Lisa Helps -- My Take on the Issues

• April 15 2012, VICTORIA, B.C. -- My Top Three Priorities for the City -- On April 24 from 1-4:30, City Council will finally sit down to set its priorities.

My top three include: City Finances - getting the City's financial house in order; Economic Development - building a strong, resilient, thriving local economy; Food - creating a local food scene that contributes to vibrancy in the public realm and supports local food producers and processors. The key priorities of the past council - affordable housing, harm reduction, sustainability - are important. In order to do these and other things well, the City must also be equally concerned with economic sustainability.

City Finances -- Like municipalities across the country, Victoria faces a massive infrastructure deficit. This means that the amount of money it will cost to perform needed repairs and maintenance on sewer pipes, storm drains, roads, and municipally-owned buildings far exceeds the amount the City has on hand for these purposes. At the same time the City's operating budget has ballooned over the past 10 years (still waiting for exact data). This increase in operating costs is a result of the City taking on the provision of services previously handled by the Federal and Provincial governments (like affordable housing) and expanding its role in response to emerging issues like climate change. Since 2001 business property taxes have increased 49% and residential by 61% to finance this expanded mandate. This is not sustainable and needs Council's attention.

The first thing to do is move to a three-year budgeting cycle. This will allow Council to link the budget to its priorities and enable staff to do a three-year budget once, freeing up large amounts of staff time in the latter two years to attend to other priorities. I've proposed a three-year budgeting motion that will come to Governance an Priorities Committee this Thursday April 19th. Stay tuned to at city hall for details. The second thing to do is ask what businesses is the City in and how are we doing at being in those businesses? Some things will need to be cut. The third thing to do is to have the courage to make the hard choices that will be necessary.

Economic Development -- The City passed an Economic Development Strategy in October 2011. At the same time, a group of citizens that I was part of, drafted A Consensus Statement on Victoria's Economic Development Strategy. The key tenet of the City's Economic Development strategy is to attract business and development with the aim of increasing the commercial tax base. The key points in the Consensus Statement on Victoria's Economic Development Strategy are to aim for community economic development, not just business development and to prioritize locally-owned businesses and local resilience. These two documents, in tandem, should guide the City's economic development with the aim of creating a vibrant, thriving local economy.

Food -- This may seem like a 'light' priority compared to the other two. But its not unrelated. Over the past 10 years local and regional food production, urban agriculture, and local sourcing of food products has gained momentum in the City and in the region. So much so that Victoria's new Official Community Plan has an entire chapter on Food Systems. At the same time, micro-enterprises like food carts featured in the CTV news story above create employment, contribute to the vibrancy of the public realm and give small scale farmers or small urban producers outlets for selling their produce. The City will need to create enabling policies to foster local food initiatives.

No matter what happens, Victorians will need to eat. Part of building a resilient thriving local economy is creating a resilient food system. Toronto just became the first city to mandate green roofs; greenhouses on a rooftop in Brooklyn New York will produce a million pounds of produce a year. What will we do here?

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• April 1, 2012 -- Thank you, taxpayers, for sending me to a conference
  I'm freshly back from the Centre for Civic Governance conference, The Future is Local, where I spent Friday and Saturday with municipal politicians from across the province sharing ideas and practices about building a future that is local. I'll tell you how much taxpayer money I spent and what on, then I'll tell you what we got for your money.

The conference fee including meals and accommodation was $365. I rented a car for $93 because I don't own one. The ferry each way cost $64.55 for a total of $129.10. And gas was $35.99. The grand total? $623.09.

The cost benefit analysis? It's inspiring being among other municipal leaders who share a passion for the local who - in the spirit of the conference theme - believe that the future is local and that citizens living in a place and local governments as governors of that place have the ability to do some really powerful things together to enhance those places. But more than inspiration, it's really useful sitting together sharing ideas and practices that will make our local places ready for the future. And its really valuable to meet people who are willing to share practices, materials and lessons learned from their cities which will benefit Victoria.

Here's one example. I've been Googling and reading about participatory budgeting for some time now. It's something I ran on in my campaign. And I have already brought a motion on participatory budgeting to the table, which council passed to go forward to the Union of BC Municipalities. That is all great in theory. At the conference there was a panel on participatory budgeting and it was packed! There were two presenters Nora Angeles from the University of British Columbia who has studied and practiced participatory budgeting internationally. And Leanne Piper, a City Councillor from Guelph, where they've been doing participatory budgeting since 1999.

