How to tackle climate change? Vancouver council moves on after parking fee rejected

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – After a contentious parking fee plan marketed as addressing the climate crisis was narrowly voted down, Vancouver city councillors are looking for other avenues to address the problem.

Transportation will continue to be a major focus, according to some councillors.

Coun. Lisa Dominato — who voted against the parking plan — says one area the proposal didn’t address was expanding public transit to underserved areas of the city.

That’s something she’s hoping to focus on moving forward.

“The more services there is, the more reliable it is, then people can adopt other options,” Dominato said.

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She also has an eye on increasing the number of electric vehicle charging stations in Vancouver.

Dominato says almost everyone agrees climate change should be a priority, as evidenced by the uptick in EVs.

“In fact it’s increased 700 per cent over the last five years, so I think that’s indicative of the change, and I think it’s actually happening more quickly than we realize,” Dominato added.

The 6-5 vote at city hall Wednesday is a hard pill to swallow for Coun. Adriane Carr, who spoke passionately about doing everything possible to fight climate change.

She says while it’s disappointing, the city still has 51 action items in its Greenest City plan to work towards.

“There’s other recommendations that I’m sure staff are saying, ‘Well okay, we can’t do that one right now, we’ve got to move on some others,'” she told NEWS 1130 Thursday.

Both councillors say everyone agrees addressing the climate crisis is a priority, but how we do that is a bit more divisive.

“There is consensus around the council table that we have to address climate mitigation and response,” said Dominato.

Carr agrees there are other actionable items in the transportation file.

“There’s a lot of room to think about how we ease the need for people to take vehicles, to drive to shop, or work, or play,” she explained. “I think it’s going to take a matter of discussions between staff and council as to what is feasible to move forward now and how we can do it as quickly as possible.”

I’m just a City Councillor,

Sitting in a virtual meeting,

Asking my colleagues who vote down climate policy to constructively propose alternatives within our jurisdiction that align with the science, rather than simply defending the status quo.#ClimateEmergency #VanPoli pic.twitter.com/ny9OfvMyLd

— Christine Boyle (@christineeboyle) October 6, 2021

Other concerns about the Climate Emergency Parking Program include how the policy would impact overall equity and affordability in Vancouver.

The plan proposed a permit for vehicles parked between 12 a.m. and 7 a.m., at a flat rate of $45.45 per year. Low-income households would have paid a reduced fee of $5 per year. In addition, an annual “pollution charge” of up to $1,000 would’ve been added for cars purchased after 2023 that do not meet certain targets for emissions.

“I think it was the right decision on what was a fundamentally flawed program, and I think it recognized that there are a lot of people that are really struggling with affordability in the city,” said Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung, who also voted against the plan.

“We need to ensure when we’re putting policy forward to combat climate change that we’re not impacting affordability and creating further inequity in the city.”

She also agrees transportation and transit are important topics to address when it comes to looking to the future, adding council is “very committed to sustainability and climate emergency measures.”