The mayor is back
Gregor Robertson begins his third term with a reduced majority on council — and some election promises to keep
As he begins his third term of office, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has signalled he’s willing to change how he does things, even as he faces renewed challenges of making his city more affordable and easier to get around. Robertson, who came through a Nov. 15 re- election with a reduced majority on council and the disquieting turnover of the park board majority to the Non- Partisan Association, intends to stretch his administration another four years, which would make it the longest unbroken reign at city hall.
To do so he sharply made a number of strategic changes to committees. With Raymond Louie in line to be the president of the agenda- heavy Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Robertson has replaced him as head of council’s finance committee with Coun. Geoff Meggs.
He also appointed Coun. Heather Deal as new chair of the planning and environment committee, replacing a longtime ally, Coun. Andrea Reimer. Notably, the mayor chose Non- Partisan Association Coun. Elizabeth Ball to be Deal’s vice- chair, an act that may soften some of the divisive politics between the NPA and the mayor’s Vision Vancouver party.
Robertson has also reached out to Green Coun. Adriane Carr in an effort to compensate for the loss of Vision Coun. Tony Tang in the election. Carr, who shares some common ground with Vision, will be one of the city’s three appointees to the FCM, along with Deal and Louie. She also will be on the city planning commission with Reimer. All of the main Metro Vancouver board positions will still be held by the Vision councillors and mayor, but all of the opposition NPA and Green members, including newly elected NPA Coun. Melissa De Genova, have appointments as alternates and members of some committees.
The changes, some of which were unveiled Friday and others that will be voted on in Monday’s inaugural council, come as Robertson continues his aggressive build- it- for- all vision of a city where no one sleeps on the street, young families have well- paying green jobs, and everyone can get around without a car.
Robertson and his new council — made up of six Vision Vancouver councillors, three NPA and one Green — will be sworn into office at Creekside Community Centre, the same place he used in 2011 to mark the start of his second administration.
In the next six to 12 months Robertson faces significant tests to an agenda formed two terms ago to remake Vancouver into a kinder, gentler, greener but much more dense city. Next year is the deadline for his ambitious plan to end street homelessness, a challenge many people doubt he can meet. It has been complicated by a rising, not declining, number of people sleeping outdoors.
Robertson, along with the rest of Metro Vancouver’s mayors, also faces the daunting task of getting voter approval next spring for a $ 7.5- billion regional transportation plan, with as- yet- unidentified new funding sources. A significant portion involves plans for a new Broadway subway, a major plank in his search for a critical third term. But with taxpayers feeling pinched to the max and weary of tax- heavy gas prices at the pump, it may be difficult for mayors to win public support for another round of wallet-opening.
A focus on building rental housing will drive much of the city’s growth. Robertson is determined to hit his election promise of 1,000 new rental spaces each year during his new four- year term. He also has to meet a pledge to build 1,000 new daycare spaces, something that may be more difficult since Vision lost control of the school board after having promised to locate many of those spaces in seismically upgraded schools.
Robertson’s council also has a dizzying array of local issues to worry about, from a new Grandview- Woodland neighbourhood plan to the future of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts to the emerging developmental desires of the region’s First Nations, which have just acquired significant pieces of land on Vancouver’s west side.
And he also faces some succession planning over the next few years as a number of department heads and senior staff reach retirement age. City Manager Penny Ballem, however, told The Vancouver Sun on Thursday she has no intention of retiring any time soon, even though she reached pensionable age earlier this year.
In that light, don’t expect Robertson to want to open any new fronts. “They will fill our dance card pretty full,” the mayor said Thursday of his many promises. But he also believes much of the heaviest lifting of his agenda is over.
“We have a very solid of matrix of strategies to roll out our actions from,” he said in an interview last week “The work on the big picture is largely done, with the economic action strategy, the greenest city plan, the healthy city strategy, the affordable housing and homeless plans all in place. All that architecture is done and we are in implementation mode.”
But he still has new challenges. Of significant note is Robertson’s pledge to do better at consulting with the public. To that end, on Friday Robertson relaxed city hall rules for journalists as the first step in an effort to communicate better with the public. The change will see reporters able to call senior staff directly without having to first contact the city’s communications department.
It comes out of severe criticism Robertson endured during the election when NPA mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe accused him of running a closed City Hall and appearing not to listen to homeowners and neighbourhood associations. Robertson acknowledged his image problem in the last week of the campaign with an extraordinary on- air apology during a CBC mayoral debate, and followed up in his election night victory speech saying he had heard concerns “loud and clear.”
Robertson has pledged to bring back and enact some parts of his Engaged City Task Force, including participatory budgeting, in which citizens can choose which programs they fund. It is too late for the 2015 operating and capital budget cycle, although the regular public consultation program is still in place.
Robertson said he also expects to get back in the spring the results of the new citizens’ assembly for the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood plan. That program emerged out of a severe public backlash over proposed towers at Broadway Street and Commercial Drive.
The mayor has said he will carry through with pledges to fund a school breakfast program with $ 400,000 in new money, and to offer free firsttime swim lessons for children. Robertson will also have to find a way to work with the park board, now solidly in the hands of the NPA. Two significant examples: the fractured governance of community centres and Vision’s partial solution of a city- wide OneCard admissions system that gives equal access to programs and services, and perceived public opposition to the Vancouver Aquarium’s cetacean breeding policies.
On both fronts Robertson appeared to signal a minor retreat, saying the park board has jurisdiction over those matters. But council also controls the park board’s budget. It has made it clear it wants to proceed with a new Britannia Community Centre, located well within Vision’s voter stronghold of Grandview- Woodland.
New NPA park board chairman John Coupar and the mayor both said they hope to work together on issues of common concern, including improving playing fields and community amenities. Coupar said he expects the park board will reach a new joint operating agreement with its various community centre associations. He said the OneCard program will likely remain in place, but may include changes that resolve outstanding membership requirements of community centre associations.