Every week, we'll send you an update on what happened at City Hall, School Board, and Park Board in the last seven days. Hear directly from OneCity Councillor Lucy Maloney, OneCity School Board Trustee Jennifer Reddy, and OneCity Park Board Candidates on the goings on in City government.
City Council Update:
With Council’s August break fast approaching, bringing with it the end of formal meetings until after the October 17 municipal election, the next three weeks are filled to bursting with high-profile issues such as the 2027-30 Capital Plan, the Villages Plan, and Holborn Group’s proposal to build Vancouver’s three tallest buildings.
Vancouver has now concluded its duties as a host city for the Men’s World Cup. I was glad to see our streets full of chanting supporters. I really enjoyed watching matches with Vancouverites and visitors at the PNE Fan Zone, Jack Poole Plaza, and the Granville Island Watch Party. The energy was fantastic!
This week I was invited to CBC’s On The Coast to speak with Gloria Macerenko about the legacy of hosting the Men’s World Cup and how our city can capture permanent benefits, despite the absence of direct investment. We’ve heard many blanket statements from Mayor Sim and ABC about how the World Cup was a huge economic success that will bring enormous long-term benefits, but the real story is less clear-cut.
Was the Men’s World Cup a Boon for Vancouver’s Economy?
It was if your business happened to be in the center of the action. Those located even a block beyond the Granville Street Pedestrian Zone reported no increase in sales, and some even reported a slight decline.
Summer cultural highlights also faced challenges. The Jazz Festival, which ran from June 19 to July 5, saw decreased attendance on Granville Island due to well-founded fears from potential attendees about World Cup-related traffic havoc. Other events and festivals were cancelled or moved, with potential long-term impacts.
We need to conduct a broad, thorough, transparent analysis of the event’s impact on arts and culture organizations, businesses, and the broader community. I’d like to springboard off the positive public momentum generated by the Men’s World Cup and boldly invest in what is good and unique about our city, not only for visitors but also for those who call our city home. We shouldn’t need a big event to improve our public spaces and support cultural organizations.
This Week at City Hall
After a month-long break from regular Council meetings, I’m bracing myself for a big week at City Hall. This coming Wednesday July 15th, I’m moving three motions:
1. Addressing the risks of Digital Infrastructure
Plenty of residents are worried about the prospect of hyperscale AI data centres coming to our city, and for good reason.
This motion asks staff to develop a framework to assess the risks and impacts of these facilities, propose a new Data Centre Public Impact Requirement, and to temporarily pause consideration of them in the interim, to ensure our city learns from—and does not repeat—the negative consequences that other communities have grappled with in their wake.
The proposed requirement would direct companies to commission a credible assessment of a planned facility’s impacts with respect to water, energy, pollution, noise, and heat, and outline planned mitigation measures. It would also evaluate employment opportunities relative to other industrial or commercial uses for the land.
2. Enabling Community-Led Installation of Temporary Shade for Heat Protection
This motion seeks to fast-track city approvals for community-led shade canopy installations.
This past week, British Columbia doctors warned that we’re still not ready for another extreme heat event. And with cuts to proactive measures such as the distribution of cooling kits, and the ABC majority refusing to extend access to cooling spaces at community centres during the summer, we need solutions to increase community resilience.
Temporary canopies can provide critical shade during dangerous heat events; during the 2021 heat dome, collaborative partnerships with community organizations proved crucial. While the City does offer permits for temporary canopies, in speaking with front-line organizations I’ve recently learned that the application process is cumbersome.
We need a responsive, low-barrier permitting system that will enable swift and coordinated deployment of community-installed shade infrastructure when and where it is needed most. This motion would do just that.
3. Equipping the City to Expand Childcare Capacity
Working parents of young children are struggling in Vancouver. Just 52% of the city’s childcare needs are being met. Even with 3,000 new spaces in the development pipeline, we still face an estimated shortage of more than 4,000 spots for children younger than 5. High costs compound this shortage. The median daily fee for preschool-age children is nearly $29, adding financial pressure to families already grappling with affordability.
We need more childcare spaces, and not just a few! The dearth of available and affordable childcare spaces is driving families out of Vancouver. If we want them to stay, we must leverage every available tool — starting with land-use policy.
This motion aims to scale up the development of new childcare centres by:
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prioritizing their inclusion in new developments;
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funding the transformation of City-owned amenities already identified as potential childcare sites; and
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making the inventory publicly accessible, so that residents can track our progress and hold us accountable.
How to Support Good Decision-Making at Council in the Coming Weeks
Access agendas: The City Council Meetings and Decisions page lists upcoming and past agendas, motions, reports and minutes — and links out to a live feed of meetings in progress and an archive of past meetings.
Send a message: Email the mayor and individual councillors directly or via the Contact Mayor and Council form.
Speak your mind: You can sign up to speak at a Council meeting or hearing. Speakers get three minutes for normal agenda items, and five minutes for public hearings. For public hearings only, you don’t need to sign up ahead of time unless you want to secure your place in the queue — you can call in or speak in person once the speaker’s list is finished.
This is crunch time: We’re about to dive into the final few weeks of the ABC Council majority led by Mayor Ken Sim. Council really needs to hear from you.
I’ve been honoured to represent you at council since you elected me last year, and I hope to continue to do so after October 17. I would love to have your help to pressure Mayor Sim and the ABC Councillors to do the right thing in the coming weeks — and you can help!
To increase OneCity representation on Council, Vancouver School Board, and the Vancouver Park Board please donate to our election campaign and sign up to volunteer. We can’t risk another ABC majority, so please dig deep and get involved!
You can reach me at [email protected] or [email protected]. Have a great weekend.
- Lucy Maloney
OneCity Vancouver City Councillor
Park Board Update:
The Park Board candidates have been hard at week, door knocking, phone canvassing, and meeting folks where they are at to talk about the issues that matter.
One of the most important things we've been hearing about is the importance of funding community centres, parks, pools, and the botanical gardens. We've heard loud and clear that we need to stand in opposition to Ken Sim's usurping of Park Board jurisdiction, and maintain the Community Centre Strategy priority list, approved in April of 2022. This strategy was built on collaboration with Community Centre Associations, staff, and the public.
Ken Sim and ABC have unilaterally decided that these consultations are "out of date" and that different action is needed - in particular, more investment into Community Centres on the West Side of Vancouver. This is another move to pit residents against each other - when the message has always been clear, we need to be lifting everyone up. ABC wants to throw red meat to their voter base, and leave East Van and South Van to fend for themselves in the austerity budgets they have put forward. Zero Means Zero indeed. Zero investment, zero support, zero heart.
Our caucus stands against this. If elected, we will follow the plan, built on countless hours of work with so many community groups and residents who care about the state our facilities are in.
The Park Board is meeting on Monday to discuss and approve their Capital Plan for 2027-2030, and you can sign up to speak at the hearing to tell the Park Board what matters most to you.
In solidarity,
Tyler Petersen
OneCity Vancouver Candidate for Park Board
