In the News

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan and City Council recognized 10 emerging artists at the annual Mayor’s Arts Awards Monday night at the Vancouver Playhouse. The awards ceremony, hosted by the Mayor, paid tribute to the work of 13 honourees who have made a significant contribution to the arts and cultural life of Vancouver as well as the 10 emerging artists.
Each artist or community member was nominated by a jury of peers convened by the Alliance for Arts and Culture. Each honouree is invited to select an ’emerging artist’ in their discipline who demonstrates the promise of the next generation.
The 2008 emerging artists are:

Mayor Sam Sullivan and City Council today formally recognized Trevor Linden's contribution to Vancouver. Councillors Kim Capri and Suzanne Anton introduced a motion resolving that: Mayor Sullivan proclaim Trevor Linden…

Mayor Sam Sullivan and Councillor Suzanne Anton today announced 2008 is projected to be a record year for new bike lane construction in Vancouver. More than 75km of new lanes are planned for 2008. The previous high was 60km in 1990. The following is a summary of new bike lane construction in Vancouver over the past 25 years:

• 2008 – 76.5km
• 1990 – 59.8km
• 1998 – 49.0km
• 2004 – 29.4km
• 2003 – 29.0km
• 1997 & 1994 – 23.0km
• 1996 – 19.0km
• 1986 – 18.0km
• 2006 – 16.1km
• 1993 – 15.0km
• 1995 – 13.0km
• 1999 – 11.0km
• 2007 – 9.6km
• 2005 – 7.8km
• 2001 – 2.5km

In the years not listed between 1985 and 2008, no bike lane construction took place.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan and Councillor Suzanne Anton today announced their intention to support the revised “EcoDensity Charter and Initial Actions” next week at City Council. The report reflects input from Vancouver residents through an extensive two year public consultation program.

EcoDensity is a plan for high quality density that provides Vancouver with an opportunity to improve the environment and our region’s quality of life. High quality density is:

• green design
• more amenities
• more affordable
• strategically located
• properly implemented

Mayor Sullivan and Councillor Anton also launched the next phase of the EcoDensity consultation with a special on-line survey at www.samsullivan.ca regarding the implementation of the plan.

Recent statistics from the Vancouver Police Department suggest violent and property crime rates are down 16% and 17% respectively this year compared to two years ago. Other 2008 Vancouver trends this year to date over 2006 include:

• Shots fired incidents – down 83%
• Home invasions – down 76%
• Robberies – down 18%
• Theft from automobiles – down 27%
• Theft of vehicle – down 33%
• Residential break & enters – down 13%
• Commercial break & enters – down 15%

In a memo last week to City Council, Mayor Sam Sullivan thanked the men and women of VPD for the role they are playing to help prevent and reduce crime in our city. In media interviews he said rates were still too high and he hopes recent investments for over 100 new VPD officers and the provincial government’s commitment to reopening Riverview will help even more.

Mayor Sullivan and VPD Chief Jim Chu also released a new national report on federal policing this week. It concludes that municipal property taxpayers in Canada are subsidizing federal law enforcement activities to the tune of more than $500 million/year.

Byline: Neal Hall, with a file from Frances Bula
Vancouver Sun
A majority of Metro Vancouver residents say police are not capable of dealing with organized crime and support the creation of a single police force for the region, according to an Angus Reid Strategies poll released Friday.
The survey found that 61 per cent of respondents believe the various police forces in the region cannot adequately deal with the organized crime problem and 63 per cent support creating a regional police force.
The poll showed a seven-point drop in confidence — to 36 per cent this month from 43 per cent during a poll conducted last November — in the capability of various police forces to deal with organized crime.

Mayor Sullivan is joining with his colleagues in the national Big City Mayor's Caucus to present a special resolution to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities annual general meeting in Quebec…

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) released a national report on federal policing. It concludes that municipal property taxpayers in Canada are subsidizing federal law enforcement activities to the tune of more than $500 million/year.

Towards Equity and Efficiency in Policing (pdf) shows municipalities have seen their share of RCMP contract policing costs rise dramatically over the last 20 years – while municipal police forces have had to take on more traditional federal enforcement roles. In Vancouver this means requirements associated with:

• port policing
• 2010 preparations & Olympic Security
• international drug trade
• cyber crime
• human trafficking
• non-returnable warrants (Con Air)

The $500 million estimate is the value the FCM places on the amount of time municipal police officers spend enforcing federal laws or mandates – based on the $5 billion spent by municipal governments on police services each year.