The School Board inaugural will be a low-key affair open to the public, set to take place this upcoming Monday, November 5th at 7pm, in the large Board room (pictured above), situated within the VSB offices at 1580 West Broadway. The new and returning Trustees will be sworn into office by Secretary-Treasurer, J. David Green, with friends, family and the general public seated in the gallery; after the inaugural, a brief reception will be held in the cafeteria, with small pieces of cake available to the public.

2014 Park Board Inaugural for newly-elected Commissioners, at Van Dusen Gardens

The Park Board inaugural will also be a low key, open to the public affair, set to take place next Monday evening, November 5th at 7pm, at VanDusen Botanical Gardens, with seven new Commissioners set to be sworn in, with family, friends and the public — including VanRamblings and a couple of friends who will be present with us — seated in the room in the far southwest corner of the Van Dusen building. Afterwards, given that any “snacks” are paid for with taxpayer’s dollar, there’ll be canapés available - but if you don’t get in to grab one right away, they’ll be gone.
At neither of the School or Park Board inaugurals will wine be available.
Mayor and Council will be sworn in as part of an invitation only, private affair. One Councillor with whom we spoke was told he could invite 10 guests. Another Councillor has invited 15 of her friends and supporters. All totaled, as in the photo at the top of today’s column, anywhere from 180 – 200 specially invited guests will be present at this inaugural ceremony.
As we say, this inaugural is a private affair, not open to the public.

When Justin Trudeau was sworn into office as Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 4, 2015, along with members of his new Cabinet the event, although the inaugural was special invitation only, from start to finish, from the time Justin Trudeau stepped off the bus heading toward Rideau Hall for the inaugural ceremony for his new government, the entire event was broadcast live on all of Canada’s broadcast networks. Hardly, then, a hidden-away-from-the-public event.
When John Horgan’s government was sworn in to office on Tuesday, July 18th, 2017, the incoming government broke precedent by inviting the public to attend the inaugural ceremony — more than 7,000 British Columbians, including VanRamblings and a coterie of friends — the Legislature wide open to the public throughout the day, with Premier John Horgan cheerfully trumpeting, “This is the people’s building!” And so it is.
Note. Christy Clark’s inaugural in 2013 was private affair held in the Legislature, peopled mostly with developers and financial backers of both hers and the B.C. Liberal party’s campaign for office.

In 2008, 2011 and 2014, when the newly-elected Mayor and City Councillors were sworn into office, the press went to town on the private, invitation only City Hall inaugural ceremony, a private affair not open to the public (or “the rabble” as some Councillors liked to say — the sounds of “get those smelly plebes away from us, we don’t want anything to do with them” could be heard ringing through the air).
The press were only too happy to report that $74,000, $85,000 and $96,000 was spent in respective Vision Vancouver inaugurals on the private, closed door, not open to the public inaugural events, “a party at taxpayer expense” could read in our local newspapers, or viewed as the lead item on the evening news, that lustrous inaugural night.
On October 20th, only 12 short days ago, 38% of Vancouver’s voting public voted for change. Gosh. VanRamblings wonders if that call for change maybe, could have, might have meant a low-key inaugural for Mayor and Council that would be, y’know, open to the “rabble”, oh we mean … public.
Ain’t gonna be happening in 2018, VanRamblings is here to report.
Two weeks from now, when some enterprising civic affairs reporter - our money’s on CBC civic affairs reporter Justin McElroy - the most important new voice covering civic politics in our city in a generation - or that old (young?) curmudgeon, the Vancouver Courier’s Mike Howell, or maybe freelance curmudgeon, Bob Mackin - receives the reply to his FOI request, only to discover that City Council’s 2018 inaugural has set taxpayers back only $102,000 (what with inflation and all) — well, gosh, galldarnit, gee, shucks, there’ll be whoop-de-dooin’ galore in the media, Global TV’s Chris Gailus with a big shit eatin’ grin on his face as he reports out on “the bunch of spendthrifts just elected as Mayor and City Council in Vancouver” — he might have said “autocratic spendthrifts”, but GlobalBC News Director Jill Krop doesn’t go in for that kind of rhetorical malarkey.

