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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October 8, 2009 - 12:45 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
As described previously on CivicScene, City Council’s green strategies require the construction of an infrastructure upon which to attract global business players to Vancouver. With regards to laying a foundation for the electric car to flourish in Vancouver, I noted:
“Creating an infrastructure for the electric car idea was panned by the development community and seen by many as a Council vote where intention would dwarf action. On the contrary, the policy directive has created waves across North America. One of my closest friends who has just left our fair country to move to Chicago is a sustainability-centred financial analyst who just happens to be working with one of the companies on the continent that is looking to broadly build that electric infrastructure.”
Expect to see these plugged in around Vancouver as of 2011.
Well, the simple vote that launched Vancouver down this path has already begun to attract business, as the Renault-Nissan Alliance has just signed a zero-emission partnership to make Vancouver the first major testing site for the Nissan LEAF, the company’s first all-electric, as of 2011.
Quite frankly, the greenest city aspirations of Mayor Gregor Robertson will only be as good as their ability to become a source of economic activity, making consistency in these kinds of successes extremely important over the coming years.
It will be interesting to see what kind of specific targets and benchmarks the upcoming economic development strategy from the VEDC lays out.
Regardless, this Nissan pilot program is a fantastic start towards greening our local economy.
September 30, 2009 - 12:22 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
This summary of the Green Technology Industry Leaders Roundtable that the VEDC hosted back in June seems to be launching pad for Mayor Gregor Robertson’s address to the Board of Trade today. And in consideration of who sat around that table, I’d say that it’s a pretty solid foundation of ideas to build upon.
The roof of the new convention centre is a symbolic green landing strip for the world. Vancouver is officially open for business.
As mentioned in an earlier post, today’s speech and the ensuing economic development branding/strategy will be the first for Vancouver in over two decades, which is shocking considering the growth that the city has experienced over that time frame.
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September 28, 2009 - 3:58 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
A municipal economic strategy has always seemed to be lacking at Vancouver´s municipal level of government.
Of the three civic elections that I have either been a participant in or an observer of, economic issues have always played second or third fiddle to a wide array of issues (open up one of the party platforms from last election and take your pick). I have also known the VEDC to be the orphaned child of City Hall with minimal collaboration with the Mayor’s office.
So putting partisan affiliations aside, Gregor Robertson’s speech at the Board of Trade this coming Wednesday is worthy of attention.
Gregor’s green agenda should play large into the talk, and I’ll be interested to see what kind of specifcs the former entrepreneur lays out.
And so Gregor's green dreams begin.
Hate it or love it, critics and supporters will have the opportunity to offer up their critiques. Regardless, at least there will be something to talk about, which is more than can be said about other administrations and their attitudes towards building Vancouver’s business case.
And no, a trademark protecting your own intellectual property does not qualify as an economic strategy.
