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There hasn't been too much ground staked out in the Vancouver Mayoral elections so far, as there are still mayoral candidates to decide, and over six months until the actual election. There is still something to be gained however from the positions of the two main parties, Vision Vancouver, and Sam Sullivan's NPA, up to now.
There has been a lot of criticism about Sullivan's term for inaction, ineffectiveness, and pet projects such as the Downtown Ambassadors that don't really have an affect on the problems facing the city.
I don't think he can be criticized as lacking action on his approach to environmental policies though, as love them or hate them, there has been action.
There are however, concerns about how this action is going to play out. One of the central themes of Sullivan's first term is EcoDensity, which is an idea, now patented by Sam Sullivan personally, where people, businesses and homes are concentrated in a small, dense area, so to lessen our ecological footprint, lessen the dependence on cars and encourage more biking and walking, as people do not have to travel long distances to get where they are going. There are tax breaks for greener buildings and strict guidelines for re-zoning and new structures.
The flip side of it is that EcoDensity can lead to higher property taxes for single-resident homes, as it will be encouraged to build more multi-unit homes and multi-story buildings to increase the density of that specific area, and you will pay the tax man if you don't convert yours.
It is definitely controversial, but it's breaking ground in North America, as Vancouver is the first city to openly and actively encourage density as a way to fight climate change.
Vision Vancouver's official policy is that they like the idea of density, but feel it must be accompanied by amenities such as more parks, community centers and affordable housing.
They refer to their model as ‘Sustainable Density', which seems to have more of a basis in the realities of the city, as with the homeless problem we have, it is difficult to imagine knocking down spaces that are already in place, such as old hotels on the East Side, which could be used as social housing, and replacing them with a rash of new, and high priced, green spaces that would come with full integration of the EcoDensity platform.
In the end, yes, Vancouver will be a more sustainable city if we aggressively support density, but where will we be while we're on the path there?
Just as the Olympics, density is an investment, but is Sam Sullivan going about it in the right way?
If he isn't, then the question becomes is the EcoDensity plan so off-course that it would be warranted to replace Sullivan based simply on the path it will be taking us down for the next three years?
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