This just out from the mayor’s office. I’ll scrutinize it more carefully later.

Vancouver — Today the Mayor’s Task Force on Affordable Housing released its final report, and Mayor Gregor Robertson is urging City Council to give unanimous support to begin implementing the first set of actions.

“Launching this Task Force was my first action after being re-elected, because tackling housing affordability is one of Vancouver’s most urgent priorities,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “The Task Force’s report outlines a set of bold and pragmatic actions to confront our city’s lack of affordability. I’m hopeful that Council will support it unanimously.”

A staff report arising from the Task Force report recommends a number of priority actions to be voted on at next week’s City Council meeting. These include:

• ·         Developing an operational model and business plan for a City Housing authority;
• ·         Initiating “Thin Street” pilot projects through the three Community Plans underway;
• ·         Enabling duplexes, row houses and stacked townhouses to be built within 1.5 blocks of an arterial street.

The full list of priority actions and additional recommendations can be found here:http://former.vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20121002/regu20121002ag.htm

“There is no magic solution that will solve Vancouver’s housing affordability challenge, but the Task Force’s recommendations provide a clear framework for progress,” added the Mayor. “Making Vancouver a more affordable city is crucial for our economy, our livability, and for future generations. City Hall needs to take action and now is the time to do it.”

The recommendations from the Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Affordability are targeted to residents with an annual income of $21,500 annual for an individual, up to a combined annual household income of $86,500.  Co-chaired by the Mayor and Olga Ilich, its 18 members included real estate experts, academic leaders, home builders, elected officials and not-for-profit housing managers from across Vancouver and the region.

Ever since Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts started on an energetic job of bringing mayors together for their own special “mayors’ caucus” last spring, I’ve heard two reactions. 1. It’s helpful for mayors to have their own forum and voice 2. Why is Dianne Watts duplicating what the Union of B.C.Municipalities already does?

The first get-together was in Penticton in May, with 86 mayors.

The mayors’ caucus got squeezed into the already full program at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention this week, but drew about 140. The next one is set for Prince George next spring.

As my story here notes, there continues to be a lot of back and forth among mayors and councillors about what the purpose of the caucus really is.

I assume many can’t forget that Gordon Campbell launched his provincial career after, not just being mayor of Vancouver (which doesn’t sell well beyond Boundary Road), but his successful leadership of the then Greater Vancouver Regional District. His connections with politicians all across the Lower Mainland helped broaden his political network.

However, I, like others, will wait to see how this caucus evolves and whether it brings additional clout for cities or not. Heaven knows, they desperately need it as provincial politicians and business groups continue to treat them like whiny kid siblings. (Stop asking for money! Stop going to taxpayers for more! You’re already getting too much! And quit complaining that it’s because we’re downloading everything onto you! Just suck it up!)

We municipal nerds love the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention for the chance it gives us to talk to hundreds of city councillors all week about infrastructure, mill rates, transit funding and more.

These are people who represent every town and village in the province and it’s an education all week to hear what they’re concerned about and what their residents are pushing them on.

But election years are special and those election years when it feels like there might be regime change in the wind, especially special.

That’s the convention this year, as those politicians, who have their own allegiances, scrutinize what the two leaders have to say.

As my story here notes, people are paying more attention to the NDP leader this year than they have in quite some time.

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I will leave the commenting to others on this one.

This just out:

(Vancouver) – Vision Vancouver Councillor Andrea Reimer will introduce a motion at the next City Council meeting to create an Engaged City Mayor’s Task Force, which will identify ways to increase neighbourhood engagement and improve the ways in which the City interacts and connects with its residents, as well as meet a key election campaign commitment.

“We’ve seen from both the Vancouver Foundation’s research on social isolation and the success of last week’s SFU Community Summit that there is a big appetite for people to be better connected, whether it’s on an individual level with their neighbours or how they engage with City Hall,” said Councillor Reimer. “Vancouver is a city that leads the world in many ways, and we can do more when it comes to building a more engaged city.”

The Mayor’s Task Force would be comprised of people with particular experience in citizen engagement and community building. Members will be chosen from an open call for applications, with the goal to have the Task Force up and running by December, and to complete its work by next June. The creation of a task force to improve citizen engagement was a campaign commitment made by Vision Vancouver in the 2011 civic election.

The Engaged City Task Force will focus on the following areas:

• increasing neighbour-to-neighbour engagement and cultural interconnectedness
• increasing literacy on, and engagement with, municipal government processes and budgeting
• identifing ways to enhance how the city engages with citizens, and vice versa

Almost as soon as the new Hillcrest community centre/pool/rink opened, crews started digging up the land around it extensively. Locals wondered why.

It turned out it was for a new piece of public art, which seems to have reached completion. You can see the official description here.

I’ve heard some question the wisdom of putting a water feature into a piece of land that is already pretty waterlogged as it is, with water running off Little Mountain tending to form bogs below.

