Mayor Malcolm Brodie 2005 Annual Address
December 5, 2005
Richmond City Council Meeting
Introduction
A new Council term provides an important opportunity for reflection on the last 3 years and to provide thoughts about our future.
I wish to start by bidding a fond farewell to one of our most senior and dedicated members of Council - Kiichi Kumagai. For more than three decades, Kiichi has worked tirelessly on behalf of the citizens of Richmond. He has helped lead our community to its status as a vibrant and diverse City. His contributions are innumerable. We will all miss his experience, leadership, candour and humour.
I also take great pride in welcoming Cynthia Chen as our newest member of City Council. Cynthia has a long record of outstanding service to Richmond. She will bring that dedication to this Council. I know we all look forward to working together with Cynthia as we strive to make Richmond an even better place for all of us to live, work and play.
Reflections on the Last Three Years
By any measure, Richmond is built upon a strong foundation. We have a thriving and diverse economy that is the envy of our region. We are home to Vancouver International Airport, one of the single biggest employers and economic generators in all of Canada. Our robust local economy ranges from traditional industries such as farming and fishing to newer sectors such as aerospace industries, wireless technologies and biotechnology. Our thriving retail and service industries draw clientele from across the region and our growing tourism industry is transforming Richmond into a destination of choice.
More than 12,000 licensed businesses in our City have given Richmond an enviable jobs-to-worker ratio. Strong, controlled growth in the business sector has allowed us to create a well-balanced tax structure with the residential and business tax draws almost equally balanced. A healthy economy and prudent fiscal management has allowed us to adopt a long-term financial management strategy. With this strategy, we can plan for the future while keeping tax increases to a minimum and bolstering our reserves.
Richmond is a great place in which to do business and a great place to live. While we have grown to a cosmopolitan city of 180,000 we have been able to preserve much of our natural environment, farmland and greenspace. We also have an outstanding parks system which has been substantially upgraded in the past year. The extensive trails that run around and through our City are amongst our most cherished and popular public amenities.
The City’s recreational, cultural and heritage facilities are second to none as judged by both the public and peers. We are a healthy and active community strongly supported by a wide base of wonderful volunteers. Richmond has a diverse, multicultural population, which has enlivened and enriched our lifestyles. Our City is an international hallmark for intercultural harmony. Our inventory of public art is among the best in the region. Public art strategies are now being developed for the Richmond Oval and Canada Line projects.
Our community safety services are admired worldwide for their innovations in community outreach and public safety.
Over the past few years, we have added more than 100,000 hours annually in transit service for Richmond. Construction is now underway on the Canada Line, which will provide long-awaited rapid transit service between downtown Vancouver, the airport and central Richmond by 2009.
The City has also secured agreements to build the Richmond Oval and to transfer ownership of the Garden City Lands. Both of these projects will have a phenomenal impact in transforming our community for the better, significantly adding to our inventory of public amenities and services while acting as a catalyst in our fulfilling the objectives of the City’s Official Community Plan.
These achievements have not gone unnoticed. Earlier this year an Ipsos-Reid survey found that Richmond residents gave high ratings to their quality of life and the services provided for their tax dollars. This has been accomplished in part through strong leadership and vision from City Council with support from a talented and experienced staff dedicated to fulfilling our City vision through continuous improvement. This commitment has led us to many successful innovations as we constantly seek new technologies, create new programs and refine existing procedures to improve efficiency. We are supported by strong input from energetic community stakeholders who are fully involved, as well as by a number of rewarding partnerships.
Together, we have prepared Richmond for the opportunities and challenges that await us.
Vision for the Future
Richmond is enjoying a period of sustained growth. We have incredible opportunities offered by major projects such as the Canada Line, the Richmond Oval and the Garden City Lands. These opportunities also present challenges.
The key to preserving our quality of life lies in sustainable, balanced community planning. Richmond has a sound Official Community Plan which provides for thoughtful, controlled and sustainable growth for a liveable community.
