Vancouver city council has approved a new flat rate of two dollars per hour for parking meters throughout the Chinatown neighbourhood.
Mayor Ken Sim says the community has called the cost of parking a barrier to visiting and doing business in Chinatown.
The new flat rate will take effect June 1st and run from 9 a-m to 10 p-m, seven days a week.
The pilot program will be in place until the end of 2024.
Councillors have voted unanimously in favour of a ban on the noisy, fume-producing tools, including chainsaws and lawn mowers. Users, from homeowners to professional landscaping companies, will have three years to phase out gas-powered items.
RCMP Cpl. Andres Sanchez describes the items as looking and feeling like "the real thing," but lacking the internal parts required to explode. He says airport security staff called 911 and held the bag in the X-ray machine until police arrived and found that a second bag belonging to the same man was also inside the machine, but it had yet to be scanned.
The city says in a written statement that the RCMP and firefighters responded to the scene and several businesses were evacuated. It says police and WorkSafeBC are investigating how the ammonia was released, and the coroners service has also launched an investigation.
The report released Thursday advises that sellers be required to provide reasonable access for a property inspection during the three-day homebuyer protection period, which would start the day after an offer is accepted.
On Friday, May 13, 2022, just before 4:30 p.m., a woman was sitting on a bench inside Pacific Centre Mall, near Granville Station, when a man allegedly approached her, touched her hip and attempted to pull her toward him. The suspect was interrupted by a Paladin Security Guard who shouted at him to stop and then called police.
Police say they were called to the parking lot of a large shopping mall in central Abbotsford at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. An unnamed man was found with life-threatening injuries and was treated in hospital but died a short time later.