A guide and an update on local all-candidates meetings

Good morning, 

Nate back with you today. Spring is springing out there, which also means all sorts of patios and outdoor venues are shaking off the winter grime and opening up for the warm season. 

Our main story today is about one specific kind of event – all-candidates meetings for the council by-election – but we’re looking to highlight more local events in general. I love a telephone poll poster but they’re frequently outdated. At the Lookout, we want to be your virtual telephone poll (which is much easier to update) and we need your help. 

Let us know about your favourite one-off or recurring local event, the more niche the better! We’re already inundated with promoters (who we appreciate), but we also want to feature events that don’t have a big budget – so whether you’re a grassroots organizer, pop-up entrepreneur, or enthusiastic patron, let us know what’s happening! 

With that, let’s dive into today’s newsletter. 

— Nate Lewis, Vancity Lookout

Editor’s note: Two errors in Monday’s newsletter. The other most dangerous intersection was Commercial Dr. & E Broadway. And average rent dropped on average in Vancouver this month by $8, not increased. Apologies for that!

PS - If you find this newsletter valuable, please consider forwarding it to your friends. New to the Lookout? Sign-up for free.

WEATHER

Wednesday: 6 🌡️ 3 | 🌧️

Thursday: 6 🌡️ 4 | 🌧️

Friday: 5 🌡️ 2 | 🌧️

NUMBERS OF THE DAY

🐣 25: The number of consecutive years that herons have returned to nest in their colony in Stanley Park. If you want to dive deeper, here’s an in-depth article by yours truly on local efforts to monitor the colony. [Park board, West End Journal] 

✅ $3.2 million: The amount being spent by the city to create a permanent public plaza on the south side of East Hastings and Kamloops Street. The current temporary space will be upgraded to include more seating, trees and plant life, and electrical capacity for amenities and small events. [COV]

📉 20%: The maximum percentage decline in housing rents as a building gets older, according to a CMHC report. That decrease, relative to a brand-new building, is realized within the first 20 years of construction before the rate of depreciation levels out for good. [Storeys]

BY-ELECTION

A guide and an update on local all-candidates meetings

What happened: The campaign for two city council seats is in full swing, as you know if you’re a frequent Lookout reader. What you may not be filled in on is the various meetings around the city where candidates gather to speak directly with voters and answer audience questions in a panel format.

Background: These all-candidates meetings (a misnomer, but we’ll get to that later) are organized by neighbourhood groups and community centres. These groups are also responsible for advertising their events, without help from institutions like the city. That can make awareness of these various events a challenge – with the exception of the diligent folks at City Hall Watch, we hadn’t seen any comprehensive lists of when and where these meetings are happening. 

The details: Not to fret, we’ve got you covered with the nuts and bolts of these opportunities for democratic engagement:

Thursday, March 20, 6:30 pm at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church (2nd floor) on 12th and Hemlock. Organized by the Fairview/South Granville Action Committee 

Wednesday, March 26, 6:30 pm at the West End Community Centre (Auditorium), organized by WECC.

Tuesday, April 1, 7 pm at the Kerrisdale Community Centre (Auditorium), organized by KCC.

• The Kitsilano and West Point Grey Community Centre Associations were planning to co-sponsor a meeting but decided to cancel after only two candidates said they could attend. 

Meeting on the Drive: On Monday, Vancity Lookout visited one of these all-candidate meetings in the Britannia complex beside Grandview Park. 

The format included about half an hour of roundtable discussion, with each candidate given their own table where attendees could sit and ask questions. That was followed by a panel discussion for about an hour and a half, where everyone got to hear candidate responses to  various questions from speakers. 

• The candidates from TEAM, COPE, OneCity, the Greens, and two Independents were all in attendance. 

Highlights and notes: The meeting at Brittania was quite well-attended, with a room full of people keen to question the candidates. 

• COPE’s Sean Orr and OneCity’s Lucy Maloney drew the most notable crowds during the roundtable discussion, while TEAM’s Theodore Abbott appeared comfortable and confident during the debate with lots of vocal crowd support in his home neighbourhood. 

