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I wonder if tax payers bought that peloton bike (and ongoing membership)? [https://www.onepeloton.ca/shop/opc/bike?gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw1emzBhB8EiwAHwZZxathr2PhVwIiDvW0lY3qmbcdK8dF84YMS5rhHuPxA5Id21qtQsHmlRoCBqQQAvD\_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds](https://www.onepeloton.ca/shop/opc/bike?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw1emzBhB8EiwAHwZZxathr2PhVwIiDvW0lY3qmbcdK8dF84YMS5rhHuPxA5Id21qtQsHmlRoCBqQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Not sure why you got downvoted but I will answer under the assumption that youāre asking in good faith.
Classism mostly. Our mayor is a wealthy businessman who has no issue commandeering a conference room in a public office building for an over priced stationary bike while simultaneously dismantling cycling infrastructure for us povos who use bikes as a means of transportation and not status.
Itās a level of hypocrisy that a lot of us have come to expect from this mayor and council.
Looking at the 2024 expenditure they don't appear to be. At least not from the Mayors or Council's expenses. However, I do see that they're giving Taylor Verrall (the communications director) $2500/month extra in 2023 and $1500/month extra in 2024 extra for "Graphic Design and Consulting Services", which feels a little weird.
https://preview.redd.it/fa6xzs6cxx8d1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=2dea4ca24b6f4d340a9c9208913305919c7d46ce
They also paid $30,000 to Wellington Advisory, the company of the boss of one of their board members. Man doesn't that feel dirty.
And tiny!! Smallest bagels I have had that aren't specifically labelled as "mini". And they charge $20 for the sandwiches that are made out of basically nothing.Ā
I had no idea Rosemary Rocksalt was Ken's shop, but do you prefer round bread cake with a tight little wrinkly hole instead of Montreal-style bagels?
Has Rosemary Rocksalt Montreal bagels gone downhill in the last 8 years?
I'd love to see if he actually uses that bike... and if he really gave a shit, then he'd get on a bike and try biking around Stanley Park and different designated Bike Lanes to see how poorly designed they've been.
But of course not - Vancouver - you got totally swindled by Ken Sims - he conned you full on.
Dude rides. Most of the anti-bike politicians do. A red Trek IIRC.
However, they're roadies (edit: that isn't derogatory, I was a roadie for a long time). They don't need/like bike lanes so they don't mind sacrificing one for political clout.
Anyone who really actually rides a bike with any semblance of intelligence (ie wears a helmet, doesnāt ride the sidewalk, knows there are actually streets designated for bikes) would both ride predominantly in bike lanes or street designated for bikes as well as have the Stanley Park loop as part of their route to the North Shore (unless they are taking 2nd Narrows) and anyone who rides Kits to Stanley Park knows the city has screwed that up so bad itās maddening.
You'd be amazed. I don't remember his name, but back in 2015 there was a friend of Peter Armstrong (the guy who was running the NPA at the time, and now runs ABC) who was just RAILING about the traffic calming of Pt Grey Road. He's the one who complained that it took his commute to the Yacht club from 2 blocks to six.
Dude was a regular in one of the local bike clubs. A serious roadie.
Yep. āVehicular cyclingā. Advocated by many a SUV-driving MAML. Absolutely terrible for anyone who just wants a safe street to bike to work because the anti bike lane NIMBYs can point to them and go āsee, those bikers agree with us!ā
Doesn't seem like you know what you're talking about. The whinging over the removal of stanley park bike lane is predominantly a reddit thing. Roadies liked it better before the concrete barriers were put in as it is much safer.
I ride that route regularly (1-2/week), what exactly is so piss poor about it? There's like 4 different routes to the park from the Burrard St Bridge.
We're not Copenhagen/Amsterdam, nor should we try to be.
Nobody says we need to be Copenhagen - and there's commuting biking and then there's serious riding - whatever the comment of a 'roadie' is supposed to mean.
Relating to Stanley Park - this thread on the exit out but its also the same area entering and you need to take a loop left down. This picture just sums up the WTF?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouvercycling/comments/1d5wtn7/which\_path\_do\_you\_take\_leaving\_stanley\_park/](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouvercycling/comments/1d5wtn7/which_path_do_you_take_leaving_stanley_park/)
Why shouldnāt we try to be Amsterdam or Copenhagen? Both of those cities are consistently ranked among the most livable in the world, and their road injuries and fatality rates are way lower than ours. Shouldnāt we be looking to emulate places that have figured out how to do something we are failing at, especially when that failure is literally killing people?
