OUCH Councillor Geoff Meggs collides his bike with a car. He's hospitalised but will be okay.

FUN CITY The Stanley Park Farmyard and Bloedel Conservatory are at death's door. If this were movie, this is where Sandra Bullock would show up.

BIKE LANE New Dunsmuir bike lane opens today.

NEIGHBOURHOODS Meet the Victoria-Fraserview Neighbourhood.

A very comprehensive summary of the issues faced by Vancouver's low-income people in shadow of the Olympics, from Democracy Now.

EVERYONE COUNTS City of Vancouver's homelessness coordinator suspects that homelessness is down in advance of the annual count.

WOMEN Happy 100th anniversary, Women's Day. Fun Facts: It's only the 93rd anniversary of voting for women in BC, 91st for voting Federally, and 40th for obtaining mortgages in women's own names.

HOMELESSNESS Frances Bula has a fantastic story in Vancouver Magazine that basically says you can't shopkeep and build your way into solving homelessness.

WOODLANDS Survivors left out of settlement hope for moral persuasion.

STREET FOOD Japadog is heading to New York.

POLICE Questions Justice Patrick Dohm's appointee should consider in police Const. Griffin Gillan public hearing.

JUSTICE Innocent man beaten by police sues the City.

HOMELESSNESS Let's be "realistic" about ending homelessness, says Gregor Robertson.

CAPITALISM Binners did great business during the Olympics.

CHEAP BC government cuts funerals and contraception from low income people.

BIKES Bikes are back on the SkyTrain.

MEDIA MOGULS Manitoba first nations say ad run by Black Press is racist.

ART VAG gives up on False Creek location, looks for orbiting fortress of justice.

In light of the recent debate between protesters and the general public about the use of direct action and property destruction during the Olympics, here's a great glimpse back at Vancouver's Frances Street Squats in this film called 'The Beat of Frances Street: Squatting in East Vancouver'.

Between February and November 1990, roughly a dozen to 30 squatters took over six buildings in East Vancouver (one of the building's was designated as a women-only squat).

The first part of the video shows the great spirit of the squat and what it meant to its residents. Here is a quote from a press release they sent out at the time:

“We are some of the many squatters in Vancouver who are occupying several of the hundreds of habitable houses left vacant by developers. These houses have been slated for demolition and gentrification. In the face of unregulated rent increases, and out of necessity, we have chosen to squat as one of many viable means of protesting this atrocity. Housing is not a luxury, it is a right, and these houses are available now. New developments must be kept within an affordable price range for all people presently affected by the housing crisis. We are currently organizing various neighbourhood inclusive community events (potluck barbecues, daycare facilities, community gardening and recycling) in an effort to open up communication between squatters and paying tenants. We intend to defend these houses. We have been forced to go public at this time because we are in danger of losing our homes.”

But as you see in the second part, things quickly get controversial as the squatters get divided into those that want to start erecting barricades and those that are opposed.

Its interesting to hear this debated echoed over the black bloc protest during the Olympics. Twenty years later and activists are still arguing about whether direct action is an appropriate tactic. I imagine its a debate that will never end.

Ultimately things begin to escalate as the squatters take their barricades into the street and it causes a showdown with the police who demand it be removed.

The situation reaches a pretty intense climax and about 100 police officers get ready for a showdown. A heavily armed SWAT team moves in to take down the barricades, destroy the houses. They believed the squatters were armed with guns.

Thirty squatters were removed, with 12 charged with mischief and obstructing a police officer. No weapons were found. The police response was dubbed "Operation Overkill" by the protest supporters.

FUNNY BUT NOT HA, HA FUNNY 'Why I Hate Canadians Guy' outed as closing ceremonies scripter.

FALSE CREEK What's that? Why yes, more glass towers ARE planned for around BC Place.

URBANITY One problem about Vancouver, says egghead, is that its poorest citizens are no longer able to afford to live in the city.

PARALYMPICS Tickets may not be going fast but they are going cheap.

INDUSTRY Also, the film industry has had its budget cut by 23 per cent by the province.

SCHOOLS Isn't it weird that private schools get public funding? Some school trustees are trying to end that.

TENT CITY BC Housing finds homes for the 40 person camp on East Hastings.

OLYMPICS Some lessons that the Courier learned from the Olympics.

MONEY Federal government plans to double monetary support of 'Own The Podium. Weird, apparently throwing money at a problem can fix it - unless it happens to be homelessness, poverty, civil rights or other non-feelgood issues.

PROTESTS Sports Illustrated has a nice collection of Winter Olympics protest art.

THE LEGACY You know all those great things the Olympics brought: festive pedestrian-only streets, closed viaducts, a streetcar line, improved transit, fewer homeless people sleeping outdoors because of more shelter spaces? Nobody learned nothing.

CONDOS But luxury condos sold GREAT.

SCIENCE They're tackling gene research, charting the cosmos, crunching complex equations and more: its the Rise of the Citizen Scientists!

AMERICAN VIEWS This guy thought Canada was great. This guy thought Canada acted like Americans. [Both via Frances]

CRITTERS Delightful mascots Sumi, Quatchi and Miga now like many regular BCers. On the dole.

Just heard from a resident of the Olympic Tent City that 45 people participating in the "sleep-in" protest now have housing — not a confirmed number, but if it’s even close to that number, that’s great.

But homeless Vancouverites weren’t the only people to find a home sweet home as a result of the Games (or actions that happened to protest the Games, in that case). According to an entry on Frances Bula’s State of Vancouver blog, $46.7 million in luxury condos were sold during the “winter sporting event”.

I can’t say I saw that coming, and I can’t say I’m pleased. Sure, there are some empty condos, and in a city facing a housing crisis, it’s a bit of a slap in the face to know there are empty condos sitting around while the rest of us are paying high rents/mortgages in a competitive market that sees too many people on the streets or on couches. It's an extra slap that George Wong, principal of Magnum Projects, is quoted as calling our luxury condo market "affordable."

But, if I understand my economics correctly (and not having taken anything resembling math since high school, I could be wrong), increased demand calls for increased supply. So the more condos that are bought, the more
condo buildings that will go up.

Also $31.8 million of the condos were sold to visitors — I’m not anti-visitors, I myself am a "Come From Away." I just don’t know how much money Vancouver is going to make off of people who buy condos here but don’t live in them permanently.

If we are going to build more and more condos — and since they take up far less resources and land than everyone getting their own 900 sq/ft house, condos and apartments are a more sustainable way to go — Vancouver should consider one of the options outlined in The Tyee’s housing series last year: cost-effective condos people making as low as $32,000 a year can afford. Won’t solve the homeless problem, but it will get people out of other low-cost and even social housing, making room for people on the even lower income scales. If they’re doing it in Toronto, why not here?

Photo credit: eyesplash Mikul's photostream