Vancouver Municipal Election - Nov 15, 2014
 

Seeing as how this is a little over a month away and the dismal turnout in the last 2011 election (34% I believe). I thought I'd give everyone here a heads up seeing as how this election more than any other probably affects us in our day to day lives than either the Provincial or Federal ones.

Our Incumbent Mayor "Moonbeam" Robertson of Vision Vancouver
http://theyrep.com/wp-content/upload...ertson_090.jpg

His most likely successful challenger, Kirk LaPointe of the Non Partisan Association (NPA)

http://thetyee.cachefly.net/News/201...inte610px.jpeg

Where to Vote:
Where to vote: Regular and advance voting locations for 2014 | City of Vancouver

Now I'm not one to wax on about my political stances but the incumbent Mayor and his "Visionless" Vancouver cronies really rubs me the wrong way with his obvious disdain for consultation, developer brown-nosing and of course the major cluster-fuck with implementing bike lanes and general traffic management. Now he's throwing out frivolous lawsuits around wasting taxpayers money on the CP rail Arbutus line.

City of Vancouver taking CP Rail to court over the Arbutus corridor | News1130 :failed:

Not saying that the NPA guy would be any better but at least throwing the bums out every 3 years will keep them on their toes.

I can't believe you idiots re-elected him in 2011. I didn't vote as I was out of the country.

Discuss? :toot:

voted against moonbeam last time and will vote against him again. i'm glad this time around there is someone that may have a chance this year.

to the OP: So you are saying you didn't vote in the last election, think's the NPA guy is not any better, and call everyone idiots because we voted for him.

It's a democracy, just because you didn't support his policies doesn't mean they might not be the right ones. Hindsight is always 20/20

I voted for him last time because:

1. I like the direction he's going with the bike lanes. Sure it's a car forum so most on here will hate it, but A LOT of people in Vancouver (not talking about burnaby/surrey/richmond etc) don't drive and live close to where they work. We prefer to bike if we can. A lot of people in my office and the offices around me also bike to work.

2. He's making a some good development changes and developing many areas, Gastown, false creek, making more neighbourhoods that many people want to live in.

3. Susan Anton or whoever from the NPA didnt have any better alternative policies.


That being said --- the things I don't like about him:

- caters to developers way too much. just look at how Concord raped the city by not paying property taxes by science world, that's millions of tax dollars that the city residents are not getting.
- doesn't limit height and density restrictions in many areas. Just build and think of a plan later.
- poor city/traffic layout and caters to many people's NIMBYism.
- don't like how he plans to tear down the Georgia viaduct.
- spends a bit too much, the budget is increasing much more than inflation. We have all these new developments and money from property taxes but our taxes are going up still.
- don't like how high the percentage of our municipal taxes goes to Police and Firefighters, I dont feel the VDP are firefighters are worth it at the moment.


don't know much about LaPointe yet, but will research more and decide who I will vote for.

First time voting as a Vancouver resident, super excited! Will be voting NPA, but I have a feeling that Gregor will win again based simply on the fact of brand power and that not many people know who Kirk LaPointe is.

yea, they see vision and they automatically vote for whoever is under that team. I think Vision party members won all except for one of their seats last time.

slightly off topic- but personally I hope Whoever gets elected approves and allow Uber into Vancouver.

Seriously, other cities have it, and the monopoly that the taxi companies have needs to go.
So difficult to fetch a cab sometimes. My friends that have used Uber in other cities like the service. Plus allowing them will bring down cab fares.

+1 during the skytrain shutdown it was near impossible to get a cab. I was smart and got off early as soon as I heard the skytrain issue and call a cab. More peopel came and one lady just took the cab I call in (because the driver call literally on the phone with me) yet this lady just hop in.

2nd cab that came I JUST hop in and people started yelling and screaming that it is their cab. Too bad so sad I got in I ain't coming out.

i'd totally vote...but i don't live in Vancouver anymore.

34% turn out...goddamnn

when you vote, if you vote, don't always think about "me me me me" think about the city as a whole and pick a candidate that you think will try to care for everyones needs somewhat and not just a particular segment of the population

I subscribe to the the belief that ALL mainstream politicians preach inclusiveness and broad based platforms in order to get elected. However, in the end they are all beholden to the special interests that funded them to their last electoral victory or that will fund them in the next.