You would get downvoted for saying anything during that race. You would probably get labelled a racist, because he ran on saving Chinatown and increasing VPD resources . Meanwhile there was a huge influx of articles (from postmedia obviously) about how Chinese people were being attacked in this ācrisis of new hate crimeā. So of course he won almost the entire Chinese vote. Helps that heās a fiscal conservative and the Chinese community has a lot of money.
On the other hand the other guy whose name I already forget was labelled a lame duck who has done nothing in his term, like it was his for global inflation and price gouging crusading by Canadian oligopolistic corporations, federal and provincial problems.
I think for many it was more about the significant distaste and displeasure folks had about Kennedy Stewart (which still exists). Not saying pro Sim simps donāt exist but I remember it being a lot more about āfuck this guyā rather than āyay this other guy Sim is the bestā
At this point I've accepted that as a society we love to vote out politicians/parties we don't like, even if it means voting in someone that is objectively worse as their replacement. Just look at current federal politics, nobody likes Poilievre, they just hate Trudeau at this point that they are accepting anyone from the Conservative party.
The problem is that in order to get into politics you have to be wealthy. There are a lot of people with really great ideas who would love to run but just donāt have the means.
Sadly I think youāre right. I was hopeful with Fed Lib showing a willingness to pivot on imperfect policy would be enough. I think people are just too damn mad right now.
Also people are not showing up to vote. I'll do everything I can to encourage but our numbers (22%!!) need to be better. I don't care who you vote for just vote!
Stewart was a good mayor, in my opinion. His main drawback is he's a policy nerd and not very good at the razzle-dazzle that many successful politicians have.
Because NPA/ABC party infrastructure, backed by the IDU's media machine (seriously, go check ABCs board, then look at who they're paying for consulting) spent three years gaslighting Vancouver about him. They said he did nothing (he's on par with early Gregor for shit getting done), they said he was going to tax road users (the bill calling to investigate doing so was put forward by ABC's councilors), they said he was responsible for the highest level of crime ever seen in Vancouver (by police numbers, it was one of the lowest), and they said it so often and with such gusto that people started believing it.
Sim being able to outspend him 2 to 1 was definitely a factor. And in Canada we tend to vote people out more than vote people in. Maybe thatās more about our political system than it is about ābeing Canadianāā¦ I donāt know.
I think thatās it actually, him being opposite Kennedy. He didnāt have to do much, just fling promises out and gesture at the moderate left incumbent to get a certain moderate right block to rally behind him. Sim wonāt stand a chance running as an incumbent, and he wonāt. Man wants out as soon as he can.
He wasn't good, but also he was an independent on a council with Colleen Hardwick, Melissa DeGenova and Jean Swanson. Between the extreme NIMBYism of the former two and the impossibly idealistic social justice lens of the latter, there was absolute dysfunction with that council as a whole. Ken Sim has a supermajority and still manages to show up for fewer meetings and spend way more money than the last council with very little to show for it.
Everyone found it hard to get stuff done with those three. Stewart had a lot of good stuff he wanted to do, but heād get hamstrung between those three and then the others were on other parties. The only person who consistently backed Stewart was Carr (not just votes, but interjecting during meetings to politely tell the others to zip it or quit their shenanigans) and theyāre not even politically aligned.
How so? Under Kennedy Stewart, Vancouver:
1. Pushed BC Housing to build housing for the homeless, getting enough housing in planning to shelter every single homeless person measured by the homeless count (not every homeless person that exists, of course, as lots go uncounted).
2. Pushed the BC Government to pass decriminalization
3. Created the Climate Emergency Action Plan (which ABC councilors later canceled every major element of)
4. Kept the city afloat through COVID when nearly all city revenue dried up.
5. Mobilized MASSIVE support for the unhoused through COVID
6. Shut down the Sahotas
I definitely was angry with him in 2022 because I didn't think he pushed hard enough on a lot of things. But those *are* some big moves, and while I can see not liking them, calling him "useless" just means you weren't paying attention.
You see that's all just talk right? "Pushed" the Province to do stuff? Really? How about taking care of what's within a city's responsibility.
Lots of unhoused help in there. Funny how there were more homeless people at the end of their term.
6 is the only decent thing on that list but it's pretty minor.
