Drinking beer while discussing floor-space ratio, density bonusing, affordable housing, and community-amenity contributions — what could be better.

Thanks to Joe Just Joe and Michael Geller, frequent commenters here, a group of us met Friday night for an evening of just that.

A delightful time was had by all, though we hovered on the brink of something when Bill McCreery brought up the issue of the pro formas for STIR projects. Michael paid for all the great beers at this wonderful new spot (next to the empty space where Rob Macdonald’s tower in the B.C. Electric building parking lot would have gone, if only the Vision council had let him build it) called Bitter. My cherry-flavoured, girly beer was wonderful.

Best part was walking along Hastings afterwards, as some of the most knowledgeable people in the city discussed every lot and building we passed.

One of the things I’m struck by every time I go out and talk to homeless people or those who have relationships with them is that, as much as affordable housing for that group is needed, sometimes it’s not the only route to solving a problem.

Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore told me, during a chat that was mostly about incinerators last week, about the homelessness numbers dropping dramatically in his community. He mentioned that a church program to do tax programs had helped bring the numbers down.

Based on that shred of information, I tracked down Joyce Lissimore, who’s featured in my Globe story here, a retired schoolteacher who started doing tax returns for low-income people and discovered that, for a select group, she was getting enough back to help them accumulate enough money for that tough first hurdle in renting an apartment: the first month’s rent plus security deposit.

It’s not the first time I hear about the good work of a small, unknown group of people helping getting housing for people. On a visit to the new Dunbar social housing project recently, I ran into a woman who has been helping run the shower program at Kits Community Centre for local homeless people for years

As I learned when I talked to her, and all the guys at the new project who were delighted to see Penny Rogers when she came to visit them, it’s because Penny and her colleagues spent the time helping the guys fill out forms and make it to interviews with BC Housing that they got rooms. Without the help of those volunteers, the guys sleeping behind shops on Broadway and Arbutus might never have known or bothered to go through the process.

There’s been a fair amount of (accurate) reporting lately on the Vancouver Foundation’s findings that the biggest problem many of us identify in the city is a sense of disconnect and loneliness.

But that seems to recede a little, for me, when I hear about folks like this.

Last year, it was gas tax all year long.

I predict this year it’s going to be all about the decision on which new-tech, high-tech, waste-to-energy system for garbage disposal Metro Vancouver decides on.

Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore says the RFP is likely going to go out by the end of March, with a decision by the end of the year. As my story in today’s Globe notes, international companies — along with Covanta, which currently runs the Burnaby incinerator, and Aquilini — are panting to come to a place like Vancouver, whose choice will signal what’s okay among green-aspiring cities.

Whatever Vancouver decides is going to be major news in the garbage world, because it’s one of only about a dozen places that are currently moving ahead with non-landfill choices for garbage.

A couple of eastern counties in the States, Edmonton in Alberta and Durham/York counties in Ontario, and Los Angeles are the front runners in what has become a new era for garbage disposal.

We seem to be following down the path of Los Angeles the most closely which, as Metro is planning to do, created a two-tier bidding process for garbage disposal, with one contract going to something that had to be a “proven” technology to deal with large quantities and one that was open to emerging, alternative technologies for a smaller amount.

This is going to be a tough one at Metro, with municipalities up the Fraser Valley facing likely strong opposition from residents who fear any particulates drifting up the valley from anything built closer to the coast, Vancouver councillors pushing for a non-incineration option, and cranky taxpayers balking at the half-billion-dollar cost.

A funny story posted in response to a previous entry, but for those who missed it: a description from a well-meaning citizen about how interactions go with 311. BTW, dear 311 operators, I love you just fine and so do many others, including this poster, for the most part.

Actual problem resolution. I’ve tried it out a few times and have had widely varying experiences, from swift satisfaction to ridiculous frustration…

“Hello, 311? I’m calling about a large hole in the middle of the sidewalk at the northwest corner of Broadway and Waterloo.”

“Sorry, what are you calling about?”

