Opening the door to more commemorative crosswalks

The most famous of all crosswalks.

After I delivered the following speech at Council in Committee yesterday, most councillors indicated that, while they did not want to start a process to create a new policy for allowing commemorative crosswalks and other forms of public messaging, they would be open to considering one-off applications, just as they did for the rainbow crosswalk last fall. I take this as progress, because last fall most councillors seemed to suggest that they considered the rainbow crosswalk to be the one and only such installation that they would support, and, anyway, some predicted that the approval of the rainbow crosswalk would not generate any new requests for other crosswalks. A presentation just a few weeks later, by Brad Chase, Indicated otherwise. It will now be interesting to see what sort of proposals for commemorative or celebratory crosswalks emerge. Here is the text of my speech:

Last fall  -- after the majority of council directed staff to install a rainbow crosswalk in the city, and, later, further directed staff to use the unique, six-colour motif, first developed as a sign of support for the  gay-pride movement, for that crosswalk -- a gentleman named Brad Chase made a presentation to Council in Committee
He asked that we consider installing more crosswalks to show our support for other causes – specifically to signal our opposition to hate crimes against victims of discrimination – everyone from Jews and Catholics to First Nations and the homeless.
He also presented some design options for various groups (including one depicting poppies, to celebrate the service of our Veterans. I think it’s important to say now that, while I understand Mr. Chase’s intention, I am quite certain that veterans would not want to see images of poppies being trodden upon and driven across.).
At the time, I made some generally supportive comments in reply to Mr. Chase’s presentation, but Council in committee did not formally reply and no direction was given to staff. Since then, Mr. Chase has communicated with council, asking about what action would be taken in response to his presentation.
I believe, that to be fair, council should now give Mr. Chase an answer. And I believe that this answer should be that council will instruct staff to begin a process to install other memorial or celebratory crosswalks – a process that, unlike that which led to the decision on the first cross walk, will include full and meaningful consultation with the people of Coquitlam.
Now, some on council may argue this is not necessary, because they have already adopted a one-size-fits-all crosswalk. To support this argument, they may point to the original contention, made by the crosswalk proponents, that the rainbow crosswalk has become a universal symbol of acceptance.
However, the logic buttressing this argument crumbled when one of the proponents herself told committee that a second crosswalk was needed to support transgender individuals, and then later told the press that a specific gay-pride motif was needed for the rainbow crosswalk – and not just one depicting a general rainbow.
I believe council was aware of the resulting messaging problem, which is why it unanimously supported the installation – adjacent to the crosswalk -- of signage reading, “Diversity Lives Here.”   
But clearly, as Mr. Chase has demonstrated, that didn’t do the trick. Some of us warned that the adoption of one, issue-specific crosswalk would open the very door that we saw Mr. Chase walk through, but the majority rejected this argument.
It’s worth noting here that last summer, Chilliwack city hall received a request to install a rainbow crosswalk somewhere in that city’s downtown. Within a week, the city received a request from a Chilliwack Pro-Life group to install a “pro-life crosswalk” depicting “painted crosses or infant feet.” No doubt seeing where all this was heading, Chilliwack council responded by creating a new policy directive to deny all requests to decorate any crosswalks.
Also noteworthy is the fact that Coquitlam council’s longstanding no-proclamations policy used to be seen by council as a de facto no-decorated-crosswalk policy, as well. But that understanding was turned on its head last fall, and now council is at – not a crosswalk – but a crossroads, facing a choice:
Does it refuse Mr. Chase’s request and all similar future requests, and by so doing attempt to cling to the fragile rationale in support of its initial decision?
Or does council recognize that, to be reasonable, fair, equitable and democratic, it should entertain new requests. And, to support this, that it should employ an open, reasonable, fair, equitable and democratic consultation process – just as it did two years ago when it developed a new Cultural Displays Policy.
I believe it should adopt the latter course and embark on a meaningful public-consultation process to develop a more inclusive crosswalk and issue-messaging policy. This consultation should involve community groups, the general public, and council’s own advisory committees, including but not limited to the Multiculturalism Advisory Committee and the Universal Access-ability Advisory Committee.
Who knows what great ideas they will come up with, not only for crosswalk themes but also messaging themes? After all, the celebratory message “Diversity Lives Here” captures only a small part of what makes Coquitlam great. In fact, in and of itself, diversity is actually a rather hollow thing. To fill it out –to bring it to life – one surely needs  charity and kindness, love and respect, and courage, wisdom, and justice – all of which are certainly worthy of celebration!
So, I ask my fellow council members: what road do we take?

