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Grandview-Woodlands council election turns into tussle among different interests

March 9th, 2014 · 98 Comments

News just in that former GWAC president Jak King, who’s been very vocal about opposition to city plans for the neighbourhood, is stepping down from a run for the neighbourhood council again in a year where it appears (from his email below) that groups not in entire agreement with his opposition have mobilized to run. A reminder to all of us that democracy gets very messy. (AGM is today, by the way, at 1)

From: Jak King

Cc:

Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2014 7:25 PM

Subject: GWAC AGM on Sunday

Good evening:

I am not sure how many of you on this email are members of GWAC but for those who are and are interested, tomorrow at 1pm is the GWAC AGM at the Canucks Room.  There will be an election for the Board.  For a number of reasons (mainly to do with this being a municipal election year) I have decided NOT to run again this year.  However, there are two single-issue groups that will be attempting to take over GWAC for their own purposes and I wanted to let you know about them.

One of these is the Commercial Drive Action Group which is basically a bike fanatics forum that wants to put bike lanes on at least part of the Drive.  No other issues so far as I can find out. However, their leader is, I believe, attempting to run a social experiment in support of her masters’ degree with us as guinea pigs.

The other is connected to the Kettle and will be pushing GWAC to accept a 12-15 storey tower at Commercial & Venables.  No other issues so far as I can find out.

Both of these groups have a perfect right to go for the Board.  No question.  But surely GWAC needs to be more than single issues – especially some single issues that are not supported by the majority of the membership, like high-rises in the neighbourhood.

Below you will find an example of the material that these groups have been circulating.  If you recognize me from their characterization, then I apologize for wasting your time with this email.   I hope, rather, that you will see these for the desperate groups that they are.

Once again, I will not be seeking re-election tomorrow. I will continue to work for the benefit of Grandview-Woodlands through the Ad-Hoc Committee on Citizens’ Assembly, through the Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods, through the Grandview Heritage Group, and through my extensive writings on blogs and newsletters and letters pages and City Council meetings.

Thanks for your support in the past and I hope many of you will turn out tomorrow – with friends and family and neighbours – to ensure that GWAC is not taken over by these groups.

Jak

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