George Chow seeks second council term

by Carlito Pablo on September 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 PM

On July 3, 2008, the Straight reported that first-term councillor George Chow—one of four incumbent Vision Vancouver council members—was pondering the “best use” of his time.

At that time, Chow said that he had informed his party’s caucus that he wasn’t sure if he would stand as a candidate in this fall’s civic election.

Today (September 3), exactly two months later, Chow declared that he will run for reelection.

Chow thus joins Louie and the two other incumbent Vision Vancouver councillors—Heather Deal and Tim Stevenson—who will try to secure nominations when the party holds its nominating convention on September 20.

See Vision Vancouver’s news release on Chow’s announcement:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Release
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
VISION COUNCILLOR GEORGE CHOW TO SEEK SECOND TERM ON COUNCIL
(VANCOUVER) Vision Vancouver Councillor George Chow announced today that he will run again for city council.
“After a lot of thought, I’m pleased to announce that I will be running again with Vision and Gregor Robertson,” said Councillor Chow. “We can’t afford another term with Peter Ladner and the NPA - we need a change. I want to do everything I can to make sure we have a Vision majority that brings progressive leadership back to City Hall.”
Vision Mayoral Candidate Gregor Robertson welcomed the news that Chow will be running again.
“George Chow has been an outstanding councillor these past three years, and I’m very excited that he wants to run again,” said Robertson. “His strong commitment to making City Hall open and accessible for everyone has made him an invaluable city councillor.”
Councillor Chow cited the need to improve public safety, as well as City Hall’s accountability, as goals for his next term on council.
“Our police force is under-resourced, we’re not utilizing our community policing centres as well as we could, and all the NPA want to do is waste money on Project Civil City,” said Chow. “Peter Ladner’s approach is not delivering results and we need a change.”
“The issues of accountability and transparency are big concerns for many of the people I speak with,” said Chow. “I want to work with Gregor Robertson to help rebuild trust between City Hall and different communities, and especially the Chinese community. Our citizens deserve better.”