Snow on Thursday!

It never occurred to me that a marketing campaign might be required for a bridge, but with a $30-million dollar shortfall on the tolled Golden Ears, that’s exactly what TransLink is considering. I wonder what this says about that looming 10-lane Port Mann tolled superbeast.

Despite tears in the courtroom, former U.N. gang leader Clay Roueche’s sentence of 30 years in American prison stands.

Francesco Aquilini, whose family owns the Vancouver Canucks, is eying the purchase of the New Orlean’s hornets, drawing favourable comments from NBA commissioner David Stern.

NDP leadership hopeful Dana Larsen supports the decriminalization of the sex trade. I’m telling ya, this Larsen kid is going places - legal marijuana, legal prostitution, taxes on soda pop…

BORED AT WORK BONUS: How big is the U.S. debt?

1892:

North Shore Realtor J.C. Keith grants a $40,000 loan to the city of North Vancouver, to build a road from Eagle Harbour to Deep Cove. Unfortunately, the new settlement will experience two serious financial collapses over the next two decades, and this, combined with work difficulties, arduous terrain, and repeated road and bridge washouts will result in Keith Road taking fourteen years to complete.

Image: Early tourist photo at the Hollow Tree, Stanley Park, circa 1890. Image courtesy of the Vancouver Archives.

You might find the problem of short circuits in Vancouver lamp posts a little bit… shocking.

The last 10 years as Gordon Campbell and his government would write it.

Despite polls showing the same sort of opposition to gambling expansion as in previous years, anti-gambling advocate Isabel Minty claims the current organization efforts feel weaker.

A procession of thousands (or hundreds if you prefer the CBC) marched through the Downtown Eastside yesterday in protest of violence against women.

Tuesday will see the release of a snoozer of a provincial budget so as to allow the incoming premier as much flexibility as possible.

BORED AT WORK BONUS: Secrets of the Little Blue Box

1859:

Queensborough (the current city of New Westminster) is declared capital of the fledgling colony of British Columbia. The site for the yet-to-be-built city, chosen by Lieutenant Governor Richard Moody, is selected for its “great facilities for communication by water, as well as by future great trunk railways into the interior,” in addition to its distance from the border, and defensible position on the Fraser Riverbank, in case of American attack. However, the name is never favourably received in England, and it is Queen Victoria herself who renames it as “New Westminster”.

It remains the capital of British Columbia until 1866, when the colonies of B.C. and Vancouver Island are united into a single province. There is much debate over the capital city of the new province, and, thanks to some underhanded tactics by Victoria supporters (including shuffling the pages of an opponent’s speech, and destroying his eyeglasses, to prevent him from being able to read), Victoria is chosen.

There is little rejoicing in either city.

Image: View of Hastings Sawmill, as seen from the foot of Gore St, circa 1888. Image courtesy of the Vancouver Archives.

Senior city planner Michael Gordon teams up with The Dependent’s Will Dunn to explore the issues facing Vancouver with the rise of the digital video billboard.

Environment Canada has issued a wind and rainfall warning for Metro Vancouver. Happy Valentines.

United Nations gang founder Clay Roueche is sorry for being an international drug dealer.

A Granville Street bouncer got shot over a dispute at the door Saturday night. We made the mistake of wandering through the crowds earlier in the evening. By midnight the atmosphere was toxic - high fives and Olympic spirit replaced by high concentrations of the embroidered jean menace.

The B.C. Liberals have approved a new weighted voting system for their party leadership race, mimicking the system used to elect MLAs and leveling the urban / rural playing field.

BORED AT WORK BONUS: UN gang leader calls a naturopath

1873:

Hastings Mill School, Vancouver’s first school, opens its doors, near what is now Dunlevy Avenue. The wooden building will later be replaced by a masonry structure in 1908, and that structure, constructed on Franklin Street, still stands today.

1912:

The first issue of the Vancouver Morning Sun is printed, marking the arrival of Vancouver’s third daily newspaper. The front page features a cartoon of an angel, gleefully tossing copies of the Sun which read: “Real News” on the cover, and their feature story is: “Meeting of Socialists Broken Up By Vancouver Police”.

Columnist Bernard McEvoy of the Province notes that the fledgling publication contains “studiously moderate editorials [and] instructive comments on the dainty realm of women. Sports are freely noticed, and so are sermons. News is not neglected.”

Image: Hastings Sawmill School, circa 1886. Image courtesy of the Vancouver Archives.

1990:

More than 200 protesters march through the streets of downtown Vancouver, protesting substantial rent increases, and demanding provincial rent control.

“We demand that politicians show leadership on housing, or we will show leadership at the polls and end their political careers,” says Bob Webster, addressing an angry, sign-waving crowd at Robson Square.

Meanwhile, the crowd chants slogans like: “Stop demolitions! Evict the Mayor!” Housing is a contentious issue among Vancouverites, with citywide vacancy rates below 1%, and with British Columbia being the only jurisdiction in Canada without provincial rent control.

Within days, Mayor Gordon Campbell will introduce a proposal to create a Rent Review Commission, and, four years later, the BC NDP will de facto reintroduce provincial rent controls (a bill that Campbell, as Leader of the Opposition, will oppose). These rent controls still exist today, and, as of spring 2010, Vancouver’s vacancy rate sits at 2.2%.

Image: Hastings and Carrall (and Pigeon Park) circa 1990. Image Courtesy of the Vancouver Archives. Image Copyright: City of Vancouver.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns.

The VPD plans to announce several new arrests of violent drug dealers in the Downtown Eastside.

Ahead of next Tuesday’s public hearing, Mega-casino development promoters stress the economic benefit for the city. What they don’t seem to be stressing are all the other impacts.

Price Tags links up an essay in The Atlantic: “How skyscrapers can save the city“.

Strange how the presence of a video camera seems to increase the likelihood of a police officer kicking someone in the face.

BORED AT WORK BONUS: 16 ways to use your wrist now that watches are obsolete

1947:

An era comes to an end, as the No. 6 ferry between Vancouver and West Vancouver makes its final run. The service, taking passengers to West Vancouver from the foot of Columbia Street for close to forty years, has been rendered obselete by the construction of bridges across the narrows.

“We always set our clocks by the ferry whistle,” says Mrs. I.L. Dollman, speaking with reporters. “We have had the most wonderful skippers. We were never nervous, even in the most terrible fogs. I’ve sat below in the old Sonrisa when waves broke over the top and we rolled from side to side.”

A send-off ceremony takes place that evening, attended by former “skippers, mates, engineers”, and members of the general public; it includes speeches, remembrances, some tears, and the singing of ‘Auld Lang Syne”.

Image: North Vancouver Ferry No.2 (aka ‘St. George’) in Burrard Inlet, circa 1904. Photo Courtesy of the Vancouver Archives.