This Week at City Council: DTES needs groceries, not VPD academy
There’s lots to talk about on this week’s Vancouver City Council Agenda. Here’s what stands out to us.
What’s On At Council
On the February 24th Council Meeting
Council will vote on whether or not to approve the renewed 2STGD+ Safety and Inclusion Action Plan. The report builds on past community engagement and lays out a strategy to advance equity, safety, and the well-being of Two Spirit, transgender, and gender-diverse residents. It lays out next steps around goals, including housing and homelessness, community spaces and safety, and programs and services.
The Action Plan is an important next step. At the same time, a strategy alone is not enough—it takes people and strong relationships to make meaningful progress. Many of the identified actions fall to city departments like Arts, Culture, and Community Services, Facilities Management, and Engineering. Following the ‘zero means zero’ budget, these departments are facing funding crunches and the potential of highly disruptive staff layoffs, which could jeopardize key relationships that have driven this work forward in partnership with the community.
On the February 25th Standing Committee Meeting
Agenda Item: "Strengthening Public Safety Infrastructure"
What's Happening: This motion seeks to take $4 million from the city’s strategic reserve funding to establish a Vancouver Police Department (VPD) training academy at the former London Drugs site of the Woodward's building in the Downtown Eastside.
WTC has joined dozens of community organizations in signing an open letter against this proposal. The closure of London Drugs, one of the few places where residents could get food and medication, was a blow to the community. Replacing the retail space with a VPD training centre does not meet the neighbourhood's needs. Instead, the city and developer should work with community leaders and prioritize retail for affordable groceries, which would improve foot traffic, eyes on the street, and access to everyday essentials.
Read this: Downtown Eastside community wants more retail after London Drugs closure, not police
Agenda Item: "ICE Out of the Beautiful Game and Vancouver’s World Cup"
What's Happening: Following news that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been deployed in Italy for the Winter Olympics—and in light of the ongoing terrorization and murder of US residents—this motion seeks to ban ICE agents from involvement in security operations at this summer’s FIFA Men’s World Cup games in Vancouver.
Read this: Vancouver councillors want ICE agents banned from FIFA World Cup events
Agenda Item: "Walking the Talk: Aligning City Staff’s and Council’s Remote Work Policy"
What's Happening: A few months ago, the City of Vancouver reversed course on its flexible workplace policy, restricting remote work arrangements. This took place shortly before news of mass layoffs and incentives for staff to quit, the result of the ‘zero means zero’ budget cuts.
Reducing flexible work arrangements disproportionately impacts people with disabilities, women, and gender-diverse staff, who are more likely to require flexibility to stay in the workforce due to childcare and elder care.
City councillors are not currently required to work in-person. This motion seeks to match city council’s remote work policy with the staff who keep the city running to “eliminate double standards.”
Read this: Vancouver councillor wants to ‘eliminate double standards’ on remote work at city hall
Agenda Item: "Reversing the Costly Ban on Supportive Housing"
What's Happening: Last year, despite overwhelming opposition from community organizations, residents, housing providers, service providers, and the provincial government, council voted to ban city support for supportive housing for those struggling with homelessness. This motion asks staff to update council on the impact of the supportive housing ban, and on what might change if the ban were lifted.
Agenda Item: "Meeting the Moment: FIFA Public Safety and Local Readiness Working Group"
What's Happening: We have been hearing significant concerns from our community about the impacts of the FIFA Men’s World Cup on residents, businesses, and service providersas well as the city's lack of communication and clarity about how these concerns will be addressed.
This motion seeks to establish a working group of “BIAs, local community organizations, health and safety agencies, transit and hospitality partners, local Indigenous leaders, and key City departments” to develop a strategy and communication channels on issues like neighbourhood safety and gender-based violence prevention.
Agenda Item: "Recommitting to $10 a Day Childcare"
What's Happening: Vancouver does not have enough affordable, high-quality childcare. There are concerns that the city is losing existing public and non-profit childcare spaces to privately operated childcare. This motion asks for staff to monitor and report back on this challenge. It also sets out several actions to prioritize public and non-profit childcare.
On the February 26th Public Hearing Agenda
"CD-1 (454) Text Amendment 215 West 1st Avenue"
What's Happening: Most parents know the challenges of getting kids enrolled in a neighbourhood school. Despite those challenges, a long-awaited (we’re talking 19+ years) proposal for a new school in Olympic Village has drawn pushback. At the public hearing on Feb. 12th, council heard from speakers. They also received a record-breaking amount of letters in support of the school, which the provincial government is funding.
The speakers list and comment period are now closed, but on Feb. 26 that 3pm, tune in to the remainder of the public hearing to listen to what our elected leaders have to say and whether they’ll vote to approve the much-needed education space.
Read this: After 19 years, Vancouver to vote on Olympic Village school—but not everyone is on board
How to take action
Speak to Council. One of the unique things about local government is that you can speak directly to elected officials on a specific issue. You don't need to be an "expert" to do so—it's critical that they hear from residents like yourself who ultimately experience the impacts of the decisions they make.
WTC's resource on how to speak to council and our speech template tool can help you get started.
Deadlines: For the Feb. 24th Council Meeting, the speaker registration deadline is Monday at 5pm. For the Feb. 25th Standing Committee Meeting, it’s Tuesday at 5pm. If you’re interested in speaking to council but aren’t sure about the timing, we encourage you to register—you can always withdraw your request if it doesn’t work with your schedule.
Council’s Email Addresses
Write to Council. A brief email to city councillors is a great reminder of what's important to the people they represent. Here are some quick tips:
State clearly at the beginning whether you support or oppose the agenda item.
Share a sentence or two on why this issue matters to you—what's your personal connection or experience?
Don't overthink it. Done is better than perfect, so keep it short and simple.
There's no deadline, but we recommend sending your email as soon as possible.
Join a Watch Council Drop-In Session. Let's chat about these important decisions at our upcoming Drop-In Session this Mon, Feb. 23rd at 6:00pm.
Drop-in sessions offer a chance to connect with the WTC team for informal conversations and personalized support on local government advocacy, organizing, and engagement. We can go over things like:
How to read a motion and how it may impact your community
What to expect and how to prepare when speaking to council
Strategies for organizing and advocating to city council on one of these decisions, or other issues that are important to you!
