U.S. war resister fights to remain in B.C.

THE WESTENDER
December 24, 2008

It’s been a tense two weeks since 28-year-old Iraq war resister Cliff Cornell received a deportation notice demanding that he leave Canada by December 24 or face “removal by force.” By the end of last week, however, Cornell’s notice was extended to January 22, allowing him some relief over the holidays, which he will spend at his adopted home on Gabriola Island.

Originally from Arkansas, Cornell joined the U.S. military when he was 22, banking on a promise from a military recruiter that he would receive $9,000 as a sign-up bonus, plus job training and better employment prospects after serving in the army. Cornell’s unit was to be deployed to Iraq just after Christmas 2004. In January 2005, Cornell escaped to Toronto and drove to Victoria with fellow war resister Ryan Johnson. “I did not want to kill innocent people,” says Cornell. “The hardest thing was leaving my friends; I felt like I betrayed them. But I know I did the right thing. I am not killing women or children. If that makes me a chicken, so be it.”

Upon arrival at Gabriola Island, Cornell did odd jobs until landing a position at a grocery store. “They were really supportive of my choice, and I’ve been there every day since — two and a half years,” Cornell says. “I love it here.”

It was at the grocery store that Cornell met Mickey McDonald, who was working in the meat department at the time and is now retired. “He was going from place to place; he just needed some roots,” McDonald recalls. He offered him a spare room in his house; Cornell has been renting a room there for the past seven months. “He’s been a great roommate. I’ve got nothing but good to say about him,” McDonald says. “When I was younger, I said, ‘War is war,’ but when you get older, you realize it’s just such a stupid thing.”

When and if Cornell is sent back to the U.S., he will be arrested and likely sent to military prison. For now, he will continue to work at the grocery store as well as work with a lawyer on fighting his deportation. “We grew up with the propaganda that the U.S. was great and it never did anything wrong,” says Cornell. “I joined the army to do what I could to help my country, but I did not join to kill innocent people. If I knew that, I would never have joined.”

Council makes plans for 2009

THE WESTENDER
December 24, 2008

In its final meeting of the year, which ran a lengthy five hours, Vancouver City Council passed three motions that will have City staff working hard in 2009. The motions include drafting a report on how to better enforce the Standards of Maintenance bylaw, which concerns landlords’ obligations for building upkeep; an implementation plan for the Burrard Bridge; and submitting a request to the province to amend the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA) as part of efforts to boost tenants’ rights.

Lone NPA councillor Suzanne Anton was the only councillor who opposed the motions about the Burrard Bridge and Residential Tenancy Act, instead favouring the original NPA plans to build a sidewalk barrier on the Burrard Bridge and to carry out a more thorough examination of what the City can do to produce more rental stock. She supported the motion about the Standards of Maintenance bylaw.

Anton expressed particular concern for her colleagues’ interest in amending the RTA. “We need to focus on what we can do,” she said at the meeting. “Sending [the motion] away and asking the province to do something [only] looks like we’re doing something, but the important thing we can do is what we’re [already] doing..., which is to promote the building of new units.”

Anton said she believes the City needs to allow for more high-capacity rental buildings in Vancouver, in order to create more units for prospective tenants, who currently face a vacancy rate of 0.3 per cent. “We need to have enough housing in the city for people to live in,” she said. “We’ve got a moratorium on tearing the old buildings down and building new buildings. I’m hoping we can lift that moratorium.”

Meeting attendee Paul Sander, who identified himself as a landlord on the council speakers’ list, also opposed the RTA motion. When Councillor Tim Stevenson asked him if he was affiliated with controversial rental-property management firm Hollyburn Properties, Sander replied, “I could be.” A man of the same name is the CEO of Hollyburn Properties.

“There is already a system of checks and balances in place,” Sander said of the motion. He also criticized council’s use of the word “loophole” in the motion. “The word ‘loophole’ is used incorrectly in this motion. It is not accurate,” he said. “The word ‘loophole’ was derived from tenant-activist groups and the media. It refers to law.”

