Their city-hall aspirations haven’t exactly generated headlines. In a field crowded with prominent politicians aiming to become mayor of Vancouver, it’s easy to ignore the likes of former NPA board member Peter Ormesher and great-grandmother Betty Krawczyk. But like their better-packaged competitors, these hopefuls want to be taken seriously.

On Tuesday (March 4), Ormesher will step up his bid for the Non-Partisan Association’s endorsement with a community meeting at Kitsilano’s St. James Hall. The 52-year-old political greenhorn has also drawn up a “blueprint to a better Vancouver”. The document covers a wide range of issues, from homelessness to crime and the environment—concerns that will undoubtedly define debates in the run-up to the November 15 vote.

The father of two was described in NPA material as a “broadly experienced business and community development professional” when he ran for a seat on the party’s board of directors last year.

Ormesher claims that he’s “quite worried” that the NPA contest might be limited to Mayor Sam Sullivan and principal challenger Coun. Peter Ladner. He noted that such a two-way race would be “not about the substantial issues and more about personal ambitions”.

“A three-way race is more about capability and ideas and what can be done,” Ormesher told the Georgia Straight.

In a February 20 interview, Sullivan said he didn’t know Ormesher well enough to comment on his candidacy.

Krawczyk, a folk hero in environmental circles, recalled that she was in prison last year when she sent word to Gregor Robertson that she would support the Vancouver-Fairview NDP MLA if he soon declared his intention to run for mayor.

“He didn’t respond,” Krawczyk told the Straight during a January 28 interview, about three weeks before Robertson cast his lot with Vision Vancouver. “Later, he advised me that he couldn’t respond. I have declared and will continue to run.”

The day after she was released from prison in September 2007, Krawczyk announced that she planned to run for mayor. She had been incarcerated for defying a court order directing her and other environmental activists to stay away from West Vancouver’s Eagleridge Bluffs, which were then being bulldozed as part of the B.C. Liberal government’s Sea to Sky Highway expansion project.

In her Straight interview, she also recalled that an NDP government had put her in prison previously, over her protests against logging in old-growth forests.

Krawczyk said she wants to educate voters that overconsumption is putting pressure on the Earth’s resources and the environment. “Our economic system has already reached a tipping point,” she said.

Then there’s James Green, who’s largely remembered for getting 4,273 votes as an independent mayoral candidate in the 2005 election in which Sullivan triumphed over Vision Vancouver candidate Jim Green by a margin of less than 4,000.

“I think the city is ready for a big change in taking a new direction for mayor,” James Green told the Straight on February 25. Green said he’ll make good on an earlier pronouncement to run again, but only if he can first pay off the debt he racked up in 2005, which he claimed was only $11,000.