On the move!
Agh! You’re still here? My new site and weblog, ianking.ca is now up and running; new posts are building up over there, never to be mirrored here. Go! What are you waiting for? All the stuff worth keeping has been migrated over to the new server, and I don’t anticipate making any more posts here.
Bloggers and webmasters: Update your links! Simply replace vancouverscrum.blogspot.com with www.ianking.ca in your blogrolls or bookmarks to point to the new site. Old posts will remain on this server for as long as the people at Blogger/Google allow them to remain; unfortunately, I’m not going to bother to come up with any way of converting permalinks on this blog to their corresponding posts on the new site. Yes, I plead laziness. I also realize the irony of switching away from Blogger just it starts to add features that the demanding blog nerds insist upon.
Thanks for reading and linking, and see you over at ianking.ca!
—Ian King, December 13, 2004
Tuesday, November 12, 2002
While the Vancouver Sun, which commissioned this poll of Vancouver and Lower Mainland voters, focussed on support for some form of municipal amalgamation, the numbers also show what voters are looking for in a mayor.
Vancouver voters were most likely to say that "a vision for the future" was the most important quality for a potential mayor (30%), followed by "a good manager" (22%), and "a willingness to make tough decisions" (18%). Who does this benefit? Well, Larry Campbell is certainly unafraid of outlining what he thinks that he, and the next council, should do in the days following the election, and his 30-day dealine for a safe-injection facility could be interpreted as making a tough decision. On the other hand, Jennifer Clarke has been emphasizing her detailed knowledge of the city government, and has been trying to communicate the message that she and her Non-Partisan Association have been good managers.
On the "vision thing," both candidates have their vulnerabilities. Clarke, while having ideas on how to make Vancouver more attractive to business, is all too willing to defer to other levels of government on controversial issues, be it the 2010 Olympics, the city's drug policy, or public transit. Campbell has a clear vision on drug policy and revitalizing the Downtown Eastside, but his opponents question whether or not Campbell is anything more than a one- or two-issue candidate. While Campbell has made statements on everything from transit to cutting red tape at city hall (it takes an average of 350 days for a development permit to be granted in Vancouver), he is, in the mind of many, mainly associated with issues surrounding the Downtown Eastside.
One poll result that won't make Clarke's, or the NPA's day: Only 4% of Vancouver voters said that "political experience" was the most important quality in a potential mayor. Clarke has attacked her two main rivals, Larry Campbell and Valerie MacLean, for their lack of political experience, and for going for the Mayor's chair without first spending time on city council. (Clarke has been on city council since 1993.)
Reports, opinions, columns, and anything else on this site, are © 2002-2003 Ian King unless otherwise noted. Permission granted to use material on this site for non-commercial purposes provided that the work is attributed to the original author. All other uses require specific permission of the original author. Contact weblog owner with any inquiries.
Feel free to link to this web log. The management likes getting lots of traffic.
