Posts from — July 2008

In today’s Globe and Mail, writer Frances Bula focuses on the emergence of Vancouver’s Filipino community as a force in civic politics and in Vision Vancouver. In addition to the fine photo of me dancing with Marilyn Cabico, a regular attendant at the New Era Society dances each Sunday, Bula interviews Rey Umlas, another Vision council candidate and long-time friend, as well as Boni Barcia, vice-president of the Hospital Employees Union.

“We are now in the maturation stage,” says Umlas of the Filipino community. “If we can collectively galvanize ourselves, we can have a real impact.” If nominated, Rey would be the first Filipino candidate to run at the council level with a realistic chance of victory. (I’ll link to the story when the Globe posts it.)

You can read more about Rey’s program here.

More and more cities are turning to ‘inclusionary zoning’ — the practice of offering developers density and other incentives to achieve a better mix of high and low-cost housing — to tackle the affordability crisis facing the housing market. This is one of the approaches I have advocated in my proposals to increase the supply of lower-cost market housing. Now comes this news from Toronto about the shift to inclusionary zoning in that city. Inclusionary zoning has already been used in modest ways in Whistler and Langford here in BC.

Leaders of Vancouver’s arts and cultural organizations have long believed our city should wind up the Office of Cultural Affairs, which now rules city arts funding, in favour of an arms-length arts council run by the arts community itself.

I agree. I believe a Vision council should create an independent arts council for Vancouver.

My friend Heather Redfern, executive director of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, advises that Canada’s Auditor General has just reviewed the Canada Council. The review concluded that the council’s systems in “grant management, governance, strategic planning, performance measurement and reporting and human resources provide it with reasonable assurance that its assets are safeguarded and controlled, that its resources are managed economically and efficiently, and that its operations are carried out effectively.”

Even more important, the audit found that grants are administered in a “fair, consistent and objective manner,” free from political interference or conflicts of interest. Read the full report here.

A very significant new Ipsos Reid poll in Business in Vancouver’s July 22 issue reveals that Vancouver business leaders see social issues — particularly poverty, homelessness and affordable housing — as the critical issues to be faced by a new mayor.

“People’s concerns in the City of Vancouver are different than in other municipalities and very distinct,” says Ipsos spokesperson Steve Mossop. Unlike other cities, he says, where infrastructure, crime and taxes lead business concerns, “here there is a lot of emphasis on social issues. When you add affordable housing together with poverty, welfare and homelessness, it becomes the No. 1 issue by far in the election race.”

Not surprisingly, the business people polled preferred NPA candidate an BIV columnist Peter Ladner over Gregor Robertson by a 60 percent to 45 percent margin.

The story on the poll is available only to BIV subscribers.