Login / RegisterNPA campaigns on bringing “common sense” back to Vancouver city hall
On a recent morning, a neatly dressed gentleman was quietly handing out flyers at an East Vancouver SkyTrain station.
The papers could have been for about just anything, but it turned out that person was Francis Wong, vice president of the Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Area Society.
Wong is a candidate for city council with the Non-Partisan Association, and he was distributing campaign material for the right-of-centre party.
The flyer’s message was very simple.
It starts by saying that with all the “wacky ‘greenwashing’ gimmicks” of the current Vision Vancouver administration of Mayor Gregor Robertson, such as backyard chickens and growing of wheat on front lawns, “there’s something missing at City Hall”.
“It’s called common sense,” the flyer reads. “It’s the kind of common sense that your NPA team wants to bring back to City Council, Park Board and School Board on November 19. The same common sense that respects your tax dollars and values your priorities as we work to build a better Vancouver for everyone.”
It refers to the NPA team of the party’s mayoral aspirant Suzanne Anton as the “Common Sense Team”.
It remains to be seen whether or not the NPA’s messaging on the theme of common sense will catch on among voters.
The NPA sounds confident it will. The flyer’s message concludes: “Like you, and more and more Vancouverites, we know it’s time for some common sense.”
Meanwhile, the inspiration for the Vision philosophy on homelessness and traffic issues has been found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNfGyIW7aHM
They have no vision.
Like I said, I'm genuinely interested, but it takes more then just "we are not the other guys" to get my vote... And I hope it does for you as well downvoters.
Just remember that Toronto has been kind enough to demonstrate for us exactly what you can get if you vote someone in based on sloganeering and little else.
They also realize that Vision has actually been doing a very good job and should be reelected.
Whoever is in charge always has the most crap thrown at them it is the nature of modern politics.
I agree with the person that stated that the NPA are the Rob Fords of our local political scene.
I have met almost all of the NPA candidates for city council and I know a couple of them personally and beyond Sean Bickerton - I can not in good conscience recommend any of them to any intelligent or concerned voter.
Beyond Mr. Bickerton, the NPA city council candidates simply lack intelligence.
Suzanne Anton, as much (as I would probably enjoy drinking wine with her in her garden) is old and tired and her background as a prosecuting attorney unfortunately has affected her ability to rationalize and compromise on matters beyond her agenda.
For instance, the NPA lack vision on:
-the wheat issue - they cannot seem to grasp the importance of public school students learning first hand how much energy and resources it takes to make a loaf of bread from start to finish.
-the chickens thing - somewhere hundreds to thousands of km's away is a huge aluminum barn stuffed with chickens crammed into little cages crapping all over one another day in and day out every day of their lives, being fed who knows what to make our breakfast eggs. Sorry, it makes perfect sense to me to allow Vancouverites the option of producing their own at home.
-the water meter issue - it has been empirically proven across the world that metering lowers consumption patterns yet Ms Anton voted against the policy.
-the bike lane thing - omg, seriously - people the separated bike lanes are a GOOD thing for this city. I was in London UK in May for the Royal Wedding and holy crap riding a bicycle in that city (London has unseparated bike lanes) is almost a death wish. We should be very thankful we have them here. Whole families use them.
-the riot issue - when I met Ms. Anton shortly after the riot, I said to her "wow, it sure looks like you and your team sure stand to gain from that event." - and indeed she has milked that issue almost continuously since.
It would be a backward move to vote these people into council -and it would be embarrassing.
Mayor Robertson and City Council are doing a stand-up job putting Vancouver into a leadership position globally and setting the city on course for long-term success well into the future.
If it's the NPA who unseats them (or at the very least grabs enough seats to make this a democratic city again), fine.
Regardless, the message is sound. We're in serious need of some renewed control of city hall before the developers become our new lords.
I do hope that there is no majority and that the next council includes neither Green Chicken Reimer nor any free range Meggs.
"Irony (def): Going to work by bike to $ave on $hoe$; pull the "ManOfThePeople" routine for the Vancouver $ucker'$ benefit, all while claiming Full Tran$portation Allowance, and dining in Ko$her $urrounding$ according to and in great ob$ervance of the Hollyhocki$h tradition."
NPA F#$%ing Hacks...Costly Renos...Divorced bike lanes... Cronyism... Nepotistic Hiring... On and on and on and on and on and on...
If these Vision punks are back in orifice after the November Election and if Gregorovitch Riotson will still be showing his crooked mug around the City Hall's vegetable garden I'm off to Jamaica... and why not, let them pretty women... steal my money instead!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf5IP8r0gWk
We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.