As for Sander’s argument that the word “loophole” was used incorrectly in the motion, another meeting attendee, Brian Broster, begged to differ. He is a resident of the Seafield, a 77-year-old apartment building whose tenants are facing imminent eviction by its new owners in order to clear the way for renovations. “The loophole is admitted by not only the Supreme Court, but also the government in power,” he said, referring to Supreme Court cases that stated there is a loophole in the RTA, as well as a meeting Broster and other Seafield residents had with BC Liberal housing minister Rich Coleman. “Only the bad landlords that want to essentially gouge rents and reno-vict the tenants are the ones who are complaining. Good landlords will continue to maintain their buildings [within] the rent increases allowed every year.”

Teachers' union to boycott standardized test

THE WESTENDER
December 24, 2008

The newly elected Vancouver School Board (VSB) will hold a public meeting in early January to attempt to resolve long-standing controversy surrounding the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), a mandatory standardized test of literacy, numeracy, and writing administered annually to students in Grade 4 and Grade 7. The FSA is the only standardized test taken by all public school students in B.C., and results are compiled by the Fraser Institute, a national research organization, to produce an annual report card that ranks schools academically.

The FSA — as well as its Fraser Institute affiliations — has been criticized by the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF). Members of the teachers’ union are planning to boycott the next round of tests, scheduled for February. “The FSAs drain much-needed time and resources away from teaching and learning,” says BCTF president Irene Lanzinger. “This particular standardized test is unfair, does not help students learn, and is not an accurate measure of student progress.”

The four-and-a-half-hour exam is administered over the course of approximately two weeks, from which the Fraser Institute has been compiling results since 1998 in a set of annual report cards. The BCTF says the reports “erode confidence in public schools.”

In light of the boycott threat, Education Minister Shirley Bond is calling on the BCTF to stop protesting what she sees as an “important tool” for educators and parents. “The FSA is responsible, effective, and supports student success,” Bond wrote in a public statement. “Every parent has a right to know how their child is doing in school.”

The BCTF wants the province to instate a random-sampling approach to administering the FSA, rather than having all students in the province take the test, but Fraser Institute researcher Peter Cowley maintains that the FSA’s strength lies in the fact that it is a mandatory test for all students. Cowley, who works as the Director of School Performance Studies, has co-authored the Fraser Institute’s annual report cards since their inception. “What [the FSAs] are is a source of objective information with regard to how schools are doing in academics, for parents,” he says. “It just doesn’t sound very evil. It is the only assessment that all the kids in the province take.”

Cowley says the report cards are extremely popular among parents who want to know how their children’s schools compare to others, and that they have the potential to provide healthy competition for educators. “Everyone should be interested in how everyone else is doing so they can improve themselves,” he says. “If you say it’s unfair to compare schools with different family characteristics among the students, then what you’re saying is that the families with relatively low income, or the families who may be aboriginal, or the families where kids have special needs — all those people should not expect that their kids can excel in school.”

In an effort to resolve the FSA controversy in time for the next projected round of testing in February, the VSB will hold its special public meeting Wednesday, January 7, at the Vancouver School Board Office (1580 West Broadway), starting at 5:30 p.m.

“The best-case [scenario] is that [the BCTF and Ministry of Education] get it worked out to a mutually satisfactory outcome, so schools can get on dealing with the teaching and learning process,” says VSB chair Patti Bacchus. “We want to gather as much information as possible.”

Mayor launches homeless task force

THE WESTENDER
December 18, 2008

On Monday (December 15), First United Church, at Hastings and Gore Streets, began extending its operating hours to serve as an overnight shelter, marking the beginning of an aggressive homelessness task force that was set in motion by Mayor Gregor Robertson the day after he was sworn into office. Robertson phoned First United Church Reverend Ric Matthews on the evening of December 7, and within 48 hours a plan — and funding — was in place to allow up to 150 people to sleep on the floor and in the pews of the First United sanctuary, which was already open for similar purposes during the day. The initiative is funded by a $30,000 grant shared equally between the City of Vancouver, the province, and St. Andrew’s-Wesley Church, a sister parish to First United.

