Van City Mayoral Race - November, 2014

[a very long weekend]

double post, argh. on mobile.

[a very long weekend]

Originally Posted by jlousa

The NPA has been in power for most of Vancouver's recent history. I think we can all agree that Vancouver is one of the best places on the planet to live and punches well above it's weight on the urban front. To deny that NPA policies had any effect on making Vancouver what it is today would be naïve.
Personally I look forward to any municipal government that ensures it's civic responsibilities are met and leaves stuff outside it's jurisdictions to the other governments. I don't want my civic tax dollars going to provincial matters and I don't trust any civic politician to make decisions for the entire region.

Kudos to Geoff Meggs who's letter to the NHL was instrumental in ending the strike.

luckily, you're in the minority. like, vancouver under the decades of npa rule was such a different city - you couldn't even get a baguette until the late 1980s. aside from the aberration of sam sullivan narrowly defeating a very unpopular jim green after the catastrophic cope split and another jim green on the ballot (who lived in white rock, if i recall correctly), for over a decade vancouver has been a one party town that explicitly rejects your position and the npa disaster government under sullivan just reminded people why they booted these jokers out. it'll probably be closer this time, but as i was writing last time around when the usual crew was suggesting that the bike lanes would be vv's waterloo, my opinion is that gregor isn't in any danger - people who always vote for the right will combine with a few angry neighborhood types and in the end, sense will prevail and vv will be returned with a strong mandate. like, vancouver three years ago was inferior to vancouver today, that's a fact i think most agree with.

had the ndp won the election, i might not have the same thinking, but they didn't, so there it is.

[spm2013]

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[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by spm2013

Tell Gregor's girlfriend

Your bottom-dweller jabs add nothing to the conversation. Stop embarrassing yourself.

[spm2013]

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[Stingray2004]

Again - 3 major political dynamics in play for the 2014 Van City mayoral race:

1. IMHO, the NPA's mayoral candidate, Kirk, is probably the best that they have ever nominated. Heads and heels above the 2011 nominee - Suzanne Anton, for example.

Will require just a ~6% swing of 2011 Gregor voters to make it a dead heat in 2014.

2. Gregor had great approval ratings heading into the 2011 election - 53% approval v. 27% disapproval according to JMI.

The relatively recent numbers by JMI show a completely different picture - 40% approval (-13%) and 38% disapproval (+11%). His "strong" disapproval numbers have also increased to 22% - highest ever.



3. Long time left-wing COPE did not run a mayoral candidate in either 2008 or 2011 supporting Gregor. This time COPE will run a mayoral candidate. And a chunk of Van City voters are left-wing ideological and perceive Gregor/ VV as a "corporate developer's party". Look for Gregor to lose at least 5%+ of his 2011 mayoral vote to the COPE candidate in 2014.

http://cope.bc.ca/get-involved/become-a-candidate/

Again, analyzing the foregoing it is not to hard to come to the conclusion that Kirk has a better than 50% chance of taking the mayoral crown this November. IMHO.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by jlousa

the npa has been in power for most of vancouver's recent history. I think we can all agree that vancouver is one of the best places on the planet to live and punches well above it's weight on the urban front. To deny that npa policies had any effect on making vancouver what it is today would be naïve.
Personally i look forward to any municipal government that ensures it's civic responsibilities are met and leaves stuff outside it's jurisdictions to the other governments. I don't want my civic tax dollars going to provincial matters and i don't trust any civic politician to make decisions for the entire region.

Kudos to geoff meggs who's letter to the nhl was instrumental in ending the strike.

+1

As usual jlousa puts it more diplomatically than I. They city you live in is largely a creation of the NPA, even Visionistas like WarrenC12 are living in a downtown neighbourhood created by the NPA. The towers so beloved by SSPers, another NPA legacy.

[spm2013]

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[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by spm2013

I can see why you support Vision, since they are the "advocate and do nothing" party.

I'm not a Vision supporter at all. Just tired of your asinine comments. You sound like the arrogant NDP in the lead up to the last provincial election.

Here's Charlie Smith's article on what Vision needs to do to defeat the NPA:

http://www.straight.com/news/688381/...pointe-and-npa

YESTERDAY, I WROTE a commentary laying out a road map for former journalist Kirk LaPointe to win the Vancouver mayoral race.

Today, I'm going to explain how Vision Vancouver might want to respond.

Vancouverites demonstrated in the 2013 provincial election that they weren't very impressed with the B.C. Liberals.

Premier Christy Clark lost her seat to the NDP's David Eby.

The B.C. Liberals won only three of the 10 other Vancouver constituencies.

That was the governing party's worst showing in Vancouver since 1991.

Part of the reason the B.C. Liberals fared so badly was a perception that the party is in the pocket of big business.

Today, some of the same claims are being made about Vision Vancouver.

Vision is trying to offset this by running hard against plans to turn Vancouver into a major tarsands oil port.

Vision is also firming up left-wing support by making Vancouver a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants and by promoting progressive policies for LGBT kids in local schools.

But it still faces a challenge in defining the NPA.

