The Council Chambers at City Hall is one of the city’s key democratic spaces, and a truly important public space in the civic life of Vancouver. Over the years, we’ve had the opportunity to make a number of deputations – and also watch as other community members and stakeholders did the same.

To that end, we submitted a short letter that identified three of our key concerns and ideas. It’s an incomplete list, and there’s other stuff that we didn’t include pertaining to the actual layout of the space, and some specifics related to Council procedure. Nevertheless, the items we did identify have been long-standing concerns for us.

Here they are, as excerpted from the letter:

1. Earlier release of Council reports is critically important to ensuring access, transparency, and participation in civic matters. The City’s current practice – which aims to have agendas and reports available only one week prior to a meeting – is a considerable barrier. First, it is often our experience that there is “slippage” around this one week timeline. Second, a one week lead doesn’t actually provide enough time for individuals and groups to (a) find out about a given matter, (b) review the related report and materials (often many dozens of pages long), and (c) prepare a response.

We would strongly recommend that the City extend the time that reports are “live” prior to a meeting to a minimum of two weeks. This extra time could easily be built into the schedule of sign-offs, concurrences and review that take place prior to posting the reports to your website.

Another suggestion would be to implement some sort of system of “alerts” – that could allow community members to sign up to receive updates on any Council items that contain key words (e.g. a street name, or key terms of interest). This could assist in getting the word out. An approach such as this was piloted in Toronto through a local non-profit a few years ago.

2. The scheduling of Council sessions during the day creates a significant barrier for people who work and wish to make a deputation. Almost every presentation that we have made to Council over the years has meant that one of our members has had to take vacation time (and/or defer work through other means) in order to do so.

One solution might be to utilize technological means to help mitigate this (e.g. through allowing video conferencing/skype deputations). Another solution would be to schedule Council during the day, and Committee meetings in the evening. This way, Council could deal with consent items and other presentations during normal work hours, but allow referral items, motions, etc. to be discussed when more people could attend. Either way, we feel strongly that something should be done to support people speaking to Council without having to incur a financial or work-related penalty to do so.

3. Presenting to Council can be a nerve-wracking affair for many people. The Council Chambers are austere, and the environment is very formal – which isn’t totally a bad thing. However, for new presenters, this can be intimidating. One idea that we have is to see the City create a humorous and engaging video that could walk people through the process of making a presentation. This sort of video could help to demystify some of the process involved, and perhaps even lay out a few “dos and don’ts” to ensure people making deputations make the best use of their time. It could also explain how public input is used – as one component of the material that Council deliberates over. This would help, in part, to answer a common question that community members have – “what happens to my input once I provide it.” It may also help to explain that Council’s role is to weigh trade-offs and make tough decisions (e.g. sometimes they will agree with a public perspective, sometimes they won’t.)

One last note: we hope that, when it comes time to redesign the new City Hall building, that there will be a good public discussion about the design of the Council Chambers. This is where much of our local democracy takes place, and the next Council Chambers built in Vancouver should emphasize values of inclusiveness, transparency, participation and dialogue (among other things).

RainCheque: NeighbourMaker Design Jam – October 30 @ 7pm

The VPSN is proud to participate in the following event hosted by MOV and Vancouver Design Nerds (VDN). Join us as we hear from this summer’s NeighbourMaker team as they share stories about some exciting new placemaking projects that promote inclusion and connectivity in Vancouver.

The event features additional presentations on placemaking by Krisztina Kassay (VIVA), Caroline Ballhorn (Tin Can Studio), Ryan Betts (Bazinga!), and Andrew Pask (VPSN), as well as a special VDN Design Jam entitled RainCheque! The Jam will focus on a very timely question: How can we make new social connections in the rain?

Tickets – $11 for MOV members, $15 for non-members. Visit the RainCheque Eventbrite page.

Halloween SkyTrain Party – October 31 @ 8pm

Ladies and gentleman, get your make-up ready. The annual VPSN Halloween SkyTrain Party returns for its ninth installment on Friday, October 31, 2013.

Gather your friends, get your scariest and sassiest costumes together, and get ready to jump on the Canada Line for public transit experience like no other. Your job: help us to transform a regular ol’ train ride into a bit of ghoulish magic!

