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Archive for July, 2006

Bumming around at an upscale eatery

Thursday, July 20th, 2006

Parking your butt cleavage at Republic requires a high-decibel conversation. If loud music and an under-30 crowd sounds appealing, head on down and try its tasty nosh

Mia Stainsby
Sun

A young blond, perched on a tall barstool, flashes butt cleavage like a peacock displays its feathers. Two suits perched a couple of seats away cop glances and when she leaves, they burst into schoolboy laughter. Hand gestures give an imaginary squeeze to the departed bottom. Eee-yewww.

It’s my second visit to Republic and both times, I’m an alien. Or so it seemed. I just wanted to get back on my spaceship and like ET, go home.

But it’s me. Middle-aged, anti-bum cleavage, noise-sensitive me. Republic is a restaurant/pub/lounge intended for a younger audience who can tolerate high-decibel conversation, umpteen flat-screen TVs and loud music. And there is a market for upscale watering holes like Republic. Next to us, a table of 10 work colleagues drink beers and wine, nosh on starters and have a good time. We were one of the few people having a full meal.

On the first visit, we sat upstairs. I worried about plunging 20 feet to the main floor from my high stool next to the railing. “What if?” I posed to my husband. “Can I finish watching the game if that happens?” he queried, clearly not as alienated as I.

The second floor of this late-night establishment morphs into a clubby scene with DJs and dancing as night falls.

As far as the food is concerned, it’s better than most pub food and priced just as reasonably. The offerings are a mix of pub-style casual dishes and more substantial ones like the grilled lamb rack with roasted green apple, walnut, mint salad and blue cheese fritters and the barbecued wild salmon fillet with warm potato salad, ancho chili and lime barbecue sauce. The lamb, by the way, is very well priced at $18 and nicely prepared.

Thumbs up also to the calamari and an arugula salad with charred vine tomatoes, although the parmesan shavings were not too tasty.

Despite my plan not to finish the “Fat Hamburger And Skinny Fries”, my plate, somehow, was cleaned out. A little dry, the burger did need a few whacks from the bottles of condiments permanently placed on the tables. A porcini ravioli with a mustard cream sauce was yummy. When we ordered the grilled butter chicken sausages, the server squealed in delight. “I’m so excited for you!” said the server, who probably does the equivalent of two Grouse Grinds by the end of shift — the kitchen is on level two and the stairs have three landings.

I wasn’t thrilled with the coconut wild salmon fish sticks — not the best use of salmon and the hoisin marinated short ribs were too leathery and chewy. A warm chocolate and amaretti cake held no sway with its damp, doughy texture but the vanilla bean gelato beside it was good.

Republic is one of many holdings under the Donnelly Group. The small dynasty of pub-bar-lounge-style facilities started with Bimini’s Tap House on West Fourth wa-ay back when but now includes Bar None, Denman Freehouse, Granville Room and Library Square Public House. Granville Room probably had some of the better food on Granville Mall, until the swanky Sanafir set up shop a few blocks away.

If you’re a sports fiend, or under 30 and want to cut loose with friends, the night-time Republic is for you. Lunch would have more mass appeal, drawing office workers and shoppers with a nice selection of sandwiches, salads, pasta and starters.

– Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.

– – –

REPUBLIC

Overall: 3

Food: 3 1/2

Ambience: 3

Service: 3

Price $$

958 Granville St., 604-669-3266.

Open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., every day.

www.republicbar.ca

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Gateway given green light

Thursday, July 20th, 2006

Divided board approves bridge twinning, roadwork

Andy Ivens
Province

Artist’s conception of the Port Mann Bridge after it is twinned under TransLink’s Gateway Project.

The cities of Vancouver and Burnaby oppose it, but Greater Vancouver yesterday gave the green light to the Gateway Project proposed by the province to relieve traffic congestion on Highway 1.

A fractious TransLink board meeting yesterday produced an 8-4 verdict in favour of the $3-billion plan to twin the Port Mann Bridge, widen the freeway from Vancouver to Langley and build the North and South Fraser perimeter roads.

