Charlene has lived in the Vancouver area most of her life. She also resided in Edmonton for several years where she studied Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Alberta. Charlene currently works in Health Administration but would like to bring her individuality, intelligence, and compassion to City Hall. She feels strongly about being genuine and listening and addressing the concerns of people in the Vancouver community. The rapid changes in Charlene’s Marpole neighbourhood—without honest and true public consultation—inspired her to get involved in the municipal process. Charlene would be a strong and compassionate ally in City Hall for not only residents in Marpole and South Vancouver but also for all disenfranchised Vancouver residents.
Charlene wants to preserve and protect what is special about Vancouver before it's all gone. She also wants to help nurture the growth and traditions of Vancouver at a more evenly balanced pace. Protecting the last pieces of affordable housing in Vancouver is paramount to her as she feels many Vancouverites have been alienated when it comes to renting and purchasing housing in Vancouver. Many of the new developments are eliminating affordable rental housing units by replacing them with large towers because the City has little to no regard for how decisions affect current residents and its communities.
Charlene wants to help ensure that all of our tax dollars and assets are managed wisely. This means creating a standardized policy and a formula where all developers, big or small, would need to pay their appropriate Community Amenities Fee amounts to help fund the surrounding infrastructure and future services that residents will require. She also wants to implement a policy where the City can appropriately reallocate the funds charged to the developer back into the same community for which it was allotted. This would ensure that the communities will be cared for and protected after the developers have moved on. Charlene's a maximizer who looks at what already exists and/or what is currently available to see if improvements can be made to the system or structure before jumping into spending money.
Charlene would also like to address transit issues. The overcrowding at peak hours needs to be addressed. We need to look at transit planning on a larger scale and create long term plans. We need to plan collaboratively with all municipalities instead of developing piece by piece creating a disjointed system.
Highly logical, Charlene is skilled at finding weaknesses or downfalls in plans and can foresee problems that may arise prior to launching. Along with focusing on more long-term goals for the City, Charlene would help lead and grow Vancouver in a clearer, stronger direction. She also believes in transparency and keeping the public up-to-date with what is happening with the City, giving citizens an opportunity for feedback and placing power back into their hands. The City should be run with fairness, where City decisions involve the input of communities as well as that of developers and lead to an appropriate solution where everyone can benefit.
Facebook: Charlene Gunn
Twitter: twitter.com/GunnerInVancity
Website: cedarparty.ca/platform/