Leanne's presentation showed compellingly how citizens can be and are empowered to make budgetary decisions. She talked about lessons learned, the training necessary, the great importance of having a skilled facilitator. She talked about how those who participated in the process become leaders in the community. She talked about how it builds understanding across the city. And best thing is, during the lunch which we shared together afterwards, she said she'd be happy to share everything Guelph does with us here in Victoria. This means we don't need to invent it (or pay for it!) ourselves.

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• Mar 21 2012 -- Campaign expenses in a new economy -- While returning from a three-day vacation today, I saw my head on the front page of the Times Colonist newspaper at the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal with the headline: New councillors' campaigns in city surpass $26,000. Concerns raised over political spending levels.

I read with great interest that I had spent $26,819. However, the actual cash that exchanged hands was $11,169. The rest was in-kind donations; my friends and neighbours spent a lot of time working on my campaign because they wanted me to win.

And it got me thinking about how value is accorded in election campaigns. The City of Victoria does require that candidates list in-kind contributions made during campaigns. But the public disclosure form requires that these in-kind donations be listed as a monetary amount. Is money the only way to accord value? What about the value of time?

I was required to list only the time donations that produced something (a website, a video, a poster etc). There was no line for the volunteer time of my campaign manager, my door-knocking captain, or the amazing team of volunteers who knocked on 11,000 doors through even rain and snow. There was no line for the time of the people who distributed two hundred lawn signs, or put up posters, or handed out flyers. Or for all the people who organized 'Lisa Helps Victoria' work parties or the efforts of their friends and neighbours. I couldn't account for all the time of the people who tweeted, retweeted, 'liked' and 'shared' my vision for the city.

How do we measure the value of an election campaign in a new economy? Certainly it includes valuing time not just money. And then there's the value of building connections between people. There's the woman who read about our outdoor bookshelf building workshop on Twitter and came out to make a book box. She didn't know anyone when she arrived; she left with a bookbox, having gotten to know her neighbours. She not only got involved in the campaign, but also invited a friend to come out and doorknock. Her friend brought her 14-year-old daughter who was interested in municipal politics along to doorknock. The four of us spent a rainy Saturday knocking our way through the doors of Fernwood. There's no place on the form for this kind of donation, yet look at how rich it is.

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• March 18 2012, VICTORIA, B.C. -- Change making -- Here's a break from bridges and property tax analyses. This video depicts my talk from Denise Savoie's International Women's Day Celebration at the Belfry Theatre in Fernwood Sunday March 11. Denise invited six 'change-makers' to come and speak about what it takes to create change in our communities and in the world.

I talked about three key things that, in my experience, lead to lasting change. The first is to have 'ruthless clarity of vision'. The second is to work across difference and beyond your comfort zone. This takes courage and strength in your own voice and generosity. The third component from my experience of creating lasting change is to be willing to be moved by what you hear. This doesn't mean changing the vision of a group, organization or project once it's set. But it does mean there are lots of ways to get to any given vision. True change comes not only when there is room for everyone to share ideas but also when people are willing to be moved from their own position by what another says. To share your own change-making stories email me at lisa@lisahelpsvictoria.ca.

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• »  Mar 14 2012 -- How Much Are You Willing to Pay for this Bridge? --
  The original replacement cost for the Johnson Street Bridge was estimated at $77 million. A report released yesterday shows the new estimate at $92.8 million. We have a cost overrun already and the build hasn't even begun. And there is a question that no one is asking.

In today's Times Colonist Bill Cleverly lays out the three options presented in the staff report. Option 1 is to 'stay the course' stick with the existing plan and 'design-assist' process (see report for definition) and hope for the best. This is the option that city staff and the City's consultants are recommending. Option 2 is to build a bridge with the same functionality as the current bridge but through a 'design-build' process. Option 3 is also to do a 'design-build' process but with a simpler bridge and a cost cap of $77 million. There are risks associated with all three options. They are outlined in the report.

The question that no one is asking is what happens and who pays if the project goes over budget? Here is a report out of Denmark that details the first statistically significant study of the causes of cost escalation in transport infrastructure projects. The report reveals that the average cost escalation for bridges is 34%. So I've done some analysis (with help from members of my 'citizens think tank') about the property tax implications of a cost overrun for options 1 and 2.

Scenario A - 15% Cost Overrun A 15% overrun puts the total cost at $107 million. This means $14 million to be absorbed by taxpayers. This translates into a 4.5% property tax increase each year for three years. I am using a three-year property tax calculation because this is the build time for the bridge and (other than short term borrowing) we will have already maxed our borrowing capacity of $49.2 million with both options 1 and 2.

Scenario B - 30% Cost Overrun A 30% overrun puts the total build cost at $121 million. This means $28 million to be absorbed by taxpayers. This translates into an 8.9% property tax increase each year for 3 years.

