After some contemplation, I will accept Michael Geller's offer to participate in his forum.

After yesterday’s post on Michael Geller’s civic affairs forum slated for next Saturday, I received this response back from Mr. Geller (posted for those of you who don’t necessarily check the comments):

“Jonathan, I appreciate your kind words and agree with your concerns. A few clarifications. Joel Solomon was invited but cannot attend. We are still awaiting confirmation from a member of the Greenest City Task Force.

Only one of the CityCaucus.com bloggers is invited. I had been waiting to hear back from another person to provide an alternative perspective on the ‘pundits panel’, but not having heard back, I would like to formally, and publicly invite you to join the event as a member of the pundits panel.

Let me also publicly disagree with the suggestion that this will be a ‘bash Vision’ event. On the contrary, my message will be quite the opposite. Of the planning and development areas I propose to address, Olympic Village, Laneway Housing, Suites within Suites, Rental Housing initiatives, the Burrard Bridge Trial…these are all successes. I am both pleased and impressed with the accomplishments of the staff and council on these items.

(Although I do intend to share with the audience some interesting challenges with the Laneway Housing!)

I also plan to speak to the Metro Core jobs initiative which eliminated capacity for housing adjacent to the Central Business District. While I don’t agree with the decision of Council, this was not a left vs. right issue. On the contrary, my point will be how ironic it was that a left leaning council supported bigger head office buildings instead of mixed-use development. If your readers don’t know what I’m talking about, they should come to the event. I also plan to talk about the view and capacity study and other surprising council decisions.

Let me conclude with one of my father’s favourite sayings….”We usually judge people by what they say and do. But we expect others to judge us by our motives.”

My motives in initiating this event were quite simple. All my life, I have liked to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. One year ago a very significant event happened in our city, and I thought it too should be celebrated. While I personally am disappointed that I did not win a seat on Council, I am not at all disappointed with the performance of this council. Indeed, a lot has been accomplished and I am quite proud of the direction the city is taking.

So I do hope you will accept this invitation to join Frances Bula and Monte Paulson and Mike or Daniel and yes, the irascible Alex Tsakumis. I also hope your readers will join us to hear James Fletcher share what Think City’s supporters think about the challenges surrounding the balancing of the budget, and John Tylee, Peter Ladner and others discussing the Green Capital plan.

I am personally looking forward to hearing what Gordon Price has to say and seeing the slides he’s bringing along.

So to recap. The event is free, although we will be passing the hat to partially cover the cost of coffee and muffins and room and microphone rentals. Doors open at 8. The program will start at 8:30 and end at 12:30. It takes place on the lower level of the SFU Wosk Centre for Dialogue which is at the corner of Seymour and Hastings. There will be plenty of time to hear questions and comments from the audience. And as you said, it will be a bash!

It was never my objective to garner an invite out my rant.  I legitimately thought that with the invite list that Geller had put together, the forum had the possibility of turning into a bash Vision event.

However, I believe Geller when he says that his message will be quite the opposite.  I also believe that he will run a well-balanced and fair event that is focussed on issues and discussion.

So, far be it from me to refuse to turn up to debate my favourite foil Alex Tsakumis in person.  Thus, I officially accept your offer, Mr. Geller.

I look forward to keeping things away from the gutter politics that some of your invitees so enjoy dwelling in.