2005 Inaugural Address

Mayor Wayne Wright 2005 Inaugural Address

 

December 5, 2005

Let me start by expressing our thanks to the citizens of New Westminster for providing this Council with the opportunity to continue leading our City into the future. Your new Council, guided by the prudent advice of City administration, looks forward to the participation of all members of the community to come together to help us govern and move forward in a positive manner.

It is truly an honour and a privilege to be Mayor of the best and the most livable City in the Lower Mainland.

One of the reasons we are the best is because of the outstanding efforts of Council members who brought great strengths and provided meaningful contributions to governance – this past 3 years.

First, to Councillor Puchmayr – We always knew that you were destined for yet more commitment and responsibility. I know that your caring and respectful attitude toward our City and its people will be with you as you carry out your Provincial responsibilities.

To Councillor Cook – I have great respect for your insight and devotion to making New Westminster a better place to live. Your years of service and contribution to Council and the City are commendable.

To Councillor Dobrovolny – You had a great ability to be the calming and rational voice on Council when difficult and complex discussion and debate were taking place. Your dedication to the City and the values of our citizens provide a lasting example for us to follow into the future.

To our returning Councillors - Williams, Donnelly, and Osterman - thank you for your hard work and dedication over the past three years. We have made great strides together but have many more to make.

To Councillor McIntosh – Congratulations and welcome back. Although we have not had the opportunity to work together except in our mutual charity work, I am looking forward to the knowledge and experience that you will bring to Council.

To our newcomers - (I can now say this for the first time) Councillors Harper and Cote, congratulations and welcome. I am sure that your experience, enthusiasm, and age will be an excellent addition to the team.

As a new Council, our team will have many challenges to face and opportunities to consider as we move forward.

With the help of our citizens over the past year, the City has drafted a solid strategic plan with an ambitious vision. We are striving for:

• a livable city of safe, healthy, balanced neighbourhoods
• a modern, vibrant and sustainable hub for the Lower Mainland
• proud of our heritage and intimately connected to our riverfront

To help us get there we are focused on six strategic priorities:

1. Traffic and Transportation

We need and will continue taking a hard stance on limiting and mitigating the impact of commuter traffic on our City streets. At the same time we want New Westminster to be the most walkable City in the Lower Mainland. A City that is pedestrian, bicycle and rapid transit friendly and linked throughout with attractive greenways. We will not let go of the vision to encapsulate the Front Street corridor creating an elevated land bridge linking the downtown to the waterfront.

2. Riverfront Development

Our river is front and centre in New Westminster and a significant attraction and contributor to the quality of life. As development unfolds along the water it is vital that we create a public parks and greenway system that is connected to our communities. The riverfront is a wonderful place to celebrate our heritage and community spirit.

One of the first things you will see in the new Larco development is a temporary greenway along the river to provide a link while the development unfolds and the permanent greenway is progressively built.

Our innovative sewer overflow project on the former Doman Lands will evolve into a wonderful 7+ acre waterfront park.

We will continue to work with the GVRD to complete our greenway connections along the entire waterfront, linking the Quay to Sapperton Landing.

3. Economic Development & Tourism

We need to encourage the revitalization of the City’s older commercial and industrial areas – particularly those that have been vacant or idle for years. We need to see quality re-development and enhancement around each Sky Train station and progressive business centres to attract new investments both in the Uptown and Downtown. The interest and investment is here now. It’s our turn!

We look forward to the completion of our new destination casino and anticipate that it will become a viable tourist attraction as well as an economic driver for the community.

4. Neighbourhood Livability

Our City was ranked 4th for livability out of 24 BC cities studied by Smart Growth BC. We are committed to continued effort to build a livable, walkable, accessible city of balanced, healthy communities. One of our ongoing challenges in this regard is dealing with increased property crime and homelessness – a challenge being faced by all communities across the country.

In response, our Police Services are continually juggling their resources and priorities to effectively deal with our changing needs. Pouring more resources into policing is not the solution. These are global issues that require commitments from all levels of government to resolve. A good example is the agreement we have reached with the Province and Federal Government to build a transition housing project. Now it’s time for other municipalities in the Lower Mainland to step up to the plate and our Federal and Provincial Governments to continue to support our needs.

5. 2010 Olympic Opportunity

The rest of the world needs to see and experience New Westminster’s heritage, charm and welcoming people. The Winter Olympics provide an opportunity to focus on strengthening the health and activity of our citizens. They provide an opportunity to show how our volunteers organize and extend hospitality next to none. They provide an opportunity to remind others that we are the original ‘City of Champions’ – a small but mighty generator of sports excellence.

We will be ready to ‘Host the World’ in New Westminster style in 2010.

6. Corporate Effectiveness & Efficiency

When I first came into office I wanted to be reassured that we had the best organization possible to carry out the direction and policies of Council. To that end we completed a corporate review in 2003 and have implemented substantial changes that were recommended.

We also received feedback through our Citizen Survey indicating strong satisfaction with City services and dealings with City staff.

I am confident that we have a staff team and organization that not only does the job, but does it exceedingly well. This is a dedicated group of people that have our vision and best interests of our citizens in mind at all times.

Our senior team believes in continual improvement and is always looking for ways to improve what we do and how we do it. So there will always be change as the needs of our community and priorities shift.

Staff have developed action plans and projects to begin the important work that needs to be carried out with regard to our strategic priorities. It will be critical to make progress in these areas over the next few years.

We do have other challenges.

Taxation:

While striving to keep tax increases under control we are committed to maintaining high service levels – something our citizens have told us over and over again they do not want compromised.

We need to re-examine our long range financial policies and develop a plan that minimizes the risk and impact of fluctuating revenues such as we are currently experiencing with the casino (which we believe is a temporary situation).

But this will not be easy with demands for more resources from departments trying to meet the service level expectations of the community; with rising costs of labour, materials and services such as insurance; with the need to maintain fair wages and benefits. There will be difficult decisions for this Council to make.

We are facing one of those challenges as I speak, with the proposed Centre for Community Achievement to be built in conjunction with the high school. Construction bids have come in significantly over budget. There are no easy solutions – we have to do what is affordable. I can assure you we are working diligently with our School Board and other levels of government to build the best facilities possible.

But let’s now focus on our strengths:

Strengths:

We have a unique and tremendous community of volunteers in our City. People who dedicate hours of service whether involved with our youth, our seniors, our recreation and sports services, our health care services, or our social services. I would like to particularly thank those who have served on our City committees and commissions. I look forward to thanking you personally at our annual Committee Recognition Dinner in January.

We also have a unique and rich history and heritage reflected by our buildings, reflected by our celebrations and reflected in the expressions of our citizens through art, writings, photography and the like.

And most importantly, we have a unique and envied spirit and sense of belonging in our community – one that attracts others who want to live, work and play in a place where they are welcomed and valued.

Finally, we have each other – to support, to celebrate, to work together as a team to make New Westminster the best community to raise our families and live our lives.

I ask everyone tonight – please join with us – work with us – to continue building our community we can all be proud of.

Thank you.