Sean Bickerton

Kicking over the traces with good friends Didi & Lil!

“Out with the Old and In with the New!” has never rung more true for me than it does with the advent of 2012!

It’s only been five years since I moved back to Vancouver after twenty years away in New York. It’s taken that long just to find good Mexican!

So it was a complete  accident when I got caught up in local politics during efforts to improve my building.

When Peter Ladner came over to ask me to run, I spent the first half hour pointing out to him how unsuited I was then to be a candidate, having just moved home, with so few connections, etc.

But I’m incapable of doing anything half-heartedly, especially when it comes to underdogs, and what should have been a brief political detour ended up consuming the next three years of my life.

Some have taken exception to my post-campaign public renunciation of local politics and the demands of public life, thinking it originates from pique or is just a bruised ego talking.

Bruised ego aside, something I readily own up to, this last campaign left me in debt and it’s out of necessity that I must turn my attention to the responsibility I owe first to my family, as well as to the cadre of internationally-celebrated, grammy-award-winning clients we serve through our business, ArtistManager.Net: Talented Websites For The Most Talented People In The World!

I have spent my entire life involved in the performing arts and entertainment and had the privilege of working at the top of that profession internationally, first as a VP with Columbia Artists Management and with my own agency IAG, and now producing state-of-the-art websites that renowned artists use to communicate with the world.

I love Vancouver and the hundreds of remarkable people we’ve had the pleasure of meeting through politics since moving back, and I’ve grown immensely through the experience.

But I believe after three years of intense service that I’ve more than discharged any obligation I ever had to the NPA – twice over in my own estimation.

Now I must – and am eager to – focus my energy and attention on the re-imagined, reinvented, next-generation incarnation of our business that we will be launching next month.

The importance of community remains one of my fundamental values though, as does the prime importance in life of the arts. So I continue as Strata Chair of my building – Paris Place – continuing efforts to improve quality of life for our residents and for my neighborhood, in cooperation with the Crosstown Residents Association and False Creek Residents Association.

I also remain Chair of a Strategic Task Force for the Langley Community Music School co-founded by my sister Linda, third-largest music school in BC and one of the largest in western Canada.

And I will continue to write and speak out on issues I believe are important to a Canadian way of life I see as increasingly threatened.

Tom and I end 2011 a little leaner but much greener and even keener than ever before to meet the challenges of trying to invent a small but excellent slice of the future, an adventure we’ve been involved in conducting together since we first met in 1986, my first year in New York.

To everyone chasing their dreams, I salute you and share your passion for what comes next!

Here’s to a fabulous 2012!

It can be a bit humbling, learning just where one fits on a scale of the city’s affections, in my case somewhere just below the barn-burning Tim Louis (Love you Tim!), just higher than a newbie with a bit of baggage. Even tougher to contemplate the lack of enthusiasm from a party I’ve worked hard to help rebuild over the past three years.

C’est la vie.

But I wasn’t the only casualty. How is it possible we’ve spent more than $2.5 million to go from the lowest-ever representation on council to our second-lowest representation ever?

There were only seven incumbents running for ten spots and one didn’t make it, leaving four spots open. Given that the NPA was the only viable alternative, we should have taken at least three council seats, if not four.

Especially after one of the worst riots in the city’s history, a quarter billion dollars in losses at the Olympic Village, and neighborhoods across the city up in arms. Everyone agreed council needed re-balancing.

Read more…

Many thanks for the thousands of kindnesses you’ve shown me over the past eight months!

Thank you for the hours spent phoning, the free haircut, the time spent on cold, rainy nights handing out my flyers, and for the friendliness you showed meeting me on corners when I was handing out my own.

Thank you for encouraging me along the way, helping my campaign, telling your friends to vote for me, advising me, introducing me to your circle, donating, volunteering, endorsing my candidacy, showing up, taking a sign, etc. Together, we have done everything possible to make voters aware of the issues I believed were important in this campaign.

But the voters have spoken, decisively rejecting a Mayoral campaign based on puerile, sophomoric, gotcha-style attacks and trivial wedge issues.

In the process, voters have also rejected my candidacy for a second time. Having no choice but to accept the wisdom of their decision, I will be withdrawing from public life and service in order to focus more time and attention on our business.