The night of transit terror includes:

• On-deck action and a spankingly awesome soundtrack courtesy of DJ Rocky Fi$her – Soundcloud)
• Snappy decorations, tasty treats
• An after-party at a nearby public space
• The best-dressed crew of public space loving ghouls and goblins on the continent

IMPORTANT: Please be sure to visit the VPSN website or Facebook Event Page for important information.

Last Candidate Standing – November 2 @ 2pm

Most definitely not your typical election event! Back by popular demand, Last Candidate Standing is a unique political debate that is open to each and every of the 10 candidates running for mayor and 49 candidates for council. This is truly an all candidates forum.

Last Candidate Standing is set up as a ‘mixer.’ It allows incumbents and new nominees, independents and party-affiliated candidates to share the same stage, answer questions from our Panel of Inquisition, and showcase their political chops. To make things even more lively, we add musical guests and other fun throughout.

The 2014 edition of Last Candidate Standing is produced by the Vancouver Public Space Network with the gracious support of SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement, and the Urbanarium Society.

This event is FREE but space is very limited. Pre-register on our Eventbrite page.

For more information, you can also check the event listing on this website, or visit our Facebook event page.

Attention candidates! Nominees for Mayor and Council are asked to confirm their participation in Last Candidate Standing by contacting jessica [at] vancouverpublicspace [dot] ca.

Active Fiction at Riley Park – Coming Soon!

The Active Fiction Project (AFP) is back after a bit of a summer break! Do you like walking through neighbourhoods? Do you like reading things? Do you like choose-your-own-adventure books? The Active Fiction Project creates (very) short fictional stories that take place in a Vancouver neighbourhood. The stories are ‘hidden’ in public spaces for readers to discover as they walk through the story.

The next installation of Active Fiction will take place in Riley Park, starting in late October. Stay tuned for details on where to find the stories! You can follow project updates on the Active Fiction website, or follow us on twitter @activefic and Facebook.

Volunteers Needed

If celebrating transit, enriching local politics, or rolling up your sleeves with other public space projects tickles your fancy, why not lend a hand? Our next regular VPSN volunteer orientation takes place on Monday, October 20 @ 6pm. If you’d like more details, please zip us a note at volunteer@vancouverpublicspace.ca

The motion requested that City staff

investigate best practices, consult with the Mayor’s Engaged City Task Force, the City’s advisory committees and others, and report back to Council within two months with suggestions on how to improve citizens’ access to speak to City Council, including the possibility of allowing citizens to sign up for daytime or evening time periods, and the use of technology to alert speakers as to which number on the speakers’ list is being heard.

Here’s an excerpt from our letter:

“We feel that the City is making important strides in improving citizen engagement. In recent years there have been important advances in online engagement, civic processes and stakeholder consultations. Initiatives such as Talk Vancouver, Greenest City, Transportation 2040 and the Block 51 consultation process represent some of examples of the good work being done. The recruitment of an Engaged City Taskforce and staff devoted to civic engagement work are further milestones in this regard.

However, as we noted in our Route Map for Public Space Policy (2012-2014),

the various new tools and techniques that are being employed to gather ideas are hampered on two fronts: Council and Park Board meeting processes that require people to take time off work, or schedules key discussions at inaccessible times; and restricted scheduling in the release of key staff reports, whereby reports are released for public review with little more than one week time (and sometimes a lot less) for public review. These two areas represent key concerns that must be addressed.*

The motion being considered on October 8 responds to our first point of concern. Notwithstanding the important work that has taken place to date, we are supporting the motion because we feel that it addresses an area of shortfall: that is, the specific difficulties that many citizens face in speaking directly to Council during their deliberations. Improving opportunities for engagement at all stages of a given process is critical – but this is particularly the case when Council members are debating a given item – approving or amending policy, allocating resources and so forth. Speaking from our own organization experience, it is particularly challenging for people who have limited ability to take time off work (limited vacation, scheduling difficulties, childcare needs, etc.) to present to Council in a face-to-face format. It is more challenging still, given the often unpredictable nature of Council meetings – where discussions sometimes stretch over several meetings.

At the same time, it is precisely is type of face-to-face engagement that takes place in Council chambers that is so crucial to democratic dialogue. Letters and emails will only ever go part of the way to bridging the space between the citizenry and elected officials.

While we don’t have a solution to these issues, we would encourage some study of options to see what, if any, ways the current situation might be improved.

