David Chen ProVancouver Former Mayor Candidate

Trying to turn thinking and reason with people to be stronger together. https://omny.fm//stee/racism-still-rampant-across-the-city

My mom used to say "you will always be Chinese in their eyes." My whole life I've fought for unity to prove her wrong. Sadly, I still have a lot of work ahead. We're all part of one heart, one mind. We work together or perish as a species. #ProUnity #ProStrongCommunity

I am disturbed by the growing intolerance for people's actions around covid-19 because of religious beliefs, socio-economic status and education among the top categories. There is so much partial information from the gov't and fake news it is hard for many to know what to believe and what to do to save us all. That intolerance is bringing the worst out in people and dividing people in a time of crisis. Let's be tolerant but firm on educating others around us. Civility will always win more allies than enemies.

I am getting alerts that people are checking into my FB profile. To keep up to date with my thoughts and activities, please visit my twitter handle @davidchentweets. I will try to keep my FB up to date during this unprecedented crisis time.

Happy Rosh Hashanah. Shanah Tovah

Today I am in the US on a day where 18 years ago terror struck our American brothers and sisters on US soil in a way not seen since the second world war. Today I think of that event on US soil and I stand united in the fight against forces that will strike civilian populations with impunity.

Happy Independence Day to my American friends and family

Canada is the only home I know. I'll keep fighting to keep Canada strong and free. Happy Canada Day everyone! #HappyCanadaDay

For those who are not on our email list, I want to thank you for your continued support! Forgive me for the delayed message, my mother passed away shortly after the election and this has been a busy time with her funeral and the holidays. From our team meeting and the requests of supporters, ProVancouver will continue to operate as an activist group until the next election where it will again run a slate of candidates. The challenges in Vancouver are far from being solved. Divisive narratives and lingering problems from the old council still thrive. There are still a lot of hills to climb until Vancouver is once again a place that locals can afford to live in and are proud and happy to call home. With the new year now arrived, I wish you good health, rich with peace and love. Happy new year everyone!

Nov. 13 council meeting motion regarding restoring line-by-line budget I support the motion. Here is my written submission Dear your worship and honoured council members,... Due to work & childcare, I am not able to personally speak at the November 13th council session. First congratulations on your preferment and good luck with your term, Vancouverites futures are in your hands. Civic management of public monies and resources is the most critical function of city hall. The heavy responsibility lies within the hands of elected officials who represent the wants and needs of the residents of Vancouver. However, no group can make a thoroughly educated decision on finances without access to line-by-line data regarding the city finances. Not only does the availability of this info belong to the public domain and helps prove the integrity of the financial planning through this transparency, it offers major advantages including -sound decisions made by mayor and council via access to all of the available information -the ability for the tax payers to better understand what they are paying for and determine what they want to pay for through submissions, public hearings, future referendums and elections -the ability for the hive mind of the public to assist in streamlining the finances of the city -the ability of the public to truly understand what things truly cost thereby avoiding asking for things that we really cannot afford -less dissent from the public when they are educated about the financial decisions made by council and senior staff -to encourage a more competitive public bidding process for private contracted services by showing people in detail what services are in-house and which ones are contracted out. The tax payer is the boss and the elected officials are their management team. The boss and management are entitled to the financial information of the city and as a result, I urge mayor and council to support Councillor Hardwick and Councillor Fry’s motion to restore the line-by-line budgets for the city of Vancouver. Warm regards David Chen, Former Strathcona PAC Chair Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, Justice

Nov 13 council meeting motion regarding RS zoning amendments. I support the motion. Here is my written submission Dear your worship and honoured council members,... Due to work & childcare, I am not able to personally speak at the November 13th council session. First congratulations on your preferment and good luck with your term, Vancouverites futures are in your hands. I am writing to support Councillor Hardwick’s motion to reconsider the RS zoning amendments passed prior to the Oct. 20, 2018 election. This motion dovetails with the motion by Councillor Carr and Councillor Harwick that a city-wide community plan needs to be expedited and needs to occur prior to the RS zoning amendments passed by the prior council. Patrick Condon and Scott Hein, both recognized experts in city planning, have stated that development without a city wide community plan is putting the cart in front of the horse. Their comments support the need to halt this mass rezoning until proper city-wide planning has been done. Josh Gordon, a recognized expert on the housing crisis has also stated that since housing prices have vastly outstripped local tax payer household incomes and mortgage buying powers, the problem with housing lies with unregulated global demand and not the supply of density. Tom Davidoff wrote in his paper in 2007, that even if all of Manhattan was built to be 100 stories tall, affordability would only improve 15%. This suggests even large amounts of density supply will not create housing affordability for local tax payers. Mr. Gordon stresses that we need to deal with demand side measures before doing irreversible changes to Vancouver. The new mayor and council were elected because the people needed change in the governance of Vancouver. The Sept. 18 public hearing had 318 pieces of correspondence, 2 petitions with 12 signature total, opposed to the mass rezoning, a plethora of speakers against the mass rezoning compared to 195 pieces of correspondence, 50 endorsements of one letter and fewer speakers supporting the mass rezoning. As such, I urge mayor and council to support Councillor Hardwick’s motion to halt the rezoning and send it back to public hearing at the very least. Better yet, suspend this rezoning until a city-wide community plan can be completed to insure that a meaningful community consult has been performed and a laser focused zoning plan can be created from a comprehensive city-wide plan. Warm regards David Chen, Former Strathcona PAC Chair Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, Justice