“A large hole in the sidewalk, right at the corner of Broadway and Waterloo, where someone could easily step in it and do themselves serious harm.”

“Where is that?”

“At the northwest corner of Broadway and Waterloo.”

“What is the address there?”

“As I said, the northwest corner of Broadway and Waterloo. 3300 block.”

“Sorry, I need an exact address.”

“Gee, I don’t think the sidewalk has an actual address. Why don’t you use 3300?”

“I don’t appear to have a 3300 West Broadway. Are you sure about that address?”

“Look, this is turning into a Monty Python’s sketch. I’m beginning to regret that I called.”

“I’m sorry, is that Monty with an ‘ie’ or a ‘y’ Mr. Python?”

“No, no, my name’s not…never mind. Can’t I just report that there’s a pedestrian hazard in the sidewalk at this location?”

“I’m very sorry Mr. Python, did you say in the sidewalk?”

“Yes, right on the corner where someone could easily fall in it.”

“I’m sorry, the City isn’t responsible for holes in the sidewalk, you’ll have to call the utility companies as it is their services that run under the sidewalk. Our services are all in the street. Do you need numbers for BC Hydro, Telus and Shaw?”

“Expletive(s) deleted”

“Have a nice day, Mr. Python and thank you for calling 311.”

The tree is down, we’ve eaten shortbread for breakfast for the last time this season, and it’s time to tackle the new year.

And it feels as though this one will be significantly different for all kinds of reasons for people in my world:

– Vision has a solid second mandate and already appears to have launched the 2014 campaign, with quick, symbolic announcements about lobbying for late-night transit, an affordable-housing task force, childcare, cultural grants and more.

– The Non-Partisan Association will be looking for a new way to mount political opposition, now that Vancouver’s interesting experiment in political-blogging-as-campaigning, CityCaucus, appears to have ended. Although it still exists, the tone, I think we all agree, is vastly different from the posts that were starting to appear three years ago. CityCaucus changed the landscape in Vancouver temporarily, becoming a source for non-news-release news about city hall and a tip sheet for major media outlets.

– COPE and the Green Party, of course, will be adjusting to their new realities and figuring out where to go.

– The Evergreen Line is finally on its way and the equally evergreen debate about how to pay for it has now ceased, something to be truly grateful for. Now, at least, we can move on to another phase of this debate.

– Office towers are proceeding apace in Vancouver, something that will change the look and feel of the downtown.

– Metro Vancouver is facing some big, tough, infrastructure questions — a waste incinerate, a new treatment plant for the North Shore — that the new Metro chair, Poco’s Greg Moore, seems to want to take a strong leadership role on.

In keeping with all of that, I thought it would only be right for me to try something new as well that I’ve been thinking of for a while.

This blog sometimes gets a bit stuck in grinding through the big issues of the day, with new variations as a new study, building, bike lane, or bylaw gets put in place.

But there’s a lot of other interesting city and regional business that happens month after month that isn’t usually big enough to make the news, but has an impact on people’s lives.

Occasionally some of you in my blogworld send me questions about that: Why is city hall covered in tarps? Why do some houses on a tilt in this part of town? What is the latest happening with the Squamish land near Kits Point? What should I do when a city inspector comes to my door? Where did this street get its name? What is that weird thing at the corner of wherever?

So, a new weekly feature called City Plumber.

What I’m proposing is that I take one question a week and try to get you the answer, either by plumbing (get it? har har) the vast depths of my knowledge or phoning someone up to find out. I’ll post the answer and, of course, all of you who know more than me can add your comments.

The rules: The questions have to be genuine efforts to get information, not rhetorical questions or attacks phrased as questions (“Why is the deputy manager of City X such a numbskull?” is an example.)

I’ll accept questions all week and then pick one that I’ll post the answer to Monday, depending on my idiosyncratic tastes and what I think people are most interested in. But I’ll keep a list of all of them and, I hope, get around to everything eventually.

I’ll take questions from any city, as long as they’re city-related.

This is an experiment. I’m going to try it for a while to see if it’s doable, especially time-wise, and useful.