Scenario C - 50% Cost Overrun A 50% overrun puts the total at $139.5 million. This means $46.5 million to be absorbed by taxpayers. This translates into a 14.9% tax increase each year for 3 years.

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• »  March 5, 2012, VICTORIA, B.C. -- Our City Budget -- It's municipal budgeting time again. Last summer Council gave direction to staff to prepare a budget with a 3.5% tax increase and to departments to submit core operating budgets "inclusive of changes to collective agreements, no increase in FTEs (full time positions), no new services or service levels, 0% non-salary inflationary increases." I'm new, so I've never been through this before. I'm new, so I have some ideas about how the City could do things a little bit differently than they've been done in the past with great benefit to the City and its citizens.

Here are some principles for City budgeting that I'd like to see implemented in the next budgeting cycle. Thanks to my 'citizen think tank on budgeting' for helping me develop these:

• 1. Move to a three year budgeting cycle, 2013-2015. There are three key advantages to budgeting in three-year cycles. First, and most importantly, staff time and resources can be allocated to other important projects including developing/investigating new sources of revenue, partnerships and grants rather than doing the 'budget dance' every year. Second, the budget can be a realistic reflection of Council's priorities rather than a 'add-inflation-and-hope-for-the-best' approach. Third, the three-year cycle I propose would cover the last two years of our Council's tenure and the first year of the next Council's thus allowing the new Council to get to its priority setting session sooner than we've been able to.
• 2. Create a variety of budget options and gather input about which budget citizens want. This is a big one. I propose that Council direct staff to prepare three budget options for 2013-2015: a budget with a 3.5% tax decrease, a budget with a 0% tax increase, a budget with a 3.5% tax increase. We explain very clearly that a 3.5% decrease in property taxes will mean ABC, a 0% increase will mean DEF, a 3.5% increase will mean GHI. Then we ask residents and businesses which option they want. And, we don't ask what factors people are making their decision based on - that last bit of the garbage survey distracted from the main question. And we use citizen input to significantly inform our decision.
• 3. Ask 'What business is the City in and is the City doing a good job at being in that business?' I learned last week, for example, that the City pays and helps to coordinate the performance schedule at Centennial Square in the summer months. There are local businesses and musicians that do just this for a living - why don't we hand it over to them. These are the kind of conscious forward-looking choices that we need to make about what we want to use citizens' money to do and what can better be delivered through partnerships, non-profits, or local businesses. Concert scheduling is just one example. There are many, many others. This principle should inform our budget decisions.
• 4. Develop a 'results-based' budget. What Council directs staff to spend citizens' money on should be much more closely tied to the way we want our community to look, the kinds of services we want to provide, the quality of life we want to live, the infrastructure we want to maintain and enhance. To ensure that this happens, we need to create indicators of success so we can say at the end of each three-year cycle: How have we done? Has the way we spent money created the kind of results we want? Has it improved the quality of life for our citizens? Has it created a city with a grand future?

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• »  February 19, 2012, VICTORIA, B.C. -- Big Picture Long Term -- Last week at City Hall, Council passed a motion with regard to garbage pickup. Forty-eight per cent of those surveyed on garbage wanted the cheapest option, curbside pickup at $161 per year. Yet if you combine the results from the other two options on the survey, more expensive in both cases, 48% wanted backyard pickup. Council landed in the middle choosing Option B: biweekly backyard collection of garbage and kitchen scraps, a high reduction in greenhouse gas emissions at $183 per year. The bottom line is a cost difference of $22 per year per household.

$22 per year per household is not nothing. Sandra Richardson from the Victoria Foundation came to Council to present on Victoria's Vital Signs a few weeks back. And she told us that cost of living was the most important concern for residents of Greater Victoria.

Some have said that the garbage decision was an opportunity to cut operating costs. My response to that is garbage collection is a user pay utility and doesn't significantly impact the City's operating budget. I realize that the same people who pay for garbage pickup pay property taxes and fund the City's operations. And I'm not suggesting that the City administration can keep expecting the City's citizens to pay more and more and more for services. What I am saying is that I need to cast my gaze to the big picture long term decisions and opportunities for saving citizens money.

At the capital budget meeting last week we learned that there are $143,000,000 in unfunded capital projects including Crystal Pool and Fire Hall #1. There are sewers and storm drains to be replaced, some of which were built at the turn of the twentieth century. The sewer and storm drain replacement alone is projected to cost about $160,000,000 over the next 20 years. We have an intricate and complicated bridge building project underway that needs care, attention and good governance.

