OneCity's Lucy Maloney elected as 1 of 2 new Vancouver city councillors
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CTV News
10-07-2025
- CTV News
Vancouver reducing speed limit to 30 km/h on residential streets
A speed limit sign is seen in Vancouver on Friday, June 18, 2021. VANCOUVER, B.C. – It was a unanimous decision from an at-times divided Vancouver city council. On Wednesday, councillors voted to drop the speed limit on what the city calls 'minor' streets to 30 km/h. Officials said lowering the speed limit from 50 km/h to 30 km/h has been shown to greatly reduce pedestrian fatality rates. 'The stats are just overwhelmingly positive if there's an accident at lower speeds,' said Mayor Ken Sim on Wednesday. The plan will be phased in, starting with signs being put up in 25 neighbourhoods. 'We're a data-based administration and we look at the data,' Sim said. 'We have a lot of different examples around the world where they slowed down the speed limit in residential neighbourhoods – they become safer.' Council has also removed public consultation for speed humps – given the lack of pushback whenever they are proposed in a neighbourhood. 'Residents are still going to be informed when there are speed humps planned for their community,' said OneCity Coun. Lucy Maloney. 'Usually we find residents are pretty happy to have speed humps because it stops people from running through their neighbourhoods at speed.' The city said it will not enforce the decreased speed limit until signs are put up – and that process is expected to take months.
Global News
18-06-2025
- Global News
Vancouver forecasts 7% property tax hike next year, mayor wants it under 2.5%
With just over a year before the next municipal election, Vancouver's mayor is taking an aggressive approach to property tax increases. The city's budget outlook, presented at council on Wednesday, forecasts a seven per cent property tax increase. Staff say that figure would cover existing service levels across the city, while investing in necessary infrastructure upgrades. But council also approved a motion from Mayor Ken Sim on Wednesday, calling for staff to look at ways to hold property tax hikes to 2.5 per cent or below, including directing staff to game out a zero-per cent scenario, without cutting front line services. 1:52 Vancouver city council passes 2025 budget Sim, who campaigned in part on a platform of improved fiscal management, oversaw a 10.7 per cent property tax hike in his first year. Story continues below advertisement Since then, he said, council has been able to put a dent in the city's infrastructure and increase funding to the Vancouver Police Department and Vancouver Fire Rescue Services, while reducing the property tax hike to 3.9 per cent for 2024. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'We told the public we were going to reset and then bring back fiscal responsibility to the City of Vancouver, and that's what we've done,' he said. Opposition councillors pushed for staff to also include a transparent list of all potential service cuts under the proposed lower tax scenarios. That amendment, however, was voted down by council's ABC Vancouver majority, who called the request redundant. 'The difference between seven per cent and zero per cent … is about $84 million, so the fact that ABC did not support a transparent recording of where those cuts are going to come from leaves me very concerned about what this budget is going to look like in a few months,' independent Coun. Rebecca Bligh said. 'At the end of the day there are very real organizations, very real Vancouverites who are depending on these programs.' 2:04 Vancouver Police Department $10M over budget Sim was asked whether the proposal was related to the fact it was the city's last budget before voters go back to the polls. Story continues below advertisement 'I think the better question is, what are Vancouverites going through? We are probably going into a recession, we have the threat of tariffs, there is a lot of uncertainty, and there are a lot of people across this great city of ours who are struggling to put a meal on the table,' Sim said. 'It doesn't matter what year in the process it is.' Vancouver's next municipal election will be held in the fall of 2026.