We will continue to encourage extensive public consultation and input on all major planning decisions. While protecting our important civic values such as farmland, our natural areas, open space and single family neighbourhoods, we will consider new development that benefits our City. Most new growth is being directed into City Centre. This will create a highly livable urban community, strengthen the vibrancy and vitality of our City Core and support the viability of the Canada Line as well as regional sustainability.
Richmond is developing new plans to reflect the changing dynamics of our community. We will soon begin work on implementing a new West Cambie Area Plan, update our City Centre area plan and continue to develop plans for the new Richmond Oval neighbourhood and the surrounding Gateway area. A new Steveston Village Conservation Plan will also ensure that while we plan for the future, we also recognize and celebrate our past.
Richmond has a visionary plan for the future and, during the coming Council term, we will be working hard in a number of key areas to ensure that we stay on course. Components of this plan include:
- Transportation
- Quality of Life
- Community Safety
- Financial and Economic Stability
- Environmental Sustainability
Transportation
In the area of transportation, the Canada Line, for which our Council fought very hard, will have a major impact on our community when it begins to operate in 2009. Richmond needs excellent traffic management during construction so that the inevitable disruption from a major construction project is kept to a minimum. The No. 3 Road Corridor Streetscape Study will ensure that the Canada Line and its stations are well integrated into our City Centre. Our streetscape will be transformed to create a vibrant, highly livable and safe new downtown that is transit and pedestrian-oriented.
Council will also continue to improve traffic flow by adding more links to our developing ring road system. This alleviates congestion in the City Centre. We’ve already added a number of increments in recent years through extensions to Hazelbridge Way, Garden City Road and Browngate Road. We will soon add a new section to Lansdowne Road and widen Gilbert Road near the Dinsmore Bridge. Council will be working to complete the acquisition of the CPR corridor which will eventually allow completion of the North Loop Road, a new arterial from Gilbert to Capstan Way.
We will continue to push for construction of a new Blundell Interchange at Highway 99 and the extension of Blundell Road to Fraserport. This project is critical to the success of the phenomenal industrial development now underway in southeast Richmond, the source of thousands of new jobs and millions of dollars in annual economic spinoffs.
We will continue to seek further transit improvements, including early introduction of a new City Centre shuttle and better connections both within Richmond and to major regional destinations. The City also continues to annually increase its network of cycling trails and lanes to transportation alternatives.
Quality of Life
Richmond residents have told us they highly value the outstanding quality of life offered in our community.
The environment is important to all of us. Richmond is currently in the midst of creating a new jewel in the Terra Nova Park which offers diverse experiences to celebrate our natural surroundings and our heritage. The recently-opened Garden City Community Park and Paulik Gardens Neighbourhood Park are both vital, exciting additions to our parks system. We will soon finish Katsura Park, another new neighbourhood park in the North McLennan area.
We have also enhanced liveability by undertaking a major retrofit of Steveston Park and supporting construction of the King George Gathering Place, an important new meeting place for the East Richmond community. We have built a second artificial playing field and are actively exploring ways to further expand our complement of all-weather playing fields to meet community demands for increased and better outdoor sports opportunities.
The City is close to completing the final purchase agreement on the Garden City Lands. Richmond will receive the majority of these lands which are shared amongst the City, Musqueam Indian Band and the Canada Lands Company. We will move to the next phase - a master planning process that will encourage extensive public consultation and input. The City’s portion of this valuable resource will be primarily preserved for park use and public amenities to become a true community treasure. As part of this process, we will continue to work with Tourism Richmond which has a strong vision to develop a trade and exhibition centre on the site. This Tourism Richmond project would be another major boost to our economy.
We are continuing to upgrade our extensive trail system and emphasizing improved public access to the waterfront that surrounds our community. Exciting projects such as the Richmond Oval and the new UBC Thunderbird Boathouse will serve to dramatically expand the opportunities and excitement offered all along our waterfront.
The Richmond Public Library has become internationally recognized for outstanding community service. We are proud to support its continued development. Following on the heels of last year’s opening of the new Cambie branch library, City Council supported a major renovation and expansion of the library’s main Brighouse branch.
