Yes but who will lead the charge to reduce those headwinds?
I have no idea. The major players all seem to have that mentality, which will continue until the electorate demands better.
Posted 02 January 2014 - 01:22 PM
Yes but who will lead the charge to reduce those headwinds?
I have no idea. The major players all seem to have that mentality, which will continue until the electorate demands better.
Posted 02 January 2014 - 02:06 PM
She's up against the Dean Team (aka the whole NDP machine with union funding) lets hope she can make local partisan politics a municipal issue. Interesting reading Deans year-end interview where he says downtown is doing very well....guess he hasn't taken a walk around and counted the number of empty storefronts....what else would he say after so many years of his 'leadership'?
I think if you were to ask the failed business people who abandoned those storefronts they'd say 2008 Wall Street misbehaviour had more to do with those vacant stores than anything City Hall could throw at them. To be fair, if you're going to look at empty storefronts you have to keep in mind the brand new ones (Atrium et al).
There are signs that this council seems to have finally clued in that the key to the continued revitalization of downtown is building up a larger base of downtown residents.
Actually, they clued in about five or six years ago, prior to the current term of office.
I'm a little surprised Helps is running. A mayoral candidate requires a bit of arrogance, or at least audacity and I don't get that vibe from Helps. Ben Isitt, ,maybe.
At least she's starting the new year fighting by declaring early. In '08 Rob Reid hemmed and hawed until the last minute before declaring his mayoral intentions and by then it was just too late. Reid lacks that killer instinct because he's generally a really nice, swell guy. Helps is nice too but she's going to have to be bold to fight off Dean's NDP election machine.
But Helps has to remain positive. She has to find a path between showing (1) a positive vision and (2) making the argument the opponent is unsuitable. Rob Reid did (1) and in 2011 Paul Brown could only manage (2). Helps has to do both effectively.
Paul Brown wasted the 2011 campaign whining about Fortin and Brown lost big. He was also a nice guy. Unfortunately he too lacked the killer instinct. He was so modest he was embarrassed to wear his campaign button in public until the last couple of months before the election. Judging by his wife's noticeable lack of enthusiasm for the campaign you would have thought he was being sent off to fight in the trenches of Vimy Ridge. Former Mayor Peter Pollen sent him fiery e-mails telling him to pull his pants up and get tough.
Helps has enthusiasm and a strong team behind her which is a refreshing change. It's an all-or-nothing gamble for her.
Posted 03 January 2014 - 09:15 AM
I don't give Helps much of a chance. It is hard to argue that the City is wasteful or the bridge is a fiasco when you are part of council and haven't been shouting that from the rooftops all along.
I don't think that Fortin is doing a great job but I don't see a business candidate emerging to challenge him. The 'business establishment' works every year to find a candidate that they can market and who they believe will push their agenda if elected. The problem is that being Mayor is such a divisive position in Victoria that anyone actually in business would be an idiot to disillusion half their customer base. Reid wasn't just nice, he was naïve and losing was probably the best thing that happened to him in my opinion. Brown was a business has been with no name recognition.
Posted 03 January 2014 - 05:05 PM
The 'business establishment' works every year to find a candidate that they can market and who they believe will push their agenda if elected. The problem is that being Mayor is such a divisive position in Victoria that anyone actually in business would be an idiot to disillusion half their customer base. Reid wasn't just nice, he was naïve and losing was probably the best thing that happened to him in my opinion. Brown was a business has been with no name recognition.
The "business establishment" is not all that large though. I'm surprised that it is so small, but let's face it, the businesses that are doing well in Victoria don't have the time or need to get behind this, and the ones doing poorly, well they are somewhat clueless or don't have the time either.
Posted 04 January 2014 - 11:00 AM
jklymak, on 04 Jan 2014 - 10:32 AM, said:
Well Victoria could make development easier and more straight forward...
And spend a whole lot less time worrying about a few centimetres of height on each project and more time spent on ensuring good design.
And while we're at it, I would love to see future councils cease and desist on pet projects like "traffic calming", and worrying that Beacon Hill Park is the next Indianapolis Speedway. Stop solving problems that don't exist. Concentrate on maintaining infrastructure and not on social engineering. Then maybe I won't have to call them incompetent.