A Prescription to Open Mayor & Council Inaugural To the Public

VanRamblings readers have asked that we publish an update, respecting how — either four years from now, or later this month or next — the Inaugural celebration of the investiture of the new Mayor and Council might be made open to the public.
The “solution”? Open up City Hall, in much the same way the provincial government opened the B.C. Legislature to the public for the inaugural of their new government. Perhaps on a Saturday (this year), or on a Monday after the Vancouver municipal election in 2022, hold the celebration at City Hall, opening up the main floor of City Hall, the cafeteria in the basement, and the third floor where the Mayor and Councillors offices are located, as well as Council chambers, and allow the public access to all of these areas.
Of course, security will be required, and Mayor and Council will have to be on hand throughout the day of celebration that could begin at 11am and conclude at 8pm — with City Hall left open for the day.
Mayor and Councillors would mingle with the public, as Cabinet ministers did at the NDP inaugural — what a great opportunity to get to know who it is Mayor and Council are serving. Chances are, too, that for many of the attendees, this might be the first time they’ve actually visited City Hall.
An empowered public. A Mayor and Councillor meeting the public in a celebratory, party-like atmosphere. Sounds good to us — and to Mayor & Council, too, we bet. After all, who doesn’t like a party?
The cost for the day’s festivities, apart from cakes and perhaps a few canapés available in the cafeteria, minimal and for a good cause — Mayor and Council could even employ the celebratory event as a fundraiser for an agreed upon charitable foundation.
Winners all around, an invested and respected public, an opportunity to open up City Hall as “the people’s building”, and an engaged and delightful and delighted Mayor and Councillor contingent.
Over to you Mayor and newly-elected and returning City Councillors.

Park Board’s John Coupar, Constance Barnes, Sarah Blyth, and GM, Malcolm Bromley

First thing Wednesday morning, VanRamblings made contact with Vision Vancouver Park Board Commissioners Constance Barnes and Sarah Blyth to enquire as to whether each was aware of an “offering for sale” of city-owned land, that included a proposal for the demolition of the current Vancouver Aquatic Centre, and the construction of a new Aquatic Centre facility, on the north-end, and due east of the Granville Street bridge.

The short answer: no.

Commissioners Barnes and Blyth stated that a new or renewed Aquatic Centre was not on the immediate Park Board agenda for consideration.

Both were clear in stating that any proposal for a new / renewed Aquatic Centre would include a public consultation process. Both Commissioners Barnes and Blyth went on to state that consideration of a new / renewed Aquatic Centre was, in all likelihood, some years away.

VanRamblings also made contact with Non-Partisan Association Park Board Commissioner John Coupar, who told us that he’d look into the matter, and would report out to us following the NPA’s campaign announcement of their 2014 sterling slate of Park Board and Board of Education candidates.

Commissioner Coupar told us that he’d spoken with Vancouver Park Board General Manager Malcolm Bromley first thing on Wednesday morning, to seek clarification on issues related to VanRamblings’ Wednesday story respecting a new / renewed Aquatic Centre.

Here’s what Mr. Bromley told Commissioner Coupar: yes, the City Planning Department had approached him respecting a “wish list” for renewed Park Board facilities; Mr. Bromley suggested that a new Aquatic Centre might be high on the Park Board’s agenda for future consideration. Other than that, Commissioner Coupar concurred with the sentiment expressed by Commissioners Barnes and Blyth: there’d likely be no consideration given by Park Board, any time soon, to a remediated Vancouver Aquatic Centre, or a new aquatic facility.

Recent Park Board historical background respecting the Aquatic Centre: in fact, in 2012, Park Board Commissioners did confront an Aquatic Centre remediation proposal wherein Park Board was asked to approve a sum of monies to repair the centre’s heating facility, which structure had become eroded due to the salt content in the Aquatic Centre’s pools, in the early years of its operation.The Aquatic Centre now uses chlorinated water.