Multi-generational consultation

Concept sketch, from Coquitlam.ca

There aren't many times when a city gets to design an entire new neighbourhood from scratch, especially one that could end being home to 20,000 new residents. But that's the opportunity Coquitlam now has with the Partington Creek neighbourhood, which is being planned for the eastern slopes of Burke Mountain.
With neighbourhoods along the western slopes already well underway (and experiencing some growing pains too, I might add), it's important that the city gets Partington Creek, a good chunk of which the city itself owns, done right.
When the draft Neighbourhood Plan was unveiled late last fall, planners told Council they would present the plan to various stakeholder groups. But the thought struck me that all the usual suspects, including builders and residents' associations, weren't actually going to be the people living in Partington Creek; those folks are now in their teen or early 20s.
I therefore suggested that our planning department engage local high school and college students; let's hear what they have to say about shaping the future of Coquitlam.
With all this in mind, I was pleased that a list of upcoming public open houses, released this week, includes consultation meetings with both high school and college students, including a meeting at Douglas College. It will be very interesting to hear what they have to say.
Here is a list of some of the upcoming consultation events regarding the draft Partington Creek Neighbourhood Plan:

• Tonight (7 pm-9 pm, Council Committee Room): staff meeting with the PCNP Neighbourhood Working Group (staff will present the draft PCNP for feedback, similar to the presentation to the Dec. 10 2012 Council-in-Committee meeting). 
• Thursday, January 17 (7 pm-8 pm, Victoria Hall): North-East Coquitlam Ratepayers Association meeting - staff have been invited to present the draft PCNP. 
• Tuesday, February 19 (4 pm to 8 pm, Victoria Hall): Public Open House #1 
• Thursday, February 21 (11 am to 3 pm, Douglas College atrium): youth/student-focused Public Open House #2 (emphasis on engaging Douglas and Pinetree Secondary students) 
• Thursday, March 7 (4:15 pm-5:15pm): staff meeting with Coquitlam Youth Council.

There's no place like home

Barring any last-minute applications for a recount (and candidates have until November 28 to ask for a judicial recount), the results of last Saturday's election are now official. The actual moment of record was at 4 p.m. today when Lauren Hewson (pictured), the City's Chief Electoral Officer, stood in the centre of council chambers and declared the results official. The event was witnessed by four people: Richard Stewart, Linda Reimer, defeated school board candidate Humera Ahsanullah, and me.
Hewson also released the poll-by-poll results of the election. You can examine them in detail yourself by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page. My scanning of them has turned up the following tidbits:
*I received votes on 42% of the 17,961 ballots that were cast.
*My strongest poll was Eagle Ridge Elementary (very close to where I live), where I received votes on 58% of the ballots. My 287 votes put me behind only two other candidates, Selina Robinson (308) and Ms. Reimer (288).
*The poll in which I finished highest was, not surprisingly, at another school that is very close to where I live, Bramblewood Elementary. My 389 votes (51%) placed me second, behind only Ms. Reimer (417).
*I also did quite well at the Walton Elementary poll--also located fairly close to my home, and in the midst of an area where I did a lot of door-knocking. My 344 left me with the third highest total, and gave me the support of 49% of the voters there.
*My sorriest showing was at the Banting Middle School polling station, where my 186 votes meant that only 32% of voters chose me, and the total left me in 11th place. My placing in this strongly NDP/Left/Labour riding isn't all that surprising, but the figures are still rather sobering.