The Task Force was set up in October 2012, with a mandate (as noted in the Final Report) to “provide recommendations on how to increase Vancouverites’ sense of belonging and inclusion, deepen their electoral engagement, and address frustration regarding access to municipal decision making.” The specific scope of inquiry noted at the time involved helping the City to make progress on:

1. neighbour to neighbour engagement
2. increased literacy of, and opportunities for engaging in, City processes and resource allocations
3. enhancing how the city engages with citizens, and vice versa
4. ensuring all citizen engagement and consultation processes are based in citizen-based democratic decision-making

The all-volunteer Task force produced an earlier set of “Quick Start” recommendations back the summer of last year. (The VPSN provided some commentary and suggestions which you can read here.) The Final Report has all sorts of interesting ideas and recommendations in it, and we encourage you to take a look at the document.

Before going any further, we want to say a note of thanks to the 22 volunteer members of the Task Force for their work on this initiative. This was no small undertaking, and we are grateful for their efforts to improve civic processes and their contributions to making the city a more dynamic, engaged place to live.

The task will now fall on City staff to respond to the various recommendations – many of which, Task Force members noted, are there to inspire discussion and action on making Vancouver a more engaged, friendly place. To that end, the VPSN has written to the City to offer some feedback on the recommendations, as well as to suggest so amendments and additions that we felt would strengthen the work of the Task Force.

We organized our letter into three areas: (A) Recommendations we supported (which we provided no additional commentary for); (B) Recommendations that we felt could and should be strengthened; and (C) some “missing pieces” that we felt should be included to help strengthen levels of engagement and civic participation. 

Here’s the excerpt from our submission:

A. Task Force Recommendations We Support

The VPSN supports the following recommendations, as described in the Final Report.

• Action 1 – Incorporate the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation
• Action 2 – Develop specific strategies for engaging under-represented groups
• Action 3 – Establish Citizen Academies
• Action 4 – Promote 3-1-1, with a focus on non-English speaking communities
• Action 5 – Invest in public engagement resources
• Action 7 – Develop an evaluation criteria for online tools
• Action 13 – Community Reference Panels
• Action 14 – Positive Cues to voting
• Action 15 – Target voter registration
• Action 16 – Extending voting rights
• Action 18 – Campaign finance reform
• Action 19 – Civic Engagement scorecard

B. Task Force Recommendations to strengthen or amend

The VPSN supports the following recommendations, but would like to see them strengthened.

• Action 6 – Expand and improve the distribution of notification mail-outs. This recommendation currently focuses on distribution of unaddressed mail. We feel the emphasis on working with Canada Post to improve unaddressed mail may have some challenges. As a fall back, we would encourage the City to consider greater use of addressed mail, as well as other notification techniques (street posters, coreplast notice boards, etc. when announcing civic initiatives or planning/engineering projects). More notification by a variety of means should be the principle here.

• Action 9 – Create A Public Space Action Association – We are pleased that the Engaged City Taskforce has recognized the importance of public space to fostering a more engaged, connected city (something we’ve been championing for some time!). However, having spoken with a number of members of the Taskforce, we are concerned that this recommendation may not achieve the sorts of ends that it is intended to – and may, in fact, (given the regulatory role that the recommendation implies) – complicate matters by creating an additional ‘layer’ between community members and the City.We understand Taskforce members were primarily concerned with some of the barriers that exist to activating new neighbourhood public spaces (barriers such as liability concerns, regulatory constraints, etc.). To that end, we would encourage Task Force members and the City to amend this recommendation to consider focusing efforts on a number of specific items as a way to respond to these concerns:
  • Encourage a review of bylaws and other regulatory constraints on creating new spaces or activating existing ones
  • Improve funding for Viva Vancouver to enable them to provide additional support to community groups
  • Consider expanding the Viva Vancouver project review process to include some community-member input (e.g. similar to the grants review process used by some organizations)
  • Provide dedicated grant or seed-funding to small scale place-making activities (e.g. similar to the Neighbourhood Small Grants)
  • Publicize a listing of ‘orphaned’ or under-utilized City-owned land that could be used for new spaces

There are other ideas that we could suggest here, and we would be pleased to work with the Task Force and City to further the goals of this recommendation.

• Action 9 – Support community and cultural spaces – This recommendation currently focuses mostly on arts and culture spaces (i.e. formal or informal cultural venues and gathering places). This is an important area of community connection and one that garnered much focus (via discussions around the Waldorf, Rumpus Room, Little Nest). We would encourage this recommendation be expanded to ensure similar focus and ‘support’ (however conceived) be directed to Community Centres and Neighbourhood Houses, and (e.g. cultural facilities such as the Aboriginal Friendship Centres, Russian Cultural Centre, etc).

