NOW THAT WE ARE ELECTED, WE WILL BE COMING BACK TO THIS SPOT OVER THE NEXT 3 YEARS TO ENSURE WE ARE ON TRACK. PLEASE LET US KNOW HOW YOU THINK WE ARE DOING. WE APPRECIATE YOUR TIME AND YOUR FEEDBACK!!!
Platform 2008:
Turning Smart Policies into Good Practice
Community Vibrancy & Sustainability
SUSTAINABLE CITY
• Ensure that recommendations stemming from the city’s soon to be released Sustainability Framework lead to substantial institutional change in policy and practice at the City of Victoria.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY
• Aggressively promote Victoria’s existing and future roles in high-tech, higher education, sport and outdoor pursuit industries.
• Promote the image of Victoria as a Green tourist destination and encourage more sustainable tourist attractions (businesses, accommodations, tours, foods, transportation, advertising etc…)
• Work to achieve a municipal budget that is informed by our strategic plan, which in turn is informed my our more recent Citizens Survey.
• Encourage a Zero Based budgeting for our next budget cycle to ensure transparency within municipal department budgets
• Ensure lifecycle costing on all city projects and purchasing policies by employing “triple-bottom-line” accounting and values-based business practices.
WASTE = RESOURCES
• Work with federal and provincial governments to ensure that our federally-mandated sewage treatment technologies and facilities are planned and implemented with the community, the environment and maximum resource recovery as top priorities
• Encourage the CRD to immediately implement a curbside compost program that will address waste disposal and landfill issues, and maximize resource recovery.
• City to adopt and advocate for an Integrated Resource Management Model for waste management at the city and the CRD.
Community Engagement and Participation
CONSTRUCTIVE COOPERATION
• Advocate for a true renewal of how consultation is done - switching from a ‘talk to’ to a ‘engage with’ model that would see residents input at the front end of planning and developing our communities; participatory planning.
• Ensure neighborhoods are well supported and well funded to participate in their community planning and community building.
• Review the funding structure for neighborhoods looking to decrease and cross community competition, and instead support and celebrate community capacity.
• Provide free education for residents in areas such as land use planning, smart growth principles, community gardens 101, how to plan a successful community event etc…ACCOUNTABILITY
• Encourage immediate implementation of a WebCasting process that will broadcast both council and committee meetings online for live and/or repeated viewing from the internet
• Support the addition of Council and Committee full agenda packages to the city’s online resources so that community members can access all reports and documents from home as well as at City Hall
Community Caring and Compassion
PROVIDE HOMES AND SHELTER
• Work with all local municipalities and relevant NGOs to encourage the development of affordable housing and necessary support services.
• Legalize carriage house (small detached structures) conversions to increase our pool of legalized affordable housing.
• Move forward with Inclusionary Zoning and consider the possibility of “5% solution” which would see 5% of residences in new developments be offered below market cost, or 5% of total budget be contributed to Regional Housing Trust to apply towards new affordable housing.
• Increase the provision of age-stratified, and family shelter spaces, and aggressively pursue federal and provincial funding for long-term housing solutions.
OUR STREETS; ADDICTIONS & MENTAL HEALTH
• Support our newly formed Assertive Community Treatment program (ACT) and promote ongoing and increased funding for these street outreach teams, including nursing, and mental health services for street-affected populations in order to free police resources to focus on peace-keeping and violent crime.
• Promote the implementation of public health-centered policies in regards to illicit drug use, including the immediate re-establishment of fixed site needle exchange services, increased funding for treatment and evidence-based drug education, and the establishment of a safe-consumption site. Support harm reduction strategies including those suggested in the City of Victoria’s Fitting the Pieces Together report (http://www.victoria.ca/cityhall/pdfs/hrmrdc_rprt0507.pdf).
Community Health and Happiness
FOOD SECURE COMMUNITIES
• Promote the preservation of local green spaces, and encourage the development of community gardens in keeping with the Capital Region Food and Health Action Plan.
• Work with local farmers, artisans and key stakeholders towards the establishment of a permanent produce and artisan market for the downtown core, and explore additional food access and food tourism opportunities.
• Support and advocate for an increase in urban agriculture and collaborate with neighboring rural municipalities to support local farming, and to improve regional food security.
• Encourage the development of a City of Victoria Green Catering Guidelines that could be made available to the public to utilize in their business or organization (supports local/organic selection, less disposable products, fair trade and fair wages…)
• Look at the research that supports the temporary use of land for food production - i.e. use empty lots for food production while they await development
TRANSPORTATION
• Develop regional transportation strategy that encompasses bicycles, pedestrians, and electric vehicles and hybrids, as well as automobiles and public transportation.
• Ensure immediate implementation of recent City of Victoria Pedestrian Master Plan which suggests improved funding for cycling needs, with the goal of making Victoria truly bike friendly (including increase and improved cycling routes, and bicycle parking)
• Encourage alternatives to “Single Occupant Vehicles” downtown, including extending the hours of service increasing the frequency for public transportation, and exploring the viability of a free city-center bus (to be funder via recent parking fine increases).
• Support a review of current parking attendant customer service procedures
THE ARTS & OUR ARTISTS
• Support the local art community to ensure that existing performance and visual arts spaces are maintained and improved, and developing policies to increase inventory of both artistic and cultural facilities.
• Encourage the city of Victoria to consider an Artist Retention plan to ensure we don’t lose our artists and artist run organization ( and all they contribute to our community!) because of increasing rents and loss of studio/performance/installation spaces.
• Review public art policies and practices to ensure broad opportunity, and develop Public Art guidelines that developers proposing a ‘public art’ component to their development must review and adhere to.