Speakers brought up issues like the city’s role in combatting climate change, recent council direction to consider deferring charges owed to the city by developers for new buildings, tree cutting in Stanley Park, and the controversial high-rise development being proposed at the Safeway site next to the Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain station.

The atmosphere was understandably charged, with some attendees (including RollerGirl, who is running as an Independent) interrupting candidates by calling out their comments. 

• A few audience members began booing when Maloney said she would vote in favour of rezoning to allow the Safeway site development, which Orr asked them to stop. “We’re not at a hockey game here,” he said. 

Part of running for council is saying unpopular things, Maloney said. Rielly and Orr also said they would vote to rezone the site with contingencies, while Hardwick and Abbott said they would vote against it. 

• “People say they’ll just build it somewhere else, I say let them,” Abbott said of the development in his figurative backyard, getting a big cheer from the audience.   

Not all candidates: ABC’s candidates, Jaime Stein and Ralph Kaisers, were notably absent, having declined the organizer’s invitation to take part in the event. 

• This has been a theme, as the majority party’s candidates have declined to attend the three previous candidate meetings. Vancity Lookout has learned Stein and Kaisers declined invitations to the West End meeting, while CTV reported they also declined to attend the event in Kerrisdale. 

When reached for comment on Monday, an ABC spokesperson passed on ABC President Stephen Molnar’s statement from last week saying the candidates “have been unavailable to attend due to prior commitments.” The spokesperson declined to answer if Stein and Kaisers would attend any of the meetings over the next two weeks. 

Despite Molnar’s statement that ABC’s candidates “remain fully committed to engaging with the community in as many ways as possible,” it seems they won’t be attending these open forums, choosing to stick to private meetings with various community groups and stakeholders instead.    

What it means: Lookout managing editor Geoff jumping in here. In many elections, the political parties or candidates that have a lead play it safe, declining interviews or events where they could face criticism. This happened in Ontario, and more specifically Ottawa, where our Lookout colleague Charlie was unable to sit down with most Progressive Conservative candidates for an interview. Many also did not attend all-candidate meetings. 

• While ABC indicated their candidates were too busy to attend, this can also be read as a strategic play. By not attending this type of public event, they may be seeking to play it safe – avoiding hard questions and potential confrontations about their party’s record in government. If it is strategic, they’ve decided that could be more damaging than the criticism they’re receiving from other candidates for not attending.

DREAM HOME

This two-bed, two-bath garden suite isn’t huge but it boasts an open-concept kitchen and nine-foot ceiling, which help to make it feel more spacious. 

It’s the location on 14th between Victoria and Commercial that really stands out to me. Trout Lake, Clark Park, the Drive, a SkyTrain station, and the Central Valley Greenway are all within a few minutes walk. 

The price per square foot is significant but it’s pretty comparable for the area, and you seemingly get access to a small outdoor space as well.

THE AGENDA

🚫 Tesla has been removed from the upcoming Vancouver Auto Show “to ensure all attendees can be solely focused on enjoying the many positive elements of the show,” the event organizer said in a statement. The move follows international “Tesla Takedown” protests – including in Vancouver and Surrey – over the weekend, related to owner Elon Musk’s alliance with U.S. President Donald Trump and their threats to annex Canada. [CTV, Reddit, CBC]   

🚦 Vancouver city staff are considering adding a new traffic light and crosswalk at the gnarly intersection of Main Street and 6th Avenue as part of the redevelopment of the City Centre Motor Hotel site. [COV, CBC]

🚂 This week the park board announced that the oft-troubled Stanley Park Train would be out of service for the foreseeable future, this time because of emissions issues with the 50+ year-old locomotive engines. The latest closure has staff questioning “the operational and financial viability of operating the train with the existing combustion engines,” they said. Staff will put together a report on potential solutions to present to commissioners this June. [Park board]