Congratulations to Mayor Robertson on his victory, and to his Vision council which has received a resounding endorsement of their policies and a clear mandate for the next three years.

I would also like to congratulate two exemplary council candidates, Elizabeth Ball and George Affleck, who conducted themselves with grace and class throughout a grueling and contentious election, and to two super new Park Board candidates John Coupar and Melissa De Genova.

Thank you again,
Sean

Following yesterday’s challenge, my letter to Michael Harcourt, the SFU Professors & Building Communities Society:

January 21, 2011

Dear Mr. Harcourt,

We first met at a debate you did in the Library 2 years ago. I was introduced to you as someone who ran unsuccessfully for council with the NPA. Your response was quite kind – don’t worry about that Sean, you said, that was an outgoing, rather than an incoming tide … “

It meant a lot to me at the time, and I was very impressed with your debate style.

Fast forward to today and we find ourselves on opposite sides of the HAHR report. Your organization and the SFU Profs have essentially stopped all forward motion out of a clear belief that what’s being proposed is wrong-headed.

I disagree with you, but I’m actually hoping you have an alternative to offer, so I’m challenging you, ABC and the SFU Profs to a public debate of these issues. You have all of the credentials and heavies on your side.

If you all truly have the courage of your convictions, and if it really matters so much, you will be willing to meet me in a public forum.

Who knows? We might even arrive at a solution.

Sincerely,
Sean Bickerton

This week the professional staff of our City, the experts we’ve hired to advise us, produced a thorough, thought-through plan after three years of consultations and revisions under the rubric of Historic Area Height Review.

Nonetheless, some of our city’s most educated and influential citizens felt it necessary to oppose this plan for new housing in the DTES, successfully defeating any further consideration of this report’s recommendations for the DTES during the rest of this council’s term.

I strongly disagree with their position on a strict policy basis favoring something over nothing and want to know why they’ve intervened to shut down any progress in this way.

That is why I’ve publicly challenged Michael Harcourt, the SFU Professors, and the Building Communities Society to sponsor a public forum where we can debate these issues.

Mr. Harcourt, Professors of SFU, and the Building Communities Society – are you up for a fair debate? I am. Name the time and place.

The College of Family Physicians of Canada is awarding former Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan an Honourary Membership, citing his work on behalf of “… the needs of the homeless and inner-city populations and programs for those battling drug and substance abuse”. The College states that “Mr. Sullivan has demonstrated courageous leadership in introducing and supporting programs for inner-city populations in need”.

This recognition marks the first time a former Mayor receives this award and he is one of only three “outstanding Canadians” being recognized in 2010.

As Vancouver City Councillor he was a supporter of the establishment of North America’s only supervised injection site for people with drug addictions. As Mayor he raised the $175,000 required to develop the SALOME project proposal which has now received several million dollars of government and private funding commitments. The project will see hundreds of people with drug addictions in Vancouver transitioned from illegal street drugs to legal medications as a way of reducing crime, medical and other societal costs and improving health.

Mayor Sam Sullivan oversaw the largest commitment to social and supportive housing in the City of Vancouver in over 30 years. He received provincial support for 12 new supportive housing projects on city-owned land for more than 1000 hard to house people. He also supported the provincial government purchase of 18 low-income hotels with a $5 million contribution. He lent his personal support to the establishment of the Street to Home Foundation and worked with the federal government and Senator Michael Kirby on getting $20 million to support those with mental illnesses in Vancouver.

Sam Sullivan advocates for those with mental illness and drug addiction through his Global Civic Policy Society. In 2009 he hosted a forum on these issues attended by 250 people. On November 3 at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre he will host a Public Salon featuring former City Drug Policy Coordinator Donald MacPherson among others. As Mayor, Sullivan was heavily criticized for his position on drug addiction, mental illness and homelessness and narrowly lost the opportunity to run for Mayor in the 2008 election.

Sam Sullivan said, “I am very honoured that the professionals who are most knowledgeable about the needs of our most vulnerable have chosen to recognize my efforts. I hope this will remind people that these issues require our continued support”.

