With Once Upon a Time wrapping up its filming in Steveston for good, a new Steveston filmed television series is ready to take over the streets, bringing viewers into a whole new fantasy world.

Siren, which will air on ABC Spark Canada, is a thriller that brings mermaid legends to life.

So from 'Storybrooke' - Steveston will now convert to 'Bristol Cove', a town that's obsessed with mermaids thrown into chaos - when a mysterious girl appears.

The first, 10- episode season of the new series was also filmed in Vancouver and Port Moody.

Will this new show attract similar attention that ' Once Upon a Time' did, drawing tourists from all over for a visit to Steveston?

New revelations about a U.K. data firm gathering data from 50 million users has changed how many Canadians view Facebook.

According to a recent survey, almost 75% of Facebook users in Canada say they are at least making some changes to how they interact with the social media platform, 27% say they will keep using Facebook as usual and 10% say they plan on abandoning the platform all together.

The majority of B.C.'s Facebook users are on alert - with more than half saying they will make changes as to how they use the social platform, including 37% who say they will keep using Facebook but check and/or change their privacy setting and 27% say they will use Facebook less. 7% of BCer's say they will suspend their account and 5% are planning  on deleting Facebook.

What are your plans?

Whether you're skiing or camping you know how annoying it can be to get ahold of your friends (or even kids)! Well the goTenna can solve messaging without cell service by using an app to communicate and share locations with friends or family who also have a goTenna on them.

With a 4 mile point to point range and 24 hour battery life, it's the perfect accessory for throwing into your bag when you head out skiing or camping.

Additionally, if you aren't in range of your friends your message will hop off other goTenna mesh users that are nearby to send your message securely and correctly. A great safety idea!!

JUNO Week is in full swing, ahead of the highly-anticipated awards show this Sunday.

Michael Buble will host the ceremony which will take place at Rogers Arena. Don't worry if you don't have tickets - the ceremony will be broadcast nationwide so you won't miss out on any of the action.

The JUNO celebrations start today with a live weekend festival at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Let's Hear It! Live - Vancouver is a 2 day outdoor music festival where you will see the city join together at the Vancouver Art Gallery Plaza.  BC's top talent from a wide range of music scenes will be showcased at the event. Expect unforgettable moments with surprise guest performers and collaborations throughout the 2 days.  The event is set to kick off with a performance by the Coast Salish Nations. Check out the full schedule and ENJOY!

Have you ever gone to an auto repair shop for an oil change, only to have the mechanic say you need to have some serious repairs done? Or has the mysterious 'check engine' light come on, and the next thing you know the mechanic has a list of engine parts that need replacing?

Now there's a way to help you avoid any of these issues! Introducing FIXD...an easy to use maintenance monitor that gives you real time diagnostic results right on your phone.

A new affordable device that plugs into you car's OBC (on-board diagnotics) port - the very same port that mechanics use to figure out what's wrong with your car.

Every car built since 1996 has this port. This device is simple to use in 3 easy steps.

1) Plug it into your car's port - takes less than 60 second and anyone can do it.

2) Sync it with your phone - using the free app (available on Adroid and IOS)

3) Start getting health updates immediately - just like that, your car tells you how it's doing and what is needs. And based on your cars make, model and year, FIXD sends your phone notifications about upcoming oil changes and scheduled maintenance needs, and more.

Now, when your 'Check Engine' light comes on, FIXD tells you exactly what's causing it, in a way anyone can understand.

You can also turn off your check engine light right from the FIXD app if the problem is not serious or if you want to see if it will reoccur.

With over 40,000 cherry trees lining the streets of Vancouver, it's time to celebrate the pink blossoms that dominate the neighbourhoods in the springtime. The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival runs from the end of March to the middle of April each year and offers a calendar full of opportunities.

My favourite is the Bike The Blossoms bike ride with is a free tour that starts out by Trout Lake and winds through of Vancouver's blooming neighbhourhoods, led by a Vancouver Parks Board arborist.

You can also lace up your walking shoes and take part in the guided tour, Tree Talks and Walks. This walk actually starts before the official kick off to include some of the neighbourhoods that are planted with early blooming varieties. The dates haven't been set yet, so check the site for dates and times. Enjoy.

