Well, a tale of one city under two very different administrations.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” cries the first line of Dickens’ classic A Tale of Two Cities.
Depending on your point of view, Vancouver could currently fit into either of those two descriptions, particularly with very difficult budget restraints just around the corner.
That being said, I want to point out the different approaches taken by two different civic administrations to two different civic crises.
This summary of the Green Technology Industry Leaders Roundtable that the VEDC hosted back in June seems to be launching pad for Mayor Gregor Robertson’s address to the Board of Trade today. And in consideration of who sat around that table, I’d say that it’s a pretty solid foundation of ideas to build upon.
The roof of the new convention centre is a symbolic green landing strip for the world. Vancouver is officially open for business.
As mentioned in an earlier post, today’s speech and the ensuing economic development branding/strategy will be the first for Vancouver in over two decades, which is shocking considering the growth that the city has experienced over that time frame.
“Costs overruns and the Olympics also go hand in hand. The city of Vancouver, which will host the 2010 Winter Olympics, is $6 billion in debt, a tab that will be picked up by taxpayers. And the 2012 Summer Olympics in London are four times more expensive than the initial budgeted figure–with a total cost running currently at $20 billion, nearly three years ahead of the opening ceremonies.” – Bob Quellos, Co-founder of No Games Chicago
Former British Prime MinisterTony Blair, who Surrey will be hosting for the Regional Economic Summit, is apparently the current global king of speaking engagements, earning approximately $150,000 per appearance (this does not include add-ons like the photos being charged to patrons at $300 a pop)
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An article titled Vancouver Politics by Paul Tennant in The Vancouver Book (1976), describes the entry of TEAM onto the civic political scene in 1968. TEAM, wrote Tennant, “sought to be a moderate reform group appealing to persons of all political ideologies.”
On their left was COPE (the Committee of Progressive Electors), also formed in 1968, and on their right was the NPA (the Non-Partisan Association), which had been a power in city politics for nearly four decades, and which “held that the affairs of the city should be run by those with the necessary knowledge and experience, i.e., those with a professional-managerial background, in order to run the city in a business-like way.”
The reformers, on the other hand, “felt that civic decision-making should be open to the public, with leadership coming from a cross-section of the population, and rule going to the working class majority. This group was concerned about land use, they advocated city control, and preferred to structure politics around the neighborhood concept.”
“It was very diverse, and we got together by word of mouth. There were professors, business people, labor, lawyers and from all across the city. It was a coalescing of people around the idea we should do something.” – former City Councillor Setty Pendakur on the formation Vancouver’s reform movement and its political manifestation – TEAM – came into being in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
