ews & features mrorannewarson THE VOICE, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011 7 At-large voting system to stay Voting arrangement needs improvements not the old ward system, say new council members By MARTIN WISSMATH councillors say the city’s elector- al system could be improved, but not by a return to the old ward system. “We've had a few referendums over the years and voters have spoken loud and clear that they don’t want wards,” said the NPA’s newly-elected city coun- cillor George Affleck. Vancouver originally had wards, dis- trict divisions in the city with council- ors acting as regional representatives, up until 1935. Back then, a referendum returned a majority of 67.9 per cent of city resi- dents in favour of establishing a system of electing councillors at-large, which was implemented for the first time in the 1936 civic election. Recent referendums in Vancouver in 1996 and 2004 found that 59 per cent and 54 per cent of voters, respectively, were against a return to wards. Affleck said he’s not particularly concerned with the current at-large system. But he thinks that a fairer repre- sentation of voters could be accom- plished with a Ne elected Vancouver city mixed system, with some council- GEORGE AFFLECK ors elected at- Newly elected large and others in city councillor wards. “ve been pub- lic in my opinion of creating some sort of mixture,” said Affleck. “Five [councilors elected in] wards and five at-large, or ten in wards and ten at-large.” “T do sense that there are some peo- ple in communities who feel they’re not being represented properly,” he said. Green party councilor Adriane Carr agrees. “My feeling is a ward system is not the way to go,” said Carr. “Tt just duplicates the first-past-the- post system,” she said. “It perpetuates a very archaic style of electing politicians non-proportion- ally.” Carr said she would prefer a “mixed- member” system, “like in Europe and New Zealand.” The debate on whether to return to a wards system has been ongoing for the past four decades. Several votes in the city have taken place with swaying public opinion. A 1973 referendum found 58.8 per cent of Vancouverites in favour of keeping the at-large system. By 1978, public opinion changed, as 51.5 per cent voted in favour of wards. That number increased to 57 per cent by 1982. An amendment to the City Charter passed in 1987 stipulated that a return to wards would require a 60 per cent majority of voters in favour. A 1988 referendum found 56 per cent of voters in favour of re-establishing a ward system, not enough to appease the Charter requirements. JANN ARDEN CHARMS FANS AT ROBSON BOOK LAUNCH JENNIFER FONG photo Singer/songwriter Jann Arden poses with a fan at a book signing Monday at the Chapters on Robson. Arden was there to promote her biography Falling Backwards and her newest album Uncover Me 2. Arden was also in town to sing the national anthem at the Grey Cup on Sunday. Hospital parking fees here to stay Vancouver Coastal Health representative says the revenue from fees is too important to lose By MARTIN WISSMATH ospital parking fees are here to stay, says the manager of park- ing administration for Vancou- ver Coastal Health Authority. Deming Smith, manager of parking for the Vancouver Coastal Health Au- thority, said getting rid of parking fees at hospitals in the city isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. The VCHA over- sees administration for hospitals in Vancouver. “Parking revenues have been some- thing that the health authorities and individual hospitals have relied on for years,” Smith said. “They’re a source of revenue for flowing funds back into hospitals. Ev- erything that is collected for parking goes back into patient care.” Canada’s top medical magazine, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, published an editorial on Monday call- ing for an end to hospital parking fees. Interim editor-in-chief Dr. Rajendra Kale wrote “parking fees are a barrier to health care and add avoidable stress to patients.” Smith said parking fees can be diffi- cult for patients from out of town who have to take time off work to drive into the city. “We do have some kind of conces- sionary rates for people with these types of needs,” Smith said. “We find there are occasionally people who for lack of financial means find this to be an impairment to treatment.” “Sometimes we work with social work departments to get some kind of a better deal,” Smith said. Smith said he doesn’t see how the revenue from parking could be re- couped any other way. Additional taxes and user fees on those who use hospital parking is probably fairer than a tax on the public, he added. “It seems to contradict portions of the Canada Health Act at least in spir- it,” he said. “But I just don’t see too many clear alternatives.” Steve Johnson is an outpatient at Vancouver General Hospital. He said parking fees are nothing new and are expected by the majority of people. But they should be scrapped for emergency patients. “T think if you’re coming in as an emergency patient, it’s absolutely a problem,” said Johnson. Johnson noted that Richmond Hospi- tal has a parking meter in the emer- gency waiting room but doesn’t think that’s the solution. “It’s an added stress, people have enough to deal with,” he said. As for scrapping parking fees alto- gether, Johnson said that is unrealistic. “Tn a large urban centre, you have to charge for parking,” he said. “Parking spaces are at a premium.” Johnson added it would be difficult to differentiate patients from the gen- eral public who could start using spac- es if they were free. PARKING hospital rates UBC HOSPITAL Parkade behind the hospital: $1.25 each half hour, Monday to Friday or, $3.00 flat rate on weekends and weekdays after 5 p.m. CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL Hourly/daily rates: $3.75 per hour or $15 per day One-week pass $55 and one-month pass $90 VICTORIA GENERAL Visitor parking $2.50 for every two hours Sources: UBC Hospital website, Children's Hospital website, and Victoria General Hospital's website City gambles happiness of residents Council is set to approve the new location of Edge- water Casino that would place it closer to BC Place By ALANNA HARDINGE-ROONEY neouver city council is poised to Yorvrere Edgewater Casino’s pro- posed relocation closer to B.C. Place, but residents say they need to see the plans first. Lindsay Brown, the co-founder of the Vancouver Not Vegas Coalition, said that in approving Paragon Gam- ing Inc.’s request for relocation, coun- cil is violating B.C. gaming laws that require full public consultation. “This is carte blanche,” said Brown. “Where’s the plans? Where’s the trans- parency?” Brown has filed a petition with the B.C. Supreme Court asking them to overturn council’s initial approval of the relocation in April. She has also asked council to suspend its final ap- proval until the court makes its ruling. According to Brown, the only appli- cation the public has seen is for “a mas- sively expanded casino.” “There was no question of relocation without expansion ... it was an all or nothing deal,” said Brown of the pro- posal. But Councillor Geoff Meggs denied that the there is any possibility for ex- pansion under the current application. “We passed a very firm motion and the mayor, as one of his first acts of the election campaign, underlined his de- termination to oppose any expansion,” said Meggs. “Any change in the make-up ... has to come back to council for approv- al.” Citing examples of similar cases across North America, Brown — ggorF MEGGS said she worries yancouver city that if the applica- councillor tion for relocation is approved, Para- gon will continue to push for expan- sion. “They never stop advocating for ex- pansion ... they say they can’t pay for the development without it, they say the city has to do it to ensure jobs, et- cetera, etcetera.” Brown said she is concerned that the plans for the relocation proposal will be a near carbon copy of the plans for the expansion proposal, which would have made Vancouver home to the largest casino in western Canada. “T think of it a death star. It’s a huge black box, very pedestrian unfriendly. It really runs counter to what everyone says they want for that neighbour- hood,” she said. According to Meggs, tomorrow’s council decision will not provide any answers for what the relocation means development-wise. “They are going to get an enact- ment of the bylaw which allows the ca- sino to move and it allows the streets to be realigned ... but what we we don’t yet know is precisely what the shape of the casino will be when it gets over there.” Meggs confirmed that he would be voting in favour of the relocation, in solidarity with his party, Vision Van- couver. Brown said she wants Vision to fol- low through on its campaign promises of good consultation and transparency. “The public doesn’t know what this plan is going to look like, and has not been consulted on the relocation, only expansion,” she said. “We just never thought it would come to this.”