Giving The Neighbourhoods Back To Us!

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One of the key factors drawing early supporters to TEAM For a Liveable Vancouver was its promise to return power back to the people after a generation of top-down, ignore the residents, “we-know-best” urban planning from Vancouver’s Planning department and their developer cronies. This week, TEAM released its policy for development and planning, and it meets that promise head on.

As a first step, a TEAM majority will repeal both of the disastrous Broadway and Vancouver Plans pushed through in the last term by Kennedy Stewart and the Vision 2.0 coalition of OneCity, ABC, and the Greens.

“The city developed these plans with selected ‘stakeholders’ rather than actually talking to people who live in the neighbourhoods and know them best. The result will be a concrete jungle of generic neighbourhoods that have lost the qualities that make Vancouver unique, beautiful and livable,” said Mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick.

They will be replaced by a new neighbourhood-based planning system that will provide a meaningful and impactful voice to local residents and businesses.

This vital consultative approach will be enhanced by “simplifying permitting processes to reduce costs and approval times. Bottlenecks in the permitting process will be identified, and streamlined, and a One-Stop Renovation Centre will make laneway housing, secondary suites, duplexes and small-scale infill easier to build.”

These new policies, along with the $500 million plan to increase co-op housing in the city, will go a long way to restoring affordability and accessibility to housing in Vancouver.

Yet more reasons to vote TEAM on October 15th.

Image: Winter Scene

The End Result of Forward Together

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I came across another of Steve Cutt’s brilliant short animations today. This one is called “Man” and it made me think immediately of what Kennedy Stewart and his Forward Together party would do to Vancouver if given another term in office: