Last week, New Westminster City Council moved to approve providing funding and a guaranteed date for the Uptown Live music event, scheduled for July, 2016. The decision was not without some controversy, so I thought it apropos to outline my thinking on this file.

**Obligatory caveat: Obviously, I voted with the majority of Council on this (although not on the amendment to the motion), but can only speak to my personal motivation and decision making. Nothing I write here should be construed to represent the “official opinion of the City” (whatever that is), or the thoughts of any other member of Council, as there is a diversity of opinions on this topic.**

The City has a Festivals Grant system, through which we last year awarded a little over $178,000 to 10 different organizations to put on 12 events, plus some funding for the design and construction of the Parade Float. Two of the events did not take place for different reasons, meaning $37,000 of that money did not get spent.

Several of the event organizers expressed an interest in developing multi-year sponsor agreements, as they felt that relying on a year-by-year grant process did not provide them the security they needed to make their commitments to sponsors, and created some logistical issues around long-term planning necessary for larger events. So last year, Council agreed to change the process somewhat so organizations can apply for up to three years of funding, guaranteed on the condition that the event needs to demonstrably provide value for the community each year.

Eight of the 2015 events included this three-year guarantee, meaning that $128,000 of the 2016 budget is already committed. Note, however, that Uptown Live was one of those events, and as that event did not occur in 2015, that three-year deal needs to be re-started, so really only $112,000 is committed.

By looking at the plan for 2016 Uptown Live, I had no problem with the grant request. It is an event on scale with the other very large regional-draw events in town (the Hyack Parade, the Pride Street Fair, StrEAT Food) and the uptown BIA provided a three-year plan that saw their funding request going down over the term as more sponsors come on board. I’m willing, based on the success of their previous incarnations, to take a risk to invest in something that has the potential to be as big as Khatsahlano or any other large, free, one-day festivals in the region.

One of the reasons Uptown Live did not occur last year (after two successful years) is because they were not able to have their event on the third weekend in July. The Uptown BIA saw this date a crucial because they, as a newcomer, cannot compete for talent or stages and equipment with other large regional events like Khatsahlano, the Folk Festival, or Squamish. However, this is the same weekend (though not the same day) that the West End Business Association has been holding the 12th Street Music Festival for the last three years. Hence, the potential for conflict.

My thought on the date conflict is actually pretty simple: I don’t think Council should be picking weekends for specific festivals. As long as our engineering crews and police can accommodate the events (that is what the “in kind” part of the City’s contribution represents), then Council should not be limiting a festival organizer from holding an event to entertain our residents, promote our businesses, and make our City more fun and active, on the day they figure they are best able to do that.

Obviously, if there is construction or something going on that prevents a Festival from working, or if there is no perceived ROI for the City of an event, then Council has the ability to deny approval for it. We also have the freedom to contribute financially or not to any given event, and have a Festival Grant Committee to provide us advice towards how we allocate that funding. However, programming the weekends of the summer is something that, in my opinion, is best done by festival organizers, not Councillors.

Last year, Council approved two different festivals that partially overlapped with other existing events. The very successful Multicultural Festival at Pier Park by the New Westminster Philippine Festival Society was run on the same day as the City’s own Canada Day events at Queens Park. The regionally-coordinated Fraser Fest had its New Westminster stop the day before Riverfest started. In both of these cases, the two organizations were supported (even encouraged) by New West Council, and they worked together to coordinate their events, even sharing stage space in the case of Fraser Fest and Riverfest.

Obviously, if two festival organizers decide to hold their event on the same day, in the same place, then there will need to be some criteria for staff or Council to determine who gets to hold their event. We could implement a “first come first served” rule, evaluate the ROI for the City of each event, or some other method. Since there is no policy in place now to guide how these decisions are made, staff would likely bring a conflict like this to Council. Without a guiding policy, I have no idea how Council will resolve the conflict, and I hope the ROI for the City would rule in our decision making. but there is no guarantee of that.

