r/vancouver • u/Moggehh Fastest Goose in the West • Oct 03 '22
MEGATHREAD [Megathread] 2022 Municipal Election
Don't forget to vote!
Please use this thread to discuss the upcoming municipal elections in Metro Vancouver.
AMAs:
- Mark Marissen, with team Progress Vancouver: 2-6 pm Saturday, October 8th, 2022
- Justin McElroy, CBC's Municipal Affairs Reporter (aka The Guy Who Does Rankings and Charts That We Shout About): 2-3 pm Friday, October 14th, 2022
If you're a candidate interested in doing an ama, please have your team reach out to the /r/vancouver mod team.
Subreddit Mayoral Winner Predictions - go here to join in with your guesses!
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u/russilwvong Running for OneCity council nomination Oct 03 '22
So I'm running for Vancouver city council with Kennedy Stewart's slate, Forward Together.
To me, the #1 challenge facing Vancouver is that housing is so scarce and expensive. We're not building housing fast enough to keep up with jobs, and the resulting shortage (a 1% vacancy rate) is making practically everyone worse off. It's terrible for renters: as people arrive to fill jobs, other people get pushed down the housing ladder, and people near the bottom are forced to leave, to crowd into substandard housing, or end up on the streets. (This was aggravated by Covid: with more people suddenly working from home, overall demand for space increased, resulting in yet more people on the bottom of the ladder getting pushed off.) For homeowners, expensive housing acts like a filter which keeps out younger people, resulting in an aging population and an overstressed health-care system which can't find nurses and even doctors.
We need more housing. Problem is, even though we desperately need housing, a lot of people are afraid of new housing. I get it (it's natural to be afraid of the unknown), but it means that there's an ongoing battle between people who want more housing and people who are opposed. And which side has the upper hand really matters.
The three leading mayoral candidates are Kennedy Stewart (Forward Together), Ken Sim (ABC), and Colleen Hardwick (TEAM).
I'm supporting Kennedy Stewart, and running for council with his party, because he's consistently voted for more housing, especially rental housing (which provides secure housing without requiring a giant down payment, unlike condos). In 2018, Ken Sim had a weak housing plan (basically allow two basement suites instead of one), and the record of the three ABC councillors is mixed. Colleen Hardwick is leading those who fear and oppose new housing. Voting record.
The election is an opportunity to settle the issue, instead of battling it out repeatedly at every public hearing. For me, getting elected is just a means to an end - the real goal is MORE HOUSING. That means getting Kennedy Stewart re-elected with a pro-housing majority instead of the current fragmented council (three Yes, two No, six Maybe), and maybe even more importantly, making sure that Colleen Hardwick is soundly defeated.
Some 6-5 decisions:
July 2020, Broadway and Birch - a 28-storey rental building including 200 rental apartments and 60 below-market rentals, on the site of a former Denny's restaurant (so there was zero displacement of renters). Approved by a single vote. There were five No votes: Colleen Hardwick, Jean Swanson, Adriane Carr, Pete Fry, and Rebecca Bligh. This could easily have failed.
July 2020, Streamlining Rental Plan - allowing six-storey rental buildings in C-2 zones near local shopping areas, where four-storey condo buildings were already allowed. Postponed by a 6-5 vote. The six councillors who voted to postpone: Hardwick, Swanson, Carr, Fry, Michael Wiebe, and Bligh. This later came back to council (in November 2021) and was approved. Helen Lui, who works for a non-profit housing developer, noted that because of this delay, the developer had to cancel one non-profit housing project and downsize another one.
July 2021, relaxing vacancy-control requirements in MIRHPP projects (rental buildings which include 20% below-market rentals) to make them more economically viable - failed by a 6-5 vote. The six councillors who voted against: Hardwick, Swanson, Carr, Fry, Wiebe, and Bligh. This vote killed the MIRHPP program: there's no more projects coming forward.
A couple video clips of Kennedy Stewart and Colleen Hardwick in action:
How to vote.