The overnight-shelter plan is the first project out of the gates from Robertson’s 13-person HEAT (Homeless Emergency Action Team), whose members include Vancouver police chief Jim Chu; City of Vancouver housing outreach coordinator Judy Graves; and Patricia Daly, chief medical officer of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. The rapid assembly of the task force is not without its growing pains (“I’ve been out of the country for the last three weeks, and just received a note when I was gone asking if I would participate,” says HEAT member and BC Housing CEO Shane Ramsay), but it is an unprecedented move that homeless advocates hope will deliver much-needed shelter to the city’s homeless during the coldest time of the year. The HEAT team is part of Robertson’s 90-day action plan to tackle homelessness. First United’s program will operate on a trial basis during that time.

“It’s a 48-hour period when, for us, the whole world changed,” Rev. Matthews says about the swift move to start overnight shelter. The deal was struck so quickly, however, that there was not enough time to notify all church staff and board members before Robertson and Matthews publicly announced their plan. “There’s going to be a surprise to many members of St. Andrew’s-Wesley who should have been in a position to know about this before, so that’s the risk of moving fast,” Rev. Matthews says. “I have no doubt we’ll have some teething problems in trying to put this together because we’ve moved so fast.”

Despite the challenges, First United has managed, in a one-week period, to hire additional overnight support staff to work during the new operating hours. Rev. Matthews contends they couldn’t have moved fast enough, considering the snowfall and freezing temperatures that saw extreme-weather shelters crowded over the weekend. “Can you start soon enough? No,” he says, “and whether the cynical among us see it as purely political posturing — I don’t think it matters to the person who’s going to be sleeping out in the cold whether it’s political posturing or not.”

In her 16 years working at Atira Women’s Resource Society, executive director and HEAT member Janice Abbott has never seen an initiative like the mayor’s task force on homelessness. “It’s unprecedented, and it’s great,” she says. “It’s not a solution, but people need to be inside. People die of pneumonia... most die quietly at St. Paul’s Hospital. There’s another problem and a longer-term solution that we need to address, but people outside now don’t have time to wait for us to come up with the perfect solution.”

BC Housing will open 455 new units of supportive housing throughout Vancouver next year, most of which are on City-owned land. “The ultimate goal is to... open up the next units next year, because those are better forms of supportive housing,” says BC Housing CEO Shane Ramsay. “It’s great to get people out of the cold and the wet [and into] the First United Church, but way better to have them have their own place to go home.”

For many, however, First United is the closest place that feels like home. “This is family; this is part of their community,” says Matthews of his church. At an October 22 debate between Robertson and Peter Ladner during the mayoral campaign, Rev. Matthews, who was serving as moderator, relayed the story of a young man who slit his wrists in the church bathroom the previous week. He was saved when a parishioner saw his blood flowing out from under the door. “I didn’t want to kill myself on the street where no one would know, no one would care,” the man told Rev. Matthews after he recovered and returned to apologize for the disturbance caused by the episode. “This church felt like home.”

Casting light into darkness

THE WESTENDER
December 18, 2008

In the midst of a holiday season that, for some, is marked by loneliness, dysfunctional families, strained bank accounts, or a combination of the three, the Secret Lantern Festival aims to inject beauty and peace into an otherwise stressful time of year. The 15th annual winter solstice celebration — featuring lantern processions which aim to light up the darkest day of the year — takes place this Sunday (December 21) in six neighbourhoods around the city, starting at 6 p.m. Festivities are based at community centres in Strathcona, East Vancouver, the West End, Coal Harbour, Yaletown, and Granville Island, each of which will include performers and artists unique to the neighbourhood.

Artistic director Naomi Singer started the festival in 1993 when the Vancouver Park Board launched an artist-in-residence program at local community centres. A recent Emily Carr grad at the time, Singer applied to the program with a proposal for a winter solstice celebration. “The mandate of it was to engage the community, bring community members into the community centre — people who might not otherwise be coming in, people who weren’t interested in tennis programs,” she recalls.

The first annual event was held, with remarkable success, at the False Creek Community Centre. “It was so moving; there were these 6’2” football guys, volleyball women and rec people, and they all had tears [of joy] in their eyes,” says Singer.

From the beginning, Singer has managed the artistic direction and logistical aspects of the festival, including its funding, which comes from a combination of community centre support and fundraising through grant-writing. This year, Singer has been able to hire six community artist facilitators with the help of a B.C. Arts Council grant, and momentum continues to grow.

“I get letters from people saying... we’re doing lantern-making workshop in our home, and we’re going to walk together in the procession; that’s going to be our seasonal family get-together,’” she says. “They thank me because it was really fun, they had no pressure, everybody had a beautiful time, and they saw their neighbours. That’s the essence of what I hope is happening for people. There’s a real desire to be sharing beauty with people.”

Brenda Racanelli, an arts programmer at Yaletown’s Roundhouse Community Centre, has been helping Singer plan this year’s festival. “As opposed to the Christmas season, where people are kind of burdened by the expectations and the commerce of it, here you can get involved in every aspect of the festival,” she says. “There’s lantern-making happening, you can get involved with the processional drumming... You’re engaged, rather than just handing over your credit card and doing what you’re supposed to do over the Christmas season. It’s a calming place to be.”

As for the secret aspect to the not-so Secret Lantern Festival, Singer named it for its play on words. “It’s an opportunity for play, and it’s an oxymoron. A lantern shining out in the dark is a beacon and it can’t be a secret,” she says, smiling.

More information on lantern-making workshops and winter solstice events can be found at the Secret Lantern Festival website, SecretLantern.org.

City councillor calls for increased protection for renters

THE WESTENDER
December 18, 2008

Vancouver’s rental vacancy rates will remain below one per cent in 2009, according to the latest rental-market report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The report, released last week, shows that Vancouver has a rental-apartment vacancy rate of 0.3 per cent, one of the lowest rates in the Lower Mainland next to North Vancouver (0.2 per cent). As of October 2008, there were only 160 private apartment units vacant out of 54,442 total units in Vancouver. The report suggests that the low rates are the result of a combination of factors, including a tight job market, a decreasing number of first-time buyers entering the arena of home ownership, and more than 30,000 people having moved to Vancouver from other provinces and countries last year.

Despite the CMHC report making official what many have known for a long time, Vancouver city councillor Tim Stevenson says loopholes in the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA) continue to be exploited by landlords, forcing tenants from their homes in order inflate rental rates far greater than the legislated four-per-cent annual increase. A number of apartment tenants claim such loopholes have led — or will lead — to mass evictions this year, including many West End buildings that have been profiled by WE in the past year because of turbulent landlord-tenant relationships.

Stevenson brought forward a motion to city council Tuesday (December 16) asking the province to amend the RTA, in the hope that changes will offer better protection to already vulnerable tenants. Proposed changes include requiring landlords to allow tenants that have been evicted for renovations to reclaim their units at the same rent they were paying prior to renovations; limiting annual rent increases beyond the standard four per cent; extending the notice period for evictions from 60 to 90 days; requiring the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) to approve the termination of tenancies for the purpose of renovations before eviction notices can be issued; and requiring that landlords report rent rolls, rent increases, tenant turnover, and evictions to the RTB, from which it will compile an annual public report.

“It’s not hard to look at this situation we have now and realize that there need to be some changes made,” Stevenson says. “With the national rental rate being now what it is... they [the province] will be far more cognitive of the problems.”

Stevenson added that the Vision Vancouver-domninated council has struck a positive working relationship with BC Liberal housing minister Rich Coleman, despite Mayor Gregor Robertson’s role as a member of the opposition when he was an NDP MLA. “It’s a somewhat symbiotic relationship, in that we obviously need them to make some changes, and it’s in their interest to work with us, given that the election’s coming up in May as well,” Stevenson says. “I think that we now have a real opportunity here with the provincial government to find solutions. There are problems which haven’t been addressed previously.”

Before Stevenson’s motion was officially brought forward to council, however, he had already come under fire from critics who contend that his proposed changes to the RTA will not help create more affordable housing. One of those critics is Manny Riebeling, a realtor specializing in properties downtown and in Yaletown. “Investors won’t renovate or upgrade their buildings unless [the buildings are] useless and, thus, demolished,” he says. Instead of amending the RTA like Stevenson suggests, Riebeling recommends a tax incentive program for investors to motivate them to build rental properties. As for the best course of action in creating affordable housing, Riebeling suggests “innovative ideas that help people own a property and not just rent it,” such as life leases, equity co-ops, development funds, and charity donations.