• Action 10 – Support face-to-face engagement. The VPSN is a keen believer in the power of face-to-face dialogue – balanced with the use of new engagement technologies. Face-to-face events are helpful, but often, in the way they are currently realized via “open houses” have a participant demographic profile that does not reflect the broader community. Some effort to look at how face-to-face can be broadly inclusive, and tailored to the needs of different sub-groups, is key.

• Action 12 – Charter of Rights, Roles & Responsibilities. This is key, because often times it’s not the civic engagement process that causes concern – it’s what happens afterward. Where do the ideas and information that the community shares go to? How is it used? What commitment will the City make to giving input due consideration? How might resident input be weighed against other City considerations? A charter of rights, roles and responsibilities could help to clearly identify scope of engagement and participation, what reasonable expectations might be attached to it, what’s on (or not on) the table for discussion, etc. It could also provide residents with some greater certainty (and transparency) around the actual levers of influence attached to each engagement activity.

• Action 17 – Use the Election ballot to get feedback on voter satisfaction with the current voting system – we feel that this is an interesting idea, particularly given conversations around ranked ballot initiatives in Toronto and other cities. However, a recommendation of this support could also usefully reference alternative approaches (what are they? Should they be explored?) as well as a sense of what the outcome of the ballot could mean in terms of possible change.

• Action 10 + Quick start – Neighbourhood liaison/Localized Council support – as noted in our correspondence from June 11, 2013 (attached), we support this effort to expand the assignment of Councilors to local areas (currently tied to community plan and community vision neighbourhoods). However, we still wish to see more detail on how it will be operationalized. An annual or semi-annual town hall meeting could be one option.

• Recommended Action D/F – Using Food to Bring People Together/Conversation Tables - The VPSN completely supports this tandem recommendation. However, having previously implemented this sort of ‘long table’ idea with VIVA Vancouver (2012 Lunch Meet series), we note a number of legal (licensing, permitting, liability) and physical (storage, set-up) challenges to making these sorts of events happen. As such, the VPSN encourages the City to advocate the Parks Board to implement a series of permanent conversation tables in parks or open spaces, or to provide some programmatic support for areas – e.g. May & LorneBrownPark – where a version of this already exists. This project would be relatively affordable and could also provide an opportunity to work with local artist and community groups to personalize tables to the unique characteristics of each community. We feel that making this infastructure permanent would eliminate almost all barriers to community implementing community-building events.

• Community Action E – Community Bulletin Boards – We support this effort to help community members develop bulletin boards. We would further the City to expand this idea of information sharing by (a) expanding the distribution of poster cylinders, (b) amending the Street and Traffic Bylaw to formally allow community notices on utility poles (currently against the law), (c) investigating the use of non-compliant billboards for community/public art projects (providing an aesthetic escape versus product branding space).

C. Missing items

Given the breadth of the Task Force’s mandate, there is a lot of material included within the pages of the final report. The VPSN notes a few other items that we feel would be complimentary additions. We have broadly clustered the first of these “missing pieces” under the heading of Building Access to City Hall as a means to compliment that format of the final report.

Building Access to City Hall

• Fair and reasonable release times for Council documents and staff reports – The agenda for today’s meeting – essentially the first notice that Vancouverite’s received that the Engaged City Report was going to be discussed – was only published six days prior to the meeting. This is a fairly consistent in recent years, and is a cause for concern. Earlier publication of agendas, and the multitude of motions and reports that accompany them, would better enable the public to review materials, comment as needed, and – should they desire – take time away from work or school to attend the meeting.

• Meeting times that work for people and agendas that ‘stay in place’ – We are concerned that the scheduled time for many Council and Committee meetings makes it challenging for residents to participate without taking time off work or school (if that’s even a possibility). We are further concerned that late changes to agendas can make face-to-face participation in Council and Committee discussions even more difficult. Looking at different ways to attend to these challenges would be a good step-forward for improving engagement in civic process and decision-making.

