Wayne Wright

1.
Basically it means “capable of being maintained at a steady level without exhausting natural resources or causing severe side-effects”. The term can be used in many different contexts such the economy, agriculture, business, health and so on.

For me it is the art of maintaining, as well as progressing forward with services and the needs and wants of citizens that minimizes or lessens our carbon footprint. We are living in an age of consumerism where things are disposable and generate waste. Ideally we should return to a more simple life.

In any city we have to provide many systems like transportation, waste management, and so on. As city management we strive to make these systems as inherently sustainable as possible. In many cases one has to balance different aspects. For example a system might be sustainable in an economic context but not in the context of global warming.

Our Council resolutions for all new buildings, retro buildings, and new business endeavours, include sustainability from the beginning of the projects. As a result our projects are at forefront of sustainability. This can be seen by how many are LEEDS gold certified! Examples include the Youth Centre, the Civic Centre, the Queensborough Community Centre, and the Brewery District development.

A highlight for our staff and City was receiving the Brownie 2011 Award for Sustainable Remediation at Pier Park.

As mayor it is important that I am “present at the table” at talks that might affect our city. To this end I serve on many committees at GVRD level. This allows me to bring back their discussions to our Council for further analysis and appropriate action.

There are different levels of sustainability: at the individual level, society (city, provincial, national), and global levels. Leadership is required at all levels of government to ensure that we are creating a society that sees the value of keeping our world in the best possible social, economic, and environmental shape. Our efforts alone are not sufficient, without the support of the general public sustainability is not achievable.

2.
Our successes can be measured in several ways and our building projects, like the Civic Centre and the Queensborough Community Centre, show our efforts are real.

Dealing with waste is difficult. We have introduced a new garbage collection policy that will help us to reduce our solid waste by 70% or more. This reduction will enable us to dispose of the remaining garbage in the best and safest way possible. It still is not ideal but a step in the right direction.
We have been progressively replacing our car and truck fleet with more environmentally sound vehicles.

Our rezoning of land for complete multi-use functions and thus keeping living, working and playing together and minimizing the need for transportation.

Encouraging the “walkable city” as our vision.

If there is an opportunity, we will use it so by definition there were no missed opportunities. Sustainability starts at the individual level. If we had had more resources we would invest in education and awareness campaigns.

3.
The greatest challenge will be to ensure we recognize opportunities that will come from being a city that embraces a sustainable platform that includes the needs of good social and economic planning and development, while protecting the environment.

We have many opportunities to embrace sustainability as a council and one small example would be to encourage new developments to meet the LEED standards. Our greatest challenge will be in balancing economic opportunities for the city that benefit tax payers while ensuring that we protect the environment. We don’t want growth at any price.

4.
Transportation requirements are complex and issues that we need to address include pedestrian safety at crossings, better facilities for cyclists, transit access and service, reduced volume of regional truck and vehicle traffic, vehicular safety as well as air quality, noise and livability issues. We need to find the best routes for all traffic in the City and how to find the funding that will be required.

5.
The Patullo bridge must be replaced and consultation will determine the optimum size. Tolling and road pricing is on the agenda with GVRD and the Province.

6.
A Tree Bylaw is under discussion now will be decided based on input from our citizens.

7.
Waste to Energy may come to the lower mainland and our city must be prepared to be at the table if our city is a chosen site. We have a strong Environment Committee and very knowledgeable citizens who will be called upon to help make a decision to support or not support a waste to energy site. I have all the confidence that we will make a collective decision that will be best for our city.

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