Mayor Malcolm Brodie 2002 Inaugural Address
December 2, 2002
Madam Justice Gill, other distinguished guests, City Councillors, fellow citizens, neighbours and friends:
Tonight we gather to mark an important event in our democracy witnessed every three yearsthe swearing in of your local government. You, the voters of Richmond, exercised your democratic will on November 16th and now, as Mayor and Councillors, we stand before you as your representatives, humbled by your confidence and committed to your service.
I want to acknowledge and thank all of those who participated in the recent election. To candidates and voters all, I remind you that your participation is absolutely vital to the democratic system we too often take for granted.
I also want to pledge at the outset, my commitment over the next three years to find ways of increasing citizen participation in the civic process, reaching out to all parts of our diverse community and promoting inclusiveness.
One person who has a long track record of involvement in our community will no longer be joining us at this table. I want to take this opportunity to express our thanks and our admiration to Lyn Greenhill for her dedicated service to the City of Richmond.
Lyn Greenhill leaves this Chamber after spending nine years in the service of her fellow citizens as a City Councillor. She was elected to serve after many years working as a community volunteer and I know we will continue to hear of her contributions to Richmond in the years ahead.
I also welcome back Councillor Derek Dang, who has five years previous experience in this Chamber. We certainly welcome and look forward to his participation and input.
While all who have taken the oath of office this evening are experienced in City Hall, this occasion marks a new beginning.
Tonight, our community is made whole, our differences are set aside and we gather together as fellow citizens and neighbours. We are a community invigorated by a year of impressive achievements, standing ready to push on and achieve even more over the next three years. The future is new ground to be broken, new action to be taken. Your representatives who sit around this table will make decisions over the next three years that will set the course for our community for decades to come.
To speak of the future, we must at the same time reflect on the past year. I will address four major points:
- The economy;
- Transportation;
- Tourism; and
- Livability, which includes community safety and relationship building.
A year ago, our local economy was beginning to show signs of recovery. But at that time, our optimism was tempered by the challenges then clearly on the horizon, as we faced a world still reeling from the economic impact of September 11th.
I am pleased to report tonight that we have seen solid evidence of an economic rebound locally over the past year. A key indicator of our local economic health is the 23 per cent increase in the number of new business licenses issued during the first nine months of this year.
Yet, the strongest signs of recovery are those we see in the real estate development sector, where local activity has surged in Richmond. The number of development applications filed so far is up over 67 percent. The value of building construction for permits issued is up over 90 percent this is a direct indication of the magnitude of development in Richmond.
Weve seen housing starts almost triple this year with roughly 1,400 new housing units begun before October.
This kind of economic activity results in direct revenues for the City, which in turn helps to fund necessary infrastructure. These revenues are in the form of Development Cost Charges, which are up $ 5.7 million, a 168 per cent increase.
This rebound heralds a new era of local growth and I can assure you that we are well prepared for its management.
In fact, Richmond's population grew overall at a rate of over 10 per cent between 1996 and 2001, outpacing growth in our province. The targeted area for local growthour City Centre-- grew at the fastest rate, with roughly one-third of Richmond's 15,000 new residents settling there over the five-year period. I am pleased to report that these trends are right on target with Richmond's Official Community Plan.
A strong and prosperous local private sector, driven by the talents, risk-taking, ingenuity and hard work of people in small and medium-sized businesses is the key to a healthy community. Jobs, local investment, trade and commerce all make available the tax revenues and fees generated by residential and commercial taxpayers. These in turn fund City services and community amenities.
I repeat the declaration I made last year when I was first sworn in as your Mayor: Richmond remains open for business. City Hall will continue to focus on providing timely, cost-effective and efficient responses in meeting the needs of the private sector.
One of our goals this year will be to help strengthen our local agricultural industry since so much of our City's land base is located in the Agricultural Land Reserve. This land is a finite, unique, valuable and under-utilized resource. It is important that this resource be well managed and that farming be enhanced. Working closely with the farming community, we continue with the efforts outlined in our Agricultural Viability Strategy, which identifies strategies for preserving and enhancing the farming industry in Richmond.