In conclusion, we would also like to acknowledge that the Engaged City Taskforce will be releasing a full report of their recommendations later in Fall 2013. We are looking forward to reviewing the recommendations contained in this document and note that it’s possible that some or all of the items referenced in the motion may be considered therein. However, given the importance of citizen engagement, we also wanted to take the opportunity today to signal our support for enabling greater and more meaningful participation in democratic process.”

* Our second point, referenced in the quote from our Route Map for Public Space Policy, is also worth noting – although it appears to be outside of the scope of the present motion. We’d suggest doubling the one-week advance release time for all staff reports being considered so that citizens have a better chance to find out about, read and respond to the items on which Council is deliberating).

Reference: The Vancouver Public Space Network’s Route Map for Public Space Policy was published in advance of the 2011 municipal election.

• Sunday, October 6 – Harbour Hop!
• HOLD THE DATE: Thursday, October 31 – Halloween SkyTrain Party

VPSN RECAP

• PARK(ing) Day 2013
• P.S. I Love You – A Public Space Photo Scavenger Hunt

ENGAGE

• Saturday, October 5 – Oakridge Centre Rezoning – Open House
• Saturday, October 5 – VAG North Plaza Redesign – Open House
• Tuesday, October 8 – Improving Citizens’ Access to Speak to City Council
• Coming Up: Downtown Bus Service Review
• Coming Up: Community and Neighbourhood Planning Work – Public Realm Items
• Talk Vancouver – New online space for you to share your ideas and opinions

OTHER EVENTS

• Monday October 15 – Sunday October 20 – Living the New Economy 2013
• October 22, 24, 28, 29 – Carbon Talks presents: Moving In Metro: A discussion on mobility pricing
• Tuesday November 5 – The Creek Forum
• Friday November 8 – Saturday November 9 – Media Democracy Days

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

• Campaigning, Outreach and Communication — Get On Board BC

VPSN UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

Sunday, October 6 – Harbour Hop!

The weather this Sunday is looking sunny and rain free! What better time than now to join the Vancouver Public Space Network for a unique autumn walking experience – an urban hike along all of Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet waterfront. Beginning at the Coal Harbour entrance to Stanley Park, this walk will travel east, along the Coal Harbour seawall, through the historic streets of Gastown and Railtown, past the industrial areas bordering our working port, and through the neighbourhoods of Grandview-Woodland and Hastings-Sunrise, terminating at New Brighton Park.

This is not a guided tour, but rather a communal stroll to enjoy the diversity of our harbour and its bordering neighbourhoods. Come see the many faces of Burrard Inlet – from its forest of glass towers to its historic cobblestone streets to the trucks and cranes of a busy port, to the quiet and leafy East Van neighbourhoods offering peek-a-boo views of the water.

Meet at the base of Aerodynamic Forms In Space, that funky airplane sculpture on the western end of Devonian Harbour Park, just east of where the pedestrian/cycling underpass under Georgia Street emerges. (Where the Stanley Park seawall ‘begins.’). The walk begins at 1pm sharp. Estimated walking time – about 3 hours. (And when the walk is over, transit is close by to get you home.)

This will be a fun, relaxed event. Invite your friends, bring your camera, and wear your most comfortable walking shoes!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This event is contingent on decent weather – so please our VPSN blog or Facebook event page on Sunday morning for updates.

:: Have questions? Give Scott a shout at: scott [at] vancouverpublicspace [dot] ca
:: Facebook Event Page

HOLD THE DATE: Thursday, October 31 – Halloween SkyTrain Party

Our VPSN signature event is back for the eighth year! Gather your friends, get your sassiest costumes together and get ready to celebrate public transit by jumping on the SkyTrain for a Halloween ride like no other.

We’re in the process of sorting out event details and will be releasing these over the next few weeks. We’ve got a spankingly awesome dj lined up, an after-party in the works and all sorts of other goodies in store. Mark your calendars!

VPSN RECAP

PARK(ing) Day 2013

PARK(ing) Day is a worldwide celebration of public space reclamation. The premise is simple: with a shortage of parks and an abundance of parking spaces, there’s an opportunity to rethink the way we allocate land within our urban environments.

On Friday, September 20 the VPSN – in collaboration with City Studio, Modo Car Co-op, Tradeworks and a team of great volunteers collaborated to transform two parking spots outside of Japadog on Robson Street into a vibrant, musical and ‘woody’ community space for the day.

Using recycled wood and pallets to create an intimate space for passersby’s and downtown residents, our upcycled parking space became a place for people to sit, read, eat, talk, rest, meet new people, play the piano, and engage in art. A base ‘woody’ surface was designed and built in an East Vancouver backyard supported the CityStudio’s ‘Long Table’ and Polka-Dot piano, along with Ken Lum’s mobile art cart and Robert Beckenwermert’s covered wagon.

:: Check out Eric Scott’s photographs of Park(ing) Day
:: Moving pictures – a short video of the event was put together by GP Mendoza

P.S. I Love You – A Public Space Photo Scavenger Hunt

At 12PM on game day, the VPSN Game Masters at PS I Love U HQ didn’t know what to expect, but then the pictures started to flood in. 30 teams of public space enthusiasts were on the streets of Vancouver, tackling a big list of 57 riddles.

We were totally blown away by the enthusiasm, creativity, and determination of all the participating teams from the moment we received the first photo. A big shout out to all the players who fearlessly combed the city on Saturday afternoon. We received a lot of great photos and can’t wait to share them with all of you.

A fierce game was played, but after the dust had settled there were three teams at the top – The Life Warriors (106 points), The Mole Hill Monsters (75 points) and Jessica’s Day (66 points). We’ll be posting all the answers to the clues in short order. Stay tuned!

:: Check out our blog post for more details and photos from the day’s event

ENGAGE

Saturday, October 5 – Oakridge Centre Rezoning – Open House

One of two City of Vancouver open houses taking place this weekend. A revised rezoning application for the Oakridge Centre development is now being considered by the City. In addition to the expansion of the mall itself, the proposed mixed-use development would introduce 11 buildings onto the site and a number of public space features. Features of the proposal include:

• Doubling the size of the mall to 1.4 million square feet
• 2,916 residential units
• 300,000 square feet of new office space
• A 70,000-square-foot civic centre (community centre, library, seniors centre and childcare space)
• Rooftop open space
• A range of building heights between six and 45 storeys

The Open House takes place 10:00am – 4:00pm at Oakridge Centre in the former Zellers location, 650 West 41st Avenue (41st and Cambie)

:: View the City’s Oakridge webpage and check out the “documents” tab for detailed boards and renderings
:: Provide a comment on the rezoning application here

Saturday, October 5 – VAG North Plaza Redesign – Open House

Earlier this week, the City unveiled three proposals for the redesign of the Art Gallery North Plaza (also known as Centennial Square or Courthouse Square). They’re part of a process of reviewing and redeveloping the plaza that began last year with the “Block 51” consultations that investigated the public space possibilities of both the North Plaza and the 800-block of Robson.

We’re excited to see the City move ahead with this process. The North Plaza is an important space in the City… and one whose historical significance and practical uses are currently undermined by a number of problematic design features (including circulation challenges, a fountain that many loathe and a bark mulch ground-cover that has recently turned into something resembling a mud pool).

If you’re keen on helping this plaza being something better than it is please lend your voice. We encourage you pop by Robson Square and visit the Open House. Check out the concepts and talk with the design team that put them together. (At this point they’re not trying to ‘pick a winner – just get feedback on the features that people like and don’t like).

The event takes place 12:30-3:30pm at the UBC Robson Square, Plaza Lounge (inside the main entrance opposite the skating rink).

:: Concept 1 – Wet 
:: Concept 2 – Active Edge 
:: Concept 3 – Plalo Ring
:: Main City of Vancouver “Block 51” webpage 
:: Feedback Questionnaire

Tuesday, October 8 – Improving Citizens’ Access to Speak to City Council

This will be of interest to VPSN members who are interested in the role of democratic spaces. A motion will be considered next Tuesday, October 8, at City Council that looks at the accessibility of Council deliberations to the average citizen. This is an issue that we identified in our Route Map of public space policy a few years back – and something that we continue to feel strongly about.

The motion – which has yet to be debated – asks that City staff “investigate best practices, consult with the Mayor’s Engaged City Task Force, the City’s advisory committees and others, and report back to Council within two months with suggestions on how to improve citizens’ access to speak to City Council, including the possibility of allowing citizens to sign up for daytime or evening time periods, and the use of technology to alert speakers as to which number on the speakers’ list is being heard.”

