Vancouver community leader, advocate & politician
Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan has formally asked local taxi license holders and Translink to extend transportation services to 3:00am in the downtown. Mayor Sullivan is following through on an April 5, 2007 City Council resolution.
By Elaine O’Connor
Vancouver Province
Vancouver’s EcoDensity initiative is attracting admirers from abroad — 115 U.S. politicians and planners from Georgia, to be exact.
A delegation from Atlanta is in Vancouver this week to learn how to cope with a boom in their city by following our example.
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin said she chose to study Vancouver because of the city’s international reputation for city planning.
Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan announced a friendly challenge to Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle as the Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Mighty Ducks face off tonight in Game 1 of the of the NHL Western Conference semifinals.
If Vancouver wins the semifinals and advances to the next round, Mayor Pringle has agreed to wear a Canucks hockey jersey at the next televised meeting of Anaheim city council, and to proudly fly the Canuck team flag at Anaheim City Hall. In the unlikely event that Anaheim wins, Mayor Sullivan will do the same with the Anaheim jersey and flag.
Source: Vancouver Sun
Section: Editorial Page
Vancouver city council took a tiny step in the right direction last week when it began the long overdue process of rebalancing the tax burden borne by businesses and residents. The shift of roughly $10 million of tax liability from business owners to homeowners means a commercial enterprise will pay at a rate 5.63 times higher than the residential rate, down from 6.15 times higher. There’s a long way to go before Vancouver’s tax rate differential is comparable to the average of 3.9 times higher in other Lower Mainland municipalities, but it still took political courage to do the right thing.
Byline: Don Cayo
Vancouver Sun
You can quibble about the details — and it is clear that some people are digging in to endlessly do so — but the nub of Mayor Sam Sullivan’s EcoDensity vision is a no-brainer.
This is an era where concerns such as the impact of urban traffic (and gridlock) on climate change, and the supply and cost of energy have rightly come to the fore. It makes complete sense to develop policies that allow and encourage people to live closer to where they work.
The EcoDensity discussion is focused on an important half of the equation — where people will live. But what about the other half? If we succeed in gracefully accommodating a lot more residents within the boundaries of the city, as I think we can, where on earth will they work?
I would like to update you with the great news that Vancouver will be benefiting from the Province’s new $80 million investment in supportive housing. The majority of that financial commitment goes towards the purchase of 10 Single-Room Occupancy hotels in our city, and it is the largest single acquisition of this critical housing stock in the history of the province. When you combine announcements made earlier this year, the total number of supportive housing units in Vancouver totals 1,144.
Our partners in senior levels of government recognize that homelessness is a critical issue. Yesterday’s investment will begin to turn the tide on homelessness, and create safe, clean, affordable housing in Vancouver.
Credit must be given to Premier Campbell and his Cabinet for this new funding commitment. I encourage you to take a moment to email Premier Campbell at premier@gov.bc.ca if, like me, you endorse the province’s inititiative and would like them to maintain and grow support for social housing.
Mayor Sam Sullivan
STEVE MERTL
Canadian Press
VANCOUVER — The B.C. government has quietly bought up more than a dozen fleabag hotels and other properties as part of a plan to curb rising homelessness in Canada’s most expensive real estate market.
Community activists have led a rising clamour that owners of so-called single-room-occupancy hotels want to cash in on the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics by converting their buildings to house tourists.
The expected wave of evictions will exacerbate Vancouver’s already serious homelessness problem, critics say.
The Pivot Legal Society estimates hotel conversions have already led to some 700 evictions.
I am pleased to report that since my last newsletter, there has been much work done to advance my 5 Goals for a Better Vancouver.
We recently passed our annual budget which resulted in a city controlled tax increase of 3.51%. Our budget was also able to increase funding for our parks, community centres, libraries, fire and police services.