I was elected, in part, to create an infrastructure priority plan to steward the City's assets within the City's means. I am keeping my eyes, my efforts, and my energies on the City's big-picture, long-term needs. I am looking for big-picture, long-term cost savings through innovation, partnerships, and new streams of revenue particularly when it comes to the City's infrastructure. As the capital budget presentation emphasized, our municipal infrastructure is vital in sustaining the economic, environmental, social and cultural life of the community.

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• »  January 13, 2011, VICTORIA, B.C. -- Coffee, Conversation and Connection -- I held the first of my bi-weekly community coffee hours at Habit Coffee in The Atrium Building this morning. Before I even had my coat off there were people there, wanting to talk. I was reminded again this morning of why I applied for this job in the first place: people inspire me and conversation is how I learn.

The two first arrivals had walked from Moss Street; one neighbour called the other and said, "My daughter told me Lisa's having a coffee meeting this morning. Let's go." The first idea I heard, after taking the first sip of my delicious-as-usual Habit decaf Americano, was about a desire to start a group called, Green Grandparents: Alternate Energy Now. "We haven't got 40 more years," said one grandmother. She encouraged me to look at the city's building codes and possibilities of finding incentives for green energy.

Soon the centre table at Habit was full. The conversation meandered from the Northern Junk Buildings to light rapid transit to how to create a downtown that felt like other neighbourhoods in the city. "What makes your neigbourhood special?" someone asked, "and how can we create that downtown?" A fellow showed up who had been instrumental in establishing Granville Market in Vancouver, bringing together business, artists, and community. I connected him and his wife (who believes its the grassroots where the most action happens) with the Victoria Downtown Public Market Society because a public market would help to create a more vibrant downtown.

There was one tense moment when a downtown business owner called the park beside the Northern Junk buildings "pot park" and said she didn't want to go sit there and eat her lunch because she didn't like smelling pot. Someone else who uses the park took offence and said, "Well, I don't like having to breathe in exhaust all the time and I don't have a choice about that." "Exactly," I intervened. "Exactly, we need to build a city for both of you, for all of us." No one stormed off. The conversation continued. Tension and disagreement are terrific.

Someone stopped in from the Dandeolion Society to invite me to walk the streets early in the morning with Al Tysick as he greets people when they awake, makes sure everyone made it through the night, finds out about those who may not have. Friday Feb 10th at 5am I'll meet up with Al. Earlier someone had dropped by to report with distress that Rock Bay shelter had been turning away 40 people per night and that in the 14 months they'd been open there was only a vacant bed on one night. "It's a crisis," said the young woman. "Housing is great, but in the meantime, we need more shelters, overflow shelters." I'll connect her with Al and Dandelion.

The best part moment of the morning was when I stood up to see someone out then looked down the long narrow table: there were people who didn't know each other - most of whom I'd never met - sitting talking with each other. I saw people jotting down each others' contact information, handing each other business cards. I overheard a young unemployed man speaking with an older fellow who runs a one-man company that provides transportation for cruise ship passengers; they were talking about string theory! There is so much to say, and there are endless possibilities for connection.

Join me and others Friday January 27 10am-12pm at Solstice Cafe on Pandora.

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• »  December 27 2011, VICTORIA, B.C. -- Open Budgeting -- I ran for City Council in part on a platform of participatory budgeting. Watch this youtube video for a short explanation. I've met with both the City Manager, Gail Stephens, and Department of Finance Head, Brenda Warner in this regard and both say it's a good idea. Gail says we'll need to wait until 2013 to have a process in place to involve the public in helping to form the city's budget. I see the wisdom in waiting. BUT at the same time, mayor Dean Fortin says in this Times Colonist article that 'staff have been directed to bring in a budget with a tax lift of less than four per cent but Fortin admits it will be a challenge.' What can be done?

While we won't get a full participatory budgeting process until 2013 (council majority willing) you can still help now. First head here and read 'Public Budget Presentation'. Pay special attention to pages 17 and 23 - these are the five year budgets for operating and capital, respectively. We can make a change now by budgeting sustainably for the longer term. If you want, read the more detailed reports the Council and Mayor's budget presentation they're at the same link.

Then do some thinking and send me your thoughts at lisa@lisahelpsvictoria.ca on how the city should spend and save over the next five years. What are your priorities? How do we pay for them? And then, get involved. The 2012 budget AND the budget for 2012-2017 need to be settled by the end of March.

There'll be time to find out what's going on in Governance and Priorities Committee and Council meetings. And I'll keep you up to date here. As I say in the video in participatory budgeting: 'the budget is the city's most powerful tool.' I look forward to hearing your thoughts. If you'd like to join the conversation rather than sharing your thoughts one-on-one, friend me on Facebook and stay tuned to my wall.