Send your questions to me through the blog or my email for now. I’ll set up a special space to receive them this week.

The Richmond RCMP charges against five people accused of running a dial-a-dope-and-gun operation in Richmond, New West and Vancouver likely would have been a short story in the Richmond paper, except for one thing: the name of one of the accused, which rang a bell for Richmond Review reporter Martin van den Hemel.

It turned out that the bell that rang when he saw Jinagh Navas-Rivas led him to the news that this was Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson’s former foster son.

As a result, all media, including the Globe, quickly picked up on the story.

Robertson had told me about his foster son back in the spring of 2008, when he was preparing to run for mayor, as I was doing the standard checking on biographical information. It was clear to me that Robertson’s wife, Amy, had been the mover on that one — something that didn’t surprise me, as I ran into various people during that 2008 campaign who had been offered temporary accommodation or other help by Amy.

I was interested to note that in the subsequent years, the Robertsons always included Jinagh in their biographical information, never making any differentiation between him and their other three children. I know it must be saddening for all of them to hear the news about these charges.

A relevant article from the Toronto Star that will be of interest here, given the number of strange and, as it turns out, completely erroneous polls that were published in the two months leading up to the election, e.g. the NPA poll that said Suzanne Anton was running neck and neck with Gregor Robertson, a Forum Research poll that said the same, and another Forum Research poll that indicated Robertson’s popularity was low.

As local politics junkies will know, only Barb Justason’s polls and, as it turned out later, Strategic Communications’ polls from Vision’s in-house pollster Bob Penner, were accurate.

As I sit waiting for my shallots for the cranberry sauce to roast, Christmas wishes to all of you, including my non-Christian friends hunting for open Chinese restaurants today.

It’s funny how, even when you’re half a century from being a child, you still wake up on Christmas morning feeling excited, transported to a special place that looks the same but feels different.

Okay, enough sentiment. On to practicalities: A special helpful tip for those of you who, like me, didn’t quite finish by deadline at 6 p.m. yesterday. There are at least two liquor stores open in Vancouver today (the one at Granville and Broadway and the specialty wine store next to Whole Foods/Capers on Fourth), both of which have very giveable, high-end products.

As well, as I noticed last Christmas, anyone wishing to purchase a polyester dress bedecked with ruffles and artifical lace, they are to be had in Chinatown somewhere.

Lonely souls reading this blog on Christmas Day can feel free to post other open spots where it’s still possible to spend money today. I personally would be interested in hearing about a store where I can buy currants.

Finally, if it’s on today, make sure to watch It’s a Wonderful Life — the motivational film of the 99 per cent, if ever there was one. I couldn’t help wondering, though, as I was weeping through it last night, whether George Bailey would be revered in our city — or just reviled as another evil developer by people unable to distinguish the difference between him and Potter. He was responsible for the single-family sprawl of Bailey Park, after all.

In case you haven’t seen it elsewhere. I have to say, what is with all these memos and staff change announcements being put out at such odd times?

From: Johnston, Sadhu
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 4:09 PM
To: Direct to Mayor and Council – DL
Cc: Corporate Management Team (COV) – DL; Coulson, Marg
Subject: Memo on Occupy Vancouver Costs

Greetings Mayor and Council:

Pasted below and attached to this email is an update that staff committed to Council regarding the cost estimates for managing the Occupy Vancouver protest.

This data is still an estimate as payroll overtime data is incomplete until the end of the quarter, however the data will provide information which allows Council to see the impact within a reasonable sense of certainty. This data does not include the extensive time spent by many exempt managers from across all departments and Boards and members of our Corporate Management Team who worked many days and nights to effectively manage this challenging situation. The City can be proud of the peaceful resolution to the protest in Vancouver, which is in contrast to the violence and conflict that occurred in many cities around the world. The clear direction from the Mayor and Council to staff to find creative ways to peacefully resolve this was very critical to our success.

