Take these and give me a call in 2011
Year-end reviews have piled up over the past week, particularly on the local scene. Instead of looking back, however, I’d rather give my top five political prescriptions for what the Vision Vancouver majority needs in the coming 12 months.
1) Gregor needs to profile more of an edge with his agenda – Whether it was the residents backlash against the Howe Street HEAT shelter or the budget cuts that were made to balance the budget, the Mayor was often kept away from the negative spotlight associated with each decision. This isn’t to say that he wasn’t making comments, but only to suggest that rather than being seen as the leading voice of the Vision agenda, others were given the ball – Councillor Kerry Jang for the HEAT shelter protests, and City Manager Penny Ballem for the budget. The first year of rolling out his priorities has been relatively successful, and so with the good should come the bad. Personally, I think Gregor could use an edge, sticking to his priorities and facing down criticisms head on, with a determination and gumption that his good guy image hasn’t exactly accomodated up until this point. In this regard, he could use a touch of Jean Chretien or Larry Campbell.
2) Councillors and their portfolios require better definition – Yes, there has been Jang focussing in on homelessness and mental illness, and of Meggs the lead on the Olympics. But the others within the caucus have lacked a public focus with regards to their portfolios. Is there widespread knowledge about Andrea Reimers crucial role in the Greenest City Action Team’s 10-year plan? Do people understand that Heather Deal is the woman who is poised to tackle the dearth of creative spaces for artists in this city? I would say more likely than not, the answer to both questions is no. There was a high profile for Vision’s key priorities and responsibilities in 2009 (tackling homelessness, building a green city, the Olympics), but now is the time round out the secondary issues and personalities attached to the rest of the platform.
3) Promote public consultation at every turn – Vision took some major hits this year with a variety of accusations that they didn’t engage in public consultation. The HEAT shelters and some of the social housing decisions upset residents in neighbourhoods, the MMA report and the Olympic bylaws were pushed through relatively quickly, and the Greenest City Action Team used environmental experts to craft a green plan rather than the electorate. Now while I agree that the election’s decisive result was an endorsement of an agenda, these kinds of objections tend to stick to an administration in the form of being called arrogant or out of touch. Now while I think that the budget process was done a lot better, with Council pulling long hours to accomodate as many voices as possible into the mix, this has to be ramped up in 2010, if nothing else but to correct any assertions that this Council is ramming through their agenda without input.
4) Lead the charge for a national housing agenda - With this City Council willing to tackle an issue that other municipalities have avoided because of their unwillingness to pick up the slack for the federal government, they have defined themselves as a group that is not prepared to make excuses on what they consider as the city’s number one issue. Combine this with a federal government that has absolutely no intention of getting back into the housing portfolio on its own, and you have the recipe for Gregor Robertson et al. to establish themselves as national figures on a policy area that impacts every city, village and town across the country. If Robertson can truly galvanize other big city Mayors to make a continuous and coordinated effort to bring the issue more light on the national stage, he has the possibility of leaving a legacy that endures beyond the borders of the City of Vancouver.
5) Bring City Hall to the neighbourhoods – This is not the same as increasing public consultation. This is about taking the formality and possible intimidation that City Hall has for different sectors of the local population and breaking them down. I have always advocated that Councillors and the Mayor should not be bound by their offices within the hallowed structure that has just received a facelift. Community town halls on issues to different neighbourhoods, general meet and greets with residents, or even holding Council meetings on the road are exercises in democracy that have rarely been practiced, but endeavours that could hugely invigourate people’s attitudes towards municipal politics.