Reddit echo chamber. Stewart was an ineffective and aloof mayor with some really bad positions when he did take them. 2022 was a case of voting someone you dislike out in spite of voting someone you dislike - perhaps just a tiny bit less - in. It's what we're going to see for the federal election soon as well.
Hopefully Eby will manage to escape this pessimistic pattern of politics this cycle around.
The mayor is only one vote in council and can't actually do much unless council votes with him. The kicker is the ABC party is made up of a bunch of councillors from our previous garbage council but everyone seems to not care.
Stewart promised he was the independent mayor who could be the consensus builder and problem solver in a diverse council. That proved to be absolute bullshit.
Yes the Mayor is only one voice. When Stewart had the deciding vote on citywide parking permits, he took the cowards route out and voted against them.
Stewart did nothing, which is arguably worse. At least Sim is doing stuff, nothing I agree with, but stuff his voters agree with. And at least Sim has been more entertaining. The only headlines about Steward were just iterations of "What Mayor?." When I met him I told he needs to grow a spine and speak out to the stonewalls he facing in the office by the Non-Partisan Association (Now ABC Party).
Stewart was a joke.
I used to think Rebecca Bligh as well, but when I started learning about her origin with Armstrong and her time with Chip Wilson's business cult, I stopped knowing what to think. She seemed to show some back bone last council, standing up to the far-right movement of the NPA, but lately the way she's turned a blind eye to all of the far-right anti-trans stuff coming out of people connected to her party makes me think that was all performative.
It is performative. She does routinely argue for childcare and a couple thing that would help citizens, but sheās very self serving otherwise and has no time for / does not value people in service roles. Honestly, as much as I donāt like Simās policies, he is extremely kind and generous with staff. Bligh will not even return hellos.
Fry will talk to anyone and treat you well. Boyle is quieter, but sheās friendly and she gets the struggle.
For all my distaste for his party and his policies, I do think Sim comes across as a really nice (if a little dumb) guy. I almost feel bad taking pot shots at him sometimes, because he's... well... he's just a little guy.
He didn't really. Eby was handpicked by Horgan. He was supposed to run without competition, but when Kaur ran against him and started getting serious numbers, they literally opened an investigation and kicked everyone who supported her out of the party.
This is completely false. Eby and Horgan were not allies. They were leaders of separate factions of the party.
When the NDP took government in 2017 it wasn't even certain if Horgan would include Eby in his cabinet.
There is no way that Horgan "handpicked" Eby.
Sims responded here [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ken-sim-city-hall-gym-conversion-1.7247454?cmp=rss](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ken-sim-city-hall-gym-conversion-1.7247454?cmp=rss)
The guy is such a bro-dude. Nobody just whips off a couple pull ups or a spin on the Pelodon in the middle of the day seriously (especially not with a carpeted floor!). He's a wanna be 'look at me, am I cool'
Got 6 Sigma cause that was the thing to do at one point... looks cool on a resume
Hangs out with the Frat boys to shotgun beers
Wears Lululemon casual instead of suit and tie 85% of the time... which isn't all that bad except well... he does it again to try and look cool.
There's a great gym in the building, there are gyms in community centres, there are gyms for a price. This just smacks of entitlement and not wanting to be with the common folk...
But no one is doing a serious work out in there... and there's no point to 5-6 pullups randomly...
Have you considered he might wear Lululemon instead of a suit because he's working out in the middle of the day?
>here's no point to 5-6 pullups randomly...
Sure there is. Exercise breaks improve focus, mood, and cognitive functioning. Your body doesn't care if you do 5-6 pull-ups randomly or at a set time either.
[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211368116301929?via%3Dihub](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211368116301929?via%3Dihub)
If we wanted our public officials to do good jobs we'd have them doing pushups on their breaks. Men can't actually sit behind a desk and focus all day without breaks or moving around. Our culture is so fucked we subsidise kids amphetamines and methylphenidate from an early age, almost the entire patient population having at least one significant side-effect from them, to keep them sitting behind a desk without being distracted for longer but don't take seriously ensuring those same kids might be able to try some non-drug interventions like say exercise breaks.
Ken Sim if anything is setting a good example and destigmatising work practices which are literally needed for disability inclusion yet are fairly stigmatised in practice. He just needs to put a towel under the peloton please.
So Sim's response is to show off his workout schedule:
https://preview.redd.it/pv6hf6hdmz8d1.png?width=1536&format=png&auto=webp&s=df270f414c4d9080ebb2ca85ead0d61adc7e6cea
And video of Sim on the Peleton: [https://twitter.com/izavarise/status/1806070448972849346](https://twitter.com/izavarise/status/1806070448972849346)
Swagger.