To me, the easiest route to victory is to forget about its mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe and the council candidates.

Instead, Vision should not only focus on where it's more progressive than the NPA, but also on who's in the NPA's backrooms.

Vision could make a credible case that the NPA is in the pocket of big business (just like the B.C. Liberals are) merely by highlighting who is on the party's board of directors.

Advertising messages could feature huge pictures of millionaire businessmen Peter Armstrong and Rob Macdonald, who are the NPA's president and vice president, respectively.

Then the caption could read: "The real face of the NPA."

Will Vision make NPA president Peter Armstrong the face of his party?

Armstrong is the founder of Great Canadian Railtour, which locked out its workers for 14 months. The company's board includes former Vanoc CEO John Furlong.

Macdonald, a developer and former business partner of real-estate flipper Nelson Skalbania, has been one of the city's most vociferous opponents of bicycle lanes.

The NPA vice president made the largest political donation in a single year to a Canadian political party when he handed over $960,000 to the NPA in 2011.

It's one of the reasons why the watchdog group Integrity B.C. launched a petition to get big money out of political campaigns.

Keep in mind that there are no tax credits for municipal contributions, which demonstrates how wealthy Macdonald must be.

Meanwhile, Skalbania has reportedly complained that he can't drive two blocks from his home to the Jericho Tennis Club because of the Point Grey bike lane. Poor baby.

It's pretty easy to paint these rich older white guys as members of the one-percent club.

Perhaps this explains why LaPointe made such a point of calling upon Vision to avoid making personal attacks.

LaPointe probably knows how vulnerable his party is to a well-financed Vision Vancouver branding campaign.

It shows that despite LaPointe, the NPA is still the same group of good old boys. Rob MacDonald is clearly the wild card here that could sink the whole plan.

Remember, LaPointe is already on record as saying he will resign if the NPA resorts to personal attacks:

http://www.straight.com/news/685176/...rsonal-attacks

I guess he doesn't count the attack on Gregor's separation from his wife...

“Our candidates, executive members, and staff, our board, will sign a declaration—a code of conduct to steer clear of personal attacks, the gutter politics that people are fed up with. If they breach that boundary, I will resign as a candidate.”

A noble promise, but very naive IMHO.

[spm2013]

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[spm2013]

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[queetz@home]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I'm not a Vision supporter at all. Just tired of your asinine comments. You sound like the arrogant NDP in the lead up to the last provincial election.

Here's Charlie Smith's article on what Vision needs to do to defeat the NPA:

http://www.straight.com/news/688381/...pointe-and-npa

How Kirk LaPointe can win the Vancouver election for the NPA

You know what is hilarious about these Charlie Smith articles?

For the NPA to win, they need to have things like COPE running a high profile candidate, or poor weather for lower voter turnouts, to win. Even deviously emphasizing to the poor...yeah right!

For Vision to win, they simply need to emphasize who the NPA really are, the ones that are really running the show like Rob MacDonald and Nelson Skalbania. My favourite quote which summarized what the NPA is really all about....

Meanwhile, Skalbania has reportedly complained that he can't drive two blocks from his home to the Jericho Tennis Club because of the Point Grey bike lane. Poor baby.

Charlie Smith is very wise.

P.S.: Original letter of Nelson Skalbania

Point Grey Road is a disaster

I am now convinced that I live in an insane asylum — Vancouver — and it is run by the inmates.

I have lived on Point Grey Road for over 25 years and in all that time I have had no trouble cycling, walking, driving and not once in 25 years did I have a problem getting out of my garage. The street now looks eerily like a cemetery — no people, no bikes, no lights and no cars.

For me to get out of my house to either go two blocks west to Jericho or east I am forced to travel in congested side streets. Who had the authority to block me from driving either east or west in order to go anywhere? Greening the city? We are blackening the city as we drive longer in both time and distance to where we are going.

Whoever decided in some board room to design the debacle of Burrard/Cornwall and Point Grey did everything in their power to make one want to move to another city.

Vancouver has become a war zone. It is difficult to drive anywhere without running into roadblocks. Of two main arteries into Vancouver (Granville and Burrard) why work on both at the same time? Vancouver is noted now as the most congested city in North America and it appears we are doing our best to keep our No. 1 rating.

There is a phrase, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The City of Vancouver has taken that phrase to a new level. Surely we need some form of ombudsman to monitor the arbitrary decisions at city hall. I pay $3,000 a month in property taxes and can’t get out of my house. Who has benefited from the huge amount of money spent on Point Grey?

At least there should be one-way traffic on Point Grey, either East or West as that is what we were told. Who made that stupid decision to block both ways? Of course it was the same people that contemplate placing a bicycle-share program in Vancouver but forgot that there is a helmet law in effect.

Nelson Skalbania, Vancouver

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[Joat]

Originally Posted by spm2013

He's the Julian Assange of civic politicians:



http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/...-transparency/

Using his old chums at the national post to talk him up. Sickening...

Even though I'm not a big fan of Gregor I still like how he is willing to push hard for the broadway line.

[spm2013]

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