Vancouver City council votes on a staff report next week that, if approved, will see Vancouver become one of the 1st cities in the world that would require new residential buildings to be 100% electric ready.

The report calls for all parking spots - excluding visitor parking - to be equipped with charging infrastructure, a significant increase over the current required 20%.

The report also recommends building more Fast Charging hubs and creating reserved parking stalls for zero-emission vehicles at city owned EasyPark lots.

The city's goal is to be 100% renewably powered by 2050, but it can't be done without providing the infrastucture people need in order to make the transition.

Vancouver has the largest municipal fleet of 30 electric vehicles in Canada, powered by more than 70 city owned charging stations, which are among the most heavily used in the province and electric vehicle sales are projected to steadily increase - 70% year over year from 2011.

With more electric vehicles on the road, the city says the need for convenient charging stations is greater than ever.

Do you currently own an electric vehicle? Do you plan on buying one?

The Altus Group's Canadian Construction Cost Guide for 2018 has been released. A high-quality 2,000 square foot detached house in Vancouver would cost up to $460,000 to build, while in Toronto the same house would cost $420,000 and in Montreal, Calgary or Halifax, it would run you around $300,000.

This price spread is also there in the condo sector.

In Vancouver, for example, you would pay $250 per square foot for a high-quality 4 storey wood frame condo. This compares with $195 per square foot in Toronto and $175 or less in nearly every other city in the country.

These estimates are for hard contruction costs only and do not include land values or any of the soft costs, including profit.

The Altus Group did not provide an explanation why these costs vary so much from region to region. Any thoughts?

So far about 98% of the city's homeowners have declared their properties. Of those a total of 6,349 were either declared vacant by the owner or claimed an exemption, with many of them ending up being taxed. 

The homeowners that have not declared, which is about 2%, or about 2,132 homes will automatically be deemed vacant and will be issued a tax bill this month, with a payment deadline of April 16th. If each of these property's is worth about $1 million, as most of them are condos, that would raise about another $21 million in tax revenue.

The empty home tax is 1% of the property's assessed value.

Will this be enough to encourage most of these 8,000 plus properties to became rentals? Is this a step in the right direction?

With Lower Mainland housing prices soaring past our incomes in the last couple of decades we are moving further and further away. Some young people looking to buy a home are now looking at places like Abbotsford, Chilliwack and even as far as Hope, which is 155 km away from Vancouver. Cities that used to draw these young first-time buyers like Surrey and Langley are getting too expensive.

With affordable housing moving so far out, Vancouver commuters really have to do their math with our increasing gas prices. How about a high speed train? Would you consider living in the Fraser Valley and commuting to Vancouver for work if you had the option to ride a high speed train?

Does B.C's Motor Vehicle Act need an update to better reflect modern day use of our roads?

The Motor Vehicle Act was written in 1957 and hasn't really changed fundamentally since then. It should be modernized and be recognized that it doesn't just regulate motor vehicles, but how we share public space and the rights and responsibilities have to be divided up between cyclists, pedestrians and vehicle users.

Back in 1957, motorists were the primary consideration. Since that time, car volume has increased by 1,400% and cycling volumes have increased by 300%.

The Road Safety Law Reform Group of BC is recommending 25 changes to the existing act, including changing the name to the Road Safety Act, adding rules for cyclist and pedestrian safety and adding fines for violations that theaten vulnerable road users.

Some of the recommendations include:

Amending the MVA to include the definition 'vulnerable road user', which means pedestrians and operators cycles, including motorcycles.

Set the default provincial speed limit to 30 km/h for local streets that do not have a centre line and specify that a vehicle must be at least 1 metre away when passing a cyclist.

What would you like to see included in a new Act?

A new carshare... or should I say bikeshare... company called Veemo has launched. Veemo is sort of a new electric-assist solar-powered enclosed tricycle out at UBC that you can take for a ride after signing up for their service.

Since the vehicles are classified as bicycles you can ride...or drive...them in the bike lanes and  park them as you would a bicycle.

Much like Evo and Car2Go, but with a more eco-forward mission, Veemo's next move will be into the downtown core. Beyond that they are considering a more global expansion as well as selling bikes directly to consumers. 

Sounds like a great idea - I Want One!