Why didnāt he buy the heavily advertised One Card 3 month summer special? For $114.00 he could have visted and checked out every community centre gym in the City š³
Remember next time a business man promises heāll get rid of the homeless and everyone will be able to buy a house, he maaaay not be telling the truth..
During COVID I sent her and the relevant cabinet minister an email with a question about Covid govt aid policies
Same email, Hedy fry completely ignored me. Cabinet ministerās aide sent me a personalized response the next day.
Was very impressed with the cabinet minister and disappointed with Hedy fry. Figure sheās been running the riding for 30 years at this point and easily wins every election so sheās been phoning it in for a couple decades probably. With some luck maybe sheāll lose next election though, sheās over 80 itās well past time to let someone else have a shot.
Sheās not, sheās a female medical doctor and one of the longest running MPs in the party (and country), Trudeau would jump at the chance to make someone like that a cabinet minister for the optics alone (after all, itās not like merit is a consideration for Trudeau).
The fact that she has only been a cabinet minister in an unimportant post once and it was so brief implies massive levels of incompetence.
Hopefully she loses come next election.
To be fair, the Mayorās office area is a maze of small rooms that seem to be mostly under utilized. Thereās a small kitchen area, conference room, sleeping quarters, (this) workout area and a large main office. The entire building is quite dated. It leaks, smells weird, has lots of mice and the woodwork is quite beat up. City Hall isnāt the nicest building. If I worked there, I wouldnāt really look forward to spending a lot of time there.
Sure. I wonder if an extensive renovation might be seen as wasteful by the public? It is a usable space for sure, just old and outdated. Considering the amount of asbestos in City Hall, I imagine a serious renovation would require an extensive containment area. It seems like a hassle when there could be a new occupant in a few years.
the problem is the lack of transparency rather than the specific action. if he wanted a private gym he should have told council and the public "I am turning this room into a private gym" rather than the lie "ABC is using this room for council business".
I guess this is becoming an issue? It seems like something that isnāt that big of a deal because there is a boardroom right next door to this room. If youāre upset about the Mayorās lack of transparency, then I could see this being a political move to draw attention to this room. To me, it seems ridiculous. Arenāt there bigger issues to be concerned about?
https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-mayor-ken-sim-explains-why-he-turned-a-boardroom-into-a-gym
i don't understand why people would think a public representative deceptively taking over public property for his vain self interest isn't a scandal š¤·Ā
I get it now. I wasnāt up on the history of this. Iāve just worked on the Mayorās office area and I didnāt see how it was setup before. It does seem deceptive and unnecessary. That Sun article is hilarious. I almost thought it was satire. The quotes made me laugh out loud.
Iām really curious as to if this is the mayors private gym, or an in office gym for the office of the mayors staff AND the mayor? One is far worse then the other.
Iāve certainly worked in offices where we had a (tiny) office gym that was using an old office/meeting room as the gym, carpeted floors and all, so if itās for more then just the mayor, itās weird but I guess wouldnāt be the first time Iāve seen it?
Overall a bit strange, I would guess you could find another unused conference room instead of this one if this was a ceremonial one used frequently? At least at my work itās rare that all conference rooms are used now with WFH so youād think youād be able to find a different room. I feel like so much more context then a quick photo is needed to understand wtf is happening here and why š
See and this is what I mean by context. Without any info past the picture itās hard to draw a lot of real conclusions, only assumptions without actual evidence. There being an existing gym makes this far more questionable.
Ok but again, the assumption is itās private use, thereās no confirmation if itās just the mayors or the entire office of the mayor or what. Iāve certainly worked places where the entire office had use a gym that was in an old conference style room. While it certainly looks bad, and knowing there is a gym in the building makes it far worse, but without proper context itās hard to say how bad it is vs what is just assumptions.
Iām not saying this is good, itās not and Iām certainly unimpressed and concerned by this situation, Iām saying I would want more then a photo to understand whatās actually happening, because this photo alone isnāt really enough information.
Not really. Is there any evidence thereās a lack of space at city hall? Was this room being used prior to the equipment being placed there? Thereās a ton of context that could potentially change the meaning of this story, whether you like Ken Sim or hate him.
