Think City Minute

Despite the Economist naming Vancouver the most liveable city on the planet last April, the only conclusion that can be drawn from the Vancouver Foundation's just-released third annual Vital Signs report is that the city and the metro region face enormous challenges, particularly

How did affordable housing, transportation and citizen engagement become the three issues that Think City has now decided to pursue this summer and fall, as part of developing a citizens' agenda for Vancouver? The public spoke

Every year, Metro Vancouver residents and businesses generate 440 billion litres of liquid waste and 3.6 million tonnes of garbage and recyclables. And that's where the story stops.

Despite Think City and City of Vancouver surveys that show a majority of citizens support expanding or maintaining civic services, senior staff are recommending cuts to parks and no substantive expansion of civic funding when council meets on Tuesday, April 15 to debate the final budget estimates for 2008.

After the dust settles, the score could be Seattle 85 Vancouver 15 when it comes to the percentage of heritage schools saved during the impending wave of seismic upgrading that will sweep through our city.

But it does not have to be that way, if we follow Seattle's lead says Think Schools organizer Annabel Vaughan.

When city hall conducted its annual public consultation process on the 2008 city budget this past February, was anybody listening? It appears the answer would be no, according to the updated interim budget estimates report from senior staff coming before Mayor Sam Sullivan and city council today.

Each year, the City of Vancouver goes through a public consultation process on the annual budget. Last year, only 242 people - less than 0.04 per cent of Vancouver's population - completed the annual City Choices budget survey published in local newspapers or made available in public buildings.

Please take two minutes to complete the Citizen Budget survey.

Think City and the University of British Columbia's Political Science Dept. are pleased to announce that former City of Vancouver Co-Director of Planning Dr. Ann McAfee will be speaking at the Tuesday, March 19 Citizen Budget forum. This is a free event, please register here.

Will there be a rebellion at city hall in April over more parks and recreation cuts? Judging by a recent parks board vote that refused staff recommendation to institute more cuts and higher user fees on city services like pools, ice rinks and community centres, city council may finally get the message from the public that enough is enough.

While many parents, teachers and students were worried that the "Big One" could devastate their neighbourhood school, it appears the biggest threat to Vancouver's community hubs may be the provincial government and the poorly defined mandate of the Vancouver School Board (VSB).