Rethink the Vision plan to build high rises in the DTES, displacing long term residents (Mr Mayor - moving the homeless problem to another neighbourhood won't "fix homelessness" as you promised).
Halt the ridiculously ambitious (aka ridiculously EXPEN$IVE for you and me...hey, Robertson's a multimillionaire fruit drink mogul...maybe HE should pay for it) Green Plan that seems to serve no real purpose than bragging rights against other cities. We are already one of the greenest cities in North America (I can only think of Portland as greener on the Pacific Coast and maybe we're about equal with San Fran).
Rethink Vancouver's support for the Evergreen line. Not nearly as much a benefit to Vancouver city proper as the Canada Line and will cause a huge rise in gas and/or property taxes. Coquitlam wants the Evergreen line, they should pay for the bulk of it not dump the costs on Vancouver.
All in all, you can build a whole election campaign JUST fixing everything Vision has done wrong in the last 3 short years. It's like when the NDP took power provincially. They WRECKED the economy in one term and it took the better part of the next term to fix all they did wrong. We put Vision/Robertson back in, they will go Hog Wild with their foolish, EXPENSIVE (more gas taxes, more property taxes) pie in the sky plans.
The NPA lack intellect - I already said that. I'd like to add integrity to that list please.
Thank you.
As an NPA candidate for Park Board I can tell you that I and all my running mates dramatically differ with our Vision counterparts.
We differ on fundemental issues such as:
Governance, funding, staffing and hours of operation of Community Centres
Proper funding of programs and staff to run various programs
Cutting the Grass and properly maintaining gardens, plants and trees
Picking up garbage in parks
Properly maintaining our parks, pools, streets, boulevards
Funding the Park Board to do it's job
Keeping washrooms open
Ongoing consultative planning of Dog Parks and dog related programs
Funding of new parks and facilities
Being vocal and strong advocates for Park Board issues to the Mayor, Council and City Manager.
I could go on but I think the point is made.
If you feel that that Vision has done a good job of running thePark Board no matter how much more than the $5.2 million they have already cut, it won't matter to you.
However, ask yourself this, are YOUR parks, Community Centres programs better than they were 3 years ago? Do you get better service from your Park Board?
I am proud to say that over the past year and half the NPA has been listening to neighbourhoods and community groups throughout the City.
The issues, comments and needs of a wide community of people from all across the political spectrum have been listened to and are being taken into account.
As we get closer to the fall and lection time you will see the roll out of these consultations as part of the NPA's election policy program.
For those that wish to slam go ahead, but for those who want to see real differences of thoughts for the future of our City between COPE, VISION and the NPA stay tuned. I am confident those with a genuially open mind will be pleasantly surprised.
The NPA are cut from the same reactionary thug cloth. I didn't see any common sense in trying to criminalize homelessness through 'Project Civil City', abandoning the Four Pillars approach to Vancouver's drug problem, picking protracted fights with the City's own employees, and trying to shove as many people into East Vancouver through the 'Eco-Density' strategy while making sure their affluent West Side supporters didn't have to put up with any new neighbours.
So, when does Greg R. Robertson declare his candidacy for Mayor?...
You can tell when irrelevant provincial political history (Ontario, BC) gets dragged into the fray.
This issue is has Vision lived up to their promises? The answer is a very loud "NO!"
Make your decisions as you will. Mine is to plump for the COPE candidates, who voted with Vision far less than the NPA did. That is just fact, not spin.
Some of their successes include:
-the greening the city and moving it towards being global Green Capital
-bike lanes installed
-homelessness is down to record lows
-working very aggressively towards increasing the supply of housing in the city
-dealing progressively with transit issues within the city
-opening the level of community interaction and dialogue to hitherto unknown levels with their town hall and social media programs
-listened to the people and acted in accordance on issues like the casino and falun gongers
-the safe injection site is a success
Compared to the legacy that Sam Sullivan left behind, Vision is doing a fantastic job... like super fantastic.
Me and many others are super proud of this city. There is no joke here. Vancouver is internationally renowned and respected and it's not because we have conservatives at the helm - it is our progressive mode that produces the approval ratings.
We don't need an old hawk and her hens at wheel of this town.
Gregor is young, grounded, forward looking, a successful man and family and community oriented man - and great mayor.
His team is a solid, they have vision and the fortitude to get things done in a manner that will keep this city growing and bearing fruit for generations to come.
I am looking forward to three more years of progressive leadership from Vision/COPE.
Whatever the NPA was in the past all they are now is a breeding ground for Neo-Conservatism.
If you like Rob Ford style politics then the NPA is your party.
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