GC 2020
657 results found
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Paper requirements for City Hall services
I went to renew my residential parking permit and was required to show a physical copy of my proof of residence - hydro bill, etc. I don't get paper bills anymore. I pulled up my bill on my iPhone but was told that wasn't enough, i had to print the bill. The thing is, the clerk didn't take copies of any of my documents, she just viewed them, so why is it not good enough to view the electronic document?
2 votes -
Integrate Green with 125th Celebrations
2011 marks the 125th birthday of Vancouver. The City is planning to spend $ on the celebrations. How can we celebrate in a way which moves us forward on creating a significantly more sustainable city.... so that we might have something to celebrate in another 125 years?!
3 votesThis idea is under discussion.
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Support Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD) auto insurance premiums to reward those who drive little
Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD, also called distance-based and per-mile) pricing means that vehicle insurance premiums and registration fees are based directly on the amount it is driven. PAYD pricing is not a new fee, just a different way to pay existing fees. It can be a
consumer option, so motorists choose the price structure that best meets their needs, similar to telephone and internet rate options. It can provide many benefits including reduction of per capita fuel consumption and pollution emissions.199 votesThe City supports this idea, but implementation requires action outside municipal jurisdiction. The City will continue to advocate to the Province and ICBC for PAYD insurance.
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Express Bus Lane to Seattle
Express Bus (way cheaper and easier to do than high-speed rail) to Seattle. Set aside a dedicated lane for bus service between the two hubs and watch transit (and business connections) take off. Bonus idea: Specific buses that require all passengers to be nexus approved, meaning swifter border crossings.
Already in place on the East Coast: http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/travel/25Prac.html?adxnnl=1&hpw=&adxnnlx=1279735270-6prOYEpRjwtJ5CN5jXa6mA
1 voteOutside jurisdiction. Inter-regional transit is a great idea.
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Energy Retrofit Financing
Provide low-cost financing for building and home owners to retrofit our built environment with energy efficient measures and technologies. Look towards PACE & On-bill structures and incorporate energy management software to database and report the savings to all invovled parties.
44 votesFinancing tools (currently under development) may encourage building owners to improve the performance of their buildings
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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/ -
Relax building heights of single family homes to 3-storeys when a secondary suite is provided
Predominantly single family neighbourhoods in most older Canadian cities are chock a block with beautiful, well-proportioned 3-storey homes. Toronto & Montreal have many noteworthy examples. Many of these homes contain 2-4 separate suites but maintain the look and feel of a single detached home. An effective method for increasing density in a sensitive way, much like laneway housing, would be to relax building heights to allow for 3-storey homes. To ensure density is actually increased, require secondary suites on their own floor. 3 Storey duplexes could also be developed that include 2 main dwelling units and 2 secondary suites for…
4 votes -
3 votes
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compressed work week
A global trend to compress the 5 day commute to 4 days will make Vancouver a leader not a follower! The traditional work week consists of 5 days with each day being 7-8 hours. Many work situations can be changed to allow for non-traditional work weeks. As an example, if you have a 40-hour work week, instead of having everyone work 5, 8-hour days, some of your employees could work 4, 10-hour days. This would produce a 20% reduction in auto emissions pumped into our air and help our environment. A compressed work week is a commute option because it…
26 votes -
2 votes
Currently reviewing how this might work to create green jobs and advance sustainability.
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Support Social Enteprises in Creating Green Jobs
Vancouver has a great cluster of social enteprises. They are helping to recycle, grow and prepare food, weatherize homes, and do many other important things. We need more of these social enteprises.
6 votes -
Vancouver as a Cleantech Center
Vancouver has a dynamic and growing clean tech cluster. These companies are home grown and are addressing global challenges. Vancouver could become the world's leading clean tech center, but we need incentives, a clean tech center, and programs to help Vancouver based companies stay in Vancouver as they grow.
7 votes -
Local Green Grads Employment Site
One of our challenges is finding good people with green backgrounds to employ. Once people get certified (i.e. to a B-Corp standard) they could post open jobs and internships to a green jobs site run by the city. UBC SFU BCIT and other universities could encourage their graduates to create profiles on this one-stop-shop for green grads.
3 votesC3 committee is considering building a website / database along these lines. This would likely be Provincial or at least wider than just the City.
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5 votes
This is addressed by the planned green renovation strategy which will require upgrades to all buildings during the time of renovation, and also by the building labeling program which will require mandatory disclosure of energy performance and eventually mandatory performance standards.
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Eliminate parking down town for commuters but ensure adequate park n ride infrastructure
Reduce traffic, noise, accidents, congestion, air pollution. Can be done, but needs to have commuter infrastructure in place and to the capacity required.
3 votes -
21 votes
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Remove more Grass in Public Parks and Plant More Shrubs and Trees
Our community parks are covered with grass fields. Some are used as playing fields for playing soccer, baseball, cricket etc. Others just exist for picnics, impromptu ball games and for their own sake.
These grassy fields take too much work! Large machines mow the grass every few weeks, spread earth, sand, seed and lime and aerate the soil. Around the fields there is another large machine that gathers up and mashes leaves in the fall. Then there are countless smaller machines working the perimeter of the fields and on the boulevard. They are manned by Parks Board employees who are…
15 votes -
Grow Indigenous Trees on Empty Lots
In the denser areas of our city where there are lots of building more than 4 stories, we should plant some pocket forests of indigenous conifers such as cedar, douglas fir and hemlock. These trees grow quickly. They would add oxygen, wildlife and calm to congested areas.
This sounds like a far-out idea, but it is totally possible. It is especially possible in the Downtown Eastside. Our inner cities need more trees and fewer highrises to contribute to the health of the residents and the earth.
9 votes -
Cleanup and Steward the Local Beaches and Riverfront
Before 1850 the shores of Vancouver were pristine filled with plant and animal life. Streams ran easily into the ocean and the estuaries and deltas were a rich in a mix of fresh and seawater which encouraged even more rich ecosystems.
Today the shoreline of Vancouver is a shadow of its former self. While we cannot bring back the richness of what was 150 years ago, we can cleanup more of the shoreline to make it more habitable for fish and sealife. Guaranteed if this happened the life would return in greater numbers.
Neighbourhoods could “adopt a shoreline” and keep…
11 votes -
Encourage a Moratorium on Surf Smelt fishing on Vancouver’s Beaches
Forage fish such as surf smelts, oolichans and herring are essential parts of the food chain. They are “forage” for the larger fish such as salmon. Our salmon runs are collapsing in part because the same negative influences on the bigger fish such as pollution, climate change and overfishing are also affecting the smaller forage fish.
Since the numbers of forage fish are now so low, we need to create a moratorium on their capture locally. The beaches and the waters that surround them are the federal jurisdiction of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. At present there is a…
8 votes