Now, turning to transportation, the level and quality of transit service was a major concern when the 98 B-Line was introduced last year. I then expressed the common local frustration that this service failed to meet the expectations of Richmond users. Significant changes were needed, especially to deal with congestion on Number Three Road. Following Councils community-wide meeting last year, we established a new Transit and Traffic Advisory Committee to provide advice to Council on the implementation and operation of Translinks service improvements and on City Centre traffic conditions.
I am pleased with the work of the 15 volunteers who represented stakeholders on the Advisory Committee. With their recommendations and wise advice, a number of problems with the 98 B-Line were resolved and we added two new express bus services along the Garden City corridor. As well, local transit service was substantially increased with more frequent direct routes within Richmond and to other regional destinations. A number of actions were also taken to improve City Centre traffic conditions, including the continued monitoring of Number Three Road traffic incidents to identify further remedial measures.
I also welcome the involvement of this committee in providing advice on other major transportation-related issues such as the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver Rapid Transit Project.
Now, turning to Tourism, we have made some important progress in meeting one of the key objectives identified last year that will help to strengthen our local tourism industryone of the brightest hopes for Richmond's future economy. Securing the federal property on Garden City Road for the benefit of the people of Richmond was a top priority set last year for the City.
The various partners, including Richmond's government Member of Parliament Joe Peschisolido, Tourism Richmond and the City, have been working diligently as a team on my Mayors Task Force. We have been successful in gaining the attention of federal decision makers at the highest levels. I am hopeful we will realize success in the near future. There is no doubt that Tourism Richmond's plan to locate a new Trade and Exhibition Centre on part of the 133 acre property is key to the future success of our local tourism industry.
Of course, there was no better example of the tremendous impact that tourism can have on our community than our extremely successful Tall Ships Festival in the summer. Remember how we all stood tall in Garry Point Park as we welcomed over 400,000 visitors and 20 classic sailing ships from around the world to our own Steveston? This tremendous event showcased our City and the Steveston community to a world-wide audience.
Though our costs were high, the direct economic benefits to the Steveston community and other businesses in Richmond were of enormous proportion. Using the tourism industry multiplier, this five-day event is modestly estimated to have produced over $11 million in direct economic benefits. Major waterfront infrastructure improvements and return visits by many festival visitors are among the numerous tangible legacies of the Tall Ships Festival.
The most enriching benefit of all was the tremendous sense of community involvement which saw more than 2,200 volunteers work with City staff, community supporters and corporate sponsors to make this festival an outstanding success certainly the largest undertaking our City has ever hosted. The Tall Ships Festival was a fun-filled, unforgettable historic event. It demonstrated what Richmond is capable of achieving when we work together to pursue a common goal.
Experiences like the Tall Ships Festival further reinforce my belief that Vancouvers bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games is full of promise for Richmond, the entire Lower Mainland, our province and indeed our country. Earlier this year, Council decided to support the bid wholeheartedly and Richmond became a community contributor and a member of the Vancouver 2010 bid family.
As with this summers Tall Ships event, the economic benefits and community legacies of winning the Olympic bid will be far-reaching, extending right here into Richmond. Moreover, the Bid itself provides an important focus for Richmond to lever a number of priorities that deserve the attention of senior governments.
Two priorities include the Trade and Exhibition Centre as the proposed home to the Olympic International Broadcast Centre and the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver Rapid Transit project. Success in securing the 2010 Olympic Bid for Vancouver promises to accelerate these and other important infrastructure projects.
In the meantime, as we await the July 2nd announcement on the Olympic Bid, senior governments have renewed their focus on the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver Rapid Transit project. I am pleased to report that significant progress has been made in working toward achieving this long-awaited goal. The Vancouver International Airport Authority has worked closely with the City and we have enlisted the support and assistance of a number of local business and community leaders to elevate this project to a new level in terms of regional and provincial priorities.
