GC 2020
657 results found
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3 votes
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Provide home owners with a tax rebate for installing compostable toilets.
The availability of composting toilets is growing, with a variety of kinds to suit home owners' purposes. Our clean water sources in Canada are abundant, but also the equivalent to gold on an international scale: we should treat it this way. Let's not flush our potable water sources down the toilet. Composting toilets use little to no water at all. We should provide incentives for Canadians to make this change.
12 votesNot specifically part of Draft Greenest City Action Plan, but efficient fixtures and incentives are.
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Tie air pollution permits to targeted pollution reduction plans
For those industries permitted to pollute (chicken and fish reduction plants, diesel exhaust from the port) tie specific targeted reductions as a condition of permit and monitor to assure results.
5 votesPollution permits are granted by Metro Vancouver, and the standards which must be adhered to have become more stringent and will continue to be reassessed.
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Greatly expand skytrain network to reach every part of the city and phase out the buses.
The skytrains are great but the way we inter-link them with buses so that you can't get from A to B without several zones and buses is really inefficient. Ideally, a subway system should hit every core area of a City so that 'driving' is rendered more trouble than it's worth.
15 votes -
Lobby provincially for increased bottle/can deposit values
Curbside drink container recycling is great, but the recycling rate for these things in BC is still only about 70%. This is a waste of resources. Other provinces (PEI for example) have kept pace better with inflation by charging more than our paltry 5-10 cents deposit per container, and not just by coincidence have higher recycling rates.
Side benefit: less garbage/broken glass in public places.
Caution: those who depend upon deposits for their livelihood (e.g. "binners") might experience new hardship as more people recycle, but this would be somewhat offset by higher returns per container found.
3 votes -
make bus transfers optional
I often don't need to transfer onto another bus or train so I would like it to be optional to receive a ticket after paying. So much paper waste could be reduced.
2 votes -
Non-toxic laundry
To improve air and water quality, don't use toxic fabric softeners, dryer sheets, or detergents containing dangerous chemicals! Instead, try the safe, simple alternatives listed on this website:
http://www.lplpublishers.ca/toxiclaundry.html
In Canada, laundry products do not as yet require labelling as to contents. Some detergents contain hidden, harmful chemicals. So do fabric softeners and dryer sheets. Contact your government representatives: civic, provincial and federal, to support and encourage "right-to-know" labelling, which would list toxic ingredients in laundry products.
We are entitled to know what is contained in the products which we buy and use.
Vancouver can work towards becoming the Greenest…14 votesApplication to air quality is tangential.
Water quality as affected by residential discharge is governed under Bylaw #8093, and administered by City of Vancouver’s dedicated Environmental Department: http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/licandinsp/inspections/environment/ -
push lawnmowers
replace nuisance noisy ride lawnmowers and 'whipper snippers' with quiet clean green lightweight push lawnmowers for health of user and mother earth. did you know ubc research shows direct link with heart attack and noise? thank you
9 votes -
Partner w/ social development orgs to ensure a more holistic 'greening' + to build broader support
While the mandate of this project is specifically to 'green' the city, even the 'Greenest City' will be a failure if the overall welfare of its people isn't considered.
The strongest Greenest City strategy will be a holistic one, including key elements of social, community and local economic development.
Our Greenest City approach should include dedicated outreach to individuals and communities that have traditionally had low participation in Vancouver's Green movement -- to build broad support and to recognize shared goals between organizations.
8 votesThough this is called the Greenest City program, there has been a very strong social justice and economic lens to the work. There is a green economy working group and external advisory committee with membership from diverse community-based organisations and businesses. Staff the City’s Social Policy department are very active in the process.
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convert heat to FREE hot water
Encourage all those stores that vent their unwanted heat from A/C units as well as from coolers/fridges and freezers grocer types and pump that heat into hot water tanks! The technology is available "off the rack". Known as Fre-Heaters..we should be capturing all that vented heat and convert it into hot water. NEW stores should not have such old equipment and instead be encourage to convert at the time of building!
5 votesGreat idea. We’re looking for all kinds of ideas to encourage the reuse of waste heat. We will to understand opportunities to include these ideas in amendments to the building code.
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New streetcar lines to revitalize commercial activity on arterials
Streetcar lines bring development money to streets that need investment. The City should partner with the private sector and TransLink to add streetcar lines as a way kickstart commercial activity and bring pedestrian life back to arterial streets.