• Alternative technologies to allow distribution of information; (b) opportunity to appear at Council (skype) – In some jurisdictions, notices and alerts are distributed via cell-phone (text) or email alert, and community members are able to sign up to receive various categories of message in this fashion. As a complement to the idea of maintaining quality face-to-face engagement (Action 10), the use of tools to ensure broader distribution can assist with the overall quality of outreach. Again, more notification by a variety of means.At the same time, we would also encourage the City to look at different ways and means through which members of the public could participate in Council meetings. Where face-to-face attendance is a challenge (work, school, etc.), perhaps there are ways (e.g. skype, facetime) where residents could speak to Council remotely. As this technology becomes more refined (stable, cleaner connections, etc.) some effort should be made to look at this.

• Endorsement of media access to the City - ensuring that the media have clear and unfettered access to civic information is key to the creation of an informed citizenry. We note that Council approved a review of the media and communications policy some months ago and suggest that such a review, when released, will compliment the efforts of the Engaged City Task Force.

Other Missing Items

• Priority action to support volunteerism – The City has previously endorsed the idea of a “Vancouver Volunteer Corps” (VVC) unveiled in August 2012; however the mandate of this initiative is limited to “major events, emergencies, and disasters.” There is much more to be done in this regards, and a truly Engaged City will depend on community contributions that span a wide array of every day activities. In fact, one 2010 Canadian study has shown that “[P]eople who were involved in community activities in their childhood or adolescence have a greater tendency to become adults who are involved in more kinds of civic activities like formal and informal volunteering, political organizations, service clubs, community associations, and so on.”

• Improving access to existing meeting spaces – Community groups are often challenged by the availability of, or costs associated with, existing meeting spaces. Community centre spaces often charge $20-$30/hr and VSB sites somewhat greater sums. VPL spaces, while usually free, can require onerous paper-work, or day-of sign-ups (with no advance booking). Some mechanisms to improve access to (and availability of) no or low-cost community meeting spaces would be welcomed.

By Brent Toderian and Jillian Glover

With cities seeking to involve diverse voices in city-making to get beyond “the usual suspects,” Vancouver urbanists Brent Toderian and Jillian Glover examine how cities in their region are finding new ways to increase civic participation.

Originally published on The Planetizen and republished from This City Life with permission from the author.

As more people choose to live in cities, local governments find themselves facing increasingly complex issues in city-making. Demands for affordable housing and public transit, tensions around gentrification and density, even connecting the dots between city planning and climate change, are just some of the more high-profile critical conversations our cities need. Solutions can come from many places, but smart cities realize that engaging the broad public in the city-making process leads to better answers and a deeper public ownership of our future.

Faced with this knowledge, cities are struggling to develop new and innovative community engagement methods, including those that embrace new technologies, social media, and collaborative design methods, to better bring the public into conversations on the future of city life. Let’s face it—not all of our engagement in recent decades has been very engaging!

This article’s authors have looked across Metro Vancouver (a region known internationally for its public consultation) for recent best practices and lessons in better community engagement. While some new methods are bringing key services online, others are as simple as changing the location of council meetings or getting people walking and talking in their neighbourhoods. All of these lessons involve moving beyond traditional consultation practices that cities have relied on for decades.

Although lessons can come in many forms, and these don’t necessarily represent the “best,” here are ten lessons from Metro Vancouver that we found particularly worth sharing.

1. Bring City Hall to the Community – When City Hall is difficult to access due to location and service hours, citizen engagement declines. As a result, some Metro Vancouver municipalities are having staff and services set up shop outside of City Hall. Pitt Meadows, for example, has been scheduling City Council meetings at seniors centres and high schools, while Vancouver has proposed a pilot program for a mobile kiosk, or ‘mini-City Hall,’ to make key city services (such as paying a parking ticket or registering to vote) available at select times to neighbourhoods, particularly those with limited transit access. Other cities are simply looking at when they schedule public hearings relative to when their citizens are working – a simple but important element of better access.

Vancouver City Hall / Credit: VPSN

2. When Hosting an Event, Think Beyond the Open House – Cities are making their public engagement events less stuffy and more fun to encourage attendance, especially by families. These events often gather knowledge and perspectives while also presenting enjoyable activities such as entertainment (music, movies, etc.), food, and public speakers. For example, in undertaking a consultation process while developing a sustainability strategy, the city of Burnaby organized an “Environment Festival.” The festival included a farmers market, BBQ, live music, face painting, a bike tour, Kids Zone activities, a guided nature walk, prizes, and more.

3. Bring the Town Hall Online – A online town hall is an event where cities engage citizens via social media outlets such as Twitter or Facebook for a scheduled time period. Users can ask questions, usually to a mayor, and get instant feedback regarding important issues. Vancouver’s Mayor Gregor Robertson for example, hosts Twitter town halls on topics such as citizen engagement, homelessness, and housing affordability. The first such Twitter town hall took place days before the Vancouver civic elections, when Mayor Robertson—using the hashtag #askgregor—hosted a high profile virtual town hall meeting at the offices of Hootsuite, a Vancouver-based social media company.

