Tony Snow Passes away

photo credit: fotodesign-luetke“.

A lot of Canadians may not know who Tony Snow is.. as Fox News channel is only allowed if you pay for it. Lesser watched (left wing and radical) news is only allowed.

From Wikipedia:

Tony was an American political commentator, television news anchor, syndicated columnist, radio host, and the third White House Press Secretary under President George W. Bush. Snow also worked for President George H. W. Bush as chief speechwriter and Deputy Assistant of Media Affairs. Snow served as White House Press Secretary from May 2006 until his resignation effective September 2007.

Between his two White House stints, Snow was a broadcaster and newspaper columnist. After years of regular guest-hosting for The Rush Limbaugh Show and providing news commentary for National Public Radio, he launched his own talk radio program, The Tony Snow Show, which went on to become nationally syndicated. He was also a regular personality on Fox News Channel since 1996, hosting Fox News Sunday, Weekend Live, and often substituting as host of The O’Reilly Factor. In April 2008, Snow briefly joined CNN as a commentator.

Snow died at Georgetown University Hospital as a result of colon cancer that had spread to his liver. Reacting to Snow’s death, President Bush said: “America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character… It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace, and a great love of country to his work.”

Tony wrote a great piece on called “cancer’s unexpected blessings“….

It sums up the man better than I ever could. Rest in peace Tony

The Homeless and East Hastings…

My commute means driving completely down East Hastings each day. After the first few months of shock at what goes on down there, I now marvel at how the “homeless” have managed to take control of the area and turn it into a lawless area.

There is a solution… if anyone really wants one.

Stop tolerating this behavior.

When I worked in New York, I got to witness how Rudy the solved the crime and drug problem.

He posed the question…

… Why do the homeless and drug addicts have more rights than the people working and paying taxes do?

He then started by cleaning up areas and painting over graffiti. Fixing windows and changing the way police dealt with the problems areas…

The results are legendary.

Vancouver’s permissive society is at the root of the problem.

As I drive down East Hastings  – I have yet to see a cop do anything about the crack whore jumping into a car next to them, the group of guys openly selling pot and crack, or actually doing anything to preemptively stop crime.

It’s like they are part of the gang. The only time I see them act is when someone is run over, starts a fire, or is beating on someone.

The Police Department should be charged with dereliction of duty.

The first step in demonstrating that bad behavior is no longer tolerated is to clean up the street, paint over graffiti every day, focusing on crime before it happens, and arresting anyone whoring, dealing or public intoxication. The presence of authority in the area would change thing immediately.

Show that the city cares about the mess by cleaning it up. Every day. Even if it takes a dedicated sanitation unit.

Every time I suggest they should arrest people for using drugs in public, I hear the answer – the courts won’t do anything, we don’t have enough jails…

It’s a cop-out.  Get a warehouse and convert it to an overnight jail. Arrest and hold overnight.

Disrupt the party. Catch and release…

Feed the hungry, house the poor – with conditions.

Quit using money as the excuse… it isn’t the problem. They’re spending a ton down there.

Ending the tolerance is the first step in really helping the addicts and homeless.

Start now and you won’t have to hide this embarrassment when the Olympics arrive.

…

Vancouver’s Property Tax Windfall…

Is About To End.

photo credit: SqueakyMarmot

This year, with the rise of Vancouver property values, property taxes should ONLY increase by only 14.2% (that’s inflation x 700%).

Vancouver budget director Annette Klein said the 1.23-per-cent tax increase approved by city council was not reflected for single-family dwellings because their assessed values shot up 30 per cent.

Don’t you think they should have been able to drop taxes with assessments going up by an average of 30%?

I’d like to share the lesson I learned in Florida – because it parallels Vancouver’s situation…

In Florida, the the property tax rates never really went up, but our assessments rose an average 25-35% each year, for 4 years. In my case, that translated taxes going from $3,500 to $10,000 in 3 years.

This windfall gave Ft Lauderdale county approx. 1 billion more in revenue each year, without having to raise taxes.

When house prices dropped (crashed), I expected to see my taxes go down. They dropped $150.

The reason is, like gas, they rise fast on the upside… and drop painfully slow on the downside.

The reason I was given was that although prices went down by 25%, the cut-off for setting the assessments is 12 months before the tax bill is set, so the lower assessments would take a year to hit my tax bill.

Now it’s been almost 2 years since my Florida home price has spiraled down, I am hoping (not holding my breath) that my taxes will come back to where they started off.

Well run cities (i.e Calgary) determine property taxes by the cities operating costs. Once the budget is set, they add up all the assessed property values and divide the budget into the gross. This results in everyone paying their fair share based on property value, and the city becomes accountable to budgeting…

… Not by counting on a windfall gained from raising property taxes.

