Non-Partisan Association (NPA) mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton has criticized Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson more for his style and priorities than on differences in policy.
The rhetoric recently hit full boil when council’s first item of business following the June 15 Stanley Cup riot was set to be whether to approve a pilot project to allow residents to grow wheat on their lawns.
But Hornby Street business owners say Anton needs to do more than criticize leadership traits to win the civic election in November.
They want alternatives to one of Robertson’s most controversial policies: the creation of a separated bike lane along Hornby Street.
The City of Vancouver and Vancouver Economic Development Corp. announced in May that Stantec Consulting, Site Economics and Mustel Group Market Research would conduct a six-week, $125,000 study to quantify the effect on business that bike lanes on Dunsmuir and Hornby streets have had. The city is set to release the report later this month.
Business in Vancouver’s unscientific survey of business owners reveals that many want clear alternatives to Robertson’s policies.
“[Anton is] a bit of a flip-flopper on a lot of things. That’s a fairly general consensus talking to people I know around here,” said David Prior, who owns Rumours Hair Design on Hornby Street.
“People are pretty disappointed. They need somebody stronger to go up against the mayor.”
Prior and other Hornby Street entrepreneurs, however, say Anton is better than Robertson.
Appleton Galleries owner Ron Appleton was a longtime NPA supporter who defected to Vision Vancouver last election because he didn’t like the way the NPA forced out former mayor Sam Sullivan.
He is now “terribly disappointed” with Robertson yet uninspired by Anton.
“She waffles on so many things that it’s hard to know where she stands,” Appleton said.
Prior and Appleton met Anton the day of the October 5 vote on the bike lane and, they say, she told them she supported their opposition to the lane.
Hours later, she voted for the lane. The next morning she released a statement saying that she was withdrawing her support for the project because work crews had already started installing bike lane signs – revealing that the previous night’s vote was a sham.
“We’ve seen it on other issues where she votes one way and then the next day complains about it,” Appleton said.
Anton voted in April against Paragon Gaming Corp.’s proposal for a mega-casino attached to BC Place. Hours later, she clarified that she still supports the concept of expanded gambling.
Her vote, however, did not stop her from slamming Robertson the next day in a press release titled, “Mayor throws out a billion dollars’ worth of economic activity.”
In 2009 and 2010, Anton voted with council to support spending money on food projects that came from community initiatives. She then attacked Robertson for wanting to support a community initiative to spend $5,000 of taxpayer money to fund a pilot project to explore growing wheat in front lawns.
Like other vociferous Hornby bike lane opponents, Art Knapp Plantland and Florist owner Wim Vander Zalm believes the bike lane should stay because it would be expensive to remove it.
“They need to tweak the lanes and identify other options,” he said, “because the way it is now, there’s no benefit to anybody.”
Anton’s challenge is twofold: ensuring that anti-bike-lane business owners vote on election day and attracting votes from motorists who are frustrated with downtown traffic congestion.
“That’s the NPA’s struggle,” agreed former NPA mayoral candidate Peter Ladner, who believes installing the bike lanes was the right policy. “I’m not part of that struggle right now. So I don’t know how they’re going to do it.”
Simon Fraser University city program director Gordon Price, who served six terms on Vancouver city council, believes Vision Vancouver is likely to win a second majority on council because it has remained united.
He urges the NPA to strategically attack the city’s process for installing the bike lanes but not to oppose the lanes outright.
“The bike lane issue is a problem for the NPA if they’re seen to be too virulent in their criticism,” he said.