A no messing around guide to the coolest things to eat, drink and do in Vancouver and beyond. Community. Not clickbait.

On Spoiled Brats Bitching About Bugatti Taxes and Poor Old People Begging for Elevators

Tea & Two Slices is a long-running local news round-up by NEEDS frontman and veteran dishwasher Sean Orr, who lives and works in Gastown, deeply aware of his privilege.

Asshole who lives in a mansion wants to house people in 140 square foot “nano-suites”: When it comes to housing Vancouver’s homeless, we need to think small. No, we need to better distribute wealth earned on the backs of the working poor.

If only there was a place we could put all those nasty homeless campers: Developer admits he’s ‘desperate’ as multimillion-dollar West Vancouver home prices tumble. World’s smallest violin. Best comment: “I hope his butler was good enough to fetch him a new top hat after he threw it in the swan pond out of anger.”

Even smaller violin: Pre-sale buyers no longer allowed to flip condos in landmark Vancouver tower. Oh cool, the city made the practice illegal? Nope, the building is just nearing completion. Lol.

The elevator broke in these Vancouver seniors’ nine-storey building. 200 days later, it’s still not fixed. Oh god, poor people are so demanding. First they want us to give them a house and now they want elevators? God, what’s next? A sense of decency so they can contribute to society? Pffft.

Oh great: New drug mix causing harder-to-revive overdoses, sparking panic in Vancouver. ‘The morgues are full and they’ve had to rent cooling trucks to store bodies…’ Meanwhile big pharma just keeps raking it in.

I don’t know how you can read that article and then make the following comment. Don’t be a Garth Peter. Be a Travis Patrick.

Related: Drug-policy advocates plan parade through downtown Vancouver as united call for “safe supply”. Why is safe supply in scare quotes though?

You can’t make this shit up: Chinese tycoon’s son buys US$3.8 million Bugatti Chiron in Vancouver with dad’s Union Pay credit card, complains about Canadian taxes. Anybody else want to make a field trip to Drummond Drive with a sturdy set of keys?

Police Still Secretly Tracking TransLink Riders? Yes, Even More. This is why I only buy single tickets…

Should we tear down the Vancouver seawall? Good luck! We can’t even put a greenway down the middle of Granville Bridge. “The city is planning to repair parts of the Stanley Park section this summer, which is expected to cost $1.9 million. That’s without considering the effects of climate change. With rising sea levels and more powerful storms, it’s not enough to just keep fixing the walls: it needs to be rebuilt higher”. I mean, we’re already spending $1.2 billion on a hosptial on reclaimed fill below sea-level. I don’t think climate change is going to make us build a higher wall. This isn’t Westeros.

RIP: Owner of Strathcona’s popular century-old corner store dies.

On Ken Sim’s So-Called “Swagger” and ABC’S Class War

Sean Orr is back from his hiatus with a rundown of the local headlines that have been running on a ticker tape through his mind over the past six months...

On Post-Election Recuperation, Platform Paradoxes and Refund Communities

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds irony in "safety, affordability, and sustainability", and shouts out a bunch of amazing local organizations working on the frontlines.

On Running for City Council, Playing Whack-a-Mole with Homelessness, and the Public Washroom Deficit

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds a park ranger with a grudge, a gross misuse of air quotes and Tripadvisor slander.

On Living in a City Preoccupied with Street Cleaning, Chandeliers, and Campaigns Against the Homeless

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr hones in on the recent Langley shootings, and the ongoing criminalizing and dehumanizing of the homeless population.