Cs “ROUND UP the usual suspects,’’ a line from the motion picture classic Casablanca, has become a cliche of modern municipal government. Local councils everywhere are frustrated by ‘‘professional citi- zens,’’ those who comment on every issue, and who rarely miss a meeting. When important hearings are held to survey public opinion, they dissolve into forums for the regulars, the vested interests and the predictable lobbies associated with each issue. The City of Vancouver has a massive experiment in progress . that may become a model for government everywhere. CityPlan is not so much a search for public opinion, as it is -an assault on apathy; a neighbor- hood invasion of unprecedented determination. It began with Mayor Gordon Campbell's 1991 inaugural speech, -but it is managed by Dr. Ann McAfee, associate director of planning. She says that city council became very uncomfortable about “ many decisions. . “On matters of budget, plan- ning, and establishing priorities, council was — in a sense — hav- ing to wing it.” , ‘ Public hearings would often de- scend into a “yelling and scream- ing match ... the loudest voice at the end of the mecting would --seem to carry the day. And it might not be the soundest voice or the wisest voice.’’ Frequently after meetings in ‘ focal areas or the larger hearings on city-wide issues, the next day would bring many calls to city hail. Dr. McAfee said that scores of callers would privately try to reg- ister their opinions. They would : seport that they were at the meetings, but they were too ner- vous to speak. “=” Some would’say they were old. Some would say they couldn’t speak English. Some would say they tried, but they were shouted down, or even laughed at. -!We knew we had to hear from people in new ways,'’ the planner said. "In the strategy stage, the council and staff put forward a four- pronged process: Ideas, Discus- ‘OPEN LINES sion, Choices and Action. The plan would evolve from one through four. An attempt was made to create “$0 or 60” City Circles, groups of interested citizens who would meet regularly to discuss issues, It was crucial that these circles embrace all of the usual agencies: professions, business, ethnic, health, neighborhood, single-issue concerns, environment, recreation and so on through an extremely long list. Hundreds of duly con- stituted organizations occasionally get involved in civic business. But it was more important to expand the reach. When it came time to create the “circles,’’ Mayor Campbell per- sonally signed 2,000 individually addresscd letters. “Tl never.forget it,’? Dr. McAfee said. ‘‘The mayor signed all of those tetters while he was watching the Blue Jays win the World Series.” Half of those letters went to names on the fornial list of inter- ested groups, But the other half were supplied by a professional research agency, as a ‘‘random sample”’ of the city: all neighbor- hoods, all ethnic groups, all in- come levels. Many of these people came per- sonally to city hall, mystified by the invitation. ‘“How did you get my name?” they would ask. ‘*They would sland there clutching their letter from the mayor.” When the volunteers were assembled, 184 City Circles had been formed. They subdivided in- to four categories: ‘‘Folks’’ (35), “Multi-Cultural” (65); ‘Groups we deal with alf the time’’ (40) and ‘‘Special Interests, such as the kavak club’’ (44). Every CityPlan participant was given an attractive three-ring binder full of printed matter. The binders have become coveted items, in limited supply, but the contents are available to all inter- ested parties. Courses were conducted for “facilitators,’’ the leaders who would attempt to keep each circle properly focused. As the months have gone by, the process has evolved through the ‘‘Ideas”’ and ‘‘Discussion”’ stages. Soon the circle will start defining choices and a plan of ac- tion. Many of the early participants have lost their enthusiasm, but each week brings new recruits and new requests to form circles. It is too soon yet to say the process is a winner. We spoke with both Mayor Campbell and Councillor Fhilie Owen about it. Both hedged their bets. Both suggested that it would be premature to declare victory. Council is anxiously awaiting the results of the process. The visit with Dr. McAfee became an eye opener on another front. She talked about serious study that is now taking place into urban sprawl, It is projected that the metropolitan population will double during the mext 20 years. Current trends would place the bulk of that population on the south side of the Fraser River, from Surrey to Chilliwack, This would require billions of dotiars of infrastructure: water, sewerage, power, roads, bridges, hospitais, schools and a full range of lesser developments. A discussion paper titled “The Compact Metropolitan Region Option’’ has been circulating among the planners of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. {t forecasts that there will be 1,3 million dwelling units in the BOULEVARD PARK ‘Public Meeting Wednesday, March 31, 1993 at 7:30 p.m. Queensbury School 2020 Moody Avenue Three concepts for the proposed development of the West portion of Boulevard Park will be presented to the public. The concepts have been prepared according to comments received at the public meetings of Wednesday, February 17, 1993 and ‘ October 27, 1992. Dave Nichol, Architect, will also be present to discuss possible design concepts for the proposed buildings. Input received from this meeting will be utilized in the development of the final "Mini-Master Plan". She Heart Sf Your Conununity region by the year 2021. Only 62% of these would be in what is currently thought to be the urban area, from Surrey to the North Shore. The rest would stretch out the valley to Chilliwack. This report proposes expanding the density in the current urban area, The highrises would be a lit- tle higher, and the condos would be a bit more tightly packed on their acreage. With only minimal discernible change, today’s urban zane would handle 73% of the 2021 metropo- lis, rather than the 62% that the laizzez-faire attitude would achieve. 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