Well, it’s official. Both North Vancouver mayors are not running for re-election in October. The third member of the troika, West Vancouver Mayor Michael Smith, has not at this point thrown in the towel, but it’s only seven months until the Oct. 20 election, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we had to replace all three of them.
Think about that for a North Shore Minute (longer than the ones in New York): the potential for a sweeping change of leadership across the North Shore. That could be a good thing, a fresh start, a new day.
Or not.
Before they ride off into the sunset, though, let’s take another NS Minute to acknowledge the work of City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto and District of North Vancouver Mayor Richard Walton. I’m still not sure why we need a city and a district both called North Vancouver, but both deserve a standing O for trying to broker the mad dynamic of our recent history.
Mussatto and Walton have faced the same first world challenges as afflict the rest of Vancouver. Just for fun, let’s name them again: affordable housing, traffic, keeping the North Shore green and something called “density,” which encompasses them all.
Both mayors, to their credit, understand that the good old days have gone. The old single-family suburb doesn’t work, mainly because there’s no place to put it. So the only single-family homes being built are splendid in-fill mansions that do nothing to address the can of worms known as affordable housing.
Both have presided over various planning approaches to development based on the density model: you can stuff a lot of people into a cluster of highrises, and the cost of ownership is “affordable” or at least less expensive than the surviving bungalows with picket fences, now retailing for a couple of million bucks.
Then there’s the town centre or village approach. There’s one down the street from where I live (in the district) and a developer is currently beavering away at “an exquisite collection of townhomes” starting at $1.6 million each. Maybe I misread that. Maybe it reads “expensive.”
If you want something a little smaller, you can still find 600 square feet for under a million bucks, which is ideal for a family of six.
So the affordable housing file needs a bit of work.
One of the other good old things disappearing from the landscape is the parking space. North Van city council is currently discussing one in-fill development of 40 or so units on Victoria Park that has an allotment for zero parking spaces. Anyone foolish enough to own a car will just have to park ... somewhere.
There are, of course, more and more places that are just full unless you get there early. Like Deep Cove on a nice weekend day. Freedom of movement is so 1960s. Just ask those people trying to get from Point A to Point B via infrastructure built in the ’60s.
Ironically, the best legacy of the departing mayors could be the recent adoption of the mayors’ 10-year transit plan, which includes a B-line bus to run along Marine from Phibbs Exchange to Dundarave, every 10 minutes during peak periods. Actual transit!
Speaking of parking, there seems to be plenty of it on the Upper Levels Highway between 3 and 6:30 p.m. every evening. Both outgoing mayors have acknowledged the problem, and there’s currently a plan underway to resolve the blizzard of entrances and exits that clog the approach to the Ironworkers bridge from the North Van district side. It may even help.
Speaking of irony, in a couple of years the former mayors may be able to stand back and watch the traffic flow, taking time to give each other a quiet little pat of the back.
Meanwhile, lots of work remains for candidates vying to inherit this whirlwind. I have a question for anyone planning to lead me further down the garden path of the 21st century, and it is this: where exactly are we going and will we find a place to park when we get there?
Seriously: if North Vancouver really were a parking lot, the attendant would have pulled out the Full sign before noon.
The next mayor of North Van/North Van could continue along the path established by Mussatto and Walton, which, it can be argued, is sane and rational. But is it sustainable? Tough question, but it’s better than the one I really feel like asking: Is it time to panic yet?
Communications consultant Paul Sullivan has been a North Van resident since the fall of Berlin Wall and the rise of Madonna. p.sullivan@breakthroughpr.com
What are your thoughts? Send us a letter via email by clicking here or post a comment below.