Through the new Richmond Arts Strategy we are creating an ever more lively arts and cultural scene in Richmond. Our arts calendars have never been more full. Our bodies and minds have never been healthier - with special events as diverse as the Lulu Series to major sports events and the “Getting Richmond Moving” physical activity challenge.
Richmond has again been recognized for its efforts in promoting community wellness. In addition to launching new programs to promote physical activity this year, we also hosted a conference aimed at helping other local governments follow our model.
City Council also considers the social needs of our community as an important priority. We are always seeking opportunities to build new affordable housing in partnership with senior levels of government. Being widely recognized for our achievements, we will continue to work to improve accessibility for all citizens.
This Council will continue to emphasize the needs of our youth as well as our seniors. In addition to the annual funding support provided for local child care needs, we look forward to working with community groups to ensure delivery of new child care funding promised by our senior governments. As our citizens live the longest on average of anywhere in Canada, we will also work to put renewed emphasis on providing services for seniors, including our strong focus on wellness.
We will continue to build on our foundation of cultural diversity that has enriched our community. People from all cultures in Richmond must feel comfortable in celebrating their differences, while working together for the common goal of taking our City to new levels. This year, the City hired a new Cultural Diversity Coordinator who will work closely with our Intercultural Advisory Committee and other stakeholders to achieve our intercultural goals.
Finally, our citizens’ experience in working with City Hall is also an important component of quality of life. We are proud that Richmond remains one of the most honoured Cities in Canada, winning numerous awards from our peers and partners. Our newly redesigned City website was named best local government website in BC for an unprecedented third time. We received three separate international awards acknowledging our unique and innovative internal leadership training programs for staff. We also received awards this year for financial reporting as well as innovations in planning and technology that support environmental sustainability. We continue to refine and improve many of our internal and external systems to further enhance customer service.
Community Safety
An important aspect of Richmond’s liveability is the need for our citizens to feel safe and secure. Richmond is an extremely safe community, which recently demonstrated a decreasing crime rate. We have set community safety as a priority to constantly improve.
During the last Council term, we allocated significant new funding to allow the Richmond RCMP to hire new police officers. In addition, we funded a number of new civilian positions at the detachment to free up police officers to work visibly in the community.
The City has launched an ambitious building program to modernize our public safety facilities. Two new fire halls, Sea Island and Hamilton, will open in 2006 to support our first rate Fire-Rescue Services.
The natural disasters that have plagued our world in the past year such as the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina have reminded us that we must always be vigilant of potential threats. Our emergency and flood planning is constantly under review to enable us to be better prepared and fully warned. We must dedicate sufficient funding and resources to ensure our dykes and drainage infrastructure will protect us when challenged by extreme natural forces.
Richmond hosted the Canadian Fire Chiefs Conference this year with a special focus placed on our innovative use of radio technology to improve communications among first responders, including police, fire and ambulance.
Richmond, like every other community, also suffers the ills resulting from substance abuse, particularly the problem of marijuana grow operations and chemical labs. Again Council has responded to this issue when we implemented a new bylaw that imposes a duty on landlords to inspect their properties every three months. Landlords are held responsible in default for enforcement costs. At the same time, staff are partnering with the Safe Communities Alliance and Richmond Substance Abuse Task Force in attempting to be able to use hydro records as an aid to counteract this problem. Similarly, a Problem Gambling Prevention and Treatment Strategy was developed and is being implemented in collaboration with a number of our community and government partners.
Public safety is not just about enforcement. Increasingly, we are approaching crime and social problems at their roots. Working with the City’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services division and other community partners, our public safety agencies have embraced the concept of youth asset building, working positively with youth to guide them to develop into good citizens. Our efforts have been internationally recognized and will enable us to make Richmond the best place in North America to raise children.
Financial and economic stability Financially, we have invested in the future with great care and attention. Richmond has carefully managed our reserves and investments, ensuring that we have the funds necessary to maintain our existing levels of service, provide for infrastructure renewal and preserve our quality of life over the long term.
