Sam’s Blog

Please accept best wishes from Lynn and I for a safe and enjoyable holiday season. As we come to the end of 2007, we have been reflecting on the past 12 months and are looking forward to the coming year.

We started 2007 reeling from devastating windstorms that savaged Stanley Park — and ended it planting new trees and celebrating the renewal of this national treasure.

The progress made in Stanley Park over the past year represents the best of Vancouver. It demonstrates again that our gold-medal citizens are the reason we are consistently ranked as one of the world’s best cities in which to work and live.

Earlier this month, we marked the second anniversary of our election to lead City Council, School & Park Board. We have governed as a unified team and worked hard to improve relations with senior levels of government.

One of the most important responsibilities of being Mayor is to make sure our city’s priorities are reflected in the Parliament of Canada and BC Legislature. I am proud of the progress we have made over the past two years to secure important federal and provincial commitments to help achieve the five goals we have established for Vancouver.

Mayor speaks to reporters following lunch address in Toronto

Over the past three weeks, I have traveled to Ottawa and Victoria to press the case for Vancouver. I also visited Toronto to promote the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games and traveled to New Orleans to address one of the largest international drug policy conventions in the world this year.

This communiqué includes a summary of my recent meetings and identifies some priorities for action to achieve these goals.

As you know, our government established Five Goals to guide our service to Vancouver over the course of our term in office. They reflect the values of the residents, businesses and community organizations we serve. To support these goals, we have embarked on two major policy initiatives: Project Civil City and EcoDensity.

Project Civil City represents a comprehensive and compassionate plan to address the social challenges we face. My last communiqué identified many of the measures we have delivered to support Project Civil City over the past year, under the leadership of Councillor Kim Capri.

This message focuses on the other major policy initiative we have unveiled. EcoDensity represents Vancouver’s contribution to meet the challenges associated with climate change, housing affordability, and population growth in the Lower Mainland.