This is not the case for the Third Week in July, though. At this point, Council has approved both the 12th Street Music Fest for 2016 (as they applied for a three-year commitment last year) and Uptown Live. They are in different locations on different dates, and staff feel that sufficient resources exist from an engineering and police service level to support them both. How the two organizations compete or work together are up to them. The organizers of Uptown Live have suggested that a partnership could have benefits for both organizations. And I hope that’s how it comes to pass.

To answer 50% of the questions I have received for the last month: No. The elevator to Pier Park is not open, and I do not have an ETA for its opening.

I once responded on this topic to an Ask Pat, all those months ago, and looking back at that response with the benefit of hindsight, I wonder where that bright-eyed optimist Councillor went with his rosy predictions. I wish I knew now what I knew then.

The elevator is now almost a year overdue from what the plan was when the contract for construction was awarded. I can’t provide many details, but suffice to say the “relatively minor” third delay I mentioned in that earlier post has turned out to be not so easily fixed, and any potential fix needs to meet the extremely strict (and ostensibly arbitrary to us lay folks) requirements of the Safety Authority. There was just enough innovative design in the structure that the design of a fix has proved… problematic.

I know I’m being a little vague about the details of the issue, but it has nothing to do with covering my own ass or that of Council. This project is not being built by the City, but by private contractors who were paid to design and build a project. I am not a structural engineer, so my knowledge of the details is necessarily limited. As parts of the delay may result in a discussions between contractors and the Safety Authority, which may involve evaluating contract language between parties that are not the City, no-one would be served by my semi-informed finger pointing or laying of blame. My job is to keep asking our staff for progress updates, make sure they are pushing the contractors to get the job done ASAP, and to take the political flak for them all when we don’t meet public expectations.

What I can tell you: we will get an elevator working; the delays are not the result of City staff failing to administer the contract effectively; the elevator seems to work fine; a design work-around required to meet a single Safety Authority requirement is proving difficult to engineer to the satisfaction of the City and the contract; these delays are NOT costing the City money (but I can presume at this point that not getting paid is starting to hurt the contractor); and every single person on Council is just as frustrated as you are that we continue to miss hoped-for opening dates.

As an aside, after the last time I went on social media talking about the elevator a friend of mine who has built a number of buildings in New Westminster and neighbouring cities (but was not in any way involved in this overpass project), warned me about making the bold prediction that the problems would be solved soon. He said (and I paraphrase), elevators are to construction what children and animals are to acting – never work with them if you can avoid it. The rules and standards are often arcane (for example, the elevator requires a smoke detector outside the door to prevent it opening in a smoke-filled room. This is an outdoor elevator surrounded by glass, yet the requirement for a smoke detector – which I remind you will be outside – still exists) and there are simply not enough trained elevator technicians in greater Vancouver by a long shot. If you are young, have some mechanical aptitude, and want a sure career path, contact your local elevator contractor and get them to apprentice you. You will always have work. Just try to not spend you entire career on this one project…

The sky was brighter yesterday morning, the coffee richer, the Tom Waits I listened to on the way in to work a little coarser. In other words, everything was just a little bit better. With hope and optimism, I am going to spend the honeymoon period of a post-Harper Canada anticipating that Prime Minister Trudeau will live up to the promises he made, and Canada will once again dream of the possibilities instead of fearing the uncertainties.

Regular readers (Hi Mom!) might have noticed I did not like Stephen Harper. Not a deranged hate (as some may allege), but a serious and considered dislike of his policies, approach, and moral philosophy. However, I was also not excited about the idea of a Trudeau government, as I fear that the Liberal tradition of campaigning left then governing right will arise again. I think Mulcair was honest when talking about issues, and though we will all look back at faults or failings of his messaging, I respect him for boldly standing up for a fundamental rights issue or admitting that an entire new social systems like universal affordable day care or universal single-payer Pharmacare would take time and cooperation from the Provinces to implement (instead of just saying “we’ll do it!” and blithely ignoring the details).