Your Council and I look forward to working together with newly-elected Mayor Campbell and his colleagues on Vancouver City Council on this important project. We will stress to them how this will benefit residents in Richmond and Vancouver. It will also be a vital transportation link that improves our business competitiveness in the entire Lower Mainland and our Province.
My final point tonight is one that affects each of us personally liveability. In Richmond, this concept includes building relationships and strengthening community safety. Maintaining and enhancing our liveability as a vibrant, diverse and growing community continues to be our central focus.
I am pleased that we were able to re-establish the Richmond Inter-cultural Advisory Committee with a mandate to strengthen intercultural harmony and co-operation in our community. This committee will continue to provide advice to Council, respond to issues, assist in developing policies and procedures, liaise with other levels of government and encourage public awareness and participation on intercultural issues. For instance, Council recently asked this committee to provide advice to ensure the inclusiveness of our local election process.
Community safety and security remain top priorities with your Council. Uppermost in the minds of local residents are the issues of street racing and other criminal driving behaviour which has sadly resulted in some extremely tragic consequences. Let me say clearly, safe driving is of utmost importance and we are determined to take back our streets and bring an end to street racing and reckless driving.
Just last week, the outgoing Council approved nearly $300,000 towards a bold new campaign designed to target street racers and deter reckless drivers. These measures include new equipment for our local RCMP and more traffic enforcement personnel.
We have already begun this enforcement campaign and have charged a number of drivers. Our City's commitment sends an important message to street racers - dont come to Richmond, because if you do, you will be caught and face the consequences.
At the same time, our community safety infrastructure is in desperate need of upgrading. Council will finalize plans in the near future to ensure funding for important capital projects. We already approved an estimated $40 million building replacement program that will include construction of a new Community Safety Building over the next several years. This building will house Richmond RCMP and Fire Rescue central operations and administration, a fire hall and the City's Emergency Operations Centre. Three new fire halls will also be constructed to replace existing neighbourhood facilities. Major upgrades will be completed on the others.
I will urge Council to consider all creative options for financing these vital community safety capital projects, while identifying ways to minimize the impact on property taxes.
One top priority remains to strengthen and maintain our close working relationship with the our RCMP and Fire Rescue Departments. We must integrate their work with all City Departments to keep Richmond a safe and secure place to live, work and play.
A liveable city is many things. It is:
- a well-managed city;
- a city where local government is continually improving its efficiency and enhancing the effectiveness of the services it delivers to all its citizens; and
- an affordable, accessible city, where people of all means, at all stages of life can live comfortably, maintain their homes and enjoy a range of community services.
Richmond is certainly a liveable city by that definition. Our challenge is to continue to maintain Richmond as an affordable place to live, while providing the level of services citizens rightfully expect. With these twin goals come the realization that real after-tax income is growing very slowly and our population is aging alongside our infrastructure.
This Council will grapple with those challenges over the next three years. I will urge Council, as I did last year, to consider the concerns that we heard from taxpayers about rising taxes and ensure that we balance our needs with the burdens of further tax increases. Personally, I believe further cost efficiencies and creative revenue opportunities need to be identified before we finalize our next annual budget. Moreover, we need to look at the overall impact of cumulative tax increases projected in our five-year plan and determine how these might be tempered.
Ladies and gentlemen, in closing, we should acknowledge that to achieve the City's stated goal of being the most appealing, liveable and well-managed community in Canada, we must take advantage of all the factors I mentioned tonight: a resurgent economy, better transportation, a strengthened tourist industry and enhanced liveability. We must have input from every City Councillor and all citizens of our community. The challenge remains to capitalize on three of our strengths: firstly, our diversity since it remains a cornerstone of our community; secondly, our heritage which provides lessons to focus our bold steps into the future; and thirdly, our inclusiveness, which ensures our ability to make important choices. Building on these strengths, we shall realize our goals and enable succeeding generations to have the same range of wonderful opportunities we all have enjoyed.