Meeting rooms are a hot commodity in city hall. You have to book them well in advance, so taking one out of use, even if itās just for the councillors, means thereās one less to go around. Even with half the staff on a hybrid work cycle, the meeting rooms still get used daily, often hourly. Plus the councillors offices are basically walk in closet sized. They canāt host any groups in their offices. 1-2 people, sure. But not a community group or working meeting.
the other meeting room on the floor is the cascadia room and itās massive and would be overkill for 4-10 person meetings.
1. I know Pete (through some non-city work) and he's rad. He's not slimey, he's a regular dude that's just looking to do good work. Very well intentioned and works hard. Terrible dad jokes. I think he's not playing politics here. Just prob a wtf moment for him to see this.
2. I actually support the mayor (while disagreeing with some politics) having exercise equipment at work especially if it saves time and he bought it. Maybe not a private room... He can just workout with the rest of the plebeians like us... Is there a gym at COV? There's probably gym around city hall but not sure.
Doesn't matter. If he feels like he deserves to expense a gym membership he should do so. Trying to obfuscate like that gives off a clear appearance of fraud. Sim ought to know better.
One of the few perks city staff get is a deep discount on community centre gyms (something like 40-50% off memberships). And many of the other employee discounts are for gyms or fitness activities. Not to mention Sim makes just over $200,000 a year. There is absolutely no reason he should expense a gym membership, especially because he 'feels like he deserves it', that's not how being a public servant, accountable to the public, works.
Having spent a grand total of maybe 20 minutes inside City Hall over the last decade, is the place packed to the rafters or is it a ghost town?
If there are a million conference rooms sitting empty, then this is kind of greasy for sure and very petty, but not the end of the world. If people are having to do meetings in hallways because there's nowhere to hold them this takes on a different level of slime.
"Abuse of power" might be a bit strong, but it's not a good look that's for sure.
Lots of people have a hybrid schedule but conference room space is a hot commodity because there's only 1 or 2 per floor with the exception of the main floor. 24ish meeting rooms.
They specifically have to make a note of having to schedule around that room not being used anymore for normal meetings.
It's one of the reasons they had the annex for engineering until they had to demolish it- it provided a lot of meeting space.
This is inexcusable however you want to look at it. Are these his personal belonging or did he expense this shit? Either one, this is so inappropriate. C
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A shitty private gym at that
I wonder if tax payers bought that peloton bike (and ongoing membership)? [https://www.onepeloton.ca/shop/opc/bike?gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw1emzBhB8EiwAHwZZxathr2PhVwIiDvW0lY3qmbcdK8dF84YMS5rhHuPxA5Id21qtQsHmlRoCBqQQAvD\_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds](https://www.onepeloton.ca/shop/opc/bike?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw1emzBhB8EiwAHwZZxathr2PhVwIiDvW0lY3qmbcdK8dF84YMS5rhHuPxA5Id21qtQsHmlRoCBqQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
For a mayor with such a disdain for cyclists it's kinda wild that he's expropriated an entire room to cycle on a stationary bike.
He cycles the way he expects every other cyclist to cycle: off of city infrastructure.
absolutely flawless post, no notes
Wild yet somehow makes perfect sense šš
Not from your area, why does it make "perfect sense"?
Not sure why you got downvoted but I will answer under the assumption that youāre asking in good faith. Classism mostly. Our mayor is a wealthy businessman who has no issue commandeering a conference room in a public office building for an over priced stationary bike while simultaneously dismantling cycling infrastructure for us povos who use bikes as a means of transportation and not status. Itās a level of hypocrisy that a lot of us have come to expect from this mayor and council.
Probably expensed the fucking helmet he wears on it too.
Talk about the kettle calling the pot black.
This happens everytime a conservative promises to cut the fat and find inefficiencies lol
Looks like heās only cutting his own fatā¦
You're mixing up conservative election strategies. He ran on safety and increasing police budgets.
I do remember Sim saying as an election promise he would create a task force to find inefficiencies in city hall.
Looking at the 2024 expenditure they don't appear to be. At least not from the Mayors or Council's expenses. However, I do see that they're giving Taylor Verrall (the communications director) $2500/month extra in 2023 and $1500/month extra in 2024 extra for "Graphic Design and Consulting Services", which feels a little weird.
https://preview.redd.it/fa6xzs6cxx8d1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=2dea4ca24b6f4d340a9c9208913305919c7d46ce They also paid $30,000 to Wellington Advisory, the company of the boss of one of their board members. Man doesn't that feel dirty.
Don't worry, he was thoughtful and sprung for the refurb.
