
The writing is on the wall when it comes to Vancouver's reaction to the ever-emerging biking infrastructure, prompting a new strategy from the City Caucus boys.
The reactions to the Hornby bike lane as well as the other pieces of Vancouver’s biking infrastructure has been overwhelmingl positive save for those with a political axe to grind against the current Council.
Yesterday as an example, I was introduced to a gentleman who is an investment banker and a true power broker in the city, who after being challenged to get going by his kids, hopped on a bike last year for the first time in decades and hasn’t looked back. He has become an advocate amongst his kin within the business community, and has taken out a Vision Vancouver membership because of the initiatives that are being undertaken by the party.
The so-called controversial t-shirts are selling like hotcakes, people are really starting to reconsider their transportation options around town, and there is a new sense of peace between drivers and bikers who are no longer in each others faces to some extent.
So seeing this, and seeing that the NPA has actually come out and embraced bike lanes as a concept, the City Caucus boys changed their tactics of attack.

Tung Chan has become a hot political commodity in recent months.
For a man who the majority of Vancouverites have never heard of, Success CEO Tung Chan’s political appeal is at an all-time high.
On one end of the political spectrum, the federal Conservatives continue to make overtures to Chan about the possibility of running in Vancouver South against Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, who as many readers are well aware, only won his seat last time around by 20 votes. That riding has close to a population that is close to 50 per cent Chinese, making Chan an ideal candidate with profile within the community that makes the difference on deciding a winner and a loser.
On the other is the moribund NPA, which from what I have been able to piece together, is getting desperate with regards to finding a sacrificial lamb to go against Mayor Gregor Robertson and his 70 per cent approval rating.
If indeed Chan is at all interested in politics, taking the Vancouver South offer seems like a no-brainer. Until of course you factor in the hectic and unforgiving travel schedule of a BC MP, and realize that the amount of individuals willing to make such a personal sacrifice are few and far between. Rumour is that Chan is not naturally inclined to be able to handle the Ottawa/Vancouver commute week in, week out.
This then leaves the option of running to become Mayor.
I want to preface this commentary with an acknowledgment that an administration without effective political opposition operates without a true understanding of what it feels like to face off against alternatives.
That being said, I am truly getting a kick out of the bloggers (three in particular) that are getting into a lather of fury over the popularity of both Vision Vancouver and Gregor Robertson amongst the municipal beat reporters around town.
The frustration that they are spewing only confirms that the Vision Vancouver juggernaut is real, in as much as is possible within the municipal political realm.
I don’t have the energy to craft a well-thought out, cogent post on why that juggernaut exists, nor do I have to quite frankly. Rather, I would like to perform a political brain dump on the state of Vision Vancouver and the rest of the civic political scene at the halfway point of the term.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
“Perhaps it was my silk dress or the new perfume I’ve been wearing lately. When I asked Suzanne Anton what her New Year’s resolution was, she replied, “To kiss a pretty girl!” and pecked me on the cheek.” – Writer Emily Barca describing her encounter with the lone NPA City Councillor on New Year’s Eve.