Nov 13 council meeting motion regarding 58 West Hastings. I support the motion. Here is my written submission. Dear your worship and honoured council members,... Due to work & childcare, I am not able to personally speak at the November 13th council session. First congratulations on your preferment and good luck with your term, Vancouverites futures are in your hands. I support Councillor Swanson’s motion regarding 58 West Hastings Street. On August 2, 2016, former Mayor Robertson signed an agreement with the residents of Chinatown and the Downtown East Side with a follow-up statement from the mayor’s office and closed door meeting with an organization called, Our Homes Can’t Wait regarding this promise. Former Mayor Robertson in the eyes of the people had the implied authority to commit to this promise. The offeror (residents of Chinatown and DTES) duly put out the offer they were seeking to end their protest and the offeree, the mayor, physically signed and accepted the contract. While consideration is generally needed to have a binding contract, the closed door special committee planning process may be deemed a part of an agreement under seal where no consideration is required to bind a contract. Certainly, the statement from the mayor’s office and the closed door planning shows a full understanding and intent by our former mayor about what was agreed upon and that it could be deemed a binding contract. Consulting with legal experts, it is also a situation that agreements struck by former elected officials with authority and former governments remain binding to current elected officials and government that have replaced the former. As a resident near the heart of Chinatown and the DTES I can attest to how desperately 58 West Hastings is needed to be all welfare rate homes and that it be community controlled so that it can properly serve the unique needs of the residents. In closing I support Councillor Swanson’s motion to recommit to the promises agreed upon by former Mayor Robertson and on a legal basis, I think there is a strong case that it is a binding contract that current mayor and council are expected to honor. Warm regards David Chen, Former Strathcona PAC Chair Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, Justice

Nov 13 in city council I support expediting the city-wide plan Here is my written submission Dear your worship and honoured council members,... Due to work & childcare commitments, I am not able to personally speak at the November 13th council session. First congratulations on your preferment and good luck with your term, Vancouverites futures are in your hands. I am writing to support Councillor Carr and Councillor Hardwick’s motion to expedite a City-Wide plan. Patrick Condon and Scott Hein, both recognized experts, have gone on record stating that a complete city wide plan is needed to plan out how to deliver the infrastructure needs and future density areas of Vancouver that can properly support it. Factors like queued streets, the power grid capacity, water and sewer pipes, transit, community wishes and needs and many other factors will dictate what the future of Vancouver will look like and how it will support its residents. Nothing is built without a blue print and for Vancouver, that community plan is the missing blue print. As much as there is a housing crisis, in my experience with business & organization decisions, a premature decision without grounded facts and reasoning often creates mistakes that are costly to fix and in the worst situations impossible to reverse. Doing this groundwork can be expedited but it cannot be overlooked. I urge our new mayor and council to support Councillor Carr and Councillor Hardwick’s motion to expedite a city-wide plan for Vancouver. Warm regards David Chen, Former Strathcona PAC Chair Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, Justice

Ready for the trick or treaters!

Life has so many unexpected turns. Even running for council was one which I had not anticipated when I started seriously working over 25 years ago. The people have spoken and the outcome of strategic voting are what they are. As a democratic society we respect that. We came out of nowhere and put on a valiant campaign. We made it to the end when many expected us to fail to even make it to the filing of the candidacy forms. We finished in the top 7 for the mayoral candidates b...eating Patrick Condon's endorsed candidate. We have learned a lot about campaigning and the political processes. ProVancouver will be better prepared the next time. The most positive experiences were meeting so many incredibly diverse people and experiencing moments that will transform my life forever. I look forward to my next adventure in life. I want to thank the other candidates Fred Harding, Wai Young, Hector Bremner, Shauna Sylvester, Ken Sim and Kennedy Stewart for running. I wish all the success to our new mayor Kennedy Stewart (you are going to need some luck, city hall is a mess). To our followers, keep the faith and keep following us, we are going to continue to build.

With voting stations closing in just over two hours it is going to be a nail biting night. Please join us for the ProVancouver campaign wrap party When: Saturday Oct 20... 7pm -10pm but pub is open late Where: Cedar Cottage Pub 3728 Clark Dr, Vancouver (see map link) (In their Special private room). https://goo.gl/maps/jgeRi5JA3MG2

here is a ballot guide to help you navigate the ballot

We are on the eve of election day and we are thrilled that thousands of Vancouverites are backing us. We hear from them daily. We see them wave and honk at us daily when we present ourselves at various points around Vancouver. Donors continue to help us out where they can and your new donations at this point will still help use wage a campaign that to date nobody has seen a new elector organization carry out. The battle is not over yet. Tomorrow is the only real day that coun...ts and the only real vote that counts. We want you to go out and tell your community why they should vote for us. Streams of money and influence seep silently through our city, feeding corruption and speculation in our precious land. Big Money finds sneaky ways to exploit every grey area and pour resources into getting their favourites elected. Their dollars pay for the posters and promotions that make their candidates seem popular but it is a clever illusion. Slick ads and professional posters only mean the candidate has more money, not more votes. ProVancouver supporters don't have spare cash but instead give us their votes by the thousand. They give their smiles, their living rooms, and their precious free time to support us. They tell their friends and put up signs and make us fudge and hug us on the street. They share our posts and tweets and defend us from bad actors. They let us know in millions of small ways that they trust us to give them a voice. Start with your family, friends, co-workers and work your way to the company head. You know why ProVancouver is the right choice - and when you put it in your own words, your message is more powerful than any billboard. All you have to do to save our city is tell people your truth. YOU have the power to give control of Vancouver back to the people. Please stand up proud for what you believe in; you will see how many people are on your side. Whenever you see this on Facebook, Twitter or elsewhere, please be sure to like and share. It’s a quick and easy way to share your support.

Anomalies like this assessed $1 property Concord Pacific owns on False Creek is unfair to other tax payers. https://www.bcassessment.ca/Property/Info/RDAwMDBCRzlLOA==