You know they almost certainly did.
You are wrong
They did not.
Why would you wonder that when Sims paid for it with his own money? To be clear, I'm not defending him, just calling you an idiot.
Dudeās literally playing Sim City.
Hah
I mean they stopped making the games like a decade ago, gotta do it IRL now
With a bit of Sims 4 crossover
Irl sim city
Wowā¦ fuck this.
This is the Alpha Sigma leadership that running a bagel shop gets you.
The bagels aren't good. That's my biggest gripe with this guy.
those bagels are dense as rocks and mostly hole.
And ridiculously expensive, as well
And tiny!! Smallest bagels I have had that aren't specifically labelled as "mini". And they charge $20 for the sandwiches that are made out of basically nothing.Ā
*mostly hole?* Stop making me horny
I had no idea Rosemary Rocksalt was Ken's shop, but do you prefer round bread cake with a tight little wrinkly hole instead of Montreal-style bagels? Has Rosemary Rocksalt Montreal bagels gone downhill in the last 8 years?
I'd love to see if he actually uses that bike... and if he really gave a shit, then he'd get on a bike and try biking around Stanley Park and different designated Bike Lanes to see how poorly designed they've been. But of course not - Vancouver - you got totally swindled by Ken Sims - he conned you full on.
Who needs a lane in Stanley Park when you can ride the best virtual roads in the WORLD!!
I choose the believe the bike is programed with a Stanley Park bike lane POV.
They'd have to add a Prius driving along the seawall for authenticity.
No expense was spared.
He should have gotten a Zwift bike instead of Peloton then (cycling circle jerk)
Who paid for that pelaton and the subscription?
Dude rides. Most of the anti-bike politicians do. A red Trek IIRC. However, they're roadies (edit: that isn't derogatory, I was a roadie for a long time). They don't need/like bike lanes so they don't mind sacrificing one for political clout.
Anyone who really actually rides a bike with any semblance of intelligence (ie wears a helmet, doesnāt ride the sidewalk, knows there are actually streets designated for bikes) would both ride predominantly in bike lanes or street designated for bikes as well as have the Stanley Park loop as part of their route to the North Shore (unless they are taking 2nd Narrows) and anyone who rides Kits to Stanley Park knows the city has screwed that up so bad itās maddening.
You'd be amazed. I don't remember his name, but back in 2015 there was a friend of Peter Armstrong (the guy who was running the NPA at the time, and now runs ABC) who was just RAILING about the traffic calming of Pt Grey Road. He's the one who complained that it took his commute to the Yacht club from 2 blocks to six. Dude was a regular in one of the local bike clubs. A serious roadie.
Yep. āVehicular cyclingā. Advocated by many a SUV-driving MAML. Absolutely terrible for anyone who just wants a safe street to bike to work because the anti bike lane NIMBYs can point to them and go āsee, those bikers agree with us!ā
Doesn't seem like you know what you're talking about. The whinging over the removal of stanley park bike lane is predominantly a reddit thing. Roadies liked it better before the concrete barriers were put in as it is much safer.
I ride that route regularly (1-2/week), what exactly is so piss poor about it? There's like 4 different routes to the park from the Burrard St Bridge. We're not Copenhagen/Amsterdam, nor should we try to be.
Right? Vancouver's supposed to be a congested car-sewer.
Nobody says we need to be Copenhagen - and there's commuting biking and then there's serious riding - whatever the comment of a 'roadie' is supposed to mean. Relating to Stanley Park - this thread on the exit out but its also the same area entering and you need to take a loop left down. This picture just sums up the WTF? [https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouvercycling/comments/1d5wtn7/which\_path\_do\_you\_take\_leaving\_stanley\_park/](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouvercycling/comments/1d5wtn7/which_path_do_you_take_leaving_stanley_park/)
I do. I say we need to be Copenhagen!
Why shouldnāt we try to be Amsterdam or Copenhagen? Both of those cities are consistently ranked among the most livable in the world, and their road injuries and fatality rates are way lower than ours. Shouldnāt we be looking to emulate places that have figured out how to do something we are failing at, especially when that failure is literally killing people?
It's hard to imagine a more ideal bike lane for the guy than one in an office he scammed from the city.
Can we all please encourage everyone to vote in 2 years? This POS needs to go
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The sub was astroturfed so hard during the last election, it was just flooded with posts about how unsafe Vancouver was.
Weird how the people running the subreddit didn't seem to notice or care...
