January 5, 2010 - 11:17 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
I have now received several emails and been a part of a few holiday conversations with NPA affiliated political operatives which have brought the name of Mike Klassen to my attention as a potential City Council candidate in 2011.
Klassen is of course one half of the tandem that runs the virulently anti-Vision Vancouver CityCaucus website.
Now of course at this point, speculation, rumour and conjecture is all I have to go on, making this post little more than a political “What if?” rather than a definitive comment on such a candidacy.
However, if indeed there is basis for such an assertion, I have a few questions to pose.
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November 4, 2009 - 10:24 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Vancouver, Washington that is.
It is the morning after a dramatic election where 14-year incumbant Mayor Royce E. Pollard looks to have been defeated by City Councilman Tim Leavitt (with about 80 percent of the expected vote counted).
A race diffentiated on tolls and a question of whether to "rebrand" the city.
The race was largely won on the question of whether tolls were a good idea for funding construction of a new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River. Leavitt rallied against them “except as a last resort” even though most observers think that they are inevitable and the Mayor really has no power to block bridge tolls.
The reason this race has caught my eye, however, is because of this campaign issue:
“As a council of local governments launch a seven-month plan to “rebrand” Clark County; as architects draw plans for a highway “cap” that would permanently link downtown Vancouver to its namesake military camp; and as Vancouver, B.C., gets ready for an Olympic close-up next February — people yearning for a name swap say their stars are aligning at last.
Or at least they ought to be.
“I’ve spent the last 20 years trying to figure out brands, and you can’t work with that name right now. It will never work,” said Jeff Shafer of Agave Denim, the high-end jeans designer that moved from Los Angeles to Ridgefield in 2006. “There is nobody I do business with on the planet who knows where I operate from.”
So will a change to the historically correct “Fort Vancouver” do the trick for a city feeling struggling with its self-esteem?
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October 1, 2009 - 3:03 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
It is time for the Mayor to take a national lead on afforadable housing.
The City of Vancouver’s resolution at the UBCM convention urging the provincial and federal government to develop and contribute to a National Affordable Housing Strategy received widespread support and passed easily. Long-term, sustainable funding – as in a consistent line item in both budgets – is a necessity, and it must begin with the federal government. A 2002 report on housing policy for Canada’s cities of the future by the Canadian Policy Research Network unequivocally states that “there is no escaping the need for significant direct federal expenditure.”
This is very smart positioning for Gregor Robertson, who has an opportunity to become a national spokesperson on behalf of the big city mayors towards getting the issue back onto the federal government’s radar (particularly with an election that is still very much a possibility within a couple of weeks – today’s motion of non confidence will be defeated, but Harper’s poison pill is coming, folks).
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September 24, 2009 - 9:09 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
