“It’s been an extraordinary couple of months for all of us if we think about it. It feels a lot longer than 106 days—it feels like a lifetime now,” Robertson told his audience at the Chinese Cultural Centre.
“I told Marcella (Vision co-chair) and she said, ‘Remember in the Hotel Vancouver and celebrating that big party that night?’ I actually haven’t thought about it since that night. It’s been so overwhelming and busy every minute since then.”
With homelessness one of the biggest issues on Robertson’s agenda, on his first day in office he created the Homeless Emergency Action Team (HEAT). HEAT secured funding from the province and Streetohome Foundation for five new emergency shelters, providing a secure place to sleep for up to 500 people per night.
Earlier this month, additional funding was secured from the provincial government to keep the shelters open for another three months.
“Homelessness was the number one priority coming into this term. I made it clear that it would be my top priority to take action on it and we did that on day one,” Robertson said.
The infamous Olympic Village financial shortfall was also a problem inherited by the new Vision government. KPMG was hired to provide an external review of the Olympic Village finances, and open council meetings were held to keep the public informed.
“It [the Budget] was not pretty; it still is not pretty, but we put it out there transparently—the situation we are in right now.”
In anticipation of overloaded streets during the 2010 Winter Games, particularly with all the Vancouver public schools in session, to alleviate the traffic on the roads Robertson and his team have been making safety checks on infrastructure for cyclists. The aim is to have 10 percent of the population riding bicycles to get around, up from the current four percent.
As the co-founder of the organic juice company Happy Planet, Robertson is committed to making Vancouver the “greenest city in the world” by forming Greenest City Action Team (GCAT) and reaching out to green businesses.
“We are going to make Vancouver the greatest city in the world—[I said that] a few thousand times now and I still believe it.”
Robertson acknowledged efforts by the Vancouver Police Department to combat gang warfare. He called on other cities to start contributing to help stop this “epic struggle” that is happening across Lower Mainland municipalities.
As for the economic downturn, $42 million was already cut from the city’s budget since December without affecting core services such as the public library. However, in order to accomplish all of the above, around a 30 percent tax increase may be applied in the future, Robertson said.