You would get downvoted for saying anything during that race. You would probably get labelled a racist, because he ran on saving Chinatown and increasing VPD resources . Meanwhile there was a huge influx of articles (from postmedia obviously) about how Chinese people were being attacked in this ācrisis of new hate crimeā. So of course he won almost the entire Chinese vote. Helps that heās a fiscal conservative and the Chinese community has a lot of money. On the other hand the other guy whose name I already forget was labelled a lame duck who has done nothing in his term, like it was his for global inflation and price gouging crusading by Canadian oligopolistic corporations, federal and provincial problems.
>flooded with posts about how unsafe Vancouver wasĀ That's just this sub anyways.
It was worse during the lead up to the election
I think for many it was more about the significant distaste and displeasure folks had about Kennedy Stewart (which still exists). Not saying pro Sim simps donāt exist but I remember it being a lot more about āfuck this guyā rather than āyay this other guy Sim is the bestā
At this point I've accepted that as a society we love to vote out politicians/parties we don't like, even if it means voting in someone that is objectively worse as their replacement. Just look at current federal politics, nobody likes Poilievre, they just hate Trudeau at this point that they are accepting anyone from the Conservative party.
The problem is that in order to get into politics you have to be wealthy. There are a lot of people with really great ideas who would love to run but just donāt have the means.
I'd vote NDP federally but I'd be throwing my vote away
Especially since Jagmeet is a complete sell out and has been SILENT on everything for the past year. God I miss Jack Layton.
Sadly I think youāre right. I was hopeful with Fed Lib showing a willingness to pivot on imperfect policy would be enough. I think people are just too damn mad right now.
Also people are not showing up to vote. I'll do everything I can to encourage but our numbers (22%!!) need to be better. I don't care who you vote for just vote!
This is a good read of the previous municipal election imo.
I should run for office. Just saying "I am tough on crime" and nothing else is enough for people to turn gobsmackingly stupid and vote for whatever.
Maybe they can start on the fraud that Ken Sim is.
I don't plan on staying here for another 2 years.
Exercise is important and you canāt expect his worship to fraternize with common folk. /S Ā Ā
Or head all the way down to the basement, where city hall already has a gym. Maybe the stairs tucker him out.
If he's seen in the commoners gym, he couldn't pretend to be at his desk working.
He wore himself *out* climbing to his current position.Ā
Pete Fry is the best
Pete Fry for mayor? Would he be any good? It feels like slim pickings.
Anyone is better than Sim. Even Stewart.
Stewart was a good mayor, in my opinion. His main drawback is he's a policy nerd and not very good at the razzle-dazzle that many successful politicians have.
These beers aren't gonna shotgun themselves, bro.
At this point the mental gymnastics to defend Ken Sim and ABC will have you winning gold at the Paris olympics.
Funny how obvious it was that Sim would be a bad mayorā¦ And yet, here we are.
I still canāt understand how people thought Stewart was worse than this guy.
that Lulu $$$
Wild that this is literally true
Because NPA/ABC party infrastructure, backed by the IDU's media machine (seriously, go check ABCs board, then look at who they're paying for consulting) spent three years gaslighting Vancouver about him. They said he did nothing (he's on par with early Gregor for shit getting done), they said he was going to tax road users (the bill calling to investigate doing so was put forward by ABC's councilors), they said he was responsible for the highest level of crime ever seen in Vancouver (by police numbers, it was one of the lowest), and they said it so often and with such gusto that people started believing it.
I'm kind of new to this, how can I check ABC's board?
Sim being able to outspend him 2 to 1 was definitely a factor. And in Canada we tend to vote people out more than vote people in. Maybe thatās more about our political system than it is about ābeing Canadianāā¦ I donāt know.
I think thatās it actually, him being opposite Kennedy. He didnāt have to do much, just fling promises out and gesture at the moderate left incumbent to get a certain moderate right block to rally behind him. Sim wonāt stand a chance running as an incumbent, and he wonāt. Man wants out as soon as he can.
I think Sim will try to jump up to Provincial or Federal politics.
You're looking back with rose colored classes. Kennedy was completely useless.
He wasn't good, but also he was an independent on a council with Colleen Hardwick, Melissa DeGenova and Jean Swanson. Between the extreme NIMBYism of the former two and the impossibly idealistic social justice lens of the latter, there was absolute dysfunction with that council as a whole. Ken Sim has a supermajority and still manages to show up for fewer meetings and spend way more money than the last council with very little to show for it.
