Posts from — November 2010

No doubt this news that Toronto is the saddest place in Canada provoked a lot of smirks out here in Lotusland.  The massive review by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards found Sherbrooke’s citizens the happiest in the land, and lots of good cheer in Victoria, too.

But where is Vancouver? The news (see page 22) is not good. We only somewhat happier than Toronto, where 88.5 percent claim to be pretty satisfied with life,  and sadder than the national average (90.85), with only 90.22 percent of the Metro Vancouver sample feeling good.

This is no surprise to anyone who has to read a city councillor’s mail. There’s a lot of unhappiness out there, often for good reason.

But seriously, let’s cheer up, everyone. Surely life here is better than Abbotsford, no matter what the study says.

When veteran city hall reporter and blogger Frances Bula got shut down by city communications staff this week, she blew a gasket.

There was no doubt in her mind why she was not called back. It was a directive right from the top, from Vision Vancouver operatives, whose “struggle for control” has “gone too far.”

Within hours, Sun reporter Jeff Lee had seconded Bula’s motion, noting a “corporatization of information at City Hall that extends well beyond the freedom of citizens to ask of their bureaucrats an explanation of what they are doing.” Not to be outdone, the Georgia Straight‘s Charlie Smith termed the development “incredible” and declared that “Vision politicians should be ashamed of themselves.”

As someone who had no knowledge of the alleged Vision directives, was baffled by Bula’s experience and had not noticed any decline in the flow of information, attributed and otherwise, to journalists and bloggers, I was interested to read City Manager Penny Ballem’s explanatory memo, circulated today to the Mayor, council and the senior management team.

I was particularly interested to read Ballem’s apology, how the mistake had occurred, the actual policy and the news that the city’s Director of Communications has apologized to the journalists concerned.

Sounds like a mistake was made. That’s about it.

Who was the first to call for separated bike lanes in British Columbia?

This excerpt from Hansard, Sept. 24, 1973, suggests it may have been Emery Barnes, MLA for Vancouver Centre and a former BC Lion, in his response to the Speech from the Throne. Barnes, father of current Vision Vancouver Park Board Commissioner Constance Barnes, had this to say:

I would like to see us pay more attention to other modes of transportation. It is incongruous, for us on the one hand to talk about the need for better transportation, for more massive movement of people, and trying to eliminate the private automobile and this kind of thing – rapid transit and so forth – and not recognize the role that the bicycle has to play in this whole matter.
As a matter of fact, we could sponsor the use of the bicycle, go so far as to build in a strip along the highway, say 18 inches or 2 ‘feet, on all future highways. You’d cut down the hazard of people getting run over or being threatened or intimidated by reckless drivers. [Read more →]

Dave Barrett

The careers of some political leaders seem to diminish with the passage of time, others grow in significance.

Former NDP Premier Dave Barrett seems to be joining the latter category, at least to judge by the tributes paid to him by a former opponent and several hundred New Democrats Saturday night. They were gathered at a Langford hotel to celebrate his 80th birthday and the crowd included most of those who had gone into political combat earlier that day at a Provincial Council meeting, as well as scores of former MLAs and constituency activists.

The evening was highlighted by astonishing archival video from Barrett’s extraordinary career in provincial and federal politics, including his declaration to a large crowd in 1970 that “we want to build a new society, built on love, trust and understanding.”

It is hard to imagine a political leader of any stripe making such a direct and emotional appeal today. Two years later, Barrett swept to power. He was 41.

His hectic three-year administration passed 357 bills, a record unsurpassed to this day. They included enduring reforms to every aspect of BC society: creation of the Agricultural Land Reserve, an end to mining in parks, a massive overhaul of energy policy, creation of ICBC, formation of a province-wide ambulance service, the launch of the province’s college system and fundamental democratic reforms of the Legislature. That’s a partial list. [Read more →]