:: Read the full text of the motion
:: Have your say – follow this link to see how you can register a comment

Coming Up: Downtown Bus Service Review

The City of Vancouver and TransLink are in the midst of a joint study of downtown local bus service to take into account the many changes that have taken place downtown in the past few years. Recently, they released a summary of what they heard from the public during their consultations in late June and early July of this year.

We are following the City and TransLink’s work on this item closely, as it has the potential to benefit both transit mobility and the downtown public realm. Further information on this study will be released in Fall 2013 and we will provide an additional update at that time.

:: Downtown Bus Service Review webpage
:: Summary of initial consultation

Coming Up: Community and Neighbourhood Planning Work – Public Realm Items

Also on the books for Fall 2013 are a number of neighbourhood-scale public realm items:

• The Mount Pleasant Community Plan Implementation Plan, which includes a separate neighbourhood Public Realm Plan will be presented to Council.
• The West End Community Plan, which includes a number of public realm components will also be considered by Council
• Additional work is on-going with the Downtown Eastside Local Area Plan, the Grandview-Woodland and Marpole Community Plans, and the Eastern Core Strategy.

Stay tuned for updates on these items as they emerge.

Talk Vancouver – New online space for you to share your ideas and opinions

From the City’s webpage:

“As part of our Engaged City initiative, we invite you to be part of Talk Vancouver, an online space for civic participation.

Help us build a better Vancouver by becoming a member of the City’s online community of trusted, local advisors. We’ll be inviting you to participate in studies and discussions to ask you about your needs and ideas, share information with you about new initiatives, and find out what’s most important to you.

Why join? When you sign up for Talk Vancouver, you can:

• Play your part in shaping Vancouver
• Ensure that your unique views and ideas are included in the conversation
• Stay informed and connected to the City’s latest initiatives
• Participate in public consultations online

:: To join visit the Talk Vancouver webpage

OTHER EVENTS

Monday October 15 – Sunday October 20 – Living the New Economy 2013

Check out the exciting line up of workshops, film and capacity-building events at the second annual Living the New Economy conference. The event takes place at Granville Island and features a number of events that will be of interest to public space aficionados, including the following:

• Workshops with place-maker extraordinaire Mark Lakeman (Portland City Repair)
• Indigenous Leadership and Perspectives on the New Economy
• Reclaiming the Commons: Why the future will be distributed and open source (with Michel Bauwens, P2P Foundation, Dallas Luther, MakerLabs, and Tiberius Brastaviceanu, Sensorica)
• Shared Spaces and Physical Incubators: how co-location fosters a collaborative culture, (with John Bromely, Benevoland and Tara Mahoney, Gen Why Media)

Each event is individually ticketed, or you can get full passes for the week-long event (at quite a reasonable rate, we might add!).

:: More information via the Living the New Economy webpage including and complete

October 22, 24, 28, 29 – Carbon Talks presents: Moving In Metro: A discussion on mobility pricing

Being able to move around our cities is critical for transporting goods, accommodating jobs and population growth, building strong and vibrant communities, and connecting with our partners in the region and elsewhere. But how do we pay for our transportation system in a way that is fair and transparent and provides for our current and future needs?

The SFU Centre for Dialogue is hosting a series of four regional dialogues with residents to explore one response to this question – mobility pricing. The goal of each session is to increase our understanding of mobility pricing as it applies to roads and to hear citizens’ perspectives on its potential role in Metro Vancouver’s transportation system.

:: More information or to register

Tuesday November 5 – The Creek Forum

Continuing the work of the St. George Rainway Project, The Creek Stewards (students from Mount Pleasant Elementary) will lead a day of activities designed to inform and inspire engagement with place-making, specifically around the “headwaters” of theRainway (Kingsway and St. George st). This event reflects and celebrates over a year of work the students have undertaken to meet their community enhancement goals.

:: More information – Creek Forum Website

Friday November 8 – Saturday November 9 – Media Democracy Days

Media Democracy Days is an annual media reform conference that promotes alternative, independent, and democratic media in Canada. MDD is organized in partnership with SFU’s School of Communication, The Vancouver Public Library, and OpenMedia.ca, and is held annually to engage the public in critical debates relating to media-related issues…This year’s event focal points include information control, access to information, personal privacy, and online spying.