4. Allow Access to City Services via Smart Phones – In the age of mobile devices with apps for everything from grocery shopping to vacation planning, cities are picking up on the trend to make city services available online via mobile phones. When the City of Surrey reviewed its website data in 2012, it found that 30 percent of all visits came from a mobile device. As a result, Surrey developed a mobile-friendly website in addition to several apps that provide information and convenient access to city services such as waste collection schedules, recreation services and locations, and building inspections.

5.Tell Stories – Storytelling can be effective in bringing together a diverse group of people to share experiences in how to improve community. Storytelling can be used to peak citizen interest in an issue and access local wisdom that other methods struggle to access. Storytelling can involve many different kinds of communication—for example, the City of Vancouver partnered with a highly popular monthly “Pecha Kucha” event to launch the Greenest City 2020 Conversation and the TalkGreentoUs.Ca website. The Pecha Kucha event brought together 13 local change-makers to speak on the subject of Vancouver’s effort to become the Greenest City in the World by 2020. It not only had the largest attendance of any city engagement event in Vancouver’s history, but it also particularly brought new people and demographics into the conversation.

6. Map Your Assets – Community Asset Mapping involves informing policies and activities through the creation of a ‘map’ of the community’s resources. The process is intended to mobilize a community to focus on what matters most by identifying and using its assets.The City of Vancouver hosted a cultural asset mapping session as part of a plan to develop a long-term vision and plan for a downtown neighbourhood called the West End. Participants were asked to map and explain the significance of cultural assets. The results from the session helped identify key cultural assets in the neighbourhood as well as ideas and opportunities to improve them.

7. Walk the Talk – The “walkshop” is more than just a neighbourhood tour—it’s a moving conversation, educated and stimulated by looking around. Typically on foot or bike, walkshops allow community members and planners to better understand their neighbourhood together; to document community assets; and to showcase and discuss new and ongoing initiatives. For example, North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto recently organized a bike tour to help citizens discover the city’s new bikeways, highlight cycling improvements, and future initiatives. The City of Vancouver also used walkshops frequently and successfully in the creation of the award-winning Cambie Corridor Plan.

Credit / VPSN

8. Open the Doors to City Hall – ‘Doors Open’ is a successful concept used in cities around the world, and has been growing in popularity in Canada. In each ‘Doors Open’ event, cities provide a behind-the-scenes look at how some of the most popular and well-known venues operate, giving people the chance to look and experience new levels of civic engagement. The City of Surrey recently held its second annual Surrey Doors Open, inviting the public to explore local attractions, venues, facilities, historic landmarks, and parks with self-guided tours and free admission. Activities included an Art Walk, fire truck tours, a Ukrainian lunch, a nature scavenger hunt, the chance to observe a Sikh wedding, and more.

9. Expand Online Consultation – Often, when city governments are consulting on a major issue, interactions are limited to a select group of vocal, often opposed citizens. In an effort to get broader involvement, Metro Vancouver cities like Vancouver, Richmond, and Surrey have launched online consultation platforms that allow citizens to sign up once, provide a bit of background about themselves, and receive regular invitations to provide opinions—online or in person—on important civic issues as they arise. In Surrey,City Speaksis an online consultation forum where community members can participate in surveys, discussions, forums, and quick polls on various topics. Surrey’s goal is to reach 5,000 members by 2014.

10. Let Citizens Get Creative (i.e., Community Art Projects, Photo Contests, Design Competitions) – With photo contests, idea or design competitions and community art projects, cities encourage citizens to get creative when it comes to identifying and addressing local issues. Vancouver has held such competitions to solicit ideas for small scale projects, such as new storm-sewer manhole covers, to broader scale projects, such as alternative uses for the city’s only freeway-like viaducts. In the realm of community art projects, Burnaby invited those who attended its annual Homeless Connect event, which connects people living in extreme poverty and homelessness with essential services. Homeless Connect worked with local quilters to craft a quilt that would “showcase the diversity and need of people living in extreme poverty in Burnaby.” Once completed, the quilt was showcased to the public at the city’s library.

These 10 lessons are just the tip of the iceberg in our survey of new and evolving engagement practices in Metro Vancouver. Not every experiment in better engagement is going to be successful, but it’s important to have an open mind for new tools and more fun! Being creative, interesting, and credible, while also good at listening, are the keys to getting everyone more excited about, and involved in, their city’s future.

