Take a stroll through Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and you’re unlikely to get far without encountering a bearded hipster shaking bourbon in a joint owned by either Mark Brand or Sean Heather – two local entrepreneurs with contrasting approaches to the community they inhabit. They are both high-profile personalities who have successfully imported Portlandia-style chic into [...]
Alyssa Dunn started building websites in high school before enrolling in UBC’s computer-science program. Now a software-development intern in Gastown, the 21-year-old Vancouver native takes design concepts and brings them to life on the web. When she graduates next year, she’s counting on the internship experience, known as a “co-op,” to help land her a [...]
A group of Kitsilano residents say they are willing to lobby for a developer to build higher in order to preserve a bowling alley for their community — an unusual move in a city that has seen nothing but anti-development protests from residents in the last couple of years. But the idea from the Kitsilano [...]
A massive expansion is about to provide the UBC Bookstore with much more room for shopping, eating, and studying – but not for books. First proposed to UBC’s board of governors in April, the 5,500-square-foot expansion includes increased store space, a larger café, and a convenience store, as well as bringing the store’s entrance up [...]
Heajung Son said she was terrified when two men banged on the door of her apartment and demanded to be let in. The men, the building owner and an employee, eventually unlocked the door and confronted her roommates about three months of unpaid rent, said Son. Son, an ESL student from Korea, said she and [...]
The hub of a recycling-based micro-economy in the Downtown Eastside is about to lose the home it’s had on East Hastings Street for nearly two decades. If the development proposal by a social housing non-profit group is approved, Atira Development Society, which owns 41 E. Hastings St., will build a 169-unit project on the site [...]
After years of struggle at Hastings Racecourse in east Vancouver, there were hopes for recovery this summer with the success of horse jockey Mario Gutierrez and a lease extension from the city. But the most recent report from racecourse owner Great Canadian Gaming shows that track revenues continue to slip. According to its Nov. 7 [...]
A Vancouver company is pioneering a new technology for raising money through social media. As hundreds of charities compete for donation dollars, ConnectionPoint Systems Inc. is using a Facebook app called FundRazr to show people how to effectively leverage their online social networks to raise money for everything from lacrosse teams to international social-justice campaigns [...]
Members of Kitsilano’s West 4th Avenue Business Improvement Association (BIA) will convene for their annual general meeting on Nov. 1st, when they will finalize a proposed budget for the 2012-13 year and fill three positions on the board of directors. Russ Davies, the BIA’s executive director, said this is an important year for owners of [...]
It’s a business experiment in real people power. Vancouver residents are on their second round of voting to decide what kind of service will go into a downtown social housing building. More than 400 people voted in the first round and decided that the community around 243 Union St. needed a local service over a [...]
