I started thinking about standing for mayor when some minor personal problems I was having with the city led me to think about the issues the whole city is having with this current leadership. When I received a complaint last year about the safety of the building my business is in, I had my occupancy and thus my earning power cut in half. This wasn’t just a blow to me, but also the community that my business acts as a centre for, such as nonprofits, Alcoholics Anonymous, and political groups who have been affected by restrictions to the space. This came as a surprise to me because the fire department had signed off on the building’s safety three times in the years prior and when I requested to see the documents from previous fire inspections I was rebuffed and told it was confidential. This is when my frustrations in dealing with the city really began.

I met with various levels of government to seek advice on how to fix the problem and move forward, with little response, except for being told to “get over it”. I was realizing what it was like to navigate civic politics as a small business owner and it was not easy or effective. I was being treated with what I perceived as disdain, and I wondered what it must be like for other small scale entrepreneurs or individuals. I invited Mayor Robertson down to my restaurant for lunch four times, again with no response. The only person to sit down with me and share some guidance was councillor George Affleck. I told him that I would support him if he would consider running against Robertson in the next election, and I started a word of mouth campaign to this effect. But then I asked myself, why would I ask someone else to do something that I wasn’t myself willing to do?

My interactions with city hall were really just the tipping point. There were many other issues that were bothering me, like lack of transparent emergency preparedness—when I asked council what the plans were for certain natural disasters I got a very vague and alarming response along the lines of “I’m sure we have a plan.” But this is the same council that doesn’t share budget results with non-Vision members, so not that much of a surprise. I also witnessed a new condo development down the street from my business having an impact on the people in my community. Not just for the usual reasons leveraged against condo development, but because the city forced through development without listening to the community, and then allowed the developers to make contrasting amendments after it had been approved. It was a classic bait and switch. What really bothered me about this was the flagrant rejection of input from the electorate.

I’m not a complainer. I work hard, stand my ground, stand up for others, and I communicate what I feel needs to be communicated. I have an intense corporate management background and I am used to high pressure interactions on a daily basis so once I’d started talking to leadership about my personal issues, it was natural to start asking some bigger questions that they wouldn’t—or couldn’t—answer.

The common denominator in all the issues I take with city hall is that they (the mayor) aren’t listening to the collective voice of the city. They try to placate us with line-toeing big media and treat us like we are stupid and don’t need to be respected.

I believe in the public and their ability to make informed decisions and express themselves through their vote. I want to encourage Vancouverites to do their research and make informed choices, because the current leadership is banking that we won’t. My platform isn’t one where I promise to fix all the business as usual issues, because I can’t. We will address them as a team of councilors. What I do promise is to restore democracy to this city by including everyone in the conversation.