The following are the incremental expenditures which were unanticipated in our budget process and which can be attributed to Occupy Vancouver as of December 15, 2011:

VPD             $590,000        largely overtime costs for additional deployment and facility cost

Note: $394,000  of these costs were incurred by October 20 2011

Engineering     $345,878        largely  overtime and materials
Note: $127,124 of these costs were incurred by Oct 31 2011
OEM             $  28,494       staffing of Emergency Operations Centre
Note: $15,274 of these costs were incurred by Oct 31 2011
VFRS            $  16,730       overtime, staffing costs, and facility costs
Note: $7,000 of these costs were incurred by Oct 31 2011
Total           $981,103        estimate to December 15, 2011

We reported to Council in early November 2011 after 2 weeks of activity that our costs to October 31 2011 (October 20 for the VPD) totalled $543,398. Two thirds of those costs related to VPD overtime, particularly related to the first weekend of the Occupy Protest when thousands of citizens rallied downtown and the encampment was first established at the VAG.

What is apparent from the roll up data to December 15 2011 is the significant value of the approach that the city took in placing the VFRS crews on the ground as the key interface group with the protestors at the VAG. This allowed us to significantly reduce the VPD presence where the costs are significant. This was an efficient use of resources and more importantly a strategic deployment of personnel who have huge credibility and appropriate skills in dealing with an issue of this nature. The mobility of our workforce in VFRS allowed us to integrate this assignment into their everyday (and night) work without a large incremental cost. It is in large part the relationships that these professionals and their engineering/facilities colleagues built with the Occupy protesters that we were able to end this peacefully.

During the occupation, the local business community were extremely supportive of our efforts to manage the occupation. As an example local hotels provided us with access to their business centre to enable access to computers and printers for some of the legal and regulatory work involved in the Occupy issue. They also provided intermittently through the situation access to a hotel room to allow us to monitor events and deploy staff when required. Both VPD and VFRS used these facilities intermittently for their 24/7 oversight of the situation.

Vancouver’s expenditures are in-line with other North American cities dealing with the Occupy Movement. While we don’t have data on all cities, we have data to mid-November from the following cities: Portland, Oregon – over $1.4 million in policing and park restoration; Oakland, California –  more than $2.4 million; New York Police –  over $7 million in police overtime alone; Seattle –  $625,000. We have asked Toronto, Calgary, and Edmonton for their comprehensive cost data, but as of Friday December 16 2011 they were not yet available.

In summary, although the City had unanticipated costs related to this global movement, we were able to build on our experience gained through learning’s from the Stanley Cup riot and our extensive experience with encampments and resolve the protest without collateral damage to downtown and neighbourhoods involved. We hope this information is of help to Council and please do not hesitate to call either of us if you have any questions.

Penny Ballem
Sadhu Johnston

Cc:     Corporate Management Team
Marg Coulson, City Clerk
<<Occupy Van Cost Est to 2011-12-15.pdf>>

Sadhu A. Johnston, LEED AP
City of Vancouver
Deputy City Manager
453 West 12th Avenue
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada V5Y 1V4

I’ve had a few calls about a blog post that appeared on the site of Curve Communications, the company that belongs to new councillor George Affleck.

In it, someone who appears to be a staffer trying to root for the boss wrote that Curve Communications, as well as Affleck, had received “a three-year mandate” from the City of Vancouver” and that anyone who had ideas for what the city should be doing should get in touch with Curve.

Hmm, a little dicey there. I emailed George to ask him about this and he’s removed the problematic parts of that blog post now (which were indeed written by a staffer), but he and his company will have to be careful that there’s not a shadow of a suggestion that he’s mixing his job as councillor with his business.

He’s the first councillor the city has had in a while who has such an active business going, one that might present possible conflicts.

Curve has had clients in the past who have links with the city — Ballet BC, an Amacon development, the David Suzuki Foundation, various businesses with licences in the city and so on — which might be tricky.

I talked to George about this a few weeks ago and he said he’s planning to make sure he declares any conflict whenever there’s a vote. He’ll also need to make sure he’s not using access to privileged information to benefit clients.

For those who care, a copy of the original post, written Dec. 6, is below.

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