By JEFF LEE, Vancouver Sun
July 14, 2010
VANCOUVER -- Long before Mayor Gregor Robertson's intemperate
remarks calling public presenters political "hacks," relations between
Vancouver and its neighbourhoods were testy.
Politicians and
community activists say that disconnect arose largely from the last
city council's EcoDensity program, which sought to layer citywide
environmental goals into the way density, land use and design are
considered in local planning processes.
Instead, the program
fractured efforts by the city and neighbourhoods to develop local
land-use plans through a careful, decade-long citywide exercise called
CityPlan.
"Just the word density could strike fear in
neighbourhoods," said Robert Allen, the head of the Renfrew-Collingwood
Visions Implementation Committee. "A lot of this tension has been below
the surface for a long time."
Allen, whose group worked with
Vancouver to help each of the city's 23 neighbourhoods develop updated
community plans, said the trust-building exercise was killed the moment
former mayor Sam Sullivan's NPA-dominated council dropped the
EcoDensity program on them. Dialogue stopped and many were enraged by
the city's preoccupation with politically charged rezonings that would
strategically build density into neighbourhoods.
Now,
neighbourhoods have learned to distrust the city's planners and
engineers, he said, because they never know if their local issues will
be taken into consideration.
In recent months, the city has made
concerted efforts at reconciliation with neighbourhoods, from plans for
a "citizens' summit" to air concerns to the creation of a stand-alone
office for information and community engagement. But those efforts may
have been set back by Robertson's description last week of public
presenters to council as "f------g ... hacks."
"Well, if I don't
think it helped," said Coun. Andrea Reimer, who is spearheading the
city's efforts to "engage" communities again in cooperative civic
affairs.
"Community engagement is all about trust and
relationships, so it's hard for his comments not to have an impact on
that," she said.
Robertson said in an interview the city doesn't
have strong relations any more with many community groups. He blamed
much of that on Sullivan's EcoDensity program, but acknowledged his own
gaffe hasn't helped matters.
""It definitely creates a lot more
work and effort to assure people that we're open and listening and that
we want dynamic debate on this," he said.
"We've worked to
improve consultation and engagement with neighbourhoods from day one
and it has been a big challenge. Many neighbourhoods are wary and
distrustful of city hall from previous administrations. It's tough when
we try to improve this and it is construed as the opposite, as closing
down debate."
Allen lives on the opposite side of the city from
Doreen Braverman, the chairwoman of the Arbutus Ridge Concerned
Citizens Association. But they share a common view that their
communities are constantly at odds with city hall.
"They don't
listen and they don't care," said Braverman, whose group is opposed to
a proposal to redevelop the Arbutus Centre shopping mall into a
residential development. "I think the EcoDensity program really broke
relations between community groups and city hall. But this group in
office isn't much better."
She said Robertson's remarks are "just
what you think they think of you. It's very phoney. I think what he's
done is make people realize we're not just whistling Dixie when we say
we're not being listened to."
Allen says that even though
Robertson "did himself and his party no favours" with his comments, he
thinks the mayor's gaffe could won't result in worse relations with
communities.
"Actually, I think it will have the opposite effect.
It points out that yeah, we do have issues in communication. So then it
gives us the opportunity, just as we are doing now, to talk about it. I
think that's the silver lining in this."
Reimer said the city is
working hard to try to reconnect city hall with its neighbourhoods.
This fall, several plans will go before council, including one to set
up a single "Vancouver Office of Information and City Engagement"
(VOICE), where people can get information neighbourhood issues, from
rezonings to street improvements.
Reimer said that while the
parts of EcoDensity that the Vision Vancouver council liked were folded
into its Greenest City program, but the word "EcoDensity" still causes
residents to shiver, she said.
This fall will also mark the first
"citizens' summit," which Reimer said will allow residents to set their
own agendas about what is important to them.
"Community
engagement is not like building a bike lane. It's not simple and it's
not technical. It is a process built on relationships and foundations
of trust," she said.
jefflee@vancouversun.com