Brent Toderian is an international consultant on advanced urbanism with TODERIAN UrbanWORKS, Vancouver’s former Director of City Planning, and the President of the Council for Canadian Urbanism. Follow him on Twitter @BrentToderian

Jillian Glover is a communications advisor who specializes in urban issues and transportation. She is a former Vancouver City Planning Commissioner, holds a Master of Urban Studies degree and writes about urban issues at her blog, This City Life. Follow her @thiscitylifeyvr.

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.

The Task Force is comprised of all sorts of interesting folks, and given the mandate to “examine innovative best practices for civic engagement, and work to improve the ways the City engages and communicates with citizens.”

The Task Force has released a first “Quick Starts” report, which showcases a series of recommended actions. They note that there’s more work to be done… and are seeking further ideas and input.

We’ve written a letter outlining some of our thinking in this regard. VPSN members will recognize some of the ideas from our Public Space RouteMap which we produced for the 2012 municipal election. Other items in our letter aim to further enhance Task Force recommendations with some of the lessons we’ve learned in our own work.

What’s Missing?

Here are a few things that we’d like to see added to the roster of ideas contained in the report:

(a) At minimum, a doubling of the current 1-week pre-Council meeting release time for Council and Park Board reports. The current City practice makes it very difficult for individuals, let alone volunteer organizations, to: (a) find out about a report that is relevant to them; (b) have time to read it and/or share it with others; (c) compose a response; and (d) plan a deputation. At minimum, the lead time should be two to three weeks unless exceptional circumstances apply.

(b) Consider rescheduling Standing Committees of Council – Standing Committees of Council meetings should be scheduled in the evening to allow more people to attend, and to enable the public more opportunity to present on motions and/or reports. The current 9:30am and 2:00pm meeting time slots mean that members of the public have to take time off work in order to make a face-to-face deputation.

(2) Supporting Neighbourliness

As Vancouver’s population increases, our need for good, neighbourly relations – an enhanced sense of community – has become more acute. While there are many things that we as individuals can do to strengthen neighbourliness, the City can play an important role. We offer particular support for Taskforce recommendations around:

• Neighbourhood Block Parties – which would encourage citizens across the city to get out of their homes and meet their neighbours. It doesn’t have to be one collective block party day either, rather an effort to raise awareness about the ease in which block parties can be created… and a simple tool kit to share good practices in this regard.

• The report’s recommendation for Participatory Budgeting for Neighbourhoods could provide a unique opportunity to support citizens in having an important say in how local, neighbourhood-improvement projects are supported. Of course, it will be important to ensure that the many and diverse voices of a given neighbourhood are heard – and not just those that feel most comfortable with civic process.

• The task force’s recommendation to develop a crowd-sourced venue list would help organizations like the VPSN to easily locate no- and low-cost meeting spaces for meetings and public evens in the city. We’d recommend supporting this with a modest review of the varying policies and procedures that exist around city-owned spaces. How can these spaces be made more accessible? (e.g. booking a small room at the central library requires you to show up, in person, on the day of the advance… as no advance bookings, or electronic/telephone bookings are allowed).

What’s Missing?

We offer another item for consideration:

(c) Allow more and better spaces for ‘writing on the city’ – Twitter handles and list-servs are important, but so are neighbourhood-scale notices. Currently there are only 200 or so poster cylinders – metal bands that wrap utility poles and provide space for event notices – located throughout the city. It is unlawful to post fliers elsewhere and private notice boards are few and far between. In fact, there are more unlawful billboards than there are officially designated places for the sharing the sort of everyday information – such as lost cat notices, block party invites, or leaflets on a planned rally against salmon farming – that make our city lively and interesting. Worse still, commercial poster companies quickly (and repeatedly) blanket poster-cylinders with their paid advertising.

We suggest: (1) placing more poster cylinders on high streets and commercial areas, as well as selected residential areas; (2) amending the Street and Traffic Bylaw to allow neighbourhood notices (not paid advertising) on utility poles and other spaces; (3) experimenting with other types of sanctioned notice and information space (public information boards, etc.).

(3) Budgeting for an Engaged City

Finally, we feel that it is important that the City consider formally resourcing the work that is outlined in the Taskforce’s Report. To this end, we offer our support for the Mayor’s motion to investigate recommendations for implementing items that fall outside of the current City budget. Speaking from experience, local volunteers and individuals are willing to help with many of the initiatives here… but they need some support to make this happen.