Bickerton then alleged that the city didn’t appeal the assessment
because Concord Pacific has long been reported as a major donor to Mayor
Gregor Robertson’s Vision Vancouver party.
I did not allege or say that, and to the contrary, made a point of stating to every reporter I have spoken to about this story that we are in no way questioning anyone’s integrity. We are simply asking for equity and fairness.
I was quoted recently in an article in The Georgia Straight called “Vision Vancouver looks after businesses with tax shift” by Carlito Pablo. In regard to the property tax transfer from businesses to residences, I’m quoted as stating:
“I think it’s a very hard thing for politicians to do this. And I believe that it’s a courageous thing they [Vision and NPA councillors] are doing. I praise them for doing it. I know that COPE is unhappy with them going ahead in doing that. But I personally salute their political courage in continuing. It’s not an easy one to support.
(But) to be a healthy economy, we need jobs. If businesses are paying higher taxes here than anyplace else in Canada, that works against creating jobs.”
Just to be clear, I’m in favour of everyone paying a fair share of their income towards taxes to support the very high standard of governance we benefit from in Vancouver and other Canadian cities. But we should do more to foster small-business entrepreneurialism. One way to help would be looking at local commercial retail property taxes and assessments. Another concern is that the HST is going to have a greater effect on our local restaurants, hair salons and other small service businesses just when the recovery seems to be taking hold.
Small businesses generate 60% of all new jobs yet will bear the brunt of the cost. Larger corporations, on the other hand, will save a great deal with HST implementation and they should be prepared to share the pain as well as the benefits with the many small businesses that are going to be hurt by the automatic 7% rise in their own prices and those of their suppliers.
Having stated all of the above, my conversation with the reporter lasted ten minutes and most of that was spent discussing ways the city could eliminate the projected deficit and preserve core programs. So it was great to see that the Straight also published my Letter to the Editor which covers some of those suggestions:
Sean Bickerton
Fri, 2009-12-04 10:15
Letter To The Editor, Georgia Straight
I believe it is possible to continue with the transfer away from small businesses while still maintaining services by cutting the 100 new police officers Mayor Robertson has insisted on hiring at a cost of an extra $12,000,000 annually. As our police force spend 1/3 of their time dealing with mental health issues, why not hire ten social workers at a cost of less than $1 million to have a team on call 24/7 in direct support of the police, freeing them for more urgent priorities.
And, as Peter Ladner suggested, there are $30,000,000 in outstanding fines and bylaw violations, so why not ask the province to stop renewing drivers licenses until all fines are paid, which would eliminate the entire budget gap?
There clearly are other options to cutting our parks, rec centres and libraries, which means these choices are deliberate and I’m terribly disappointed in the choices made
When Expect shameless behaviour from politicians during Pride week was first published by The Georgia Straight, it recommended to Pride organizers that they ban the NPA from marching in this year’s Pride Parade. I found the suggestion highly irresponsible and wrote the article below in response. Since then they’ve removed the suggestion. It’s nice to know The Straight is listening.
I should point out that Charlie Smith, the author, is a balanced writer that slams the other guys almost as much as he does us. But I felt he went too far in seeking the banning of a major political party from this year’s parade, and I’m glad The Straight has seen fit to retract the offending statement.
—————— The NPA has a proud history of championing gay candidates throughout our history too numerous to list. Our new Board of Directors is the most diverse in our history and matches any political organization in this city for its broad inclusiveness. The NPA also happens to have an openly gay man in the top leadership, yours truly as the External VP for the organization. I also ran for the NPA last fall as an openly-gay, married man and proud, past-President of Gays and Lesbians of UBC. (That’s what it was called back when we were organizing the gay rights movement in Vancouver to respond to the AIDS crisis.)