Prime candidates: Hastings St from downtown into Burnaby, Powell St, Prior/Venables, Kingsway, E Broadway, Nanaimo, Renfrew19 votes -
Allow building awnings to extend to edge of sidewalks
The bus waiting area in front of the Bay on W Georgia has a great overhang that extends to the edge of the sidewalk, allowing people to stay dry. New buildings should be permitted to extend awnings up to the edge of the sidewalk to better protect transit users and pedestrians from rain and wind. Most of the awnings in the city are half the size they should be and are not connected with each other.
8 votes -
Make one floor of every condo a "farm floor" with vegetable garden. Feed the city from the city
Local food production in your own apartment building. A designated "farm floor" could be in the basement of the building where the underground parking is/was. Powered by solar panels on the roof.
10 votesA variety of urban agriculture opportunities are being incorporated into major developments.
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8 votes
Outside City jurisdiction. Improved transit options for the Sea-to-Sky route would be most welcome, but from a city and regional perspective, other routes have a higher priority (e.g. Broadway Corridor rapid transit).
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Variable Property Taxes based on FSR
Many SF homes built in the city today have huge footprints. Real estate economics shouldn't govern the size of homes. Reward existing homeowners and new home builders by allowing property tax discounts for greater green space surrounding their homes. Smaller homes with larger proportion of the land landscaped in trees or gardens increases the quality of city life.
5 votesIncentives are being considered for homes that are built sustainability and to be energy efficient.
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136 votes
You may be interested in learning more about the following programs:
UBC Line Rapid Transit Study – http://vancouver.ca/ubcline and http://www.translink.ca/ubcline
Central Broadway Planning Program – http://vancouver.ca/broadway
Cambie Corridor Planning Program – http://vancouver.ca/cambiecorridor
____________________Outside City of Vancouver boundaries:
Surrey Rapid Transit Planning Program – http://www.translink.ca/en/Be-Part-of-the-Plan/Public-Consultation/Current-Consultations/Surrey-Rapid-Transit-Study.aspx
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Close downtown to traffic like London, expand Park & Ride to compensate
If Downtown were a car-free zone on weekdays, like London, and if Park&Ride were more available including parking getting a free transit daypass more people would use it, and there'd be less cars driving around downtown.
92 votesSome interesting ideas here.
First, a bit of clarification: London doesn’t prohibit cars from entering the city centre; rather it imposes a fee to discourage their use. This is commonly called congestion charging and it can serve multiple purposes: first, it reduces motor vehicle congestion so that the people who really need to drive (e.g. goods movement, taxis, and essential service vehicles) can get around without getting stuck in gridlock; second, it provides a potential revenue source which can be directed to support improvements to more sustainable modes (public transit, active transportation).
Congestion pricing is an interesting idea for Vancouver — both as a means to reduce congestion and to generate revenue to improve transit service. It might make more sense to think about it at the regional (rather than city centre or municipal) level, though, given that it would affect travel patterns across the metropolitan area. It would also…
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Encourage eco-offices
It's fine to be green at home - but what about employers? Connect with the Vancouver Board of Trade and other businesses to ensure that offices are recycling, reducing engergy, encouraging healthy food choices, and green commuting options. Give tax breaks for businesses who allow 50% of their employees to telecommute.
6 votesThis work is currently underway in our community, and being done by many owners and operators of buildings throughout town. BOMA offers a certification program to support this kind of activity: http://bomabest.com/
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Unbundle parking and housing costs
Many people assume parking is free or inexpensive since it is usually included in the cost of housing. In reality, it is a significant hidden cost -- by some estimates, the cost of a single residential parking space can be $40,000 to $50,000 or even greater. People are more likely to own a car and to drive if they've already paid for a parking space.
Vancouver should explore policies that separate (or 'unbundle') the cost of parking from the cost of housing. This gives home-owners or renters an opportunity to pay for housing without paying for attached parking, increasing both…
176 votesThe City has supported projects that have voluntarily unbundled parking (e.g. Spectrum), and is actively working to gain authority to require unbundling in new development — this requires changes to Provincial legislation. In 2008, the City proposed the Unbundled Parking Resolution to give BC municipalities the authority to require unbundling in new development. This was passed by the Union of BC Municipalities. Provincial response to date: The Ministry of Community Development will review the proposal and refer the issue to the Development Finance Review Committee for discussion.
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Ease the bureaucracy for laneway homes in Van. Dense living where we work, play, shop! Less sprawl!
Laneway homes are beautiful, sustainably designed, detached family or single life dwellings. They fit into areas with houses and neighbourhoods that already exist. They take the place of old poorly used garages or unused back gardens. Less freeway traffic to get to the city; less pressure on our agricultural land reserve; less urban sprawl out into the valley.
51 votesExploring ways to facilitate and remove barriers to achieving our green & density goals
