Change Is A-Coming — We Hope!

I spent most of yesterday at City Hall supporting the Coalition of Communities position on the viaducts.  The Coalition — consisting of the Grandview-Woodland Area Council, the Strathcona Residents Association, False Creek Residents Association, the Ray-Cam Collective, Stratchcona Elementary PAC, Strathcona BIA, DTES Neighbourhood Council and the Vancouver Chinatown Revitalization Comittee — has announced its support of the demolition provided it is tied directly to the planning for the so-called Eastern Core Strategy which will design traffic flows east of Gore and to the development of a new and more transparent collaborative process for community engagement.

What surprised me most, as I listened to more than 30 speakers, was that more than half called for an improvement in the current consultation process. This even included the Vancouver Board of Trade.  Along the same lines, our online pepition, which is really about change in the consultation process, has been a wow of a success on just our first day.

Do we dare to hope? Will Vision actually listen?

Online Petition To Delay Community Plan

GWAC has now set up an online petition to Vancouver City Council:

 

City Council Must Listen To The Residents!

The land use rezoning proposals in the ‘Emerging Directions’ document and map were never discussed in any Community Plan Workshop or Open House and came as a complete surprise to the community when they were published in June 2013. The community demands a reasonable period of time and an open and collaborative process to discuss, debate and select preferred options with regard to these proposals.

The current schedule does not allow for this process to be put in place. Therefore, we, the undersigned residents of Grandview-Woodland, demand that the schedule dates outlined in section 6.1. of the Terms of Reference be expanded by at least six months in order to allow for the process described in the first paragraph.

 

We need to have the rush to Plan halted. Isn’t it better to have a good plan, a plan agreed to by the community, than to stick to a schedule come what may?  If you agree, please sign the petition and let Council know that we need to be listened to.

God With Chili Sauce

I just love some spirituality with my Chinese food!