What can Vancouver do?

City Conversation #67: After 16 months of challenges, time to consider Vancouver’s opportunities & suggest solutions.

August 6, 2022—The first 66 City Conversations have largely focused on what’s wrong in Vancouver. The next eight highlight some alternate approaches to preserving and extending its livability.

Current proposal for the Jericho Lands—one alternative future—image by Stephen Bohus, BLA

“It’s all so very confusing,” mused my son, as we talked about Vancouver politics, my favourite topic, perhaps not his. But the beer was free. “So many people are saying so very many different, contradictory things about everything—homelessness, affordability, parks, schools, you name it! It’s hard to know how to separate the good ideas from the silly, and the ideas the city can actually implement versus those where we can’t actually have impact.”

I was intrigued, asking, “So where do you think we can’t have impact? Better to whittle down the huge list to the manageable.”

“Well,” he answered, “even I know that health care and education are provincial matters, and immigration is up to the feds. It often seems cities are just left to clean up the messes of senior government and make do somehow.”

“I agree,” I continued. “That’s some of what I’ve been writing about these past 16 months.”

He paused a moment. “But most of what you’ve written has been about the failures—the bad plans approved for Broadway and the overall city, the unconscionable spot rezonings. We really need some positive stuff, some potential wins.” He looked at my slightly hurt expression before continuing.

“I enjoy our chats and your writing, but it’s time to sharpen your pencil, to turn your wordiness into bytes that my impatient generation can latch onto.” He’s a graphic designer and loves to convey ideas in quick sketches. 

I thought for a few moments before responding. “I think I see your point. I’ve been reading a lot, monitoring more and am perhaps as frustrated as you about clear messaging. We have some polar opposites in this election: on the one hand we have the current Mayor and most Councillors telling us we can have our cake and eat it, too, even while our city is going broke and taxing us out of our homes and businesses until we leave town or go broke; on the other hand we have civic parties and mayoral candidates who have no policies, just want our vote on faith. As if that’s worked out well this past decade! There is some thoughtfulness and practicality in the middle, but it’s constantly assaulted by the noise of nothing.”

“So what can you do?” he asked.

“For me,” I answered, “the key is What can Vancouver do?” He looked puzzled, so I continued.

“I think we first need to notice for each policy area what responsibilities lie with the regional, provincial or federal governments and how we can complement them, if at all. We can lobby those governments and cooperate, but they need to come up with most of the the money—it’s that simple. Just yesterday I read an article advising that 0.5% of recent federal funding for affordable housing has been funnelled to Vancouver, while 50% has gone to Toronto, 10,000% more than Vancouver. @JoyceMurray, where are you and who’s dropped the ball in Victoria and at city hall?”

I continued. “This 10,000% discrepancy means that we should be passionate about what senior government needs to do. But it also means we shouldn’t kid ourselves into thinking we can somehow raise taxes to, for example, add healthcare professionals and teachers, manage immigration, etc.” He nodded understanding so I continued.

“When you set aside what Vancouver doesn’t directly control, we have a much smaller list of policies we can enable and implement, where we have the authority through our Charter to essentially do what we want, within reason.” He gave me his more, please look so I carried on.

“Where I think we are ceding ground to our opponents is when we are unwilling to propose what I (and maybe others) call foundational principles. These include ideas that we know are right and that we know we can achieve as a city even if we’ve not yet figured out all the details—we just need real leadership.”

After some moments he asked, “How do we capture those foundational principles without essay writing, so that they make sense to voters and seem right enough to them that they support us?”

“Let’s give that a try. You know my major interests are affordability and homelessness, so let’s start with those and see where those key issues lead us?” 

The Time for Action is Here and Now

The six What Vancouver can do about… conversations that follow this introduction are my take on actionable affordability, homelessness, housing insecurity, neighbourhood planning and related policies that our next civic government should focus on—what we can actually achieve versus what we might aspire to (and waste taxpayer money on). They may or may not be the detailed policies of any civic party, but are most closely aligned to TEAM for a Livable Vancouver.

Vancouver’s civic election is October 15th of this year. Lots more damage can still be done to our city before that date—and it will continue, and worsen, unless TEAM elects the next Mayor and a majority (6 of 10) City Councillors—less than 6 and not much will change for the better. If you are concerned that the City Conversations you’ve been reading are examples of what’s wrong with our city, feel some affinity to my What Vancouver can do about… conversations and want to bring back Vancouver’s livability, join TEAM and work with us to restore Vancouver as a place we can all afford to call home.

And please let me know what other subjects you are passionate about so we can have that conversation before election day, October 15th.

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Today’s questions: Do you think these foundational principles can work? Are they worth trying? What aspects do you like/dislike? Where do you think I have missed or hit the mark?

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I am a Vancouver-based architect, building envelope and building code consultant and LEED Accredited Professional (the first green building system). I am semi-retired for the moment, still teaching and writing, so not beholden to any client or city hall. City Conversations mix real discussion with research and observations based on my 40+ year career including the planning, design and construction of almost every type and scale of project. I am the author of the award winning Amazon best seller “An Architect’s Guide to Construction.” I am also a member of TEAM for a livable Vancouver, a new political party dedicated to restoring a livable Vancouver starting with the 2022 civic election. Although I am not a candidate for TEAM or any other civic party, City Conversations are generally congruent with TEAM policy, so if you like the ideas that I’m writing about, please consider joining TEAM.