A condition attached to TransLink’s approval was that tolls be placed on the Port Mann Bridge to fund the project, manage traffic volumes and promote efficiency.

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan was outspoken in his criticism of the plan to widen the highway and twin the Port Mann Bridge, which he said would inundate his city with traffic to and from other regions.

“We cannot accept one more car,” Corrigan said. “This is fundamentally a wrong decision.”

He called it “a complete U-turn on what we’ve been doing with the Livable Region Strategic Plan. It was a trip back to the ’50s — that building more highways will solve your problem.”

Corrigan predicted the two more lanes of highway slated for Burnaby would be congested in five years.

Surrey Coun. Marvin Hunt said adding three lanes to the Port Mann crossing — increasing it to eight lanes from five — will speed up the flow of goods and reduce pollution from the thousands of cars crawling through the notorious bottleneck.

One feature of growth in the suburbs has been the increase in north-south traffic over the Port Mann, he noted.

“One-third of traffic entering [Highway 1] in Surrey exits in Coquitlam,” said Hunt.

The TransLink staff recommendation that the two perimeter roads be built before twinning the Port Mann and widening B.C.’s busiest highway was also passed by the board.

The North Fraser Perimeter Road would run from Maple Ridge, over a new Pitt River Bridge, through the New Westminster waterfront to Queensborough Bridge.

The South Fraser Perimeter Road would connect Deltaport to the new Golden Ears Bridge at 200th Street in Langley by skirting the southern shore of the Fraser River.

Corrigan was joined by Vancouver’s three TransLink board members — Mayor Sam Sullivan, Coun. Peter Ladner and Coun. Suzanne Anton — in opposition.

“I agree with Mr. Corrigan,” said Anton. “There are alternatives, and we should delay the planning of this bridge.”

Anton noted Vancouverites walk more than they used to, and the city’s opposition to freeways, dating back 30 years, has made it more livable.

“Adding roads, traffic and this great big bridge is the wrong way to go,” she said.

Corrigan listed alternatives to increasing the bridge and highway capacity — extend SkyTrain to Guildford; use waterways and existing rail corridors to move goods and services.

“Goods and services have to move at night,” he said.

“When they must move [by] day, they should use the [high-occupancy vehicle] lanes in non-peak hours.”

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Deposit on Contract & Purchase & Sale – Seller can back out

Wednesday, July 19th, 2006

LEGALLY SPEAKING

Other

In a case where a seller refused to accept a deposit cheque, a Supreme Court judge gave an answer to a problem we didn’t know we had in the Contract of Purchase and Sale (CPS).

The seller had agreed to sell his property for $975,000, but wanted the buyer to pay the deposit of $20,000 directly to him. The second paragraph of the CPS, the deposit section, was altered by the handwritten addition: “Upon all subject removals $20,000 will be paid to (seller) and become non-refundable.”

Immediately following this sentence, the printed portion of the second paragraph reads as follows: “All monies paid pursuant to this section (Deposit) will be delivered in trust to (brokerage) and held in trust in accordance with the provisions of the Real Estate Act.” This sentence wasn’t deleted, but should’ve been because of the obvious conflict between it and the previous sentence.

The conditions were removed on the last day available to the buyer, who delivered the deposit late to the listing agent in the evening. This is where the contract went sideways—two deposit cheques were issued by business partners of the buyer, who were neither parties to the contract nor known to the seller. The seller refused to accept a replacement cheque from the buyer the following day. He asserted that the tender of payment pursuant to paragraph 10 was defective because time was of the essence, and delivery of the buyer’s cheque was too late. As per paragraph 10 of the CPS, “Tender or payment of monies by the Buyer to the Seller will be by certified cheque, bank draft, cash or Lawyer’s/Notary’s trust cheque.”