Our elected councillor, Suzanne Anton, was at the forefront of efforts to help the Odyssey and the endangered drag community that rehearses and performs there. According to Xtra West, “Odyssey supporters left city hall outraged Apr 9 after council turned down the popular gay club’s application to relocate to Denman St. NPA councillor Suzanne Anton cast the only vote in favour of the Denman St location. Vision Vancouver councillor Kerry Jang compared the loss of one of Vancouver’s longest-running gay spaces to his father’s favourite Chinese restaurant closing. His father found a new restaurant and got over it, Jang told council.”
Perhaps the reason Dr. Jang can’t tell the difference between the Odyssey and a chinese restaurant is because he never took the time to meet the patrons. Suzanne went a number of times, and took me with her one night. The Odyssey is far more than a dance club – it’s a cultural space, a community space, and a support system for an embattled minority within a minority. We met a DJ and his bride to be, who were sustained through more than a decade by the club’s generous support of the transgendered and drag community. They were very emotional as they told us how much the Odyssey meant to them, how supportive the club was – providing the rehearsal and performance space they needed, and providing a much-needed focal point for their community.
What Suzanne Anton made possible was a reprieve that gave the Odyssey a little more time to find a new home, and a chance for its patrons to be heard, in contrast with a hard-hearted government willing to throw the drag and trans-gendered community out onto the street, insulting them in the process.
The NPA celebrates Vancouver’s diversity which is our own. We embrace and reflect the multicultural nature of our society, and celebrate the contribution of the GLBT community to making Vancouver a better, more vibrant and fun city to live in.
Vancouver’s Pride Parade is the biggest and most broadly supported parade in the City. I worked hard along with others that worked even harder at a time we weren’t greeted with applause in those early years. Why does the Georgia Straight want to prevent me from marching now?
My suggestion would be that we should all be working together to keep narrow-minded bigotry out of the parade and ensure that everyone that wants to can march in it, rather than attempting to politicize the parade and risk eroding any of the broad-based support it now enjoys.
Alex Tsakumis from 24 Hours recommends a Council vote for: “Sean Bickerton (NPA): Terrific community leader with a balanced, fresh approach to every issue across the board.”
The Vancouver Observer’s Linda Solomon writes that: NPA City Council candidate Sean Bickerton not only has roots in the Downtown Eastside, he lives there. In an election where every NPA and Vision Vancouver city hall candidate has claimed if elected they will make ending homelessness their top priority, Bickerton’s love and devotion to the area seems more credible than the claims of those candidates living west of Cambie and north of 50th, people one suspects, who may at times seem to view the problems of the poor through telescopes.
“We’re cleaning up the next lot and this building,” he said, during a recent interview at his apartment at Keefer and Pender. “I’m working with the residents association next door, and they’ve already got efforts going. Then we need to go the next block over. We start working on Pender. We can improve that block simply by picking up trash. Getting the residents involved in picking up trash. Maybe reducing the number of people injecting drugs outdoors. Pairing those with city services. If we could do that in one block, that would make a noticeable difference. I’m talking about small measurable change.
The Georgia Straight ran an editorial today recommending candidates for Vancouver council, and included me in a category worth considering:
“Bickerton, a former vice president of a major record label (N.B. just to clarify, it was Columbia Artists Management, not records) is a big supporter of the arts and of equality for gays and lesbians. He’s smart and well-intentioned, and the NPA was fortunate to lure him as a candidate.” And in a separate column in today’s Straight, Charlie Smith also rated me among those ‘worth considering”.
Last Friday I took part in one of the most fun events of the campaign – The Last Candidate Standing. As Replace Magazine’s Sean Ruthen reports: “And rounding out the trio, Sean Bickerton voiced his concerns for minority groups, alluding to the recent California overturning of their same-sex marriage laws.
The question posed to them by the panel was quite serious, concerning mental health and homelessness issues in the Lower Mainland, of which Sean and Betty gave the most considerate responses. Sean advanced to the final round, as he most effectively responded to the question of affordable housing.
