The Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods is proud to announce that the NPA, COPE, Vancouver Greens, OneCity, Cedar Party, and independent Bob Kasting, have now endorsed the Coalition’s proposal for improving the planning and development process in the City.
One of the major news stories in Vancouver last year was the unprecedented level of discontent with planning and development in neighbourhoods across our city. In response to these concerns 24 diverse communities from all across the city came together to form the Coalition, with a common goal to fix these divisive processes. All member neighbourhood associations gave input to establish principles for a collaborative planning process.
Following those discussions, in April this year the Coalition issued a document called “Principles & Goals” outlining a new and more respectful relationship between the City and our neighbourhoods. The “Principles” define a collaborative, accountable, and transparent partnership that views Vancouver as a community rather than a commodity, and which will produce a livable, inclusive, and sustainable city.
Last month, the Coalition announced a pre-election meeting to which all municipal parties have been invited. The two-hour Town Hall will take place from 7:00pm on Wednesday, 15th October at St. James’ Hall, 3214 W. 10th Avenue. Entitled “Planning, Development, and Community Engagement: Putting The Community Back Into Community Planning”, this town hall meeting will investigate how parties plan to bring peace to a divided city. Georgia Straight editor, Charlie Smith, will moderate the discussion with a focus on the Coalition’s “Principles and Goals”.
We call on all parties and candidates in Vancouver to endorse this new collaborative approach before the election in November, and we invite the public to attend and submit their written questions to candidates.
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3 comments
Ironic that an organisation ostensibly devoted to urbanism (Spacing) is providing advertising space for people whose main goal is to prevent further densification.
Just look at the members of the coalition, and you’ll quickly realise that “There isn’t enough community involvement in planning” is usually shorthand for “I don’t want my low-density neighbourhood to change”.
Meanwhile, 80% of the residential land in Vancouver is zoned to explicitly forbid apartments – this *needs* to change, but it won’t if these people get their way.
Thanks for your comment, Henry.
Here at Spacing Vancouver we recognize, respect and embrace the fact that cities are composed of diverse interests. This, in turn, is reflected in our very diverse readership. This being the case, we do our best to separate our own personal biases from the content we publish – particularly content that comes in the form of press releases (what you see above). The “Release” label in the title is intended to explicitly convey that this is a press release sent to us for distribution directly from the source, not created or transformed by any editor or contributor on the Spacing Vancouver team. We do not consider it ‘advertising’, as such.
In the spirit of respecting the variety of people and perspectives in our urban environments, we publish virtually every press release we receive, as long as it pertains the urban landscape – the good, the bad and the ugly. The above press release meets this mandate and, as such, we are happy to contribute to the ongoing discussions around good city-building……irony and contradiction are a part of all great cities, after all.
I like the Coalition’s bold statement, ‘Collaborative Approach’! Truly, a collaborative approach would be to invite ‘independent’ mayoral candidates to, ‘putting the community back in community planning’ town hall meeting! This is called, ‘Democracy’ a very important part of community living. My mayoral platform is all about “Applied Democracy”. This is the best return for Your Tax $$$!
Independent candidate @ mike4mayor2014.ca “Applied Democracy” is the very same system large corporations operate under. Shareholders want to know their money and investment’s are safe. A billion dollar corporation like Vancouver, provides mandatory quarterly reports and AGMs to enforce accountability and transparency! A facilitator of “Applied Democracy” swears an oath to The Voters. Making The Voters the mayor’s ‘councillors’ through plebiscites on all extra spending. The elected councillors will become ‘Ombudspersons’ for the Citizens interests and concerns. As city facilitator, my mandate will be The Voters/Taxpayers best interests. Facilitating “Applied Democracy” in Vancouver will offer the best return for your $tax dollars$! Fiscal prudence is the order of the day. No more out of control spending on travels, galas and visions of entitlement. As mayor, I won’t travel outside the Greater Vancouver area. Attending meetings by CCTV conferencing! Implementing city hall, parks and transit “budget freezes” to start the accountability and transparency process. Voters will receive a ‘one voting share’ certificate in the incorporation of Vancouver! I encourage all to vote for change and become part of The New Vancouver! Your Children depend on it. Implementing 21st Century solutions to colonial dysfunctions! Making Vancouver the Worlds Safest City!
Mike Hansen