Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! (& Monday update)

Three items, for your reading pleasure on Daytona 500 Sunday. 

First, the battle for control of Vancouver’s community centres continues. 

City manager Penny Ballem quashed Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr’s motion on notice for the Feb. 12 city council meeting. Carr wanted city hall to slow-down and think twice about seizing control from the 23 community associations and centralizing power with the Board of Parks and Recreation.  

Carr called the actions of the unelected Ballem undemocratic and “bullying.” Vision Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs claimed Carr violated the code of conduct section that prohibits councillors from making public statements attacking staff or invoking staff matters for political purposes. The complaint was withdrawn after a meeting with Mayor Gregor Robertson. 

NPA Parks Board commissioner Melissa de Genova is asking Parks Board to conduct public meetings on the proposal. Her motion is on the agenda for the Feb. 25 meeting. 

At the Feb. 25 meeting, the new president of the Kensington Community Centre Association is registered to speak. But will he be allowed?  

Milan Kljajic, a parks board outside worker, member of CUPE Local 1004 and a disaffected Vancouver-Kingsway B.C. Conservative who endorsed NDP's Adrian Dix, replaced the resigned Stephen Elliott-Buckley. 

Kljajic claims he was called Feb. 22 by Parks Board Human Resources Consultant Vicki Gannon and advised not to speak at the meeting because he would violate the code of conduct. 

Kljajic refused to do an interview, but told me via email: 

“I feel that my rights have been violated and my employee future at COV has been threatened. I am a volunteer community leader that was elected President of Kensington to serve the best interest of the grassroots of my community. I am planning on finishing my term and reaching a fair joint operating agreement that I can bring to the membership.”

Section 5 allows staff members to be politically active, to support parties and candidates and even seek public office. 

“An employee may engage in any Political Activity so long as it does not impair, or is not perceived as impairing, the employee’s ability to perform his or her duties in a politically impartial manner. This precludes employees from displaying slogans or symbols supporting a particular party or candidate while at work where their duties may reasonably require them to interact in person with the public or where their duties require them to supervise, schedule or assign work to others.”

The Parks Board also falls under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which includes Section 2(b) that upholds freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression. 

Why -- if centralizing community centre operations is really a wise move, for the sake of efficiency -- doesn’t the ruling Vision Vancouver just submit to public hearings in the affected communities? These are, after all, public assets. As for that Feb. 4 "emergency" meeting that ended in a 5-2 vote for the centralization of power, that was really a box-ticking exercise. The board approved a vague "city-wide consultation," but that is not to be confused with public hearings. Informal public information meetings, where minutes are not kept, are the favoured tool for governments that want to impose a program or policy.    

UPDATE (Feb. 25): Kljajic did not speak to Parks Board, but Kensington's past-president Mary Sutherland delivered his remarks:

Good evening. I’m here tonight to speak on behalf of our current President Milan Kljajic. Milan sends his regrets as he is dealing with some issues with the City of Vancouver.  His statement is as follows: 

Our Association fully supports this motion. It is time for the Commissioners to take control of this situation and listen to the public. 

Commissioners, we are extremely disappointed by the continued lack of leadership you have demonstrated and the apparent lack of respect for public opinion. Until recently, our association had agreed to continue participating in ongoing JOA negotiations with the Park Board. As a centre that serves many people with lower incomes, we have always fully support programs that will allow greater access to community centres. 

Unfortunately, through your recent actions, it became clear that the Park Board is intent on implementing its plans and that negotiations will neither be transparent nor appropriate to the magnitude of the issue. It is for that reason that our board of directors met last week and decided that we could no longer participate in what we feel is a disrespectful process that doesn’t address the real issues. 

Despite modest revenues and years of financial and administrative neglect by the Park Board, our association has been able to retain a modest amount of revenue. We’ve been flexible with our money over the years, funding popular community programs and services and even investing $600,000 towards the capital cost of constructing the most recent addition to the Kensington Community Centre, which now houses a seniors’ lounge, dance studio and administrative space. That investment was nowhere to be seen on the report from staff that you accepted in the wee hours on February 5. As a ‘have not’ – or more appropriately Park Board neglected – centre, we did not ask for such radical changes to the financial arrangement between the CCAs and Park Board. 

