The following e-mail landed on my desk in a roundabout way. As I feel strongly about what is happening in this province I thought it may be a good thing to pass this on to anyone who may be reading my blog. The bottom line here is making the electorate aware who is paying the bills for our elected representatives. You can be sure if they are getting huge donations from certain places then their intersts will not be for the individual who elects them.
This also may not be such a bad idea for other areas of the province. It will give you an idea where your vote is going.
F.Y.I. for the lower mainland. A call for some real civic action.
Please respond to: Alicia BarsalloE-mail Address( aliciabarsallo@telus.net
With strips of black cloth tied across our mouths, about 40 neighbours from around Vancouver sat through the two-hour City Council meeting last Tuesday afternoon, June 10th. We wore the black gags in protest of not being allowed to make oral presentations to the Council on the 'revised' version of their 'EcoDensity' Charter.
Before the meeting, we congregated outside expecting to talk to councillors as they entered the chambers. Neighbours from Norquay, Kitsilano, Shaughnessy, Point Grey, Arbutus, Kerrisdale, Trout Lake, Commercial Drive, Dunbar, Jericho Point Grey, and Collingwood, spoke about unwanted developments already begun in various neighbourhoods, about Council's abandonment of the vision committees, and about the need to continue the fight to stop mass rezoning.
Speakers called for the defeat of 'EcoDensity' and for the defeat of the very idea that densification, and not government action, brings a greener city, public and affordable housing, and services like public transit.City councillors entered the chambers through the back doors. And, after some unsuccessful ramblings about amendments to the document, without even a report on the many written submissions that were sent to Council, ALL the councillors voted to pass the so-called EcoDensity Charter.
What we have here is an astonishing alliance in favour of the pro-developer blueprint.Council voted unanimously in favour of a document that prescribes major densification of the city with no commitment to maintaining neighbourhood access to public services and green areas, no commitment to maintaining the availability of rental housing, no commitment to brokering the building of co-operative and public housing, no commitment to fulfilling Council's Olympic promises, no commitment to funding or providing the necessary staff for the continuation of the visioning process, and no commitment to seeking genuine neighbourhood approval for their major projects. It is a vote that renews Council's threat to mass rezone 18 Vancouver neighbourhoods in order to turn single family lots into lots for multi-condo structures, with the corresponding exodus of renters who lose their accommodation and homeowners who cannot pay the increased taxes. It is a vote to allow developers to fill ever more of our open spaces.This makes for a clear political picture. The decision of the Coalition Against 'EcoDensity' and for Liveability, to canvass those planning to run municipally this November, is now of paramount importance. It is crucial to publicize where each municipal candidate stands on rezoning and densification, on 'EcoDensity,' and on the laws that govern donations to candidates running municipally (many campaigns are developer-financed).Publicizing the developer-financed campaigns of those now in Council and of those running for Council is basic information our neighbourhoods must have, to make a democratic choice come next November. Our neighbourhoods must now more than ever take part in the electoral process, and be on the alert to fight every attempt to carry out their projected unscrupulous rezoning and densification anywhere in the city.
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Unknown former SoCred politician to Corky Evans on the streets of Nakusp when Corky asked why he was suggesting that Corky run for office again in the last election:
“Because Campbell is running the worst government in history and we have to bring him down before he destroys British Columbia.”
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