Thread by @j_mcelroy

25 DAYS UNTIL THE ELECTION: I'm in Vancouver tonight, for an all-candidates forum hosted by the West Point Grey Residents Association

https://twitter.com/j_mcelroy/status/1041869365371580416

We are LIVE at the West Point Grey United Church Hall, for two all candidate forums: one for would be mayors and one for would be councillors. About 150 people here.

Mayoral candidates here are Shauna Sylvester, Hector Bremner, David Chen, Fred Harding, John Yano, and maybe Wai Young? (she's in traffic, apparently.

Kennedy Stewart and Ken Sim not attending

we now have some CONTROVERSY, because there's been a "ding" to warn candidates they have 30 seconds left, but various candidates said the ding is hard to hear, or distracting, so now the time keeper is sitting up front so dings are not necessary

(all very interesting, i know)

The first question to candidates: will you reverse the duplex rezoning decision, "to allow necessary consultation."

Chen: yes
Harding: yes
Yano: yes
Bremner: doesn't directly say, but promises "no more gimmicks"
Sylvester: doesn't directly say, but commits to gentle density

2nd question to candidates: a comprehensive streetcar/trolley system would be waaaaaay more efficient than a SkyTrain extension to Arbutus, don't you agree?

(these questions have been just a tad leading so far)

(fyi, @pattibacchus is also at this meeting livetweeting:

https://twitter.com/pattibacchus/status/1044773670084784128

)

3rd question to candidates: do you want a blanket citywide approach for Jericho Lands, or more consultation?

Bremner: Indigenous groups will develop, working with community on prezoning is good
Yano: consultation is important
Sylvester: this will be complex, I have expertise

Harding: my relationship with the Squamish people go back 15 years, they want meaningful dialogue, local residents will get it

Chen: takes the opportunity to lament the loss of commercial space in Point Grey, without consultation on Jericho Lands, that will disappear further

4th question to candidates: the province is putting in a surtax on property taxes for homes over $3 million. Is this good for Vancouver? Are you concerned the province’s surtax will force budget cuts and cause harm for renters?

(again, these questions are incredibly leading)

(Like, I get that this is Point Grey, and residents are concerned about taxation/transportation/etc. But every question has had a series of leading statements beforehand GRRRR okay back to the livetweeting)

Re: the school tax

Sylvester: this isn’t a great tax, but it’s not the end of the world

Harding: we’re going to sue the NDP!

Yano: hiking the income tax is better

Bremner: the tax is bad. “Many of you are middle-class people … by happenstance, [your home] gained in value.”

Chen: I’m a financial planner the tax is illegal, we're also going to audit the local government, because I think they're doing illegal things.

"Our target is not the retiree, it’s the land-banking empty home."

5th question to candidates: there's lots of waste in government. Would you get rid of the waste so there's more $$$ for affordable housing and other good stuff "rather than simply adding new, municipal taxes?"

Chen: AUDIT
Harding: AUDIT
Sylvester: audits are really complex guys

Yano: AUDIT
Bremner: The process is the problem, a core review is better than an audit.

"You can't apply malice when incompetence can otherwise be explained."

6th question to candidates: "What would you do for the health of small businesses?"

Bremner: cut the red tape, less time for permits
Chen: no parking tolls after 6pm (gets mid-speech applause), app that gives free parking if you spend at small business

Sylvester: have a new ombudsperson, new mill rate for small businesses

Yano: I'll stop the Millennium Line extension. Says right now, "we’re looking at communities that have lost their Safeway."

a) Safeway is not a small business
b) Going to grocers other than Safeway = good

Harding: "I was going to say free parking after 8, but then Chen said free parking after 6, so we need to change that."

Also talks about a small business ombudsperson too

7th question: would you penalize developers that don't properly utilize vacant lots, and instead put community gardens on them to reduce property taxes?

Chen: yes
Harding: I don't know ("it's something we need to review")
Sylvester: that's not something that actually happens

Bremner: actually explains what the complicated policy is, points out (politely) the moderator was misleading, the moderator gets ticked off with him

In view of rising sea levels, should Vancouver be focused on protecting our shoreline, and reconsider the new St. Paul's location because it’s on low-lying land?

Bremner: we need to reimagine the entire area
Yano: yes
Sylvester: need to study more, but it seems weird

Harding: St. Paul's is past its due date, but yes, bad location
Chen: I have enough survival food/resources to last 35 days in a disaster. But also yes, bad location

Our final question for mayoral candidate at this townhall: should bicyclists and cannabis users be regulated with more effective bylaws like smoking?