According to Frances Bula’s report, the question that decided the winner was: “Thinking back to Mr. Peanut’s campaign to be mayor, which cartoon character would you pick to run city hall?”
Sean Bickerton picked Barney. “Superman would impose solutions but Barney is probably a better example. He’s friendly to children and transparent and open in his decision-making process.”
The next night, on Saturday, I participated in the Creative City Cabaret, along with a standout performance by Peter Ladner singing a song he wrote and accompanying himself on the guitar.
The Sun’s Peter Birnie reports that The octogenarian activist Betty Krawczyk, who “offered some soft-shoe tap to the loud sounds of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock n’ Roll” was charming, as (was) council candidate Sean Bickerton when he read his own straight-ahead poem about coming to grips with being in a same-sex relationship south of the border.”
The Dangers of Gay Marriage
Where, oh where, is Osama bin Laden?
Has anyone ever looked in Baden-Baden?
We seek him here, we seek him there …
That damned elusive baluchithere!
Have a concern about Avian Flu?
The folks at WHO say it could be for you!
Tommy Thompson said we’re quite unprepared,
So people watching news reports are very, very scared!
Say, did you see that Hurricane Katrina?
Al Gore’s saying the next one could be even meaner!
We’re all adrift together on global warming’s rising tide,
So batten down the hatches folks, it may be quite a ride!
Then there’s all that violence in the deserts of Iraq
Hard to hear the good news over all that clackety-clack!
Day after day with more IEDs going “Boom!”
It’s tough not to feel an impending sense of doom.
The Dow Jones is headed South,
Anne Coulter runs off her foul mouth,
Pastors pray for God to kill judges
What’s left of their souls but wrinkled up smudges?
Republicans revel in attacks against gays,
Dems try to vamp while counting the days;
The unitary executive keeps expanding its power,
While the Courts and the Congress dither and cower.
Healthcare’s a joke
For all common folk,
And wages get smaller
Along with our dollar.
Gas prices are way too high
Way too many terrorists too willing to die;
Republicans say we’ve got way too many wetbacks
And Lord knows we’ve faced way too many setbacks!
But have no fear, help is at hand,
For the leader of the Senate has said
There’ll be no gay weddings at all in this land:
In this nation gay marriage is dead.
The Georgia Straight’s Jesssica Werb reports on Saturday night’s Creative City Cabaret, a talent show of candidates in the civic election: “Some highlights included NPA council candidate Sean Bickerton’s own political poetry.”
For my part, I read “The Dangers of Gay Marriage”, a poem I wrote back in early 2006 while still living in New York. We were in the midst of a very ugly congressional election campaign in which all of the major issues facing the nation were ignored in favour of a hate-filled diatribe against gay families and our ability to marry the person we love.
The disastrous consequences – for the U.S. and indeed the entire world – are now plain for all to see. But Tom and I decided to move back to Canada that summer for the rest of our lives, so we could live in a place less consumed by hatred, where gay men and women can truly live free.
The Dangers of Gay Marriage
Where, oh where, is Osama bin Laden?
Has anyone ever looked in Baden-Baden?
We seek him here, we seek him there …
That damned elusive baluchithere!
Have a concern about Avian Flu?
The folks at WHO say it could be for you!
Tommy Thompson said we’re quite unprepared,
So people watching news reports are very, very scared!
Say, did you see that Hurricane Katrina?
Al Gore’s saying the next one could be even meaner!
We’re all adrift together on global warming’s rising tide,
So batten down the hatches folks, it may be quite a ride!
Then there’s all that violence in the deserts of Iraq
Hard to hear the good news over all that clackety-clack!
Day after day with more IEDs going “Boom!”
It’s tough not to feel an impending sense of doom.
The Dow Jones is headed South,
Anne Coulter runs off her foul mouth,
Pastors pray for God to kill judges
What’s left of their souls but wrinkled up smudges?
Republicans revel in attacks against gays,
Dems try to vamp while counting the days;
The unitary executive keeps expanding its power,
While the Courts and the Congress dither and cower.
Healthcare’s a joke
For all common folk,
And wages get smaller
Along with our dollar.
Gas prices are way too high
Way too many terrorists too willing to die;
Republicans say we’ve got way too many wetbacks
And Lord knows we’ve faced way too many setbacks!
But have no fear, help is at hand,
For the leader of the Senate has said
There’ll be no gay weddings at all in this land:
In this nation gay marriage is dead.
XtraWest: There was a sense that there was a scrambling to get a gay nominee within a week of rejecting Jamie Lee Hamilton’s application for nomination. How did the NPA find [council candidate] Sean Bickerton?
Peter Ladner: Sean Bickerton found us many weeks before anything happened with Jamie Lee Hamilton. Because if you know how the NPA screens members, it takes sometimes months to go through the process. You have to raise some money, you have to fill out a questionnaire, you have to get support from all kinds of people, you have to go and meet the board. All these things had happened before Jamie Lee’s incident showed up.
And we were thrilled to have Sean. I think he’s a fantastic candidate, and I don’t know why anyone would argue that it’s a bad thing Sean is on the slate. It’s a fantastic thing that he’s on the slate.
XW: The issue of tokenism was brought up with regard to Sean. You told Xtra West, you asked why is our candidate seen as token while other parties’ candidates aren’t. How would you answer your own question?
PL: I don’t know. It’s someone else’s accusation. I don’t even think it deserves an answer.
I think if somebody is a good candidate and they happen to be gay, I think it’s a completely cheap shot to say it’s tokenism if they’re on one slate but if somebody is gay on another slate, they’re not tokenism.
The question should be, ‘Is he qualified in other ways?’ It would be tokenism if we just found somebody who was only on the slate because they were gay. But Sean Bickerton is on the slate because he got involved organizing his community in Tinseltown, and because he has an extensive arts background and a business background, and he’s very, very dedicated to this community.
He’s down at the Union Gospel Mission all the time, and he wanted to contribute to the city, and the fact that he was gay was, for me, a bonus. But it wasn’t in any way a determining factor.
XW: During Larry Campbell’s tenure, there was a city liaison to the gay community. There isn’t now. Would you like to reinstitute that?
PL: City liaison?
XW: Yeah. It was a mayor’s appointment. There was a liaison between…
PL: An appointment?
XW: Yeah.
PL: Who was that?
XW: Tim Stevenson was the person at the time of Larry Campbell. Is that something you’d like to reinstitute as mayor?
PL: First of all, I don’t know that Tim Stevenson had any official capacity as the liaison to the gay community. He was a self-appointed liaison to the gay community, and Larry would have gone along with that, sure. But the same way that I think that you want to take whatever strengths you have from any candidates, and Sean’s got connections in the gay community. By all means, I would listen to him and he would be a first point of contact.
You can read the full interview on the Xtra West website.
From Frances Bula’s column on the Leadership Vancouver Mayoral Debate: “(Ladner) cited Woodward’s as an example of the kind of project the (Downtown East Side) needs, which has mixed uses and which will “infuse the neighbourhood with social capital.” That means people with the energy to clean up the area …
“He mentioned NPA council candidate Sean Bickerton as the kind of person he meant, an entertainment-industry guy who moved into Tinseltown and, when he found out about a significant social problem affecting his building, organized … to make change.”
The NPA has a proud history of championing gay candidates throughout our history too numerous to list. Our new Board of Directors is the most diverse in our history and matches any political organization in this city for its broad inclusiveness. The NPA also happens to have an openly gay man in the top leadership, yours truly as the External VP for the organization. I also ran for the NPA last fall as an openly-gay, married man and proud, past-President of Gays and Lesbians of UBC. (That’s what it was called back when we were organizing the gay rights movement in Vancouver to respond to the AIDS crisis.)