Campaigns are interesting things, and the NDP will, to quote Peter Julian quoting Tommy Douglas quoting Andrew Barton, have to “lay down and bleed a while, then rise to fight again.” There will be assessment and reckoning, but suffice to say the tide turned in mid-September, and we may never really know how much of that shift was due to the actions of each of the three leaders. Many Political Scientists will write Ph.Ds on the topic, and most will contradict the others. I have my own opinions about the NDP campaign (using “Stop Harper” as backdrop wallpaper in the last week is a failure of campaign 101, and the silly “we only need 35 seats, Liberals need 100” message meant something when the writ dropped with the NDP leading the polls, but in October it sounded out of touch and somehow disrespectful), as I’m sure you do, but the NDP, Conservatives, and Greens have 4 years to decide what to do better next time; the Liberals can use the same time to show us they deserve the mandate we gave them.

The Liberal sweep really landed in Greater Vancouver. Except for the devoted Mark Warawa, the deserted Dianne Watts, and the detestable Alice Wong, every seat in Greater Vancouver is federally NDP or Liberal. That leaves 5 NDP and 14 Liberals to work together on the two most pressing needs for this region: affordable housing and transportation infrastructure. Fortunately, both parties included these high in their  campaign promises, and local governments across this region have been clamouring for this help for years now. The Provincial government has shown some interest in helping with the former and complete disdain for the latter, but the ability to secure funding from Ottawa for projects that will feature ribbon-cutting moments over the next two years may even thaw Christy’s carbonite heart and get our region moving again.

Aside from actually holding a press conference yesterday (with reporters and questions and everything!), the first true signal Prime Minister Trudeau will be sending us in regards to his campaign promises will be COP21, which starts in only 40 days. How he approaches this conference, and concomitantly how he manages the relationship with Rachel Notley through the build-up to a new new global greenhouse gas framework, should tell us much about whether we have really received the change for which we voted.

Locally, I am very happy that my previous MP, Fin Donnelly, and my new MP, Peter Julian were both re-elected (I live in the portion of New West that shifted with the new districts this election). They have both been excellent representatives of our community in Ottawa, work their asses off, and are truly decent human beings who understand their role as elected officials. We would be hard-pressed to do better. With his experience and passionate defense of science during the systematic erosion of it under the previous government, I am glad the Kennedy Stewart also got re-elected in neighbouring Burnaby South, even if it was a nail-biter.

With strife almost certain in the Conservative Party as the remaining PCs and majority Harperites battle for the vision of the “Right”, I am glad we will have local talent at the level of Peter, Fin, and Kennedy to hold the Liberals to their promises.

New Westminster did the election proud. We had excellent candidates who handled themselves respectfully and professionally. I had the opportunity to meet Sasha Ramnarine a few times, and always found him earnest, serious, and passionate about the Liberal cause, even if he isn’t really as tall as that selfie makes him out to be. Kyle Routledge really stood out to me, as he spoke to my environmental scientist heart. He made a true effort to reach out into my community and talk about his ideas, without ever coming across as preachy or a know-it-all (a specific risk for Greens and scientists in general). I think Kyle has real leadership skills that the environmental advocacy community in New West could lean on – if he decides to take up the charge.

Although purveyors of the #NewWest hashtag (me included) were hard on Chloe Ellis for running a campaign of mostly absence, she took that ribbing with grace and humour in the one occasion where I was able to meet her, so if she contacts me, I’m good for that beer I owe her. I would love to hear her debrief of the campaign experience once everything cools down.

Finally, the result was not exactly what I wanted, but I am content in the knowledge that we will not have an election at any level for more than a year, so everyone can stop beating each other up and start governing for a change. Beleaguered campaign staff and volunteers (like me!) can take a deep breath and enjoy the US electoral histrionics with our feet up, our smugness hats, and a cold beer… after planning the Canucks’ parade route, of course. Bring on 2016.

And Mr. Trudeau, please don’t let us down.