Price Tags will post candidate’s statements* – who they are, what they’ll do – for the upcoming civic election. Here’s the first one:
I’m Adrian Crook and I’m seeking a NPA City Council nomination for this Fall’s election.
I’m a business owner, director of two non-profits, and a single father of five who rents an apartment in downtown Vancouver.
Over the last two years since I co-founded Abundant Housing Vancouver (AHV), a non-partisan advocacy group, the conversation around our city’s housing crisis has dramatically intensified. Renters face a historically low vacancy rate and every day potential purchasers lose out to multiple higher bids. Some Vancouver communities are feeling besieged by development, while at the same time other neighbourhoods are declining in population.
For years I’ve written and spoken on the benefits of raising kids in our city, via 5 Kids 1 Condo.
Housing and transit advocacy naturally followed 5K1C, when I co-founded AHV in 2016 and later Abundant Transit BC. As a Director of AHV, we’ve successfully advocated for over 3,000 new homes, including Temporary Modular Housing for our homeless residents, social housing and affordable rentals.
As a City Councillor, I’ll support:
- Citywide pre-zoning to bring certainty to neighbourhood planning.
- Create meaningful housing choices for homeowners and renters alike.
- Restore affordability for young people and families.
- Capping building permit wait times for homeowners and property developers, making it possible to bring an emergency addition of middle class and social housing to Vancouver.
I want a Vancouver that my kids – and those less privileged – can not just afford, but thrive in.
That’s why I decided to put my name forward for City Council this Fall.
To get involved, visit: www.voteadriancrook.com
*At this point, ‘candidates’ are those running for the nomination of a party, or planning to run as an independent.
It seems like he is a good NPA candidate, as the only thing he has to say about cycling is negative:
“Vancouver’s spent the last ten years squabbling over bike lanes. At the same time, drivers feel even small trips have gotten worse. Some will tell you these two issues are irreconcilable.
But for a city to work for cars, it has to work for everyone.”
Also, he seems to now understand that snow clearing on sidewalks is and has been for a long time a owner’s responsibility:
“But when we constantly witness service failures – from garbage not being collected to snow going uncleared on side streets for weeks – we question how wisely the City is spending our money. Our elderly and mobility-restricted residents shouldn’t have to rely on “Snow Angels” (volunteers) to clear their walks, something our current governing party has fallen back on when services proved insufficient.”
“All Vancouverites benefit when we build a robust transportation infrastructure that supports multi-modal travel throughout the city”
But just reminding that there is life beside the bike is already too much, for the bike brigade out in force here, which will paint this as “negative to cycling”.
At the difference of many here, I don’t care on which slate he is, here we have a candidate whose so far has walked the talk. It is too rare to not be noticed.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2017/09/27/IMG_20170704_195308-01-700×420.jpg
I would like also remind people that “for a city to work for cars, it has to work for everyone” is an aphorism frequently used by Toderian, and many advocate of sustainable transportation, and why the city should clean streets, bikeways but not sidewalks?
it is good to question some antiquated practice dating of the motordom time. I wish the best to Adrian, and he will have very probably my vote.
I suspect what he means if that Vision seems to have ignored everything else in favour of bike lanes. Where’s our streetcar? Our Malkin Connector. And that doesn’t even get into Gregor’s fiddling while affordability burned.
Of course the cynic would say, he’s just taking another way of promoting real estate development, which the ruling party has almost always done in Vancouver.
Malkin Connector? Then keep the ground plane for current uses and extend the viaducts with a flyover to Clarke Drive? Is that the plan? Are bicycles included? And walkways? All bridge height so as not to inhibit connectivity on the grade plane? Sounds good. Occupy air space wherever you can!
I don’t interpret any anti-bike stuff from his statement. What I see is an opinion on where budget priorities are. That’s fair enough. We all have different ideas than our fellow citizens on what is more important than something else. That’s normal.
For someone to be on Council though, they need to provide a balance and listen to all citizens, even the cranks.
They also need to do what is necessary instead of just what the corporate media is telling the populace.
I didn’t take his comment on bike lanes as negative, but it was missing any proposed solution for the “squabbling” he references, at least in the quote above.
What I would like to see is a clear statement of what each candidate plans to do. Not generic “some people say” lines, but rather “I believe……”, and “I will push for ……”. What is really helpful is a candidate telling us what he or she won’t support, instead of trying to appeal to all.
Considering we (Adrian and I) were just having fun playing some logical volleyball with folks on Vanpoli on FB specifically in support of Bike infrastructure, I’d say your concerns are poorly placed @Colin Brander
https://photos.app.goo.gl/BldQqUoPMet2C8pn2
Last time I hung out with Adrian we biked the Arbutus Line.