Carol Day—Leave McLennan alone!

This blog post is a presentation that Carol Day, community activist and Richmond School Trustee, prepared in order to deliver it  to Richmond Council at its Nov. 17 General Purposes Committee meeting. She was unable to present it because Mayor Malcolm Brodie opted not to give the public the opportunity to make presentations.
I am opposed [...]

Unfortunate staff report series

This post provided the foundation for the four-part “Unfortunate staff report” series of posts. I have now added a new page in the Digging Deep series, “14. Plot Thickens,” to serve the purpose better.
I encourage you to read how the plot thickens. It includes a recap of the Garden City Lands story and builds into representative examples of [...]

Invitation from Citizens’ Assembly

Since this post is about Single Transferable Vote, BC-STV, it’s a change of pace for this blog. However, prominent Garden City Lands supporters Harold Steves, Michael Wolfe, and Neil Smith are active in it. I was contacted about it by Nick Loenen, former Richmond councillor and MLA, who is another vocal defender of the Lands.
There will be [...]

Unfortunate staff report – response 4

This post is the fourth in a series of responses to a November 2008 Richmond staff report on the Garden City Lands. If you are new to the topic, you may wish to begin by scrolling down to earlier posts in the series for background information.
Most of the staff report is devoted to “measures the [...]

Unfortunate staff report – response 3

Background
This post is the third in a series of responses to the staff report that Richmond’s mayor sprang on Richmond Council the evening before the Nov. 15 council elections. With that timing, any public outrage about it would be too late to affect the elections. However, even if the elections resulted in a new council [...]

Unfortunate staff report—response 2

Background
This is the second post in response to an unfortunate City of Richmond “staff report” dated Nov. 12, 2008, that will be the subject of future City of Richmond council meetings. (Response 1 in a series of at least four responses appears a couple of posts further down on this page.)
Note: While the report to guide [...]

Federal park?

Excellent letter in the Nov. 23 Richmond Review by Yvonne Hockley! It makes a case that “The Garden City lands should become a federal park.”
I’ll happily leave it to Richmond Member of Parliament Alice Wong, along with Delta-Richmond East MP John Cummins, to figure out how to make it happen, but surely there is a way for [...]

Unfortunate staff report – response 1

Previous posts in this blog (available below) mention the unsavoury events leading up to Nov. 17, 2008, when Richmond councillors including Cynthia Chen and Derek Dang thwarted an attempt to slip through a resolution giving new life to the City of Richmond’s almost-terminated Garden City Lands purchase agreement. The attempt was not stamped out, but it was postponed until [...]

“Consolidated area” questions

This post addresses readers’ emailed questions prompted by yesterday’s “Contiguous, continuous, consolidated claptrap” post analyzing a letter from Randy Fasan (offering a “consolidated area” of 40 acres) that was received by senior city staff before an important Richmond council committee meeting related to the Garden City Lands. The Richmond Review has published a brief version, and [...]

Contiguous, continuous, consolidated claptrap

A supposedly momentous letter from CLC was announced at the Nov. 17 meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Richmond Council. “CLC” meant Canada Lands Company CLC, which is currently entrusted with the title to the Garden City Lands. CLC also directs City staff in the application to the Agricultural Land Commission that the City is making on CLC’s [...]

Response to “Fiery finale”

Re: “Fiery finale . . . ,” Richmond News, Nov. 19
Under the Garden City lands agreements, Canada Lands Company CLC is responsible for getting the lands “released” from the ALR by December 31, 2008. If CLC fails, only the City of Richmond’s purchase agreement is terminated.
I want to clarify that there’s no expiry date in [...]

Bulletin re Nov. 17 committee meeting

Nov. 17 update to Nov. 15 bulletin: All of the councillors indicated that the Garden City Lands issue should not have been put on the committee’s agenda for a decision until newly elected councillors have replaced councillors who have completed their service, and the committee made that official with a vote. The most significant news [...]

Council election results

This post about the Nov. 15, 2008, Richmond, BC, election results replaces a post about electing a “Save garden City” council.
Harold Steves, Sue Halsey-Brandt, and Linda Barnes of “Save Garden City” topped the polls, and Ken Johnston was also elected. They and other Save Garden City candidates got 66% of the councillor vote, but their 111,620 [...]

Ugliest is still pretty good

Lawyer Richard Lee is “THE UGLIEST” on a blog that brands Richmond council candidates as “Good,” “Bad,” “Ugly,” and “The Ugliest.”

In contrast, I (in agreement with the Richmond News) put Mr. Lee in my personal mix of 2008–2011 councillors in “Electing a Save-Garden-City council” on this blog.
I was asked if I’ll drop him, [...]

Renegotiating re purchase agreement expiry

This post is related to the two posts immediately below it.
A reporter asked me for a comment this afternoon. It wasn’t too clear what I was commenting on, but I think I’ve figured it out. Here is what I think the question was about, along with what I meant to say in response:
Question: The Garden [...]

The purchase agreement expiry

Executive director Colin Fry has told me that the Agricultural Land Commission will not exclude the Garden City lands from the ALR in 2008. As a result, the City of Richmond’s purchase agreement to buy part of the lands will become null and void at the end of the year. Where does that leave us?
Mayor [...]

Purchase agreement soon null and void

It’s almost certain that the Agricultural Land Commission will not decide on the application to exclude the Garden City Lands from the ALR before the December 31, 2008, deadline in the City’s purchase agreement.
The effect is largely similar to the effect if the Council had voted to not apply to the Commission or if [...]

Time to reform Richmond council?

When we choose a new Richmond council on November 15, I hope we’ll use this criterion: likelihood to accomplish needed reform.
Thanks to the Garden City lands, people see that there’s much to fix.  One slate is even campaigning to fix what its own incumbents damaged when they voted again and again for getting those 136 acres [...]

Pre-test for Richmond council applicants

The City Council of Richmond, British Columbia, has three stellar members named Harold Steves, Linda Barnes, and Sue Halsey-Brandt. The Richmond electors need to hire up to six new council members to round out the council team. The hiring decision will be made on Nov. 15, 2008. If you are applying, please take the following [...]

The “Buy out Musqueam” non-starter

In “Buy out Musqeuam: Richmond First” (Richmond News, Oct. 29, 2008), Richmond First council candidates Bill McNulty and Kiichi Kumagai suggested offering a vast sum of money to the Musqueam Indian Band for what they think it owns in the Garden City Lands.

The Band holds an unregistered 50% beneficial interest in the lands, while Canada [...]

Answer key for Richmond Council pre-test

Use this answer key to self-evaluate your pre-test for Richmond council applicants.
First, count your “Yes” answers and your “No” answers.
If you answered No” seven times, you are a candidate with promise.
If you answered “Yes” seven times, you may be a clone of incumbent council members we would consider replacing.
Note: All of the implied truths in [...]