As it stands, current market conditions are not, as the CMHC reports, making things better for renters. According to the report, less than 300 new rental-apartment units were completed in Vancouver by October 2008. Stevenson’s motion notes that more than half of all households in Vancouver are rentals.

Pet owners fight eviction threat

THE WESTENDER
December 11, 2008

If his apartment building’s management had its way, Andrew Simmons would have surrendered his three cats to an animal shelter by now. A seven-year tenant at the Hollyburn Properties-owned Emerald Terrace apartments at 2045 Nelson Street, Simmons received a “No Pets Policy” notice from the company, dated November 24, which gave him 14 days to find alternate, permanent shelter for his cats or face an eviction notice.

To date, Simmons is one of four Emerald Terrace tenants — another of whom is an elderly woman with Parkinson’s disease — who have received pet-eviction notices in what seems to have been an arbitrary process, given that dozens of other tenants in the building own cats. All pet owners in the building had verbal permission from the previous building manager to keep pets in their suites, but Hollyburn subsequently told tenants they need to have written permission — which one tenant, Pat Maher, has had for 17 years. Despite this, she too was among the first to receive the no-pets notice. “I had a total panic attack, and then anger, and now it’s kind of both,” says Maher. “Especially since I seem to be the only person in this situation who actually had written permission [for a pet] from the first manager when I moved in. It’s 17 years old... but that’s immaterial, according to all the advice we’ve gotten.”

Simmons and seven other tenants took immediate action, filing for a joint arbitration (which is scheduled for January 16) to dispute the no-pets policy at the Residential Tenancy Office (RTO). They are now safe to keep their pets in their suites until at least that date.

But the stress of dealing with the potential loss of animal companions has wreaked havoc on tenants’ lives, many of whom are now living in fear that they will receive an eviction notice or, if they speak out against it, face other forms of retribution from the building management.

“Prior to this, I’d spent seven years in the [Hollyburn-owned] building across the street, and I was looking [to move] because it was owned by Hollyburn and I wanted to get away,” says Simmons, who was aware of Hollyburn’s notorious treatment of tenants, some of which has resulted in Supreme Court cases, mass evictions, and the birth of West End tenants’ rights group Renters at Risk, of which Simmons is a member. “I had my cats there the entire time, and I had verbal permission from no less than five sets of Hollyburn managers in the building.”

When Simmons moved across the street to Emerald Terrace in 2001, the building was owned by Colliers International; it had been advertised as a pet-friendly building at a local pet food store, where Simmons first saw a vacancy ad. The building manager at the time had verbal agreements with tenants to allow pets. Hollyburn took ownership of the building on September 21, 2007.

When asked about the legitimacy of written agreements for pet owners in the building, Hollyburn property manager Allan Wasel told WE that he would honour them, contrary to what tenants claimed. “I am absolutely going to honour those,” he said of two written agreements to keep pets the building. As for people like Simmons who had verbal agreements for pets, Wasel declined further comment. “There is a pending arbitration on those. I don’t want to make too much of a comment on that.”

When word spread that Emerald Terrace tenants were speaking with WE about the new no-pets policy, 20 tenants came forward to speak about the poor quality of their living conditions. Many spoke on condition of anonymity because they say they’ve felt bullied or threatened by management. Each of those tenants claimed unhygienic conditions in the building’s common areas, such as the garbage room, laundry room, and hallways. Two tenants mentioned vomit and urine stains in the elevator that didn’t get cleaned for days.

“As you know, and I think I mentioned this to you before, [Hollyburn is] the premier provider of rental accommodations in British Columbia,” Wasel said when asked to describe the cleanliness of Emerald Terrace. “We have a... system in place. All our complaints or whatnot would be forwarded to the manager and are dealt with immediately.”

Wasel also credits Hollyburn for maintaining rental stock in an increasingly sparse rental market. “There is a good-news story, always, to Hollyburn taking over a building,” he said. “We like to keep the rental stock alive and well in Vancouver.”

As Simmons and his neighbours prepare for their arbitration date at the RTO, other tenants anxiously await eviction notices many of them believe are inevitable. “I was quite happy and content here until [Hollyburn] took over,” said an 86-year-old tenant who has lived at the Emerald Terrace for 17 years. “I thought I’d live the rest of my years out here as long as I was able. I don’t look too far in the future now.”