:: Check out this year’s programming at the Media Democacy Days webpage

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Campaigning, Outreach and Communication — Get On Board BC

The Vancouver Public Space Network has endorsed the GetOnBoard BC coalition to advocate for sustainable funding for improved public transit service and infrastructure across Metro Vancouver. Get On Board BC is in need of a number of volunteers to assist with tasks such as writing, research, coordination, outreach and community engagement, campaigning, communication and coalition-building around the future of transportation throughout the region.

:: Contact Karen Quinn Fung (quinn@vancouverpublicspace.ca) to learn more.

It’s a busy week at 12th and Cambie. Our round-up of all the various public-space related meetings and events will be coming in a few parts…

Monday night starts with a Public Hearing on a number if rezoning applications. We reported on a few of these in January, including the Beth israel synagoge/ Talmud Torah school at Oak and 26th. (Pedestrian and plaza-space features are included in this proposal).

The most contentious, however, will be application associated with the proposed Rize development at Broadway and Kingsway. Under consideration is a two-storey podium base and a pair of five and 19-storey residential buildings. The proposal in question has already been the source of objections and disagreement in the neighbourhood.

The community plan that was approved for the Mt Pleasant neighbourhood called for ‘additional height and density’ on the site – to be determined through the rezoning process. But now the process is here there’s considerable unhappiness with the form and scale of the buildings on offer.

This proposal will contrast the potential for a range of public benefits against the impact of tower-development in a low to mid-rise neighbourhood.

Most recently, Council asked City staff to report on some of the discrepancies between the applicant’s 3D renderings of the development and those produced by a citizen. This question about the accuracy of development and real estate visualizations has added another layer to an already intense discussion.

Tonight’s Hearing, starting at 7:00, promises to go long and will be an interesting one to watch. Check it out. (There’s still time to get on the speakers list if you want to have your say as well).

For more info:

• http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20120227/phea20120227ag.htm
• http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/mayorcouncil/speaktocouncil.htm

More to follow on the rest of the week at City Hall. Stay tuned!

Vancouver’s first City Hall 

————–

PETITION
for the Incorporation of the
CITY OF VANCOUVER

TO

THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
OF THE PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.

THE PETITION of the of residents of VANCOUVER in the District of New Westminster

HUMBLY SHEWETH

THAT the present Village of GRANVILLE with its vicinity has been chosen by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company as the terminus of their railway, and in consequence thereof the said Village is now daily increasing and is likely to increase very largely in population in the immediate future;

THAT in view of the large increase in said population, it is necessary and expedient that the building of ROADS, STREETS and BRIDGES, and other improvements of a like nature should be provided fo;

YOUR PETITIONERS further shew that the said Railway Company are about letting the contract for constructing their line of railway from PORT MOODY to said village of GRANVILLE and are about constructing large WHARVES, and other buildings and improvements in said village of Granville and in the immediate vicinity which said construction and improvements will give employment to many hundreds of men, and for the reasons aforesaid, and for the better preservation of LAW and ORDER your petitioners are desirous of obtaining a charter incorporating the said Village of Granville and its immediate vicinity, a city, under the name “THE CITY OF VANCOUVER.”

YOUR PETITIONERS THEREFORE PRAY

“THAT your Honororable House may be pleased to pass an Act incorporating the said CITY OF VANCOUVER in accordance with the desire of your Petitioners. AND your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.”

Signed,

[125 Petitioners – all male; approximately 1/4 of the Village’s adult male population]

On January 8, 1886 Villagers in the Town of Granville (also known as Gassy’s Town – or Gastown) appointed an incorporation committee. A petition – reproduced above – was drafted and submitted to the Provincial Legislature on February 15. The Incorporation bill was read a third time on April 2 and on the 6th of the month, 125 years ago today, the Lieutenant-Govenor, Clement Frances Cornwall, assented, granting the incorporation. The first election was held on May 3, 1886.

The image of the first city hall and details on incorporation timeline come from an event programme marking the 70th Anniversary of the Incorporation of Vancouver as a City. It notes that “the Crown Colony of British Columbia built this cottage and called it the “Customs House”. After Confederation it became the “Court House”. In 1886 it was, for a few days, an improvised “City Hall.”