Sam Sullivan has received the Order of Canada, Christopher Reeves Award and Terry Fox Award for supporting Canadians with disabilities. He has received the Peter F Drucker Award for non-profit innovation. His EcoDensity Initiative won the 2009 Canadian Planners Institute highest award for City Planning. This latest award marks the first time a prestigious national body has recognized his work on addiction, mental illness and homelessness issues.

Even in the dog days of summer, when most Vancouverites are happily tuned out to politics and tuned into the beach, baseball and backyard BBQs, Mayor Robertson’s program to increase rental housing in the city has created such a stir he’s been forced to call a halt to the signature project of his STIR initiative – a new 22-story tower proposed for 1401 Comox in the West End.

Incredibly, what began with the Mayor’s unguarded, expletive-laced tirade against the city’s Non-Partisan Association has metastasized into a crisis of confidence in the legitimacy of the city’s planning and consultation processes.

In a recent interview with the Vancouver Sun, Mayor Robertson himself admitted “the city doesn’t have strong relations any more with many community groups” and that “many neighbourhoods are actually wary and distrustful of city hall.”

Even Vision’s communications guru, Marcella Munro, agreed last week during our discussion on CBC Radio that “the city’s public consultation process is flawed, is broken.” Our debate of the Mayor’s ill-fated STIR program was featured on the CBC’s Early Edition program on Wednesday, September 1, hosted by Gregor Craigie. To hear it in full, click on the play button below:

It didn’t have to turn out this way. During the election, the Mayor promised more transparency of decision-making, more consultation and more sensitivity to neighbourhood concerns.

What happened?

To put it succinctly, Mayor Robertson’s STIR program was misguided from the start, seeking to address a problem that didn’t exist with a solution that doesn’t help.

In response to cries for help from West End Seniors and low-income renters wishing to stay in place but facing large rent hikes, the Mayor, instead of addressing their very real and specific problem, adopted the simplistic bromide that we need more rental housing in Vancouver. This despite the fact that more than 900 apartments were listed for rent on Craiglist in just one day last month, while a recent CMHC report showed Vancouver’s vacancy rate has doubled to 2% in recent years.

Having misdiagnosed the problem, Robertson compounded his mistake by proposing a solution not designed to reduce rents or create affordable housing, but instead designed to create more expensive market-rental housing. A recent analysis of the developer’s pro-forma reveals the projected suites will rent for approximately $2.70 per square foot, nearly double the city’s current average rental rate of $1.50 – $2 per square foot.

Even if you accept the Mayor’s program as a worthy initiative in and of itself – “this city needs more rental housing” – the question has to be asked: “What is the benefit, and at what cost?” Each STIR project will cost the city millions of dollars in foregone tax revenues and amenities, yet the result is market-rental housing. What business is it of government to produce market-rate anything?

Presumably, the Mayor’s trickle-down housing project would also eventually provide relief to the by-now-evicted seniors the program was supposedly created to help, but it’s unclear exactly how that would happen.

Lastly, for decades, Vancouver has adhered to a strict formula for assessing the community amenities each developer is required to contribute in order to compensate the local community for increased density. This formula is 2.75 acres of park for each 1000 residents in every new development. When sufficient parkland wasn’t available, the difference was made up by a comparable contribution towards needed city amenities.

One of the first things this Mayor did was throw that time-tested standard out the window, replacing the level-playing field it provided with STIR’s ad-hoc, spot-rezoning approach that requires a separate, back-room negotiation for every project. Instead of a steady, predictable regulatory environment, developers now face an uncertain environment, eroding business confidence and the underlying pinnings of this city’s economy.

Given a policy so full of holes and internal contradictions, yet so costly to taxpayers, it was inevitable that questions and eventually objections would arise. But listening hasn’t proven to be one of Mr. Robertson’s strong suits.

Determined to be the first Mayor to deliver new West End rental housing in more than thirty years, Robertson brushed off all objections as political obstructionism and, incredibly, conflating his own supporters in the West End Neighbours Association with his nemesis, the NPA.

Having negated all outside voices, the echo room in the lock-step, me-too Vision caucus ensured that no one bothered to ask any of the tough questions that could have helped this neophyte mayor avoid being hoisted on the petard of his very own pet program.

The regrettable result is that the Mayor has been forced to call a halt to a year-long development process he initiated, leaving the developers and Qmunity to dangle in the breeze along with those seniors he forgot about as soon as he came up with the acronym.