We do not feel that the funding scheme that you support will benefit anything more than Park Board’s general revenues, which is a matter that commissioners should be taking up with the City Manager, Mayor and City Councilors. What is more distressing is that there has been no commitment by the Park Board to truly solicit public input on the matter. Your current approach is to make the decision and then attempt to bring the public onside when they do not have any say in the matter. 

As a result, you do not have the support of the people who voted for you. Public opposition to your current plan outweighs support 2:1. What is even more telling is that residents of the west and east sides of Vancouver have the same opinion. The public does not support your attempt to make radical, ill-informed changes without any public consultation. This is a matter of public policy and is your responsibility. It should not be delegated to staff. 

Commissioners, I strongly encourage you to step up and demonstrate leadership and support this motion. Introduce true public consultation into the process and re-instill faith in those people who you will be calling on to vote for you in the coming months. Thank you.

Meanwhile, from B.C.'s "second city," item number two. An update about Surrey Shirts' and its Chief Shirt Disturber, Don Pitcairn.

Business in Vancouver was first to tell you that the City of Surrey was threatening Pitcairn with a trademark violation lawsuit. City hall sent a cease and desist letter over the shirts that parody Surrey’s logo and slogan. Pitcairn was using his freedom of speech to comment on Surrey’s gangs and guns problem. In 2012, the federal Conservatives amended the Canada Copyright Act to protect parody in the Fair Dealing section. 

Pitcairn said he met Feb. 19 with city manager Murray Dinwoodie and city lawyer Craig MacFarlane for a "cordial" meeting.

“I informed them that Surrey Shirts had made changes to five of our shirt designs to further distance them from City of Surrey trademark logos, including removing the City Signature design completely from our anti-gun violence 'Better Safe Than Surrey' shirt that was never printed or released in its original form,” Pitcairn said.

Pitcairn, who flogs the shirts online, said Phat Fixx in Surrey Central City Mall pulled stock from the racks after only 10 days. Phat Fixx outfits the mixed martial arts and hip-hip crowds.

"We are hoping to locate a store where the landlord or management supports clothing tailored to the proud residents of Surrey and who will not be intimidated by those who appear to be more worried about Surrey's image on a simple T-shirt that doing something about the real problems that are giving the City of Surrey a bad reputation across Canada," Pitcairn said via email. 

Within the announcement on the Surrey Shirts website, Pitcairn gives a nod to the Feb. 27 Pink Shirt Day anti-bullying campaign. As for the lightning-bolt letter S font in the Surrey Shirts logo, Pitcairn denies he's a sympathizer of the Nazis' evil SchutzStaffel. 

“It’s a rock and roll kinda website. I do like KISS and most people that see it, get it right away,” Pitcairn said after the original story broke. “We won’t be selling Nazi paraphernalia on the Surrey Shirts website.”

Someone who knows Surrey very well, but lives many postal codes and tax brackets to the west, is the subject of item number three: Patrick Kinsella. 

Progressive Group lobbyist Kinsella is the province’s best-known political power broker. Nobody else comes close. His influence was felt in the headquarters of BC Rail, BC Hydro and VANOC. He was a key architect of Gordon Campbell’s hat-trick election victories and Christy Clark’s leadership win. (Kinsella's "midas touch" didn't work for Rita Johnston, Kim Campbell or Belinda Stronach.)

He was among Clark's guests in the deluxe B.C. Place Suite when B.C. Place Stadium reopened on Sept. 30, 2011 and he was registered as a lobbyist for Exel, the company that wanted to privatize liquor distribution. 

Since July 2011, he has sought to sell his Shaughnessy mansion. 

First listed for $7.28 million via Rennie Realty, the price for Kinsella's mansion at 3839 Selkirk in Vancouver was slashed to $6.75 million. 

Last fall, Kinsella switched to Macdonald Realty and the property was listed at $6.198 million. Still no takers. It was pulled from the market. 

Kinsella's real estate agent Monique Badun is trying again, with a lower asking price: $5.998 million.

Kinsella turns 72 on May 26. He has consistently declined my requests for interviews about his house, horse racing, his lobbying business and provincial politics.

Thoughts on Penny

Who really is running Vancouver city hall?

The twice-elected Mayor is Gregor Robertson, the tuba-playing, bike-riding, organic-farming former NDP MLA who finally sold his holdings in Happy Planet Juice Co. in late 2012. Skeptics wonder if one of his lieutenants, Coun. Geoff Meggs, is really shifting the gears on the 10-speed behind the scenes. 

