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Jan. 26, 2007
Sullivan seeks advice
Vancouver mayor has meeting with community.
RON FRIEDMAN
Affordable housing was the main topic of conversation at Vancouver
Mayor Sam Sullivan’s office last Friday during a city hall
meeting between Sullivan and invited leaders of the Jewish community.
The mayor had asked the group to his office to discuss his Civil
City project and to listen to their views on various social, economic
and cultural issues. The 15 community representatives included officials
from various Jewish organizations, local business people, artists
and political activists. Also in attendance was city councillor
B.C. Lee, who is active on many of the issues under debate.
The mayor is currently meeting with representatives of the various
cultural communities in the city in order to lay out his political
priorities and gauge public reaction to his policies. The meeting
began with Sullivan presenting his five major goals for a better
Vancouver, a plan that he first introduced in his State of the City
address on Jan. 16.
The plan addresses social issues, the environment, the economy,
government accountability and the arts. The mayor spoke of his plans
for a "civil city," which arose due to widespread complaints
from residents about the quality of life in Vancouver. The project
aims to reduce homelessness, aggressive panhandling and the open
drug market by 50 per cent by the year 2010.
While there was a general agreement on the values and goals of the
project, concerns were expressed over the mayor’s priorities
and the implementation of certain programs. The most crucial point
of dispute surrounded issues of housing development and the cutbacks
to social and affordable housing for the Jewish community and Vancouver
residents in general.
Vancouver city council recently decided to alter requirements to
a new housing project on the southern bank of False Creek. The project,
which initially called for one-third market housing, one-third affordable
housing and one-third social housing, was modified and now provides
for only a third of the units to be designated as affordable. Several
community members claimed that by cutting back housing projects,
the mayor was sending a message that the city was unsupportive of
poor people and was failing to provide real solutions to the problem.
Some raised concerns that the community will be affected by rising
housing costs and will lose its cohesiveness due to dispersion to
the surrounding areas.
"As a community, we feel very strongly that the first priority
of government should be affordable and social housing," said
Mark Weintraub, chair of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region.
At the meeting, the mayor also touted a new municipal service, to
be implemented over the next four years, called 311.
"311 will provide a single phone number for non-emergency municipal
services and information, and will be available 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, in 12 languages," said Sullivan.
Several at the meeting criticized the new hotline, which is expected
to cost between $12-20 million.
"Since it is unlikely that one of the languages provided will
be Hebrew, the population we serve will not benefit from the services,"
said Jewish Family Services Agency executive director Joseph Kahn-Tietz,
who proposed that the money could be better spent elsewhere; perhaps
on advanced English-as-a- second-language services.
Other issues that were addressed included the funding of Jewish
cultural events, use of public theatres by nonprofit organizations
and land rezoning in the 41st Avenue corridor.
The meeting ended when Sullivan had to leave for B.C. Place stadium
in order to supervise the inflation of the newly fixed dome.
"I have been to all of the meetings with all of the different
groups," said Lee afterwards. "This has been the most
organized and well-prepared one so far. We have listened more and
achieved more than with any other group because the agenda was brought
clearly to our attention and we had more time to talk about the
issues that the communities prioritized." He added that the
Jewish community members were "the first group that we thought
we should have a follow-up meeting with."
"I think that their plans are great, but we are looking for
tachles [implementation]. We as a community are prepared
to sacrifice some economic benefits so that we can support the less
fortunate," said Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver chair
Bernard Pinsky.
Kahn-Tietz added, "I’m pleased that the mayor is at least
acknowledging the reality that housing and homelessness are significant
problems that need to be addressed in his Civil City mandate. I
felt that there was a lack of acknowledgement of the role that the
city can play in addressing some of those issues."
"I think the message of an ethical imperative, while still
having a prosperous city, is a message that is hard to disagree
with. What we were asking is that it be focused and that there be
actual implementation," Weintraub summarized.
Ron Friedman is a student in the master’s program
in journalism at the University of British Columbia.
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