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Local View: Council candidates articulate at Heights forum
By Ann Donnelly
Published: July 4, 2021, 6:01am
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On June 22, the Heights Coalition of local neighborhoods presented a well-organized public forum for mayoral and city council candidates. The event drew an audience of local opinion leaders and Heights Coalition advocates, aware they will be voting in a primary election in just over a month.
Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle made a solid case for reelection, describing Vancouver’s growth and solid bond rating during her tenure. Opponents Earl Bowerman and Doug Coop appeared unlikely to dent her electability.
The forum featured the intriguing race for the open city council Position 3. Three personable and articulate candidates — David Gellatly, Diana Perez, and Glen Yung — presented well-framed rationales for their election. Each addressed the unstated theme of the evening — representing neighborhood residents better — from a different perspective.
The Heights Coalition comprises neighborhood associations near the Heights District, a 205-acre parcel to be redeveloped according to a plan adopted in August. The plan reflects global green urbanism, featuring higher-density living, fewer private automobiles and convenient connections to public transport.
Though most residents welcome the city’s involvement, many have invested in upgrading the district’s spacious 1960s-era homes and lots. Activists are concerned about growing residential density, building height and limited parking under the plan.
Forum organizers emphasize the Heights Coalition is a politically diverse group that supports mixed-use infill, renewable energy, bike lanes and other aspects of green urbanization, but want the city to “consider the people and businesses they’ll affect.”
The city’s multiyear outreach process pressed advocates to devote countless hours attending meetings with city staff and filing public testimony, only to be disappointed now with the seemingly minimal impact of their efforts.
According to Heights activist Rick Gales, “the Navigation Center, the Westside Bike Mobility Project and the Heights District Plan are reminders that something is broken.”
Coalition advocates are now focusing on council elections. The necessity was earlier predicted by Heights activist Jim Luce: “We are in the business of protecting our homes and our neighborhoods and our community and supporting elected representatives who share those values.”
The Position 3 candidates all acquitted themselves well in the questions segment. Gellatly, who chairs the Northwynd Condominium Association near Beaches Restaurant and is active in the local GOP, emphasized his knowledge of workable solutions to homelessness and of our business community. He wants to entice businesses here from Portland and Seattle, saying they want to come, and that “all we can do is screw it up” with increased taxes proposed under the Stronger Vancouver initiative. Decrying the planned new bike lanes replacing parking along Columbia Street, Gellatly criticized the “(city) staff knows best” approach, saying he’s “not OK with that.”
Yung presented his impressive record of public involvement, promising to represent the electorate, not city staff. When the two collide, he stated, “there comes a time when you have to recognize it’s not what citizens want.” Highlighting the forum’s unspoken theme, he vowed to be a “check and balance” on behalf of voters.
Perez, who defended Stronger Vancouver but favored the city’s “admitting mistakes” when appropriate, will be an estimable contestant with her own persuasive résumé and her organized delivery on the stump.
Though, for full disclosure, I have donated to both Gellatly’s and Yung’s campaigns, it is too soon to pick a winner. In the meantime, these three candidates are in the right place at the right time.
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