Penny Ballem: unelected and uncompromising?

City manager Penny Ballem is the top-paid civic employee, at $334,002 for 2011. She was hired, without competition, to replace the fired Judy Rogers in December 2008. Rogers got a $572,000 golden parachute, because the Vision Vancouver administration felt she was an NPA-loyalist. 

It wasn’t the first time Ballem got a no-bid gig. She did 78 hours work for $30,000 from eHealth Ontario. 

Ballem’s claim to fame was as deputy minister of health for five years under then-Premier Gordon Campbell. Health is the biggest and most complex ministry in government. She quit in 2006, calling Campbell’s plans for the ministry “unsound.”

Not only did Ballem replace Rogers in the city manager’s office, but she also took her seat on the  board of directors for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics organizing committee, better known as VANOC.

Ballem was involved in city hall's $2.3 million purchase of used furniture and computers from VANOC. VANOC also got free rent in the city-owned 3585 Graveley Street “Campus 2010” after the Games. Ballem also signed-off on the transfer of VANOC files to the City Archives, mandating they be kept secret from the public until 15 years after the Games! The International Olympic Committee required the City Archives take it over, as per the host city agreement. But I couldn’t find anything from the IOC requiring the documents be kept secret until 2025. But that’s what Ballem agreed to do. So none of us who paid for the Olympics can see the financial and legal records or board correspondence, reports, agendas and minutes until after the Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and 2022 Winter Games have come and gone. 

In February 2011, Ballem excused Olympic Village developer Millennium from its mortgage, which once was worth $1 billion. She later admitted city taxpayers would lose $48 million on the Village, but downplayed the claims of those who said the loss was in the range of $200 million. 

Ballem has a reputation as an uncompromising micromanager and her influence has reached into every department at city hall. Those who have disagreed with her have retired, resigned or been fired. Ballem gagged city hall bureaucrats from talking to the media; they once were accessible and pleased to talk to reporters about the important work they do for citizens. Under her watch, it has become harder to receive records under Freedom of Information. 

Now comes the struggle over control of the city's community centres. Ballem is leading the charge to centralize control with the Park Board. The volunteer Vancouver Community Centre Associations are fighting back. Non-Partisan Association and Green Party politicians are opposed to the plan by the majority Vision Vancouver. 

Green Coun. Adriane Carr wanted to ask fellow councillors at the Feb. 12 city council meeting to order a staff report on the costs of centralizing the 23 community centres. As the Vancouver Courier’s Sandra Thomas reported, Ballem thwarted Carr’s motion. Now Carr has hired a lawyer.  

How can a public employee, no matter how senior, tell an elected official what can and cannot be debated in a democratic setting?

A source provided me a copy of the Feb. 5, 2013, 7:14 p.m. email by Ballem to Carr (copied to city clerk Janice MacKenzie and city lawyer Francie Connell), which said: 

"I apologize that I haven't had a chance to talk to you today about your motion - I just signed off the Council Agenda at about 6pm. Your motion presents a significant issue and given our last conversation about a motion which was a problem I thought I would send you a note. First, the GM of Park Board reports to the Park Board - if you wish to have a report to Council it should be directed to me to bring back.   

"The more important issue is that the Park Board instructed their GM to continue negotiations on a new contract with the CCAs. It would put both the Park Board and the City at risk if there was an airing of these issues in regard to impact  publicly. To reassure you there is work underway to ensure that the PB staff appropriately manage any risk in these negotiations. However for this reason the motion is out of order and I will not be allowing it to go out with the agenda. I have reviewed this with the City Solicitor and the Clerk. Please give me a call any time tonight if you get a break or first thing in the am. I am happy to discuss. Thanks so much pb"

Three more years?

Since 2008, it has been the best and cheapest place in Vancouver to witness tragedy and comedy. The seats are new and comfy and there is even “free” wifi.

I’m talking about Vancouver city hall, at Cambie and 12th. Government is not supposed to be so entertaining. But that’s how it has been under Vision Vancouver's management.

In my 21-year career, no single government I have followed has dealt with so much upheaval in such a short amount of time. Governing an Olympic city before, during and after the Games has proven harder than Vision Vancouver ever imagined. On Nov. 19, it will be up to the voters to decide whether Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vision Vancouver-dominated city council should be rewarded.

