bias. In light of the above, I am sharing three Peer Reviews for IRCC AIAs. These may or may not be the final ones that IRCC eventually posts, presumably before 25 April 2024. I have posted the document below the corresponding name of the AIA. Please note that the PDF viewer does not work on mobile devices. As such I have also added a link to a shared Google doc for your viewing/downloading ease. (1) Spouse Or Common-Law in Canada Advanced Analytics [Link] A-2022-00374_ – Stats Can peer review on Spousal AI Model Note: We know that

See our Launch and Introduction about the launch of the © Urban Cartoon Syndicate and the announcement by CityHallWatch. *** Related reading: Public Hearing, Oct 22, 2024 – https://council.vancouver.ca/20241022/phea20241022ag.htm See YouTube (link here at 12:12 of 2:01:35) of Vancouver City Council standing committee meeting of 8-Oct-2024. City manager Paul Mochrie answers a question by Clr Sarah Kirby-Yung on why fewer public hearings are being scheduled lately. Excerpt: “I think we are seeing a need for fewer dates both in terms of just the process, the number of applications in queue, but also this council is quite a bit faster in processing them than the last council [under Kennedy Stewart, 2018 to 2022]. We were only able to get through three or four files per night with the previous Council. We’re seeing this Council [under Ken Sim, 2022-2026] process six and seven.” The post UCS #28: Public Hearing Supplies Arriving at City Hall appeared first on Spacing Vancouver.

Here’s my yearly roundup of the best books released by local authors and publishers this year, just in time for your last-minute literary gift shopping. Let us rejoice in the glory of our regionally written words! Cascadia Cookbook (Said The Whale Music) Vancouver band Said the Whale has been filling our ears with their West Coast-flavoured indie rock for over a decade. Now, as a tasty compliment to their 2019 album Cascadia, the band fills our stomachs with the release of Casadia Cookbook. In this beautifully designed, 80-page feast, you’ll find Pacific Northwest-inspired recipes paired to each song on the album, for dishes such as salal berry pie or “Buckaroo Spuds.” The book was designed by Said the Whale keyboardist/band chef/skilled baker Jaceyln Brown, with mouth-watering photography by Lindsey Blane. A perfect addition for any West Coast kitchen. Cougar Companions by Judith Williams (Harbour Publishing) Sink your claws into this incredible and untold true story from B.C.’s coast. This is the wild tale of the Schnarr family: single father August, a trapper, logger, and skilled amateur photographer, and his three young daughters, all trying to make a go of it in remote Bute Inlet. The Schnarr family was infamous in the 1930s for their collection of fully grown pet cougars. Cortes Island author Judith Williams passionately unfolds this adventure with the help of August Schnarr’s lifetime of incredible photographs. Finding Callidora by Stella Leventoyannis Harvey (Signature Editions) If you enjoy exciting historical fiction, you must escape into this epic novel by Whistler author Stella Leventoyannis Harvey. Inside, you’ll enter into a bloody family saga that spans generations, continents and two world wars. Driven by actual headlines of the eras, this is a fast read convincingly set on remote Greek islands, Egyptian streets, rugged Turkish landscapes and, finally, Canada, as a scattered family tries to piece together a tragic past. I Saw Three Ships: West End Stories by Bill Richardson (Talonbooks) A smart and hilarious collection of fictional short stories set in Vancouver’s most densely populated neighbourhood, penned by the great humourist, author, broadcaster and longtime West End resident Bill Richardson. All eight of the finely tuned stories within are linked by West End characters from various walks of life, set amongst the garishly decorated apartment lobbies of Christmastime west of Burrard. (Bonus tip: I think the Paper Hound on Pender Street has signed copies.) Major Misconduct: the Human Cost of Fighting In Hockey by Jeremy Allingham (Arsenal Pulp Press) In his debut book, author and CBC Vancouver journalist Jeremy Allingham has provided a potential knockout blow to hockey fights, as well as the toxic culture that surrounds it. And timing is everything. As if predicting the sea change that may finally be cracking up our frozen game, less than a month after this book came out, several notable figures in hockey’s leadership circles have been fired or put on leave. A very revealing read for any fan, especially those who think fighting should still be part of hockey on any level. Vancouver After Dark by Aaron Chapman (Arsenal Pulp Press) Whether it’s saucy stories of Oil Can Harry’s, the Cave, Retinal Circus or (my personal favourite) the Starfish Room, Aaron Chapman’s latest outing nattily steps into a century of Vancouver’s nightlife with crisp detail and refreshing research. Like a cold Kokanee upon entrance at the Town Pump, consider this book essential consumption for any Vancouverite (from any era) who has ever experienced our city’s notorious and colourful nightclubs. All of these best of 2019 books are available at Vancouver’s independent booksellers, including the newly opened Iron Dog Books at 2761 East Hastings. Happy holidays, and happy reading! Grant Lawrence is the author of three award-winning nonfiction books, most of which are at least partially set in Vancouver.

Earlier today, the VPSN wrote to Mayor and Council requesting that they ‘press pause’ on the motion to dissolve the Park Board. The proposed directive, introduced by Mayor Sim at a media event on December 6, seeks provincial support to change the Vancouver Charter, eliminating the need to an elected Park Board. Our letter encourages the City to create a better, more transparent process for looking at ways to improve. This was not intended as a broader rejection of the idea of reform. Indeed, we support efforts to improve our parks and community centres. We are also of the opinion that there ARE opportunities to strengthen matters related to their governance, performance, design, programming and stewardship of parks. However, the motion as proposed has a number of critical implications. In the one week since it was hastily introduced, there has been little opportunity to properly evaluate the concerns that the motion purports to address. We are particularly concerned about the process through which this motion was advanced, and the conflation of governance considerations (i.e. the elected park board), with operational and planning considerations. We note that many of the considerations identified in the Council motion – questions of user experience, service delivery, and operational efficiency – can be addressed without the loss of the democratic opportunities that come with an elected Park Board. So, to be clear – we are open to a process that: (a) provides a forum to clearly identify issues and areas of concern with parks and the Park Board, and (b) provides a fair opportunity to evaluate opportunities (and options) for improvement. We used our letter to request that Mayor & Council amend the motion to introduce a minimum six month process that allows further public discussion and exploration of the core issues and areas of concern. We feel that this is a fair compromise that would ensure clarity around the identification of issues & potential solutions. And yes, as part of this, the process could include revisiting the division or organization of powers as set out in the Vancouver Charter.