There’s a lesson (or warning) to be learned. Cities quickly get addicted to increasing revenues, and lose all accountability. Can you  notice any difference in Vancouver after all these years of property tax increases many times greater than inflation??

When the revenues go down, all hell will break loose…

We’ll hear about the drastic cuts to police, parks, libraries, health, teachers, etc. It will sound like an Armageddon.

(Remember how many cops, teachers, etc. they have actually added…)

It’s all BS, and a great cover to keep blowing your money… money they shouldn’t have received in the first place.

With property prices now set to fall significantly in Vancouver, don’t say I didn’t warn you…

…

Killing The Weeds In Vancouver

photo credit: Artiii

For some reason Vancouver has a lot of weeds…

So I decided to take matters into my own hands and went to the #1 source of weed control, Home Depot.

After a look around, it appeared that the weed control section now has taken on the status of cigarettes in Vancouver – nowhere to be found.

After a while, I caved and asked a clerk where I could find Roundup.

First came the look – then the surprise that I didn’t know…

Roundup is banned in Vancouver.

No good reason given nor science to back it up. The lady heard a baby drank it and died.. so they decided the rest of us can’t have it.

Got over it in a few minutes, and decided to buy the “natural” weed killer. Price was reasonable… so goodbye Roundup.

(Before you come down on me, I am not planning on spraying it anywhere kids, dogs, or animals tread. It’s for my driveway)

Surprise #2:

They decided banning common herbicides wasn’t enough, that people like me should pay an environmental fee for the privilege of keeping my yard tidy. That was $1.20 – best of all, no one knows where this money goes.

After searching the web, I can’t seem to find any list of all these enviro fees I keep getting stuck with.

It seems to be either a dirty secret, or a way the cities raise money.

Can anyone enlighten me where I can find the list? Or Where the money actually goes?

Getting Ready For The Olympics

photo credit: Thomas Hawk

Beijing Bans Hairless Cab Drivers During Olympics

Beijing’s long-suffering taxi-drivers are in the cross-hairs once again — with shaved heads to be banned from the driving seat ahead of next year’s Beijing Olympics, a report said Thursday.

Just two months after the city’s transport department banned women taxi drivers from wearing “too-fancy” hairstyles, new rules will outlaw beards and shaved heads for the men, according to Beijing’s The First newspaper.

The regulations proposed by the Beijing city government’s bureau on quality standards were aimed at “giving a good impression” to customers, the paper said. They go into effect in mid-July.

Beijing’s 70,000 taxi drivers work long hours for low pay and often sleep and eat in their vehicles, leading to complaints about dirty and smelly cabs.

In April, cabbies were ordered not to eat, spit or smoke in their cars while female drivers were told to keep their hair neat, dress smartly and not wear earrings.

from wierd asian news

Best View of Vancouver From A Window

Amazing video of the beauty of Vancouver… ’nuff said.

Hold Off Buying That New Home

photo credit: karlfrankowski

As I wrote earlier, now is definitely NOT the time to buy a house in Vancouver.

The latest real estate report came out and all the signs are in place for huge price drops in the next 4-8 months.

I’ll get a lot of angry realtors on this subject, but that’s the first sign

Inventory is piling up fast, sales are slowing as fast.

Condos will be first to drop – followed by homes in the burbs.

Out here in Port Moody open houses aren’t getting anyone in.

Here’s a good post of what’s happening now.

The good news right now is that the renatl market also has a lot of inventory.

My advice: Rent for the next year, and watch for the bottom of the real estate market.

Don’t buy now – there is absolutely no upside.

Here’s the skinny on what the real estate pros are talking about amongst themselves.

A Buyers Market

Vancouver Condo Free For All

The media has jumped aboard:

BC Housing Slows

Commercial Drive In Vancouver

When I first arrived in Vancouver, I was fortunate to live close to Commercial drive.

Never really completely figured the street’s culture out, but after 6 months of eating dinner there each night, I know it’s one of the better food streets in Vancouver.

Cam across this video and it sums up the diversity on Commercial drive, and a look into opinion at the street in Vancouver.

I hope there’s a silent majority out there…

Hate WordPress 2.5 Admin Panel?

Fluency Admin (get it here) is a plugin that changes the admin interface to the best one I have ever seen.

The menus are rearranged; main menus are down left and sub menus are placed across the top.

To install download the zip file, extract the contents and upload the whole ‘wp-admin-fluency’ folder to your plugins directory.

Then go into your WordPress admin and go to the ‘plugins’ page, activate ‘Fluency Admin’ and you’ll thank me.