Thread by @j_mcelroy

You would think that the middle of July would be free of government meetings.

But we have three weeks left before the break.

Which means...

We are LIVE at Vancouver City Council, where chief planner Gil Kelley is going over the timeline/budget/process for the first city-wide plan in over two decades.

The report can be found here: council.vancouver.ca/20190709/docum…

We've already had one mention of Harland Bartholomew.

I am delighted to inform you that the presentation on Vancouver's upcoming city-wide plan contains an excellent example of a Powerpoint slide that provides absolutely no value.

The four stages of Vancouver, according to this presentation:

- Condos
- Expo
- Streetcars
- 😬😬😬

this isn't how venn diagrams work

Chief planner Gil Kelley says a key goal of engagement for the city-wide is to "make it easy, make it fun, make it relevant."

Ah yes, the three words we all associate with consultation for local land-use planning.

Councillor @sarahkirby_yung says today is "kind of like Christmas," which is true for her, me, and like 60 others.

Asks how the plan ensures neighbourhoods feel they're represented, says "I feel like there's a lot of division in this city" right now, hopes plan can heal that.

Councillor @CllrHardwick criticizes Kelley's presentation.

"I really hoped what we were going to see was a bottom up exercise, but … I saw a top-down approach where you prescribing values."

Kelley disagrees, says "maybe we’re having two different conversations."

Next up, councillor @christineeboyle argues neighbouhood associations shouldn't be the focal point of the city-wide plan, because renters/marginalized groups aren't as represented within them, and that pretty much will be the crux of the conflict on the process behind this plan.

Another big split articulated by councillor @JeanSwanson_ : whether rezonings should continue during the plan.

"Total neighbourhoods could be changed by the time the plan is over."

Kelley: "Council possesses a lot of levers to press stop or go on any number of fronts."

Looks like it's time for a couple DUMB VANCOUVER PLANNING POLICY POLLS.

Should rezonings in the city be allowed to go forward while the city-wide plan takes place over the next three years?

How important should a focus on neighbourhood planning, and neighbourhood associations, be within the context of the city-wide plan?

Nola-Kate Seymoar, Vancouver planning commission chair, says council should consider new branding for the city-wide plan.

"You need a name, and it needs to sound exciting."

Pro tip: don't name it after a newspaper columnist with a bad moustache, otherwise it goes nowhere.