Why should you vote Nov. 19? Why should the question even be asked?
This is 2011. We are one of the most advanced nations on the planet with one of its oldest democratic constitutions. Even in an economic malaise, we are a rich people with an enviable record of education, health care, lifestyle, cultural tolerance and public services. We live in a city of glass towers and treed neighbourhoods. People risk their lives to sail across the ocean in dubious ships for a chance to live here. We have iPads.
And yet Vancouverites have a dismal voting record on city hall, school board and park board. As the kids say, WTF. The highest turnout in the city's history was 1934 with a 55 per cent turnout. The lowest was 26 per cent in 1942 and 1956. We hit a recent high of 50 per cent in 2002, when drug policy and the Downtown Eastside brought out voters. But the 2008 turnout, which saw Vision Vancouver come to power and steer the city in new policy directions in the environment and transportation, had a turnout of 31 per cent, the lowest recorded in 52 years.
Why ballot alienation? Who knows? It's a glaring paradox, occurring throughout the western world, that the level of government with the most influence on everyday life receives the least attention from voters. Political scientists disagree on the causes. But whatever the reason, there are innumerable reasons for you as an individual voter to buck the trend and head to the polls. Here are five basic reasons to start.
CHEQUE YOUR HEAD
The biggest reason to vote in a civic election: you're paying for it. If you're a homeowner, you are paying property, school and regional authority taxes. If you're a renter, you are paying your landlord's taxes. You have no choice but to pay. And it's a lot of money. Vancouver taxpayers shored up an astounding $960-million operating budget for city hall in 2010. If you want to get your money's worth, voting is a more persistent act than showing up at a council or board meeting and complaining. A complaint is a one-off event on a particular issue and may or may not be successful. A vote puts a selected group of people in power to make decisions for three years about all that money.
Sample issue to motivate you: Faced with declining revenue, the city cut millions in services and programs for 2011.
How is your local library doing?
GET IN THE PIPELINE
When you flush your toilet, you want what you put into it to disappear and not be your problem. When you turn on the tap, you want clean water to come out. That flush and that water come to you courtesy of the city and regional authorities. A huge chunk of your money that city hall spends comes down to sewers, water lines, roads and sidewalks because a huge chunk of your life comes down to toilets, the need for fresh water and walking or driving safely to and from places where you also expect to find toilets and fresh water.
Neither the provincial nor federal governments take care of this fundamental infrastructure. But the city does.
Sample issue to motivate you: The next neighbourhood over has speed bumps next to the kids park, but your neighbourhood does not. Why not?
THIS IS YOUR HOME
Vancouver is your home, but it comes at a price. And the price has skyrocketed in the past 15 years to the point where housing affordability-not drug injection sites, crime, bike routes, backyard chickens, or the rights of protesters to camp out in public-is the major, long-term issue for residents and families. In a city of milliondollar handyman specials, most of us cannot afford to buy here, and affordability is no better for the majority of Vancouverites who rent. Food, gas and utilities have all gone up. The next 10 years, and the councils elected during that period, will determine if Vancouver will ever be liveable again, especially for the slowly strangled middle class.
Sample issue to motivate you: the 40 year-old bungalow next door that sold as a $2-million teardown to an offshore investor.
DO IT FOR THE KIDS
The Vancouver school district has more than 55,600 students enrolled in classes this school year in 119 schools and programs. The operating cost of their education this school year is a projected $482.9 million and is administered by a board of nine elected trustees. The school system has the monumental task of teaching these kids to read, learn science, history and math, engage with the world, show up for work and not become rioters.
If you have kids in the public school system, voting for the school board is a slam dunk. They have your kids locked up five days a week. If you don't have kids in the school system, it's also a slam dunk, because the kids they have locked up will one day be your adult neighbours, colleagues and staff with services and businesses you patronize. When you get old, they will be your caregivers.
Sample issue to motivate you: year-round schooling. Will it make schooling fairer or smother childhood?
PARK YOUR IGNORANCE
Vancouver has 24 community centres and more than 200 parks, managed by a park board of seven elected commissioners, which is a unique feature of Vancouver. That means, at least in theory, voters here have a direct hand in influencing the annual $100 million operating budget and $12.2 million capital budget. The money goes for parks, playgrounds, rinks, pools, gyms, meeting spaces, playing fields and tennis and basketball courts. It keeps the grass cut, or not, in your neighbourhood park. It provides washrooms, or not, in those same parks.
Sample issue to motivate you: park space reserved for unleashed dogs. Woof.
YOUR CHOICE
The Courier will cover the civic election Saturday night via updates to our website at vancourier.com and on our 12th & Cambie blog. We will also update results and news on Twitter at @VanCourierNews. Check our election section for all our election-related stories, commentary and candidate profiles to date. Look at the city's excellent election section at vancouver.ca. Then go vote.
See related story on page 6
editor@vancourier.com
