November 16, 2009 - 11:06 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Civic affairs were front and centre in an interesting and engaging forum hosted this past Saturday.
I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I walked into the “Year In Review” forum hosted by previous NPA candidate Michael Geller, largely because I suspected an overwhelmingly NPA supportive crowd would be the only ones to show up.
And, for the most part, I was correct – former and current NPA board members, elected officials and supporters roamed the room, with few Vision or COPE supporters in tow. In fact, one of those former NPA elected officials tried to tell me that the morning remained civil and well-behaved because “the right-of-centre” had been behind the organizing, suggesting that had the “left” been at the helm, chaos and hostility would have ruled the day.
This is exactly the type of comment that I have come to expect from your typical NPA, Quadra-type of supporter. When confronted with the question, I told the individual that having grown up in Marpole/Kerrisdale, I knew first hand that civility was by no means exclusive to her end of the political spectrum.
That bit of nonsense aside, I found the morning to be a fantastic endeavour that could prove to be a model for civic engagement for all parties – assuming, of course, that the pool of interest is widened with future sessions.
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November 3, 2009 - 1:00 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Random observations across Metro Vancouver
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October 28, 2009 - 9:30 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Is diversion a smarter and more effective way of targeting waste?
I post this discussion as a way to have some queries answered rather than an attempt to poke holes in the Greenest City Action Team’s “Vancouver 2020: A Bright Green Future” report.
The document states that:
“Metro Vancouver produces 1.5 tonnes of solid waste per capita annually, or more than four kilograms per person every single day of the year.”
Now with regards to that number, the report’s 2020 commitment is to:
“Reduce solid waste per capita going to landfill or incinerator by 40 per cent.”
What isn’t being discussed as much, however, is the concept of waste diversion and how that plays into this overall waste reduction target.
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October 20, 2009 - 10:25 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
GCAT's 10-year plan for Vancouver is ambitious, to say the least.
This morning the Greenest City Action Team released a detailed 10-year plan entitled Vancouver 2020: A Bright Green Future.
The report is 75 pages, and so I haven’t had a chance to go through it with any detail. However, I am intrigued by the 20,000 new green jobs target, which is a brilliant strategy to attract buy-in from the business community and those that aren’t naturally inclined towards the intrinsic value of green initiatives. Building the business case for going green takes things out of the realm of political and policy differences and bridges the gap to something that everyone can support.
I will offer further feedback at a later date, but comments from readers are as always welcome.
