Randy Helten promises wild ride in quixotic quest for the Vancouver mayoralty

by Matthew Burrows on October 17th, 2011 at 7:11 PM

The West End shit disturber now running against his arch nemesis, Mayor Gregor Robertson, has one piece of advice for voters.

“Fasten your seat belts.”

Randy Helten, founder of websites CityHallWatch.ca and MetroVanWatch.ca—not to mention the West End Neighbours—told the Straight he had been coy about his candidacy for the longest time, before announcing he would run for the mayor’s job next month.

“The answer to the question, would I run for mayor, was ‘no’," Helten said by phone. “And it was a sincere no, about less than 24 hours before the deadline at 4 p.m. on Friday, October 14.”

He's with a slate called Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver along with four council candidates.

“I just considered the whole flow of my life and all the stuff I had been doing for the last 20 years, and I think that…I didn’t see any candidates in there that are going to fix the serious, fundamental problems in Vancouver," Helten said. "So, for me to be true to myself, I had to do it.”

Comments

13 Comments

Joseph Jones

Oct 17, 2011 at 11:48pm

A vote for Gregor Robertson is a vote for the developer agenda. A vote for Suzanne Anton is a vote for the developer agenda.

A vote for Randy Helten is a vote for the agenda of the residents of Vancouver.

Are you a developer or a resident?

james green

Oct 18, 2011 at 1:10am

I have no desire to see Robertson or Anton win this election. Helton is a serious considertion. But I need to see his platform now.
I have met Randy and he is a sincere and intelligent political outsider and that is a good thing. Show us what you Randy and good luck.

Gerry McGuire

Oct 18, 2011 at 3:54am

"…I didn’t see any candidates in there that are going to fix the serious, fundamental problems in Vancouver." That's funny, I thought he knew I was running, and that he thought more of me than that...

Peter W

Oct 18, 2011 at 7:15am

I was very weary of being asked to choose between two identical developer backed parties, (okay, one has a pseudo green spin, one doesn't bother)

Between the NSV candidates (such as Helten), COPE and Green, I can now actually vote for a full slate of credible candidates that might actually listen to the citzens of the city. What a strange experience that will be after Vision.

Maybe there is hope for Vancouver to avoid what seemed an inevitable demise of becoming a sea of sterile ugly energy leaking glass high rise towers.

Justavoter

Oct 18, 2011 at 9:44am

Vision's arrogance and disrespect for the citizens of Vancouver has been a horrible shock for everyone who voted for them. Who knew that they would dedicate themselves to selling off our city to developers? The NPA is no different. It is time for a big political earthquake in this city.

?

Oct 18, 2011 at 1:36pm

It is pretty pathetic how many people Randy has tricked into defending his property value.

He started this whole mess in opposition to adding residential rental units to his neighborhood to protect his families investments and view corridors in the area.

Hardly a noble venture.

Vancouver Born and Raised

Oct 18, 2011 at 10:43pm

The website linked is wrong - found it at
http://nsvancouver.ca/
Have a read - this might finally be something to vote for.

Urban_Citizen

Oct 19, 2011 at 8:22am

A comment to "?" - if Mr. Helten was genuinely concerned about protecting his property value (which I don't believe is the case), wouldn't he have supported the creation of rental units as opposed to condos? Having the site developed for condo units (which would complete with his own property) has a greater likelihood of decreasing his property value than rental units. I believe Mr. Helten is opposed to bad development, and the previous rental project was most certainly in that category.

james green

Oct 19, 2011 at 9:45am

It is not reasonable to pit developers against residents as both parties are important to this city. What is reasonable is for the residents to have equal influence if not more influence with the mayor and council of this city.
We cannot prosper and ensure residents rights unless residents have say over what can be built in their neighbourhoods We need a new approach to development where developers approach community members first not after they have gained back room mayor and council support in a trade off for campaign contributions or other favours.
Neighbourhood Development Committtees should have veto power over projects they do not want with council having an overide of this veto by a 2/3 majority vote. This would place some of the power where it belongs.