When the buyer sued for specific performance, the seller contended the cheques weren’t certified. The buyer’s argument was that paragraph 10 only applied to the tender of monies payable on completion, an argument supported by evidence that this was the custom in real estate transactions. However, the judge didn’t agree that paragraph 10 should be interpreted as if “monies” and “the balance of the purchase price” meant the same.

The seller’s defence that he should’ve received the buyer’s certified deposit cheque succeeded. Because of this decision, the judge didn’t deal with the question of whether the use of third-party cheques breached paragraph 10.

A licensee asked whether a CPS that’s subject to a buyer arranging financing is too uncertain to be enforceable. Decisions from the late 1980s held that contracts subject to “satisfactory personal financing,” “suitable financing” and “satisfactory mortgage” were all uncertain. However, column 121 discusses the interpretation of a contract conditional upon the buyer being able to “arrange satisfactory financing.” The BC Court of Appeal decided this wording had “ascertainable meaning” and was not uncertain. This decision was followed in the BC Supreme Court case referred to in column 214.

Another licensee asked whether a disappointed buyer’s agent, whose offer at the price and upon the terms of the Multiple Listing Contract was rejected by the seller, could sue the listing agent for the share of commission offered to a buyer’s agent. The answer is no. The listing agent only agrees to pay a portion of the commission to the buyer’s agent who assists in obtaining someone who buys the property, not someone whose offer is rejected.

Legally Speaking is published monthly by email and bimonthly in print by the British Columbia Real Estate Association, and funded in part by The Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia. Real estate boards, real estate associations and licensed REALTORS® may reprint this content, provided that credit is given to BCREA by including the following statement: “Copyright British Columbia Real Estate Association. Reprinted with permission.” BCREA makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of this information.

Copyright © British Columbia Real Estate Association
600 – 2695 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC V6H 3H4
Phone 604.683.7702
Fax 604.683.8601
http://www.bcrea.bc.ca/
[email protected]

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Non-residential construction to boost economic growth

Tuesday, July 18th, 2006

Gross domestic product forecast to bounce back to 4 from 3.5 per cent with Olympic projects

Fiona Anderson
Sun

Spending on infrastructure and major projects leading up to the 2010 Olympics will continue to fuel British Columbia’s construction boom and lead to growth that outpaces the national average, BMO Financial Group said in a report released Monday.

Growth in the province’s real gross domestic product was second only to Alberta in 2005, but at 3.5 per cent it was down slightly from 4.0 per cent in 2004. However, BMO expects B.C.’s economy to bounce back to 4.0-per-cent growth in 2006, behind both Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, which are expected to enjoy growth of 5.2 per cent and 5.0 per cent respectively.

But that puts B.C. well ahead of the national average of 3.1 per cent, “an indication of fairly strong growth,” BMO’s assistant chief economist Paul Ferley said in an interview.

Fueling the growth is construction leading up to the 2010 Olympics.

“Construction spending will remain fairly strong this year, a lot of it relating to the 2010 Olympics … and that will help support growth through 2006,” Ferley said.

The province’s construction boom is in its fourth year, with housing starts expected to reach a 12-year high in 2006, but drop off in 2007.

But while residential construction may taper off, a high level of non-residential construction will continue, at least for the next few years, according to the report. A survey of investment intentions carried out by Statistics Canada showed an anticipated 9.5-per-cent increase in non-residential construction in 2006, with almost all of the increase coming from public investment, which is expected to jump 20 per cent. In the first four months of 2006, institutional and governmental building permits were up 25.2 per cent in the province, the report said.

Many major projects currently under construction or expected to start over the medium term, including transportation infrastructure projects and preparations for the 2010 Olympics, should keep the construction boom going in B.C. for several years, the report said. But as the Olympics approach and projects wind down, so will economic growth, with real GDP expected to increase only 3.5 per cent in 2007 and 3.2 in 2008 to 2010.

And though the construction sector continues to boom, the five-per-cent growth the sector enjoyed in 2005 was well below the growth of 8.7 per cent in 2004 and 13.8 per cent in 2003, which reflected the active housing construction industry.