Robertson overcame an unpaid SkyTrain ticket and rode the Olympic Village financing scandal to victory in the 2008 election. His administration has been anything but the moderate, business-like one that was promised. At a time of global and local socio-economic upheaval demanding no-frills, cost-conscious government, Vision Vancouver has made bike lanes and chicken coops priorities. I haven’t seen any rogue roosters on the streets yet, but I found evidence that helmet and safety bylaws are not being properly enforced.

It all seemed to unwind for Vision Vancouver just before the Olympics, with the firing of chief electrician Ark Tsisserev for nothing more than cost-cutting. The original spin was that Tsisserev had retired or quit. Instead, his lawyer threatened a wrongful dismissal lawsuit and the city changed its tune. Ark floated away with a nice golden parachute.

Tsisserev had red-flagged concerns about safety at Olympic sites, including the Olympic Village. During the Games, a barrier collapsed at the City of Vancouver’s David Lam Park live site when the crowd surged. I found out later that city hall knew there were serious safety concerns because: A) none of the officials had not figured out the maximum capacity of the site and B) the emergency exits were locked and nobody knew where to find the key!

So 19 people were injured and nine hospitalized on Feb. 16, 2010 in the worst crowd control incident of the Olympics. There are at least two lawsuits against the city. One girl’s flesh was ripped from her leg in the melee.

After the Games, more chaos with city hall oversight and infrastructure.

It’s lucky nobody was killed in a demolition gone-wrong on Hornby Street or a hazardous materials incident on Nelson Street at the old B.C. Hydro building, now the Electra apartments and offices. Both incidents exposed city hall regulatory shortcomings. There were sinkholes in South Vancouver and downtown that affected major transportation routes and harmed businesses. There was a propane explosion at the Vancouver Christmas Market, on the day it was to open.

And then the ultimate tragedy -- the preventable deaths of three men before Christmas 2010 in an illegal rooming house on Pandora Street. Common sense says the city should have acted swiftly and decisively and condemned the building and found the men suitable accommodation elsewhere. But that did not happen. Inspector Carlene Robbins sued in the aftermath.

After the Games, Robertson went to New York City in spring 2010 to make him look like a statesman back home, but instead spent much of his time meeting with New York-based party supporters. Chief of staff Mike Magee held mysterious “hosting” functions at bars and restaurants in the Big Apple, but kept secret the identities of his guests.

Robertson was caught calling concerned citizens “fucking hacks” after a lengthy council meeting. Some of those “hacks” were members of his own party. Randy Helten got so angry at Vision Vancouver, he started his own party called Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver.

The Mayor’s Office hired a spin doctor who in turn hired a blogger to attack other bloggers and the media. It was officially a contract for “conversation mining.”

Researcher Vivian Krause probed Vision Vancouver’s intricate web of campaign financing. Her fair questions about whether American interests are breaking Canadian laws and influencing Vancouver policy making have gone unanswered. Vision Vancouver bagman Joel Solomon lobbied deputy city manager Sadhu Johnston to find a spot for one of his coffee company investments.

Of course, that should have been the job for the Vancouver Economic Commission, but it was too busy trying to pad the results of its Olympic business promotion while hiding the real information from nosy journalists.

Journalists have been stymied, under Vision Vancouver, because of city manager Penny Ballem’s gag order for staff. Meanwhile, the city communications budget has skyrocketed and the Freedom of Information office gutted. The city has fought tooth and nail against those who have sought copies of important reports. It even decided to withhold key information about contracts and spending on the Stanley Cup fan zone until after the election!

Robertson promised in his swearing-in speech that transparency was a top priority. No ifs, ands or buts.

"That accountability must extend to every aspect of City Hall. When the city uses your money, you have a right to know where it’s being spent, and what it’s being used for. When leaders fall short of that standard, public confidence is shaken.

"Over the next three years, we will rebuild that confidence, and ensure transparency, accountability and public debate at City Hall.

"Politicians do not always live up to that responsibility, I know. But I also know that there were literally thousands of people voting last November for the very first time.

"My commitment to them, on behalf of every member of my team, is that I will not let you down on making City Hall more open and accountable."

