Welcome delegates!

Over 6,000 delegates are attending the World Urban Forum in Vancouver this week.

To those of you who came to this city in the hope of finding examples from Vancouver of how to make your cities more sustainable, this page offers a sincere apology and certainly shares in your disappointment.

Perhaps this city could still serve to educate you with a few illustrations of how not to establish a liveable and sustainable city. I strongly encourage you to look past the speeches, workshops, and pre-packaged propaganda, and examine how the right-wing 'Non-Partisan' Association (NPA) really runs Vancouver:

-The NPA regards affordable housing as a nuisance to their real estate developer friends rather than a fundamental human right.

-The NPA looks for ways to sneak more automobile traffic into a highly congested downtown core by putting 'flex' lanes on major transit arteries like Granville Mall.

-The NPA does not stand up to senior governments in Victoria and Ottawa on issues that threaten Vancouver's quality of life, such as The Gateway Project.

-The NPA, however, is more happy to do the bidding of foreign governments to suppress democratic rights, like when local members of Falun Gong were rounded up because City Hall didn't like the aesthetics of their protest camp.

-The NPA considers Wal-Mart a good corporate citizen and has no problems with Vancouver breaking its own zoning rules to turn Marine Drive into a parking lot and run out small businesses on the city's south side to accomodate a Wal-Mart.

During the week, you may have the opportunity to raise these issues with Vancouver city officials, perhaps even City Councillors or even the Mayor. If you do get a chance to meet Mayor Sam Sullivan, do this page a favour and ask him how his friend James Green is doing these days.