Hello everyone, I hope your 2025 is off to a great start.

I’ve been enjoying the cooler and dry sunny days as a welcome change from the rain.

Here’s a roundup of my recent thoughts, events, and updates from around the city:

Mayor Sim will bring a motion to council on February 26, 2025, to pause the construction of net new supportive housing in Vancouver, and redirect those funds to focus on renovating and upgrading existing supportive housing, as well as replacing existing temporary modular housing with permanent buildings with robust supports.

A significant number of Vancouver’s supportive housing units and buildings are in poor condition, leading to dangerous living conditions, fire and seismic risks, pests and other unacceptable conditions for both residents and neighbours.

The motion also aims to address the hyper concentration of new supportive housing and supports in one neighbourhood: the Downtown Eastside.

At its core, this is about creating a healthier, more sustainable Downtown Eastside by enabling a mix of housing and businesses in the neighbourhood, while ensuring vulnerable people are getting robust support services to help with mental health and addictions challenges, and have access to dignified housing.

I’m looking forward to discussing and debating this motion at council later this month, and I am actively engaged with residents and community members on this topic.

Read the news release from the Mayor here, and I’m happy to hear from you on this.

I’m thrilled to help kick off engagement on the future of Granville Street!

We are in the midst of early work to revitalize our iconic entertainment district, and I encourage you all to have your say.

Check out the draft directions and information boards here.

Your voice is important in shaping Granville Street for the future.

It was an honor to welcome Dr. Gina Jamoralin, the new Consul General of the Philippines in Vancouver! 

With over 170,000 Filipino-Canadians in B.C., there is immense potential to build even stronger ties between our two countries. 

Happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate!  It was a wonderful day celebrating the Lunar New Year, and despite the snow , the parade was a beautiful display of culture, tradition, and community spirit.

Gung Hay Fat Choy to everyone celebrating this year.

What an honor to attend the opening ceremonies of the Invictus Games this past weekend in Vancouver.

These athletes, many of whom are veterans, inspire us all. Their resilience and triumph over adversity are remarkable and serve as a powerful reminder of the strength of the human spirit. A truly humbling experience.

The games are in town until Feburary 16, 2025 - more details here.

On January 27, I had the honour of joining the Jewish community to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and remember the lives lost.

It was a solemn evening, but also one of hope and resilience.

As a councillor, I reaffirm my unwavering commitment to fighting antisemitism and ensuring such history is never forgotten. 

In January, I was thrilled to be part of the ground blessing for the new Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood House in East Vancouver.

This new and expanded neighbourhood house will also feature a 37-space daycare.

Thanks to the combined efforts of the B.C., federal, and city governments, this $23.5M investment will go a long way in strengthening our community.

Throughout 2023, city council, staff and the Mayor gathered together for several workshops to develop our shared priorities for our term at City Hall. 

While there are different political parties and perspectives represented on council, we all share many of the same common goals: to serve the people of Vancouver with passion and integrity; lift up the voices of the underrepresented and marginalized; and make our city, neighbourhoods and communities the best they can be. 

I'm a strong believer in having a clearly outlined plan. While unforeseen circumstances and events are guaranteed to come up (that's life!), a plan is a guiding document that keeps us on track, focused and accountable.

With that said, our collective plan, entitled "Vibrant Vancouver", can be viewed here.

The plan has nine objectives: 

1. Vibrant and diverse - We do all we can to ensure Vancouver is a dynamic and vibrant city, with a great range of exciting and engaging amenities and events throughout the city.

2. Housing - We work with senior governments and other partners to address the local housing crisis, with the goal of ensuring that appropriate housing options are available for everyone in Vancouver.

3. Supporting business - We ensure the City is doing our part to ensure our local economy is robust and resilient, and Vancouver is a place in which businesses can thrive and succeed.

4. City services and infrastructure - We deliver the high-quality city services and public infrastructure that make Vancouver a healthy, safe, beautiful and enjoyable place for everyone

5. Safety and security - We work to provide effective emergency response and emergency planning services that make Vancouver safe and enjoyable for everyone.

6. Climate emergency - We are responding to the climate emergency through environmental initiatives, greenhouse gas emission reductions, and climate change adaptation measures.

7. Healthy, inclusive, and equitable - We put Vancouverites’ physical and mental health front and centre as we make service, infrastructure and policy decisions, and strive to alleviate barriers to residents’ well-being and sense of belonging.

8. Reconciliation - We maintain mutually respectful relationships with and work to support and advance the rights of local Indigenous Nations and urban Indigenous Peoples.

9. Good government - We responsibly steward the public funds with which we are entrusted, ensure we have an efficient administrative infrastructure, and maintain a high-performing, engaged workforce.

 If you have feedback on our shared priorities document, I'd love to hear it. Please email me at: clrmeiszner@vancouver.ca

It’s hard to believe 2023 is nearly over, and 2024 is already upon us. 

What is truly “a dream come true” of being elected to Vancouver city council as one of your representatives at City Hall has quickly flown by. 

I am happy to share that we are making progress on accomplishing our platform promises and bringing common sense leadership back to City Hall.