Vancouver documentary highlights homeless problem

THE WESTENDER
December 11, 2008

Gloria Wilson has been homeless in the Downtown Eastside for five years, and she says she’s had enough. The 26-year-old and her boyfriend are now seeking housing with the help of local filmmaker Les Merson, who featured Wilson in his recent documentary, Something to Eat, a Place to Sleep & Someone Who Gives a Damn. The documentary explores the human face of homelessness, and suggests practical ways for individuals to help find solutions.

When WE caught up with Wilson and Merson at Oppenheimer Park last week, Wilson had just finished a shift at the nearby LifeSkills Centre, where she volunteers almost every day. The educational drop-in centre offers shower and laundry facilities, a training kitchen to teach people how to cook meals, and addiction-treatment and mental-health services, among other services.

“It gets frustrating at times, because there are people down here [in the Downtown Eastside] that shouldn’t be on the streets,” says Wilson. “There’s a lot of people down here that need more help than others.”

When Wilson moved to Vancouver at age 20, from an aboriginal community in Bella Bella, B.C., she had already been on her own for nine years. (Her mother — an alcoholic — was rarely home to care for her.) Wilson landed a waitressing job in Vancouver, but when she refused her manager’s sexual advances, she was laid off for two weeks. “I was working every day there to keep a roof over my head, and he [laid me off] and I was on the street,” she recalls. She quit in the middle of a shift on her first day back because her manager continued to try to exploit her.

“On my 21st birthday, I tried crack for the first time. I knew nothing of the resources down here,” Wilson says. “Basically, I did it so I could stay awake, because I had nowhere to live. That’s how it started.”

Wilson’s appearance in Something to Eat, a Place to Sleep & Someone Who Gives a Damn was an extension of everyday efforts in her community to raise awareness of the issues that confront people living on the streets. “I do it because I like to try to help,” she says.

“I was part of the middle-class society that would drive through the Downtown Eastside and say, ‘We should clean this up, we should get rid of the homelessness,’ but I just didn’t want to do anything,” says Merson, who was inspired to make the documentary because of the negative attitudes toward the homeless that he saw developing in his children. “My children were afraid of the homeless,” he says. “My father, who I love, thinks what should happen is everybody who lives in the Downtown Eastside who’s drug-addicted or homeless should be shipped to an island. A lot of people think that.”

Merson’s work on Something to Eat opened his eyes, and resulted in a change of heart. In addition to helping Wilson and her boyfriend to find housing, he and Wilson are working on a second film about aboriginals and homelessness. Two per cent of Canada’s population is aboriginal, of which 32 per cent are homeless. “The hope is that maybe we can stop homelessness before it starts,” Merson says of the upcoming film.

As for Mayor Gregor Robertson’s pledge to end homelessness by 2015, Merson is optimistic the goal can be reached, but the mayor can’t do it alone. “I think Gregor Robertson is a good man... but with the current economy and a tax base that’s diminished, he’s going to need help,” Merson says. “We all have to end homelessness together. This is not something that can be ended by politicians.”

Copies of Something to Eat, a Place to Sleep & Someone Who Gives a Damn can be obtained by e-mailing Merson at seeingeye@telus.net.

Who says environmentalism can't be delicious?

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Who is KK Downey?

THE WESTENDER online December 16, 2008
3 stars (out of 5)

The debut feature from Montreal comedy crew Kidnapper Films, Who is KK Downey? chronicles the experiences of hipster doofus Terrence Permenstein (Darren Curtis) and his best friend, Theo Huxtable (Matt Silver), as they wade slowly and fraudulently into the world of artistic recognition and pop stardom.

Success of any sort eludes the duo until they hatch a plan for awkward punk guitarist Terrence to impersonate the central character of Theo’s failed novel about a fictitious truck-stop hustler, whose worldly troubles and sexual exploits far exceed those of their own privileged suburban upbringings. Soon, amidst a blur of cocaine, coffee, and champagne, “every scenester from every scene” is picking up the bestselling book, save for the Morrissey-haired, fur-coated Connor (Pat Kieley), a jealous local music critic who is the arch-enemy of Terrence’s KK Downey persona. Complications arise when Terrence realizes — through the power of love, no less — that the lie and the brilliance of KK Downey is simultaneously winning him his dreams and tearing him apart.

