March 10, 2010 - 1:21 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Paralympic Ambassador Sam Sullivan has a very short memory about his own record in office.
Today’s Vancouver Courier arrived on my doorstep with the following front page headline:
“Athletes Village balconies aren’t wheelchair accessible: Former mayor and Paralympic Games ambassador calls situation a ’scandal‘”
In consideration of the efforts of Sullivan to make Vancouver the most accessible jurisdiction in the world in advance of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, this is most definitely a scandal.
The problem for the current Paralympic Ambassador and former Mayor, however, is that responsibility for the scandal rests solely on his shoulders.
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March 9, 2010 - 3:47 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
CivicScene's makes a return to the Vancouver Sun this morning.
CivicScene is back with the first oped in a new series beginning in today’s Vancouver Sun.
Critics of the current administration at City Hall tend to frame their grievances on the accusation that the civil service has been politicized. In fact, when I spoke to lone NPA City Councillor Suzanne Anton over the Olympic Games and asked what her biggest objection to Vision Vancouver was, this was her first response.
But let’s for a moment consider the alternative.
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January 22, 2010 - 11:41 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Some former NPA affiliated staffers are running extremely low in the memory department.
So, a Freedom of Information request filed by City Caucus’ Daniel Fontaine has discovered that the Property Endowment Fund (PEF) board did not meet during the calendar year of 2009.
Without the time nor the inclination to find out the frequency of meetings in previous council years, however, the magic of the Internet has turned up some interesting facts about the reign over the PEF by former NPA Mayors/mayoral candidates.
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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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