If that were all, it would be bad enough. But this half-baked, ad-hoc policy has left the city’s planning process a shambles, faith in public consultation broken, the city’s management team demoralized, developers unable to create new housing, Qmunity without a home and renters no better off than they were before the Mayor decided to create this unnecessary STIR in the first place.

The Georgia Straight published the following article by Matthew Burrows on Thursday, August 12, 2001:

Former NPA candidate Sean Bickerton slams Critical Mass

A former Non-Partisan Association city council candidate is calling on Critical Mass riders to “declare victory” and reform the controversial month-end bicycle ride in light of recent gains.

“I saw the point of it when there wasn’t any dedicated bike infrastructure, when there were no protected or separated paths,” Sean Bickerton, an occasional cyclist, told the Straight by phone.

“But when we’ve got an integrated network of safe bike paths that are separated, I don’t understand how they can simultaneously insist on the right to take over the entire road infrastructure, tie up the traffic for an hour, endanger emergency vehicles, tie up needed police resources that are scarce, without any coordination, without a permit, without paying any of the policing costs that go with it.”

For these reasons, Bickerton feels, cyclists should “comply with city regulations and laws like everybody else using the roads has to do”.

Critical Mass sets off from the Vancouver Art Gallery at 6 p.m. on the last Friday of every month, with the number of participants varying according to the weather and time of year. The ride is often criticized because the route isn’t announced ahead of time, which would help motorists to avoid it, but is arrived at by consensus during the ride.

Brent Granby, president of the West End Residents Association and an avid cyclist, told the Straight, “A city is never just about the efficient transportation of goods and services; it’s also about celebrating the city itself and the values that we have.”

Granby, a regular at Critical Mass, disagrees with Bickerton.

“Fundamentally, I think he just misunderstands what Critical Mass is about,” Granby said. “Like in medieval cities, they would open up the town square and they would have celebrations, and they celebrate being together and they celebrate their values as a society, and that’s what Critical Mass is about as well.”

He added, “I don’t think it’s too much to ask on the last Friday of the month, and usually we’re only talking about four months in the summertime. It’s a great thing for the city. It’s tourism. It’s like the running of the bulls.”

Last year, Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson and police chief Jim Chu called for a predetermined route for the ride in a joint news release ahead of the July 31 event, but the idea was not implemented.

Who indeed, Mr. Mayor?

Sadly, the Mayor’s profanity-laced diatribe deriding petitioners before his government is not an isolated incident.

His comments are instead reminiscent of comments made by the Mayor and Councillor Jang about residents of False Creek North when they dared complain about the mayhem caused by No-Rules Shelters forced on that neighbourhood.

As Michael Smyth wrote in the Province at the time after reporting on the legitimate concerns expressed by those residents at a public meeting: “Even then, some of Robertson’s Vision Vancouver councillors opted to lecture and harangue residents rather than respond to their concerns. Instead, Jang suggested the residents simply don’t care about poor people.” At least that’s what they said in public …

“The Mayor’s use of profanity isn’t as bothersome as the disdain for dissenters expressed in its usage.” Gary Mason, Globe & Mail

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IDcmUQa0WM]

The most recent intemperate remarks by the Mayor are concerning not because they’re unusual or profane, but because they are part of a larger pattern of contempt for the citizens of the city he runs:

• Public consultation has become a laughing-stock.
• Neighbourhood associations are routinely ignored.
• Planning processes are ad hoc at best.
• Staff reports regularly delivered too late for councillors to review prior to votes.
• Independent commissions like the Board of Variance have been subverted.
• In-camera off-record meetings are so common now as to pass unremarked.
• Expert advisory committees like the Civic Theatres Advisory Board are regularly ignored while others are stacked with party stalwarts.
• Deals affecting public assets are made behind closed doors to reward those with good connections.
• Any staff that raise questions, such as the highly-respected City Electrician Ark Tsissereve, are summarily dismissed without cause.
• Committee assignments and commission seats are restricted solely to card-carrying members of the ruling party and its coalition partners.
• Back-room negotiations for STIR giveaways have replaced long-established standards such as the 2.75 acres of parkland for every 1000 residents in all new developments.