Our five-year plan continues to hold the line on property taxes. The tax increases of the past few years have largely gone to fund improved emergency services. Other increases in City spending have remained well below the rate of inflation. Our overall property taxes are extremely competitive when measured against other municipalities in the region and particularly in terms of the services and amenities we provide.
Financial accountability is extremely important in Richmond. We continually work with our staff to review and refine our accounting procedures. We must make sure each and every tax dollar is spent wisely and efficiently. This commitment was reflected in our 2004 Audit, which brought no major recommendations for accounting changes from our auditors, a rare feat for any organization.
In order to preserve our financial stability, Council has made Economic Development a major priority. We established a new Economic Advisory Committee in which community leaders provide us with ongoing advice on our economic development efforts. Richmond is developing economic retention, expansion and investment attraction strategies to build on our established strong base. We will also continue to develop new business partnerships to help us achieve our economic goals, including our working to expand trade and cultural ties throughout the Asia Pacific and around the world.
Our major projects including the Richmond Oval, the Canada Line and the Garden City Lands will be catalysts for economic growth. These projects will not only boost business growth but will serve to inject new energy into our expanding tourism industry, especially with a new focus on sports tourism.
We must also develop a land use strategy with benchmarks to ensure Richmond has a sustainable balance of commercial, industrial, residential and other lands available to support continued economic development. We must also capitalize on the opportunities unfolding in the Asia Pacific region.
Our efforts are paying off. After steadily increasing since 2000, construction activity in 2005 has reached record levels. In the first ten months of 2005, the total value of permits issued has exceeded $400 million, higher than in any other full year.
Environmental Sustainability
An important key to balancing smart growth and quality of life is environmental sustainability. Richmond is fortunate to enjoy a rich, natural environment that is at the core of our community’s liveability.
This year, the City successfully concluded the federal environmental assessment review process for the Richmond Oval. We have pledged that the Oval and other city facilities will be built to LEEDS Silver status, an internationally-recognized measure of environmentally sustainable building design. For the Oval, this includes such measures as an innovative storm water collection system that will not only be environmentally sustainable, but which will enhance the Oval’s aesthetic design.
We also continue to be a leader in conserving energy. As the only Power-Smart Certified City in the Province, Richmond has drastically reduced energy consumption at all civic facilities. This year, we won yet another international award for a lighting retrofit at the Steveston branch of our public library. We have introduced hybrid vehicles and the use of biodiesel fuel into our City vehicle fleet. All these measures help us cost-effectively reduce reliance on traditional, less environmentally-sensitive energy sources, limit pollution and promote sustainability.
Similarly, the City’s voluntary water metering program has also been a huge success. The vast majority of participants have enjoyed significant reductions in their water bills. The program will also help reduce water consumption, thus creating a more sustainable city and region.
To protect and preserve our beautiful natural environment, Council is moving to adopt a tree bylaw. This will protect us from the reckless removal of significant trees from private property. The City also continues to plant hundreds of new trees yearly on its own property, while continuing to expand our parks system and preserve farmland.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I want you to know that Richmond has the vision, plan and leadership to achieve our goals.
As your Mayor and City Council, we are gratified by the trust you have placed in us. We have worked hard to forge new partnerships with senior levels of government, GVRD, Translink, and First Nations. We have joined with partner agencies such as VANOC and RAVCO, stakeholder groups such as the Richmond Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Richmond. We work closely with many other groups and individuals from the business community and the community at large. These partnerships enable the City to attain goals and objectives far beyond those which the City would realize on its own.
However, the true strength and success of our community leadership remains with you - the people of Richmond. This is exemplified by the ten recipients of City Council’s first annual Community Spirit Awards given in 2005. The ongoing commitment of thousands of residents as volunteers, as participants in the public process, as partners in the provision of services and programs and as responsible caring citizens is what makes Richmond great. We will continue to draw on your support as we move forward into the challenging and exciting years ahead.
Thank you.
