The Tri-City mayors delivered their usual schtick at the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce mayors’ barbecue last Thursday, serving up plenty of banter before the business-oriented crowd.
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart, Port Coquitlam Mayor (and Metro Vancouver board chair) Greg Moore and Port Moody’s Mike Clay talked in general about the long-term visions for their respective communities while also fielding softball questions from the sold-out audience before the meal.
Sponsored in part by Port Metro Vancouver and The Tri-City News, the event at Port Moody city hall also drew a few candidates running in next month’s federal election as well as area MLAs and city councillors.
Questions from the floor ranged from the need to build a district energy plan (given the impact of the recent windstorm that wiped out power in southern B.C. for two days) to whether provincial government intervention was needed on the Sapperton Green housing bid in New Westminster.
Moore was also quizzed about what one attendee described as an ongoing drug trade problem in PoCo's downtown core. “I’m a little shocked about that statement,” Moore responded. “The crime statistics don’t show that.”
But when asked what kept them up at night, all three mayors lamented downloading at the municipal and regional levels. The Lions Gate wastewater treatment plan and the Coquitlam water reservoir have to be upgraded because of federal standards.
Moore said the region also needs better cooperation with the provincial government. “We go to Victoria a lot to ask for money. Not once has anyone come to us wanting to work together" on infrastructure projects, he said.
The failure of the transit plebiscite was also a sore point for the mayors.
Moore, who rallied Metro Vancouver residents to vote for the 0.5% sales tax increase to pay for better transit, appeared the most deflated. He called for change and accountability with TransLink while Clay expressed his frustration about working on a transportation solution while plebiscite opponents “just wanted to talk about how much [former CEO] Ian Jarvis made."
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