“The pickup in housing was the mainstay in those earlier years and what we’re moving into is an environment where it’s non-residential construction that takes more of the lead, Ferley said. “But that’s not generating quite the activity that housing construction did.”

While BMO expects expects mortgage rates to rise.

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2 firms pay the price for using unlicensed software

Tuesday, July 18th, 2006

Richmond, Victoria businesses settle for a total of $31,279

Peter Wilson
Sun

Two British Columbia companies have agreed to pay a total of $31,279 to settle claims that they used unlicensed software on their computers.

The heftiest amount, $18,799, was levied against Richmond’s Brican Systems Corp., which provides marketing and educational tools for chiropractors and optometrists, according to the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft and the Business Software Alliance.

A self-audit at Brican found it had more copies of Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec programs installed on its computers than it had licences to support, said CAAST and the United States-based BSA.

Victoria’s online learning content and applications provider eTraffic Solutions agreed to pay $12,500 after a self-audit found that it was using more copies of Microsoft and Symantec programs on its computers than it had licences for.

These settlements came as part of $250,000 in total fines levied on 11 companies across Canada — nine of them in Ontario and Alberta.

BSA’s senior enforcement attorney David Majors said in an interview that the British Columbia cases are the result of tips received at the CAAST hotline (1-800-263-9700) or online at CAAST.org.

“In the majority of these cases, if we’re going to proceed we will have the CAAST attorneys contact the company and request that they do a self-audit to find what they have installed on their computers and what kind of licenses they own and compare that,” said Majors.

He added that CAAST sees many cases in which the use of the unlicensed software is inadvertent.

“They could grow rapidly and then they just don’t go out and purchase the licences they need,” said Major.

“For example, they would get one copy of a program and install it across the board and they would have new computers coming online all the time.

“But there certainly are cases where it’s not inadvertent.”

The bottom line, said Major, is that a settlement has been reached.

“In these cases, the companies cooperated with us, they’ve done the audit and we’ve come to an agreement.”

Majors said the penalties are negotiated on a case-by-case basis depending on the amount of unlicensed software.

He said 33 per cent of all software installed on corporate computers in Canada is believed to be pirated.

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iPods threaten data security says survey

Monday, July 17th, 2006

Massive data files are carried on MP3 players, BlackBerrys and wafer-thin chips

Gillian Shaw
Sun

Small memory cards like this Memorex Mega TravelDrive puts a goldmine of data in an employee’s pocket.

The ubiquitous iPod, once thought to be a risk only to one’s hearing, is now regarded as a potential threat to corporate security. It and various MP3 players are now banned in the workplace by 30 per cent of mid- and large-sized businesses across Canada.

Personal laptops and tiny USB memory keys that can carry vast amounts of data are also forbidden by half of all businesses, according to a survey by Ipsos Reid for Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc. being released today.

“You could have millions of customer names and addresses on some of these devices that could be carried out in someone’s pocket,” said Andy Canham, president of Sun Microsystems of Canada. “A lot of people have done good work on locking and barring the front door, but they don’t understand there is a huge back door they are not aware of, or they haven’t figured how to address it correctly.”

The gaping back door is an increasingly mobile workforce, with employees carrying potential data goldmines in their pockets or briefcases on everything from wafer-thin memory cards to BlackBerrys, personal digital assistants, cellphones and notebook computers.

The data can inadvertently go astray when a device is lost or stolen, or it can be deliberately carried out by disillusioned employees or others who gain access to confidential corporate files.

Canham said companies that find that customer information has gone missing face a credibility crisis — one that can severely damage their brand. He pointed out that, according to the Ipsos Reid study, some 28 per cent of customers would be prepared to immediately terminate their relationship with a company if they discovered that it had compromised their personal information.

“Where we see most of the concern from consumers is things as basic as your name, your credit card number, the expiry date, your home address,” he said.

In the hands of identity thieves that kind of information can wreak havoc.

Canham pointed out that three per cent of the respondents in the survey have personally been prey to identity theft in the past year.

