Main Street has become a frontier for high-end real estate development.

Whether at Little Mountain, 33rd Avenue, King Edward, 16th Avenue, Broadway, South East False Creek or the Downtown Eastside, the entire Main Street corridor has been re-imagined as the new horizon for redevelopment and increased rent extraction. Right in the centre of Vancouver's working-class heart, a precedent-setting new luxury condo is in its re-zoning application phase, and has incited a battle between a large majority of concerned residents and an individual but well-heeled real estate developer.

There are many things money can buy and, to no one's great surprise, one of them is an election.

Monday's mayoral debate on homelessness and affordable housing was a heated fight -- not between the two candidates, but between the City and its residents. Mayor Gregor Robertson and mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton were supposed to face off and debate the issues, but the real debate was with the people of Vancouver.

Ashlie Gough, only 23 years old, passed away Nov. 5, 2011 during a weekend visit to Vancouver from Victoria. Ashlie passed before her time, and there is nothing more upsetting, more infuriating, than people passing before their time. This lost future has registered public attention because the overdose occurred at a political protest camp -- Occupy Vancouver. In some ways, this tragedy was a chance accident in a unique situation. But it is also true that overdoses are far more common in Vancouver than anyone would hope, and than many would prefer to acknowledge.