As much fun to watch as it must have been to produce, Who is KK Downey? is a smart, charming study of media hype and pop-culture contradictions, and an endearing first film crafted with joy.

COVER: Mr. Mayor goes to work

THE WESTENDER
December 4, 2008

"It’s been a little crazy,” said mayor-elect Gregor Robertson, hanging up his rain jacket and cycling pannier as he sat down last week in a downtown coffee shop. While he may seem to have become virtually invisible since the evening of November 15, when he wrapped up his victorious campaign for the top spot at City Hall — indeed, he did promptly duck out of the public spotlight — the 44-year-old has been busy, immersing himself in an intense transition period as he prepares for his new job, for which he’s sworn in on Monday (December 8). “It’s been good-crazy, though,” he added. “It’s working on the real substance instead of just talking about all the ideas. Now it’s implementation, which is my favourite thing.”

Robertson is the first elected mayor of the three-year-old Vision Vancouver party, now the largest civic party in Canada. Best known for his stint as an NDP MLA for Vancouver-Fairview and as the co-founder of Happy Planet Foods, he has said he was inspired to run for mayor following the death in February of Darrell Mickasko, a homeless man who, after being turned away from a shelter, perished in a fire while trying to keep warm just blocks away from City Hall. Robertson’s mayoral campaign made homelessness one of its key issues, which resonated strongly with voters but raised the ire of critics, who were concerned with the seemingly limited role the City could take on with housing issues.

So, now that the mayor’s office beckons, where to get started?

***

Homelessness continues to rank high on Robertson’s list of priorities, and after he and the new council are sworn in next week, he plans to strike a 90-day action plan that will aggressively tackle the issue. “We have to see results on that in the next few months,” he says. “There’s lots that’s in the works for the coming years in permanent housing with provincial commitments, but we need an urgent agenda to deal with street homelessness. That’s top priority in the first year [on council].”

Housing advocates have recently lamented the impending demolition of the condemned Little Mountain Housing Project, B.C.’s first publicly subsidized residential community. The windows of the 224-unit complex, near Main and 33rd, are currently boarded up. Ellen Woodsworth, a newly elected COPE councillor, joined activists in painting the boards bright colours last Sunday (November 30) to draw attention to the units’ potential as temporary housing solutions. “I’m hopeful that Little Mountain and other opportunities can provide housing in the very short term,” says Robertson. “I want to see every option on the table over these coming weeks. We’ll be looking at every potential space that might be used to house people or provide shelter.”

Robertson also plans to press forward with his commitment to hold a public council meeting that will address the highly controversial financing of the Olympic village on Southeast False Creek, details of which erupted amidst sensational headlines in the last week before the election. “We have to address the issue of process and in-camera meetings, and what belongs in-camera and what doesn’t,” he says. At the last NPA-dominated council meeting on November 25, councillor Peter Ladner passed a motion to hold an investigation of how the $100-million loan to the Olympic village was leaked to media. Robertson says he is concerned with the legal costs associated with appointing a city barrister to investigate, but he is eager to bring transparency to the case. “What’s important here is citizens’ confidence that these matters are being handled appropriately at City Hall. The Olympic village deal is going to be transparent, and taxpayers will understand what’s on the table.” The public council meeting on the Olympic village will take place within 30 days of the new council taking office.

The task of restoring public faith in City matters will be a momentous one, particularly with regard to negative public response to NPA-driven initiatives like Project Civil City and its most controversial byproduct, the Downtown Ambassador program, of which Robertson has been an outspoken critic. “Almost everyone realizes [the Downtown Ambassadors program] is filling a gap that should be filled by police,” he told WE in July. “The idea that they’re just friendly ambassadors in the neighbourhood or business district is out the window.”

The Pivot Legal Society released a report last Thursday (November 27) containing damning evidence against the effectiveness of private-security programs like the Downtown Ambassadors. The report, called “Security Before Justice,” suggests that people who are visibly poor or homeless are more likely to be interrogated, harassed, or treated violently by private security guards. The report draws information from surveys and focus groups involving more than 160 Downtown Eastside residents, as well as a sworn statement from a former security guard employed by Paladin. Pivot is calling for a private-security ban in Vancouver, but Robertson isn’t willing to move forward with that proposal. “A moratorium is perhaps too reactionary,” he says, “but I agree with the sentiment that public dollars shouldn’t be funding private security.”