The Province
14-06-2025
- The Province
This Day in History: Vancouverites object to building city hall at 12th and Cambie
Vancouverites argued about whether to build a new city hall, and where to put it, for decades W.J. Moore photomontage of Vancouver's art deco city hall above Victory Square. Undated, but ran in an ad in the Dec. 11, 1934 Vancouver Sun After unemployed protesters battled police at the Hudson's Bay store on April 23, 1935, Mayor Gerry McGeer read the Riot Act at Victory Square. Then he moved the location of the proposed city hall to 12th and Cambie. Vancouver Sun On Dec., 12, 1934, Vancouverites voted 16,116 to 10,836 to build a new city hall at the Central School site at Pender and Cambie streets, above Victory Square in downtown. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Unfortunately it needed a three-fifths majority to pass, which meant 16,171 votes were needed to be successful. So the proposal failed by 55 votes. This must have been crushing for civic boosters, who had been trying to get electors to approve various city hall and civic centre plans in plebiscites in 1912, 1914, 1925, 1931 and 1933. (The 1912 plan was approved, but died in an economic recession that preceded the First World War.) But this plebiscite would be different. Mayor Gerry McGeer had run on the idea of building a new city hall, and had won a huge victory over longtime mayor L.D. Taylor, who was against it. So McGeer forged ahead, appointing a commission to look at several possible sites, including Central School, Thornton Park by the Canadian National Railway station, the 'Burrard bridgehead' at Beach Avenue, King George High School at Burrard and Nelson, Fairview School at Broadway and Granville, and Strathcona Park at 12th and Cambie. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Ad in the Dec. 11, 1934 Vancouver Sun for a new city hall. The ad features a W.J. Moore photo montage of Vancouver's art deco city hall above Victory Square. On June 5, 1935, the three-man commission — B.C.'s Chief Justice A. Morrison, UBC president L.S. Klinck and G.L. Thornton Sharp of the Vancouver town planning commission — shocked Vancouverites by recommending Strathcona Park as the city hall site. City council then voted six to four in favour of the Strathcona Park property. McGeer was optimistic it could be built quickly. 'I think we can have a contract let and ground broken by the first week in July,' he told The Vancouver Sun. But there was strong opposition to the Strathcona Park site. When Alderman W.W. Smith tried to get the four aldermen who initially voted against the site to drop their opposition and have the vote made unanimous, they refused. 'The public is bound to be disappointed with the (Strathcona Park) decision,' said The Vancouver Sun on June 6, noting in a 1933 plebiscite on five possible city hall sites, 'Strathcona Park was given the dubious honour of having more last (place) choices than any other.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Central School site had been selected by the public in four of the five city hall plebiscites by the public, while Thornton Park had been selected in one. Even McGeer seemed to favour the Central School site before he was elected. He used a beautiful W.J. Moore photomontage of an art deco city hall at Central School, with Victory Square in front, in an election ad in the Dec. 11, 1934 Vancouver Sun. 'Put Idle Money to Work!' said the full-page ad. 'Build the New City Hall NOW. Start Things Going in Vancouver. The MONEY is in the BANK. It should be put to work creating JOBS AND PAYROLLS.' Then Vancouver mayor Gerry McGeer. PNG A meeting of Ward One voters on June 14 came out against Strathcona Park because it was out of downtown and 'inconvenient for the citizens.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'They tell us that the city is shifting south,' said George Buscombe, the brother of former mayor Frederick Buscombe. 'All right, that's fine. But can you transport the Rogers Building, the Vancouver Block and our large hotels up to the new site as you would geraniums?' Other speakers got more heated: one branded McGeer 'worse than Hitler' and Vancouver aldermen as 'rubber stamps.' The papers also reported that the real estate bureau was against the Strathcona Park site, that the 'majority' of people on the town planning commission didn't like it, and even that two of the three members on McGeer's own commission had preferred other sites. Civic historian John Atkin thinks McGeer wanted to move the new city hall out of downtown after unemployed men occupied the Hudson's Bay store on April 23, 1935, and McGeer read the Riot Act at Victory Square. McGeer was not to be denied. He quickly approved a design by architect Fred Townley — the same design that appears in his 1934 election ad for the Central School site. The new $1-million city hall opened to the public on Dec. 4, 1936, and remains a beloved civic landmark. The Central School site became Vancouver Community College. jmackie@ Architect Fred Townley presents Vancouver Mayor Gerry McGeer with a gilded trowel at the Vancouver's City Hall, July 2, 1936. Vancouver Golden Jubilee Society/Vancouver Archives AM177-F01-: CVA 612-052. PNG Read More Vancouver Canucks Soccer Sports Sports Local News