It's a shitty deal, our democratic system. The only way I can see in gaining any semblance of accountability is to keep the revolving door spinning. Always vote the incumbent out. Keep their snouts out of the troughs as long as possible, even if it's another slew of pigs you vote in.

Will not vote for Moonbeam because of the new biweekly garbage collection schedule

What happened to Meena Wong? I thought she was a candidate as well.

"I will end homelessness" - Gregor Robertson

First time I'm able to vote :) is it only these two?
I have to read up on the candidates I guess lol

i'd say they're the most well known/'credible'. i'm sure there will be something in the paper or online closer to vote date as to who you can vote for and their stances,policies, etc.

btw, the battle between the parks board and the 5-6 local community centres as to the control of funds - iirc the parks board council were all vision members and spear headed that shit show correct?

no, just vote for what you think is most important, or least evil.

it's a democracy, if everyone wants to vote for 'me, me, me' and you don't like that, then you can leave.

Why are all mayoral candidates (in vancouver) super left wing? I assume this LaPointe fella is just the same?

This^.

Except for the bikers, forget about that segment of the population...:troll:

Now our exalted mayor is proposing civil disobedience over pipelines, something he has no jurisdictional authority over. Not to mention the KM pipeline doesn't even cross Vancouver's municipal boundaries.

Vision Vancouver pledges leadership against Kinder Morgan | News1130

:concentrate:

Moonbeam is just ultra fucking hipster.

If a perfect world where money grows on trees, sure, no pipeline is the way to go.

But the pipeline makes total sense in the long run and overall grand scheme of things.

Why is the COPE team not a part of this thread?

Anyway, I'm gonna do advanced voting. Will be my first civic election that I actually care about. Looking forward to it. :)

The COPE candidate, Meena Wong, is a little more interesting than Bike Boy and the LaPointe fellow. She seems to have some ideas that I agree with when it comes to housing affordability, but her left leaning background concerns me.

Of course, Bike Boy and Lapointe's right leaning approach, especially when it comes to housing, concerns me as well.

From the look of things, it seems like my vote is going come down to annother lesser of the 3 evils kind of thing, instead of someone I actually want to vote for.

It's always about choosing the lesser of evils with politicians

Meena Wong has a lot of ideas but has no proposition on how to implement any of them.

Plus she wants to put at-grade light transit along Broadway. The buses right now carry more passengers than LRT would have capacity for. And can you imagine the mess along Broadway not only during construction, but when it is under operation?? That idea alone kills her credibility.

I am against Light Rail as well, it does more harm than good for the present and future of Vancouver's transportation system.

I was gonna vote for COPE, but I am not so sure now. I don't like Vision Vancouver and Robertson, but they seem to make the most sense of the three. Don't get me started on NPA (Kirk LaPointe), their team is a mess, they don't even have a platform/campaign available on their site yet (as of 11/03) and tomorrow is the first day of advanced polling. Sad.

I haven't lived here for long (about 6 months now), but I think I'm more tilted towards voting for Robertson after some thought, unless I am convinced otherwise. Robertson does seem well articulated and seems like a person I can relate with. I do live downtown and use the bike lanes quite a bit and I feel the city is lot more commutable --- if you bike. LaPointe does raise a few points against Robertson especially of those who commute to work from the suburbs to Vancouver that the bike lanes do make it much more an ordeal and couples this issue with this so called new "idle" pollution. For these points I can see how people may be able to resonate with this guy. I don't think the NPA, LaPointe and his supporters get it. I believe a thriving city needs a healthy built environment which cultivates a sense of community, and healthier people, which also lowers disease in the population and overall costs of health care too. Driving to and from suburbia to the city work for example goes against this approach. LaPointe should just live in the city... cost of living too high? Just live with less (downsize)... people are just too attached to their material possessions that don't add much real value to their life and purpose. This idle gas pollution is just bullshit that sounds good at first. LaPointe also touts that his group has more ties with other jurisdictions such as fed, prov, first nations to help carry out the things Robertson has promised. I am not sure how he does but that is what he says. His campaign focuses on the negative and hasn't really shed light on how he's going to do it. I think if Robertson doesn't win it will set back Vancouver as there needs to be time to adjust to the NPA or COPE.