Wondering what others think of this particular choice? Love it? Seen it? Hate it?

Knee-jerk comments about corrupt and wasteful city governments blowing taxpayer money on art, any art, will be limited to one. Not one per person. One for this entire thread.

My best guess on this provided at City Plumber, over on the left of the screen here.

Answer is on the City Plumber space on the left of this screen. Watch for an update in the next few days, when I provide a link to stats on all the bus routes and their load levels.

We all reported a few months ago that the city was looking at putting a bike/pedestrian route down the middle of the Granville Bridge, according to a sketch with no details attached in the city’s Transportation 2040 discussion doc.

This being a town that does not take these things lightly, there was a little storm of media coverage.

Then the city posted a request for contractors to bid on an engineering study to look at the feasibility of same on the Granville Bridge, along with improvements for cycling on Cambie. (Something barring cyclists from the bridge deck would be excellent, in my view!)

Another little typhoon: here, here and here. (Sam Cooper was first off the mark at the Province, as a certain source spread the news of the RFP here and there.)

From what I know, this is the beginning of quite a long process. The bid is for an engineering firm, not a design firm. Still, I was somewhat surprised to see it proceeding along so definitively, after I’d been told it was just an idea to get people thinking about alternatives in the Transportation 2040 process.

I know this audience takes little interest in such debates, but I thought I would post the information anyway.

City’s RFP is here.

It seems as though I’ve spent the whole last year writing about how much business is loving transit these days.

Condo developers do for sure. They are seeing people flock to buy apartments near transit lines. Property development has exploded around the Canada Line.

Office-building owners are starting to love it more too. Lease rates are higher, vacancy rates are lower near transit lines.

But the almost comical series of funding fights and disasters has them worried, to the point where they’re trying to lobby Victoria, setting up groups to work out solutions, and not just sitting back hoping it will all work out.

My full story is here and below.

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The full news release from TL is below. Interpreters, please? I notice Jeff Nagel is writing that this depends on mayors agreeing to the property-tax increase they refused in the spring.

I notice elsewhere Coast Mountain drivers are claiming 50,000 of hours are being cut, but TransLink said about 100,000 hours are being added.

Can we crowd-source the deeper implications of this, please?

TransLink’s plan delivers fiscal responsibility
$98 million in annual efficiencies over the next three years

VANCOUVER –  Cutting costs and making the best use of existing resources to drive new revenue is the focus of TransLink’s transportation plan for the next three years.

“Our focus is being fiscally responsible,” said TransLink Board Chair Nancy Olewiler. “We are delivering an integrated transportation system to keep people and goods moving in the region, while making the most of every dollar we have. Over the next three years, we will live within our means and only deliver those services for which we have the necessary funding.”

The draft 2013 Base Plan tabled today identifies an average of $98 million in new efficiencies annually over the next three years. These efficiency measures, along with drawing on the reserve fund, will fill a portion of the funding gap needed to maintain existing services and allow a number of planned transportation improvement projects to proceed.

“We evaluated every project and placed priority on those that not only address immediate needs like overcrowding, but also support long-term goals for the region,” said TransLink Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning and Public Affairs Robert Paddon. “While this draft plan will not fulfil these goals entirely, we are doing everything we can to keep us on a path to a more sustainable future in a fiscally responsible way.”

The following planned projects will proceed:

*   The region’s contribution to the Evergreen Line project.
*   109,000 new hours of transit service. Some hours were implemented in April 2012.
*   Rapid Bus service on Highway 1 over the Port Mann Bridge from Carvolth Transit Exchange in Langley to SkyTrain in New Westminster, every 10 minutes during peak hours and 30 minutes during off-peak hours.
*   B-Line service every seven to eight minutes on King George Boulevard and 104th Avenue between Newton and Guilford.
*   Upgrades to Expo Line stations including improving capacity and accessibility at Main St. and Scott Road, Metrotown, Commercial-Broadway, Surrey Central, New Westminster and Joyce-Collingwood stations.

In April, the Regional Transportation Commissioner rejected a supplementary fare increase and made several recommendations for more efficient operations. Since then, TransLink’s budget has been further challenged by a number of factors, including lower than expected fuel tax revenues, lower than expected fare and toll revenues, and the deferral of the sale of surplus real estate.

Despite aggressive efforts on efficiencies and drawing on reserves, the impact of these lower than expected revenues means that several planned improvements will not proceed:

*   306,000 hours of bus service hours.
*   10-minute, off-peak frequency on the Highway 1 Rapid Bus service.
*   The White Rock Centre extension on the King George Boulevard B-Line service.
*   Expanded SeaBus service to provide 15-minute service on Sundays and holidays in fall, winter and spring.
*   Restoring original funding for cycling programs and the Major Road Network.

TransLink is engaging elected officials, key stakeholders and the public to discuss the draft plan before it is finalised by November 1 and submitted to the Transportation Commissioner for review.