Shauna Sylvester is VERY amused she's the first to answer this question

Sylvester: cycling is good, this question is weird, but yes, bylaws are important for making people safe

Bremner: "I'm going to focus on the cannabis issue"

(it has been fun seeing bremner and sylvester subtly criticize the premise of questions on multiple occasions)

Harding: it's important to allow police to enforce bylaws

Chen: the city allows bicyclists to feel entitled, but the problem with entitled cyclists is that they feel they can break laws. Cyclists break laws at Adanac all the time, someone sweared at me one, also pot is bad

FINAL STATEMENTS

Bremner: It's great this room is packed, we don't have 8 years to get things right, we need bold action now

Yano: we need a city-wide plan, I work well with others, we can't wait any longer, mass acts of rezoning are bad

Sylvester: this is a historic election, vancouver has never elected a woman as mayor, you shouldn't vote for me just because i'm a woman, BUT i'm really smart and experienced and independent, so vote for me

Harding: "I've worked at Scotland Yard."

(drink)

also, he's fought terrorists, led teams, vancouver 1st is a good team, "we understand technology", also "we have olympians and sports, we can get the job done."

Chen: our team doesn't have links to developers or rich coleman, we also know technology, we understand city hall, but we understand you, and how to fight for you, vote for provancouver

The mayoral part of the all-candidates debate is over, but I'm sticking around for the council part, because when people ask me which of the 71 candidates are the most competent, I don't want to dissolve in a pile of sweat

Now up: the council forum! We have @catherineevans @rohanarezel @ColleenHardwick @anne_roberts_bc @ParkBoardWiebe @penny_mussio and Elizabeth Taylor with Vancouver 1st

Best line of the introductory remarks goes to Elizabeth Taylor, who said she wasn't born with the last name.

"I've only been married twice, and six times I cannot imagine."

1st question is about affordability and housing.

Vision Vancouver candidate Evans says she's proud Gregor Robertson promised to end street homelessness a decade ago.

"That was a bold and courageous thing to do. Unattainable for a city acting on its own."

2nd question is about what candidates would do to save old houses and stop mass demovictions.

(the question includes two criticisms of Vision Vancouver, to which @catherineevans offers a pursed smile)

Rezel says that today, Raymond Louie said "they would do away with public hearing for rezoning."

I'm faaaairly certain Rezel meant Louie said a couple days ago he was personally in favour of this, as reported in The Tyee today: thetyee.ca/News/2018/09/2…

Evans defends allowing duplexes virtually: "there’s been quite a lot of tea mongering about this proposal. During the last three years, we really talked about nothing else but the missing middle."

(when she is done, one person claps from the back of the room)

Today, in "candidates try to one-up each other to be relatable to the audience, Point Grey edition":

“I personally live in a house from 1925, it’s a Tudor House, and it’s very special to me.”

- Penny Mussio, Coalition Vancouver

On the question of a Millennium Line extension, Rezel says that if UBC wants the line to go all the way to campus, they should pay for it, since they have a huge budget, and I'm resisting the urge to go on a rant about UBC's governance structure right now

(For those unaware, I was once so obsessed with UBC's lack of local governance that i wrote a 3,000 word proposal of how it could be set up, called it "the McElroy plan", and had my face stuffed on the front page of the newspaper I ran, because campus journalism is awesome)

Next question: If there is an Millennium Line extension to UBC, high-density development would override community plans, just like the Cambie Corridor. Do you support this policy, why or why not?

You're not gonna believe this, but everyone says community consultation is good

Apropos of nothing, in journalism one learns that if you ask questions with a lot of built-in assumptions, or "closed" questions where the answer is "yes or no", you tend to get less interesting responses.

just a random thought

Hardwick comes out strongly against higher density along a Millennium Line extension.

"Your neighbourhoods, all the way along, are going to be transformed. And for what?"

"I think we’re being gaslighted, massively, by this perception of ongoing huge demand."

We have a question on the future of the Jericho Lands, and how the city will ensure the community's voice is heard.

Elizabeth Taylor, Catherine Evans and Anne Roberts are the ones who point out it's unceded land now controlled by three local First Nations

Today, in Odd Political Metaphors: “We’re as serious as a heart attack when it comes to changing this city.”

- Elizabeth Taylor, Vancouver 1st

The first words out of Anne Roberts' mouth in her closing statement:

"I'm running with Jean Swanson."

oh is that right anne, you folks have been pretty quiet about that

(it's late and i'm salty)

Aaaaaaaand we're done!

We'll be back tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel — except the bat channel will be in Surrey for a mayoral debate, and okay laboured metaphors from 1960s TV shows are bad, I'm sorry everyone