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• »  November 19 2011, VICTORIA, B.C. -- Thank You -- A very sincere thank you to all who have helped me on my journey to the City of Victoria's Council table. From the voters who took the time today to cast their ballots, to the residents who shared their ideas with me on doorsteps and sidewalks, to the other candidates that I met and worked beside, and to the many great people who volunteered their time and resources for my campaign: I feel tremendous gratitude to you all. I also feel what it means to have the wealth that is community.

I look forward to listening, speaking, working and growing with you more in the months and years ahead. Thank you again for this opportunity to help shape our just, sustainable and vibrant City.

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• »  November 13 2011, VICTORIA, B.C. -- A New Generation of Municipal Politicians -- Here we are almost at the end of the campaign trail. There's less than a week to go until Victorians head to the polls to cast their ballots. And from me, one last pre-election Victoria Dispatch to share what I think is of critical importance for the next generation of municipal politics.

In late 2010, I decided to make a run for City Council this November. What inspired me to run initially was a key lesson I learned as we were creating Community Micro Lending.

In founding this organization, I brought together a diversity of people: young people and old people, people from the so-called right and the so-called left, from small business, from the university, from prison, from transition houses, lawyers and accountants and more. And I learned that if you have all of these people sitting at the same table, working towards a shared vision, differences matter less than the experience of creating something innovative and inspiring together.

Now, I am not naive; it's not that differences in political leanings, in past experience, in world-view or outlook disappear, and we have one big happy easy-to-reach consensus. Initially one board member and I (a retired CFO of a Trust Company in his early 70s) went head to head, a lot. Terse words and raised voices and everything! But eventually we both settled down, convinced that we were there for the same purpose.

Edwin taught me about lending. And I taught him about compassion for borrowers who were very different from those he lent money to through the trust company. And together we worked to reduce poverty, help start small businesses, and empower people.

I tell this story about Community Micro Lending because this is what I think the next generation of municipal politics should look like. Difference, diversity, strong voices, and fervent discussion must be welcomed and celebrated. Innovation and the courage that necessarily accompanies it must be enabled and fostered.

Those sitting at the council table after November 19th--and I sincerely hope you will help me become one of them--must develop a shared vision of what we are all doing at the table together. And, we must come to share and collectively foster a vision for the city we are elected to govern.

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• »  October 26 2011, VICTORIA, B.C. -- Economic Strategy - Priorities
  The City's Economic Development Strategy, as I understand it, aims to increase commercial activity in the city. This will increase the commercial tax base, which will lead to lower commercial and residential property taxes at the same time as creating a diverse, resilient, sustainable local economy. But how?

At the end of the document, both short- and long-term actions are laid out. And the City has budgeted $1.5 million over the next three years to help make this plan happen. Yet even with the actions laid out and money allocated, one person posted on my Facebook page that she had "just reviewed another City wish list which is officially published as a strategy. Perhaps all future city strategies could include a section costing and prioritizing each action. This may result in a two-page strategy rather than a 30-page strategy, which should help the City focus its limited resources on things it can actually achieve."

What can the City actually achieve? And where should we start?

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• »   October 19 2011, VICTORIA, B.C. -- An Infrastructure Priority Plan
  There is an infrastructure problem. It's been apparent for sometime. And it's a concern that I'm hearing from voters on doorsteps and at kitchen table conversations. I don't much like the problems and solutions model - I prefer to look at the gifts and assets that people and communities have and to work with these. But the reality is, we've let some of our key assets deteriorate and now we have a very real problem and no money in the bank to fix it.

Let's take Crystal Pool. Crystal Pool is in need of repair, but the City is running an almost $500 million infrastructure deficit and spending $10 million per year to maintain its $1.7 billion in infrastructure. A report released yesterday outlines the problem very clearly.

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• »   October 15 2011, VICTORIA, B.C. -- Community Economic Development Yesterday I attended a community conversation as part of Project Connect hosted at Our Place. I sat in a circle and listened to the stories of folks who are living in the city's shelters and on the city's streets. They spoke of being thrown out of shelters for speaking up, of their belongings being thrown in the garbage, of short six hour sleeps on gym mats. When one of the organizers asked if she could take pictures a gentleman said, "Please, no. I don't want my family to see me like this."

I learned that the Ministry of Housing and Social Development provides work boots. But only if you're going back to work full time. And if you're on disability benefits, you can't make more than $500 per month in addition to your cheque. So you can't work full time. So you can't get work boots. As one gentleman left the conversation he said, "Don't give into frustration and rage; try to remain hopeful."

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