A Vibrant City That's Hot, Fun, & Cool

Cities are ultimately about access to opportunity — opportunity to work, opportunity to build community, and opportunity to live a full and vibrant life. Those opportunities have been smothered under ABC’s austerity, earning Vancouver a “no-fun” moniker.

OneCity is committed to a Vibrant City, where you have the opportunity to have fun, do cool things, and find community.

• Revitalize Chinatown Plaza as a Cultural Hub – OneCity will give the Chinatown Advisory Committee a funded mandate to breathe new life into the Plaza with cultural programming, new businesses, restaurants, and pop-ups, and safety for neighbours.

• Rebuild & Revitalize Hogan’s Alley – OneCity will prioritize securing funding with higher-level governments to remove the unsafe viaducts and redevelop Hogan’s Alley, delivering new housing, culturally appropriate public spaces, and community benefits.

• Play Streets & Block Party in a Box – OneCity will make it easier, cheaper, and faster to throw a block party or celebration with your neighbours, and create an easy way to block off your street so your kids can safely play street hockey for an hour or two.

• Vancouver Library Card Plus – OneCity will propose Vancouver Library Card +, a reimagination of the former Vancouver Inspiration Pass, so you can access free or low-cost cultural events, recreation opportunities, public programs, digital tools, and community spaces with your VPL library card, preloaded.

• Community in Every Neighbourhood – OneCity will make Vancouver Public Library the anchor of a citywide third-space revival with two new libraries, renewing three aging branches, expanded community programming, and fund the VPL’s Facilities Master Plan so that every neighbourhood has access to community programming and learning.

• Create a Community Choice Fund – OneCity will create a Community Choice Fund that gives residents, neighbourhoods, and community organizations direct access to funding for local projects they want to implement and city staff expertise to make it happen.

Arts and culture make up some of the best parts of any city. OneCity’s Backstage Pass will revitalize Vancouver’s arts and culture sector by: 

• DIY arts and culture – OneCity will support small arts and culture venues to open and operate under a new small venue licence category with risk-based safety requirements,  a dedicated venue liaison, and a compliance-first approach that helps operators fix problems instead of shutting down. 

• Cultural Space Security Program – OneCity will create an annual cultural space inventory to track what's being lost, replacement or relocation requirements, expanded accessibility grants, and a goal to increase arts and culture spaces overall.

• Independent Vancouver Arts and Culture Council – OneCity will form an independent, sector-led agency governed by a board responsible for adjudicating arts grants through peer assessment. Council will set the overall funding, not the projects that get funded.

• Bring art to the streets – OneCity will simplify performance rules and expand permit free locations for buskers so more artists can get their start in more areas of the city. 

• Enabling the Nighttime Economy – OneCity will simplify Vancouver’s late night rules and trust responsible businesses to stay open late so artists can make the most of every gig.

A vibrant city shouldn’t stand in the way of practical solutions to everyday challenges. OneCity will remove the red tape around your day so you can carry on.

• Well Behaved Dogs on Transit – OneCity will champion an off-peak, leashed dog pilot on Skytrains and Seabuses, with clear behavior rules, designated boarding areas, and retained operator discretion. If it works, we’ll work to expand it. 

• Pest Control on Four Paws – OneCity will propose a certified “Working Cat program” and work with Vancouver Coastal Health to model proven approaches to having vaccinated bodega cats in small shops across the city to provide chemical-free pest control and a genuine piece of neighbourhood life across the city. 

• One App for Parking in Vancouver – OneCity will work with staff and service providers to reform parking in the city with a single app and a public purpose standard so that surface-level parking is reviewed for conversion to non-market housing, childcare, cultural space, public washrooms and mobility hubs.

• Youth Jobs Vancouver – OneCity will create a good-paying youth-only job program so young people can get their foot in the door, get meaningful experience, and launch careers that will allow them to stay in Vancouver long-term.

• Create a vibrant West End Waterfront – OneCity will establish a practical path to deliver a comprehensive West End waterfront plan so we don’t have to choose between better parks and safe, sustainable transportation downtown. 

What this means for you: