Last week I met up with Paul at Central City for some breakfast, a chat, and some good old fashioned Surrey talk. Paul Hillsdon is a blogger that I crossed paths with a few years ago now and he’s taken his passion for transit planning, environmental responsibility and education to the next level by running for Surrey City Council and Surrey School Board in the civic elections this Saturday.
I started off by asking him some of the basics about the municipal elections and he was kind enough to clarify that only Surrey and Vancouver have ‘parties’ (which are more like coalitions) such as Surrey Civic Coalition, Surrey Electors Team, COPE, the NPA, or Vision Vancouver, since they are the largest cities in the region. Paul himself is running as an independent.
I then decided to get his thoughts about the strong sense of voter apathy in Canada, particularly among youth (since he is still a teenager himself – although wise beyond his years). “I thought I would be able to reach out to youth but even that’s tricky. Sure, they’ll join the Facebook group but will they come out and help?”.
“I think with the youth it’s more of a matter of them being able to convince others to vote,” Paul noted. He feels that young people play a very strong role as influencers. When I asked what he thought might help he simply replied, “…. a Canadian Obama?” Although that was followed by laughter I think we both knew there was definitely some truth to that statement. Canadians (on all levels of government) need to have a leader and representative that is passionate and they can really get behind – someone who will also be seen in the community.
One thing that Paul is passionate about is transit and he’s outlined an ambitious yet extremely responsible and practical proposal with his Transit for Tomorrow plan.
“The detailed plan is quite simple: shift $1.1 billion provincial dollars from 6 km of SkyTrain in Surrey to funding a 43.4 km light rail network across Surrey and Langley.”
In fact, transportation is one of the main reasons Paul has even considered a career in politics. “It was a matter of timing,” he noted “I decided to run and bring this to everyone’s attention.” However he’s also branching out and you’ll find his name in two places on your ballot this Saturday.
Paul Hillsdon and Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts
“School Board was a last minute thing,” said Paul. “If I’m bringing transportation to the forefront in Council, I might as well bring the students’ perspective to the School Board because there’s a huge generation gap there.” Paul goes on to note that these are issues that really hit home for him as he admits when he was 15 he almost dropped out of school, “this is the reality of the system today – and things need to change.”
Paul has some interesting ideas for his School Board platform such as giving the students more of a voice and a place in the Board system. “We need to open it up so that students can take control of their own learning.” He’s also outlined some of his ideas for ’empowering the student’ which would include a district-wide roundtable for student council members, to make sure all levels are communicating. “The Student Council can be more than just a pep rally organizer.”
During our interview my sister arrived and being a Surrey citizen, mother, home owner, and having two children currently in the elementary school system, I thought she would be a good person for Paul to speak with.
She asked him about developments around the city and more specifically about the Campbell Heights fiasco, something that was recently brought up at the Surrey civic election forum. Campbell Heights is an industrial park where construction, industrialization and development threaten the sensitive eco-system of the Little Campbell River. This has even grabbed the attention of the David Suzuki Foundation. With Paul’s vision also concerning sustainable development and green building strategies, this is a project he adamantly opposes.
It’s encouraging to see someone with so much ambition (and so many fresh ideas) take initiative like this. I encourage everyone to read more about Paul’s platform and proposals: The Paul in ’08 campaign site, Paul’s website, Facebook event page, Facebook group page, and Civic Surrey.
If you live in the Greater Vancouver region, chances are your city will be holding an election this Saturday. For more information on how and where to vote, you can browse the CBC’s Civic Vote 2008 page with fun clickable maps, or view some of my election coverage. Polls are open this Saturday, November 15th from 8:00am until 8:00pm.
Photos in this post are all from Paul’s Flickr stream
Gift cards are everywhere these days and just this morning I heard an ad for Safeway that boasted their selection of 100 different cards, from pre-loaded meals at Earls to weekend getaways at a Marriott hotel – you can give anyone, anything this holiday season and it will all fit nicely into an envelope.
While browsing the Boing Boing Gadgets last night I came across the new Target Gift Cards, one of which doubles as a digital camera.
The camera comes with a USB cord, driver disk, instruction manual and a voucher for 40 free prints from the Target photo center. The camera runs on two AAA batteries an also has a self timer. [Coolest Gadgets]
Available in increments of $50 – $1,000 you can give that special someone a shopping spree at Target, as well as a 1.2 megapixel camera with 8MB of memory.
When giving or receiving a gift card, fees and expiry dates come to mind although apparently Target gets rid of all that mess and also gives you the option to reload the card.
Other creative offerings in Target’s GC department include the gift card/night light, gift card/USB key (64 MB), and the gift card/m&m candy tin.
It’s fun to see companies stepping up to not only engage their customers but to also help them get more use out of a little piece of plastic that would more than likely up in the trash after first or second use. I know if I had a little white Target dog USB key kicking around that it would get repeated use – as would the new sweater, socks, cosmetics, and cookies that the gift card would cover. It’s not much (the 64MB for example), but to me it’s that extra hint of personalization that can make this “I wasn’t sure what to get you” gift seem a little more special.