Remediation repair monies were approved by Park Board — and note was made by Park Board GM Malcolm Bromley that, perhaps at some future point, consideration might have to be given by Park Board to replacing the Aquatic Centre, should future remediation costs prove prohibitive.

In the late morning, and again in the mid-afternoon on Wednesday, VanRamblings met with Vancouver Cedar Party campaign chair Nicholas Chernen to discuss the Downtown South Development Site booklet — which was provided to us for our perusal — the cover of which is pictured at the top of today’s VanRamblings’ blog post, the booklet linked to above.

Mr. Chernen told VanRamblings he and his campaign staff ran across the document by accident, when perusing other files at City Hall.

Apparently, there was reference made to the document, but actual discovery of the Downtown South Development Site booklet took some while. When Mr. Chernen and his staff finally located the development booklet, a copy was provided to him — for which he had to sign out, recording all of his particulars.

Curious.

The first few pages of the booklet lay out the details of the obviously-developed-by Vision Vancouver ‘offer for sale’ of 12 parcels of city-owned land adjacent to the Granville Street bridge, which is to say …

• The City of Vancouver is proceeding with the demolition of the old Continental Hotel building at 190 Granville Street, in 2014. Upon completion of the demolition, the property will be available for redevelopment in concert with the decommissioning and removal of the eastern Granville Bridge off ramp and ‘loop’, the removal of the Blacktop cabs yard, and the opening up for sale of an entire square block of city-owned land (part of the City’s Property Endowment Fund land legacy), for a sale price of $32.9 million;
• The City, in offering the property for sale, is asking for “some innovative proposals for the delivery of key public benefits” for this area of the City, although offering cash or a combination of cash and amenities will also be considered.Among the amenities listed are “provision of 120 ‘turnkey’ non-market housing units”: 24 studio apartments (20%), 42 1-bedroom units (35%), 42 2-bedroom units (35%), and 12 3-bedroom units (10%);
• The construction of a renewed Vancouver Aquatic Centre, with a 52-metre pool (no indication as to the number of lanes), a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi, plus gym, the new Aquatic centre situated in a landlocked location away from park land, green space and Burrard Inlet, offering little in the way of parking or ready transit access;
• The delivery of a “community amenity in the form of built premises of approximately 10,000 square feet for … Qmunity, either on the property or on other land located in the West End;
• A United We Can bottle depot.

More detail available on the CityHallWatch website, or by clicking on this link.

All of the above leaves a few questions unanswered, including …

“Why would a developer purchase one square block of city-owned land upon which a 120-unit social housing unit is to be built, along with the construction of a new Aquatic Centre which upon completion the developer must turn over to the City of Vancouver for $10, a community centre to be built that would also be turned over to the City, and the construction of a bottle depot — none of which properties would turn a profit for a developer, or even offer a return (other than a social justice return) on the developer’s investment of $32.9 million.

Why would a developer, then, make such a sure-to-fail economically purchase of city-owned land, unless …

The City — which is to say, Vision Vancouver — had struck an under-the-table deal with the purchasing developer to acquire the stretch of beach front property along Beach Avenue where the current Aquatic Centre is located, stretching from Burrard Street along the waterfront, almost all the way to English Bay, prime development property where the ‘Granville Loop’ purchasing developer could turn a potential profit that could very well be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Who in the media, other than VanRamblings, is asking these questions?

Will the August 15th sale of the 12-parcel Downtown South Development Site one square, city-owned block factor into the conversation in the 2014 Vancouver municipal election race? Who out there, apart from the Vancouver Cedar Party, CityHallWatch, and VanRamblings are expressing concern about the secretive nature of the proposed sale of Property Endowment Fund land, and the possible implications of the sale vis-à-vis the future sale of the current Aquatic Centre, and the surrounding, lands?