Posted 05 January 2014 - 08:26 AM
guess he hasn't taken a walk around and counted the number of empty storefronts....what else would he say after so many years of his 'leadership'?
I don't agree, Saanich, Esquimalt, etc have as many empty storefronts. That was the recession we have been in for the last 5 years and the fact that people are shopping more online
Posted 05 January 2014 - 10:45 AM
I don't agree, Saanich, Esquimalt, etc have as many empty storefronts. That was the recession we have been in for the last 5 years and the fact that people are shopping more online
The difference is you don't hear their Mayors in interviews making claims about how downtown is going great guns! Not so sure about your reason that its online shopping.....I think its more to do with income not meeting the big rents and property taxes and not to forget the denial of height and density by City Hall as well as certain neighbourhood associations to dilute those rents and taxes to enable retailers to compete.
Funny how its events like the buskers festival and street art that bring the crowds which retailers benefit from yet City Hall provides very little support.
If your argument about online shopping was the sole reason then it would be affecting all retailers with storefronts not just those located downtown.
Posted 05 January 2014 - 10:53 AM
^Yep, BS on the storefront argument rjag struggles to articulate. Vacant storefronts have been a perennial problem for generations. But like employment, no vacancy has its own set of problems like soaring rents and pressure on the low-rent mom-and-pop properties. And as been pointed out before this is a global problem in which the actions of a mayor have little impact.
What is actually interesting is how Helps' announcement impacts other potential challengers. There may be some Dean-haters considering a mayoral run but are backing off for fear of splitting the vote knowing that Lisa has a tough road to victory.
I think Helps' will get support from across the spectrum especially since supposed "business-friendly" Gudgeon wasted time on speed limits and anti-urban thinking.
Posted 05 January 2014 - 08:42 PM
I've been so ridiculously unimpressed with Gudgeon but I'd absolutely vote for Helps for mayor.
Posted 06 January 2014 - 08:37 AM
I've been so ridiculously unimpressed with Gudgeon but I'd absolutely vote for Helps for mayor.
Yeah, Gudgeon has acted like a misguided sociology undergrad.
Posted 06 January 2014 - 10:42 AM
Know it all.
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Posted 06 January 2014 - 04:39 PM
I doubt Gudgeon will run.
I don't know, she has some unfinished business I'm sure she'd like to see through to the end.
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Posted 07 January 2014 - 12:02 AM
I don't know, she has some unfinished business I'm sure she'd like to see through to the end.
True, she won't quit until the speed limit is 25!
Posted 07 January 2014 - 10:52 AM
I doubt Gudgeon will run.
In today's TC it says she is planning on it. Other sitting councilors confirm as well:
http://www.timescolo...l-vote-1.780452
Posted 07 January 2014 - 11:57 AM
Welcome to the VibrantVictoria forum J_Loveday.
Posted 07 January 2014 - 02:25 PM
In 2008 and 2011 Dean Fortin ran against opposition candidates that did not campaign well. If Lisa Helps has a strong well run campaign everything changes
Posted 07 January 2014 - 03:36 PM
Posted 07 January 2014 - 03:38 PM
“It’s unusual to have two declared candidates quite so early,” veteran Coun. Geoff Young said. - See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.t5AugiH1.dpuf
Translation - damn she beat me to it.
Someone should set a new record, the day after election 2014 a councillor should declare. And then say "and the campaign begins today, and every day, esp. at council meetings."
Posted 27 January 2014 - 08:35 PM
I was just polled. I wasn't sure if it's pro-Dean or anti-Dean.
They asked yes or no questions regarding:
Next came "scale of 1-10" questions on the importance of:
Next came some interesting questions on how you would rate potential candidates with the following attributes:
Next came a curious scenario. Given two hypothetical candidates, which would you prefer?
Then a question about whether you were an immigrant or if your parents were born in Canada and if you were a member of labour union.
It's hard to read between the lines to find out if it's for a potential right-wing/business candidate or not. It really seemed to focus on the whole business/union axis so I doubt it was for Lisa Helps or a sitting councillor.
Posted 27 January 2014 - 08:51 PM
Where were you polled?
Know it all.
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