🏖️ In another item on the park board operations file, beach logs have been replaced for the summer. It’s been a bit of a strange file, as the logs were originally removed to encourage social distancing in 2020. Then in 2022 the park board said they found the lack of logs made maintaining the beaches easier in various ways, before changing their tune just a few days later. The latest update says the logs are removed and stored during the winter for safety reasons, presumably to protect against damage during weather events like king tides. [Park board, CityNews]

Outside Vancouver 

⛷️ North Shore Rescue is offering several safety reminders to mountain riders after a lost skier was rescued overnight from a dangerous situation on Cypress Mountain. NSR said riders should call 911, not the resort, if they get lost and stay in one place, while emphasizing the difference between being prepared to ski backcountry and going out-of-bounds at a resort. [Vancouver Sun]   

😬 A U.S. immigration lawyer is encouraging Canadians and all non-U.S. residents to be careful when trying to enter the United States, after a Vancouver woman was detained by U.S. officials at a border crossing and held for nearly two weeks. It’s part of an effort that started in January to deter all immigration to the U.S. the lawyer said. [Global] 

MEME OF THE DAY

The Ides Vibes of March. Watch your back and your head, Vancouver weather is all sorts of treacherous this time of year.

ARTS GUIDE

Performance 

It’s a musical drag show extravaganza at the Fox Cabaret on March 20, featuring music set by Local Hero™ Dust Cwaine and performances by a slew of stunning Queens, Kings, and Things with their spin on iconic Parks and Recreation characters. Limited door tickets available. 

The world premiere of UNIVERSES, a double bill of dance performances, is showing at the Vancouver Playhouse on March 21 and 22 as part of the Vancouver International Dance Festival. Sliding scale tickets range from $25 to $65. 

Murmuration, a unique ice dance show, will be taking over the Kerrisdale Cyclone Taylor Arena March 20-23. In this adrenaline rush of a performance, skaters mimic the fluid and instinctual movement of a flock of birds in flight. Tickets $51, and read more in this Stir article.  

Catch Canned Laughs, a night of professional comedy at Container Brewing on March 27. In spite of the name, the laughs will be genuine and the beer will be on tap. Tickets $19, which includes a beer. 

Movies 

Take a break from reality and indulge in some nostalgia at VIFF with their Generation Pixar series, featuring 11 of the famed animation studio’s films from 1995-2010. Films and showtimes (tickets $16).

The fourth annual Vancouver Greek Film Festival is on now until April 2 at Cinematheque. Upcoming screenings (tickets $15).  

Hump! Film Festival is screening a new lineup of sexy films at the Rio with four shows on March 28 and 29. 19+, viewer discretion is advised. Tickets ~$44. 

Art

Blossoming with Spring is an interactive art therapy workshop offered by Granville Island’s Zameen Art House on March 23. Tickets $33+. 

Tranquility of Communion is a photographic exhibition of Rotimi Fani-Kayode’s work, exploring and complicating cultural codes, gender norms, and artistic traditions through representations of romantic love. On now until May 25 at Polygon Gallery. Admission by donation.

On March 22, the African Fashion showcase brings the vibrant and diverse styles of Africa to the runway, featuring bold and innovative collections from across the continent. Tickets $81.

VANCOUVER GUESSER

Most of you thought last week’s Guesser was in the West End, but it was actually a sneaky side shot of the former Safeway site that’s up for redevelopment in West Point Grey. Some of you may be surprised to learn that there are already a couple of apartment buildings, like the one pictured, along West 10th Ave.  

Today’s location is a classic spot for patient bus riders and pedestrian passers-by. Can you tell what park this is?

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• Hudson Bay’s downtown store might be starting a big liquidation sale soon, but their blankets are already flying off the shelves [CTV] 

• It’s never too late to return that overdue library book [CBC]

• Bundle up, or better yet cozy up, for this week’s “storm parade” [Vancouver Sun]

• Forget baked goods – the next time you need a little treat, check out what’s playing on Venables at the tiniest movie theatre in Canada [Urbanized]

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