On a sunny day, walking down Robson Street, you can probably spot the VW Beetle that is painted blue and covered in everything from sea shells to jewels, even sporting a fully working fountain on the hood. It has been known to sport a “Go Canucks” now and then, and it always certainly draws a crowd.
John Berringer passed along the link for this gem – going for only $600. When the ad was posted it was painted white with striping and accents the colour of the Vancouver Canucks jersey (blue and green). On the roof it has “Linden 16” and there’s a 17 painted on the driver side door.
Just a few days ago a car of similar make and model was spotted and captured by Yumi (friend of The Crazy Canucks Flickr group). It seems like the car has been repainted to suit the late 1990’s Canucks colours and only has one number on it this time, 16.
Last season Zipcar did a promotion with the Canucks, painting some of their fleet in white, blue and green to benefit the Canucks for Kids fund (by Zipcar donating $0.25 every time someone books one of the Canucks cars).
There were also dozens of Canucks cars and trucks on the road last season during the Ultimate Canucks Fan search.
At a time when Canucks fan confidence is up and down like Hellevator, it’s fun to see people going all out like this. However, I think the furthest I’d probably go with my vehicle (if I had one) would be to outfit in a car flag or two… although that might change if I had a spare $600 lying around.
At the recent Gibson’s Finest Iron Bar Competition and Molson Brewery experience I got to learn the ropes when it comes to tasting some mighty fine spirits. This week all are invited to attend the 12th annual Hopscotch Festival around Vancouver to sip and sample whisky and premium beers from around the world.
In addition to our two-day Grand Tasting Hall The Hopcotch Festival offers a series of Satellite Events at various locations throughout the city over the course of the week, including: Whisky 101, Morrison-Bowmore Whisky Pairing Dinner, Molson Brewery Tour (sold out), Highland Park Dinner, The Great Whisky Smoke, Whisky 201, The Macallan Dinner, Master Special Release Malt Tasting [Events]
There are also two nights of the “Grand Tasting Hall” experience at the Rocky Mountaineer station. November 13th and 14th from 6:00pm – 10:00pm, you receive 5 tasting tokens and a tasting cup for your $40 ticket. On the 14th there is a limited amount of VIP tickets for $60 that get you 10 tasting tokens.
This year Hopscotch will also include a spirits section, that will feature tequilas, rums, gins, and vodkas.
We have lived in the West End for just over three years and we’ve really come to love our little neighbourhood. As soon as you stroll one block in from Davie or Robson the sounds of rushing traffic and trolley buses re-energizing turn to birds chirping, bicycle bells and lawn mowers. Deciduous trees act as canopies in the summer months providing cooling shade, while in the fall their frying pans-sized leaves tumble to earth, soaking up the rain before being raked away by vigilant gardeners.
When you live in the West End there are a few things you come to accept such as Fireworks nights in August, skunks, and the sound of behemoth fire engines rolling past your window while you’re trying to do a podcast. You also pay attention to notices that are frequently posted to telephone poles about tenant and community meetings (from the West End Residents Association or Renters at Risk).
With so many older buildings (built 1960s) mixed with towers, walk-ups, and heritage structures, the neighbourhood is a real melting pot, and an obvious target for developers. However, with renters making up 82% of residents in the West End, changing, renovating, demolishing, rebuilding, and introducing mortgages and condos into this area is a bit tricky, and the way it’s been handled so far is the cause of much outrage, alarm, and disbelief.
In some cases building owners would like to raise (even double) rent for current tenants in order to renovate, tenants may be given ultimatums (to pay up or ship out) and in other cases, they are simply asked to vacate.
There’s an apartment block along our route to the grocery store that was emptied out last year and renovated. By renovated I mean they added a fresh coat of paint, new windows, and little gates where the small yards used to be. There have been signs up on the corner to buy into this place (instead of rent) for so long now, and I still have not seen one person move in.
A case that has been getting much attention in the news (although this sort of thing has been going on for years) is the struggle over at the Seafield Apartments – near Pendrell and Nicola. I received an email from a resident a few weeks ago who spoke of their threat of mass eviction and sent along a link to their website. They have banded together to get their story out in the news, and they’ve started sharing their cause online with Building at Risk.
The Seafield group has also taken to supporting other apartments in danger, including showing up in protest at 1209 Jervis Street where eviction notices were issued last winter.
The rally gave a voice to renters who are concerned about the lack of tenant protection in the Residential Tenancy Act. Evictions for renovations, voluntary rent increases, geographic market increases and fixed-term leases are all loopholes employed by corporate landlords to get around current rent control legislation (3.7 percent increase/year).
At the rally, members of Renters at Risk asked politicians to make changes to the Tenancy legislation to protect renters, including the enactment of the Right of First Refusal. [Seafield]
Housing for any, many and all has been a huge topic throughout the Federal Elections in this region, as well as the recent by-elections and the upcoming civic elections – this has been taking place across the city in various forms for years.
The Seafield’s website (built with WordPress) is full of personal stories, articles, blog posts, links to mainstream coverage and various data surrounding renters’ rights. It adds a very real voice for these buildings and all of those who call them home.
Learn about your rights at the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre or through the Residential Tenancy Branch of the BC Government.