“Robertson reveals himself as ignorant, arrogant.” Michael Smyth, The Province

That same arrogance and contempt for public process is often on open display in council chambers. Attend any council meeting and it’s possible to observe first-hand the lack of respect accorded to anyone not wearing Vision’s bright green colours.  Andrea Reimer wielding the gavel in the Speaker’s chair is singularly dismissive and sarcastic to Councillor Woodworth and Councillor Anton to the point of derision. She forgets that while they aren’t important in and of themselves, they represent voters and points of view that the electorate wants heard.

“Vision is like a bully misbehaving.”  Dharm Makwana, 24 Hours

In short, the contempt exhibited by this administration for voters and long-established democratic processes has been apparent for all to see for some time.

His stay in the Provincial Parliament was relatively brief, but perhaps the Mayor and his crew spent a little too much time in Victoria even so, infected as they now appear to be with the same contempt exhibited towards the taxpayers of Vancouver by the bureaucrats and politicians in Victoria.

“Do what you’re told and say what we tell you to say seems to have replaced professionalism at city hall.” Gordon Clark, The Province

The people who appeared before the Mayor deserve his full respect, that of his Council and the entire government of The City of Vancouver. And contrary to the Mayor’s remarks, we know who they are. They are the people who make the city work, the volunteers who dedicate thousands of hours of their own time every week across the width and breadth of our city for no reward.

They are the people who apparently care more about our city, Mr. Mayor, than you do.

I believe it would be a terrible mistake to rename the country’s longest-standing, most successful political organization because of a loss at the ballot box we caused ourselves through a destructive leadership battle.

The Non-Partisan Association has elected eleven of the past seventeen mayors of Vancouver. The city we see around us was created largely by the NPA and a related TEAM government – green, full of parks, with a vibrant service and information-based economy, and a dense but livable urban core full of life.

Photo: Tom Hudock

The NPA were committed environmentalists long before Vision held its first organizing meeting, making Vancouver’s building standards the most environmentally advanced in North America – LEED Gold standard. And we always maintained a long-standing requirement of 2.75 acres of park space for every 1000 residents in all new developments, a standard that’s sadly gotten lost with this Mayor.

The NPA undertook more socially-assisted housing than any administration in the city’s history (including the current Vision administration), partnering with the province to build or refurbish fourteen residences and creating more than 2400 units of assisted living housing. I know because one of Sam Sullivan’s new socially-assisted homes for single mothers is going up right next to my home in Tinseltown.

Photo: Tom Hudock

It was the NPA that initiated the Four Pillars program to address addiction, for the first time adding Prevention, Treatment and Harm Reduction to the standard Enforcement employed by all past mayors. As a direct result of those efforts, the rate of new AIDS cases has dropped dramatically, saving hundreds of lives, and hundreds more have been connected to treatment services that help people transform their live.

The NPA also established the first Community Court in the city’s history to deal with first time offenders by connecting them to social services and treatment options and offering community service as an alternative to highly expensive jail time with its exposure to hardened criminals. It is universally praised as a major success.

They also instituted comp-stat policing, which focuses police resources where they are most needed. As a result of these and other NPA initiatives, crime rates dropped more than 20% during the NPA’s recent tenure.

In addition, the NPA has been a strong champion of the Arts, raising arts funding in every year but one of the last administration, initiating the city’s first Poet Laureate and undertaking a $60 million upgrade of the Orpheum and Queen Elizabeth Theatre complex. Under the last NPA administration $1.5 million was used to establish a Cultural Tourism Fund, the highly successful free Olympic Live Sites were established, and the Juno’s were brought to Vancouver for the very first time.

And all of this with balanced budgets and full delivery of services.

Photo: Tom Hudock

Vancouver is the one of the most beautiful and livable cities in the world in part because the NPA has always offered good, pragmatic, financially-responsible management of the city’s resources and enlightened programs to address the city’s challenges.

I’m not saying we’re without fault or haven’t made mistakes in the past. But the NPA should be proud of its heritage and the city we’ve helped build, and of the name that emphasizes our non-partisan nature and openness to the best solutions for the challenges we face.

Keep the Non-Partisan Association. That’s the banner I’ll be running under in November of  2011.