Are you one of those people who gets upset when you see city crews clearing snow from the city’s bike lanes after a snowfall – when you can’t even get your car out of your neighbourhood?
Are you one of those people who doubts the city’s strategy to get people off the streets and into homes will ever eradicate homelessness?
I put those questions and other concerns from the public to city manager Sadhu Johnston in my latest episode of “12th&Cambie: The Podcast!” For a solid half hour, Johnston took my questions on these topics and others, including the city’s plans to possibly add a separated bike lane along the 10th Avenue bike corridor in front of Vancouver General Hospital, the city’s ongoing fight to stop Kinder Morgan from building a pipeline and, of course, the fuss about changing the city’s logo.
“What we heard loud and clear was that there wasn’t enough process, the public wanted to be involved in some way and the overall design wasn’t something that people were inspired by,” he said Wednesday from the Courier’s podcast studio.
The city’s marijuana dispensary licensing scheme and the drug overdose crisis were other topics discussed in the interview. The podcast begins with Johnston talking about the federal budget and what Vancouver was hoping for in commitments to transit and housing. The interview occured before the goverment released details of the budget, which includes billions of dollars for transit and housing.
Click on the tab below to hear more. In advance, thanks for listening.
@Howellings
- On the city’s relationship with the Trudeau government (2:25 mark in the interview)
- On how much the city’s so-called “housing re-set” depends on federal money (3:29)
- On how much of the city’s new housing strategy focuses on homelessness (8:57)
- On the city’s business licensing scheme for marijuana (14:13)
- On how much more money the city will spend to fight the overdose crisis (18:06)
- On the city considering seeking a judicial review to stop the Kinder Morgan pipeline (22:51)
- On whether the city’s bureaucracy has gone from impartial to political on certain issues (25:05)
- On whether a separated bike lane will be installed along the 10th Avenue bike corridor in front of Vancouver General Hospital (27:35)
- On why bike lanes are plowed after a snowfall (31:10)
- On the controversy related the city’s new logo (33:20)