What is the Mayor hiding? The election will come and go with not a single rioter or looter being charged in Vancouver, yet Robertson, city manager Penny Ballem, Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu and Deputy Chief Doug Le Pard have gone out of their way to protect their reputations amid criticism they failed the public on June 15. No fun city? No fault city.

Unelected, $300,000-a-year-plus Ballem was appointed a member of the VANOC board after her 2008 hiring and has used her power to spend $2.32 million on used VANOC furniture and computers and to sign a contract that keeps Olympic financial and board documents secret until 2025. She did so without council approval and denies conflict of interest. Shouldn’t citizens who employ her be the ultimate judge of that question?

The Mayor is supposed to be the number one cheerleader for business in the city, but the juice company he co-founded made a bee-line for Burnaby a year after the Olympics and quietly closed up its Downtown Eastside warehouse and office. Robertson claims he owns less than 10 percent of shares but was noncommital when I asked him the simple question: did you make any effort to persuade the majority shareholders to maintain a Vancouver presence?

The Olympic Village remains a story without end. When a municipal auditor general is finally appointed, this project must be the first he or she probes. Vision Vancouver inherited the mess from previous COPE and NPA dominated city councils and has continued to keep citizens in the dark about how much the real loss is.

On the eve of the election, lawyers for the Occupy Vancouver protesters were trying to thwart the city's bid to disband the anti-corporate greed tent village on the Vancouver Art Gallery's north plaza. (Y'know, where the B.C. government replaced the green grass with bark mulch after the Olympics.)

Robertson could have enforced bylaws to remove tents and structures in the days after the Oct. 15 rally. He could have followed the lead of Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and sought a compromise that included issuing of permits to the protesters, so that they could exercise their right to freedom of speech and assembly while adhering to reasonable bylaws. McGinn served protesters coffee and his council voted to support the movement. Robertson claims he has visited the Occupy Vancouver site, but my repeated questions have turned up no proof of dates or times of any such visits.

Robertson didn’t and now his city hall’s failure to provide safe and ample homeless shelters to the city's weakest people is an issue for the defence lawyers.

The last three years have been a treasure trove of stories. Those of us in the media thrive on conflict and controversy.

Citizens of Vancouver who pay the bills probably don't share that sentiment. They want a responsible, compassionate and transparent government that upholds laws, protects and respects all citizens (and their rights) and, most of all, spends public money wisely.

Do they really want three more years of Vision Vancouver?

We'll find out on Nov. 19.

Sully soaked in pour protest

A majority of NPA members raised a glass for Coun. Peter Ladner when he won the party's mayoral nomination on June 8. Someone poured a soft drink pitcher on lame-duck Mayor Sam Sullivan.
Undercover Vancouver Police officers arrested a woman at the Marriott Pinnacle Hotel nomination meeting, but the sleuths are apparently confused about the watery weapon.
A VPD news release on June 9 stated the pitcher contained "iced tea or coke."
C'mon fellas, you'll have to be more specific when 21-year-old Megan Craig of the notorious Anti-Poverty Committee appears in court on assault charges.
She was among those arrested during the sparsely attended Feb. 12, 2007 Omega countdown clock unveiling at Vancouver Art Gallery.

So long, Sully

Mayor Sam Sullivan has had his 15 minutes of Olympic fame. He won't be giving away the Olympic flag to the mayor of Sochi, Russia on Feb. 28, 2010. That's because Coun. Peter Ladner won the Non-Partisan Association mayoralty nomination on June 8, 1,066-986. (For non-Vancouverites, the NPA is the unparty. It's a coalition of provincial and federal Liberals and Conservatives.)

Early in Sullivan's term, he accepted the Olympic flag at the Torino 2006 closing ceremony and did a donut in his electric wheelchair on live international TV. 

It was a flawless performance, but the same couldn't be said for his mayoralty. Sullivan said he was concerned with the plight of the city's homeless, but did little to solve the blight that is the Downtown Eastside ghetto. Ultimately, it was his stubborn, "I won't blink first" stance that prolonged a civic workers' strike in summer and fall of 2007 that was the beginning of the end for Sullivan. 

With Sullivan rolling into the sunset, what will become of supporter Jeff Mooney's spot on the VANOC board of directors? 

Vancouverites go to the polls on Nov. 15. Ladner's main challenger from the left-of-centre Vision Vancouver Party will be either Coun. Raymond Louie or NDP MLA Gregor Robertson.