Instead, Robertson is interested in pursuing more policing partnerships at the provincial and federal levels. He would like to eventually redirect private-security funding to homelessness and mental health, which he sees as a more targeted approach to dealing with crime and street disorder. “We need to make the changes, but be thoughtful about it,” he says.

Ultimately, Robertson is interested in keeping his council united and focused on the big picture, rather than falling prey to what he saw as bitter partisan politics that tore previous councils apart. “It was not a pretty end to a very lacklustre term, but I guess it was interesting in sort of a tragic way,” he says of the final council meeting under Mayor Sam Sullivan’s reign. “We need a shake-up and wake-up. The election was an exciting harbinger of that.”

Robertson is keen to draw on what he sees as the “remarkable talent” of Vancouver’s citizens — diverse skills that he believes should be allowed to become more involved with decision-making at the municipal level. With the Olympics on the horizon, there will be many pairs of eyes on City Hall, a place Robertson would like to open up to more of the people it serves. “Most governments, historically, are kind of buffered from the public. They allow a certain forum [for the public], and otherwise they try to shield their workings from people,” he says. “It would be nice to crack the concrete and let the light in.”

Photo courtesy the Vision Vancouver flickr pool.

Making room for the Olympics

THE WESTENDER
December 4, 2008

More than 250,000 visitors are expected to descend upon Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics, not including the estimated 4,000 athletes, 10,000 media, and 25,000 volunteers who will be part of the two-week event in February of that year. The streets will undoubtedly feel more crowded than usual, but the City of Vancouver’s transportation planning staff seem optimistic that road congestion will be manageable.

“I think it’s going to be completely reasonable,” says Dale Bracewell, Olympic transportation director for the City of Vancouver. “Our objective is to make sure we’ve done all we can... to get people as much information as they need so they can start determining how they want to move around for 2010.”

Bracewell and his team of engineers are promoting car-free methods of transport during the Games, as driving to Olympic events will not be the best option. In addition to reduced vehicle access downtown, there will be security roadblocks and priority vehicle lanes on major routes set aside for Olympic athletes, officials, and media.

But given the pedestrian and motorist statistics Bracewell has used in his planning, he doesn’t think the Olympics will severely alter the way people already get around. “Fifty per cent of those who drive into our downtown live in Vancouver, and Vancouver’s already a walking city. For moderate-length distances, people will be able to cycle, and we’re already well served by transit,” he says. “So it’s only about 20 per cent of people who live in the far-reaching suburbs of Metro Vancouver that aren’t well-served by transit, and if they drive, it’s okay. We don’t need everybody not to drive.”

The City of Vancouver also conducted a pedestrian study this fall, collecting information on the quality of pedestrian facilities and the distances people would be willing to walk to Olympic events. “That pedestrian study is part of our long-term monitoring,” says Bracewell. “I think [it] will probably show a continuing trend in walking as a mode of choice, which is exactly part of our message.”

Bev Ballantyne, a longtime transportation critic and spokesperson for local advocacy group Putting Pedestrians First, begs to differ. “There are more pedestrians simply because there are more people in the downtown core, but that has nothing to do with what the City has done for them,” she says. “It’s a bit late to try to redefine the city around the Olympics.”

Ballantyne doubts the City will be able to optimize pedestrian facilities in time for the Games, an event she thinks will prove to be more of a public embarrassment than a civic achievement. “Most people who travel to other cities want to see the city on foot... but the people who come here from around the world are going to be really disgusted,” she says, adding that Vancouver lacks dedicated pedestrian-only space. “I will be very embarrassed during the Olympics.”

Even so, Bracewell is confident that Vancouver residents will make practical transportation choices during the Games. “People are smart,” she says. “They’re going to make smarter choices if they’re still wanting to drive, and if they have an opportunity to walk or take transit, they will.”

City staff are currently working with several Olympic organizing groups to develop the 2010 Winter Games transportation plan, which will be presented to the public in February or March of 2009.