“How many times does each of us leave a cellphone in a taxi?” said Canham. “There can be not only cellphone numbers, there can be photographs, there can be videos, and there can also be MP3 players that can store amazing amounts of information.”

An eight-gigabyte compact flash memory, the size of an after-dinner mint wafer, can hold approximately a half-million pages of text, or 800,000 e-mails. iPods can hold up to 60 gigabytes.

With wireless technology and advances in mobile computing improving efficiency and productivity, Canham said there is no reversing the obvious trend, but companies must combine policies, processes and tools with education for employees to safeguard data.

“That’s the dilemma,” he said. “Do you want to stop somebody from bringing their cellphone home? Probably not. We think it is going to be difficult to turn technology back. It will continue to advance, and companies will want to take advantage of it.”

Canham said his company has worked with clients to mitigate the threat of data loss through such measures as thin client computers that have only a screen and keyboard, and no data residing on the machine.

“You can run all kinds of traditional applications, but in a secure environment, and if someone broke into your house and stole it, they wouldn’t have anything but a screen and a keyboard,” he said.

The survey found that while companies are taking measures to mitigate the risk of data loss, only 32 per cent of executives surveyed believe their businesses are performing at optimum levels to prevent and manage potential attacks.

The study also found that:

– Seven out of 10 executives believe there is room for improvement in preventing risk among their mobile workforce.

– 17 per cent say they have a very poor understanding of the risks associated with remote or wireless access.

– 13 per cent believe they are doing a poor job at mitigating risks.

– 11 per cent say they are not applying proper procedures to successfully deal with security breaches.

– 42 per cent said the greatest negative impact a security breach will have on their operations is theft of customer information.

– Nine out of 10 companies surveyed provide company cellphones to some of their employees, and almost as many provide laptop computers to employees to access the workplace from outside.

– Currently, 22 per cent of the Canadian workforce on average has remote access to a corporate Intranet, but that figure is expected to climb to almost 30 per cent within the next year.

– Among companies that did not offer remote access, 72 per cent said security concerns influenced that decision.

Data for the survey was collected from March to May of this year from 259 companies.

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World’s first global online search engine for condos

Saturday, July 15th, 2006

Sun

Cliff Bowman, president of Vancouver-based Builders International Real Estate Marketing Corp., has launched the “world’s first global online search engine” that allows consumers to shop for condominium properties worldwide by location, price and lifestyle.

The website is an expanded Internet version of Bowman’s one-stop “auto mall” for condos — The City and Country Condo Centre — which he opened at 400 Robson St. in 2004.

The condo centre features several local projects, while the website at Condocenter.com allows homebuyers to view residential and recreational real estate opportunities in cities and countries around the world, according to their lifestyle, the locations of choice, type of residence and price point.

Condocenter.com has 200 new projects listed, featuring hundreds of available condos.

“Before Condocenter.com, it was extremely difficult for buyers to search and compare features or costs across a broad selection of urban and resort condo properties located throughout the world,” says Bowman.

“Now it is all in one place as buyers continue to evolve towards a ‘lock and leave’ freedom of lifestyle.”

HOME-BUILDING SEMINAR

A seminar for people thinking of building a home will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 22 at the office of the Great Vancouver Home Builders’ Association at 15463 — 104th Ave., Surrey.

Housing-technology experts from GVHBA, B.C. Hydro, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. and Terasen Gas will offer information and suggestions.

Richard Kadulski, an award-winning architect, proponent of leading-edge housing technology and member of GVHBA Technical Committee, says the seminar team will highlight the latest innovations in construction technology, design, indoor air quality and green initiatives.

“Topics will be discussed in an interactive classroom format. Also, lots of printed material on newly developed products and services will be available free at the workshop,” says Kadulski.

Allan Dobie, senior researcher at CMHC, will be presenting Net Zero Energy Healthy House, a CMHC initiative that involves the integration of renewable energy resources with indoor environment strategies.