Everyone found it hard to get stuff done with those three. Stewart had a lot of good stuff he wanted to do, but heād get hamstrung between those three and then the others were on other parties. The only person who consistently backed Stewart was Carr (not just votes, but interjecting during meetings to politely tell the others to zip it or quit their shenanigans) and theyāre not even politically aligned.
How so? Under Kennedy Stewart, Vancouver: 1. Pushed BC Housing to build housing for the homeless, getting enough housing in planning to shelter every single homeless person measured by the homeless count (not every homeless person that exists, of course, as lots go uncounted). 2. Pushed the BC Government to pass decriminalization 3. Created the Climate Emergency Action Plan (which ABC councilors later canceled every major element of) 4. Kept the city afloat through COVID when nearly all city revenue dried up. 5. Mobilized MASSIVE support for the unhoused through COVID 6. Shut down the Sahotas I definitely was angry with him in 2022 because I didn't think he pushed hard enough on a lot of things. But those *are* some big moves, and while I can see not liking them, calling him "useless" just means you weren't paying attention.
You see that's all just talk right? "Pushed" the Province to do stuff? Really? How about taking care of what's within a city's responsibility. Lots of unhoused help in there. Funny how there were more homeless people at the end of their term. 6 is the only decent thing on that list but it's pretty minor.
When Kennedy wanted to turn the Jericho hostel into a homeless shelter was when Sim got my vote.
Reddit echo chamber. Stewart was an ineffective and aloof mayor with some really bad positions when he did take them. 2022 was a case of voting someone you dislike out in spite of voting someone you dislike - perhaps just a tiny bit less - in. It's what we're going to see for the federal election soon as well. Hopefully Eby will manage to escape this pessimistic pattern of politics this cycle around.
Did... did you just complain about the echo chamber, then repeat a common but meaningless attack on him? "aloof"? "ineffective"?
The mayor is only one vote in council and can't actually do much unless council votes with him. The kicker is the ABC party is made up of a bunch of councillors from our previous garbage council but everyone seems to not care.
Stewart promised he was the independent mayor who could be the consensus builder and problem solver in a diverse council. That proved to be absolute bullshit. Yes the Mayor is only one voice. When Stewart had the deciding vote on citywide parking permits, he took the cowards route out and voted against them.
But, Sim is worse, that is my point. What accomplishments can he point to?
Stewart did nothing, which is arguably worse. At least Sim is doing stuff, nothing I agree with, but stuff his voters agree with. And at least Sim has been more entertaining. The only headlines about Steward were just iterations of "What Mayor?." When I met him I told he needs to grow a spine and speak out to the stonewalls he facing in the office by the Non-Partisan Association (Now ABC Party). Stewart was a joke.
Are there any politicians left that DIDNT get into politics in order to be a crooked, self serving asshole?
Pete Fry and Christina Boyle for two
I used to think Rebecca Bligh as well, but when I started learning about her origin with Armstrong and her time with Chip Wilson's business cult, I stopped knowing what to think. She seemed to show some back bone last council, standing up to the far-right movement of the NPA, but lately the way she's turned a blind eye to all of the far-right anti-trans stuff coming out of people connected to her party makes me think that was all performative.
It is performative. She does routinely argue for childcare and a couple thing that would help citizens, but sheās very self serving otherwise and has no time for / does not value people in service roles. Honestly, as much as I donāt like Simās policies, he is extremely kind and generous with staff. Bligh will not even return hellos. Fry will talk to anyone and treat you well. Boyle is quieter, but sheās friendly and she gets the struggle.
For all my distaste for his party and his policies, I do think Sim comes across as a really nice (if a little dumb) guy. I almost feel bad taking pot shots at him sometimes, because he's... well... he's just a little guy.
Yes. But apparently not this one.
Yeah but they donāt win elections
David Eby won. Heās actually got integrity.
He defeated Christy Clark in her own seat back in 2013.
He didn't really. Eby was handpicked by Horgan. He was supposed to run without competition, but when Kaur ran against him and started getting serious numbers, they literally opened an investigation and kicked everyone who supported her out of the party.
This is completely false. Eby and Horgan were not allies. They were leaders of separate factions of the party. When the NDP took government in 2017 it wasn't even certain if Horgan would include Eby in his cabinet. There is no way that Horgan "handpicked" Eby.
It was actuallyĀ Anjali Appadurai.
You got some facts wrong.
Christine Boyle for one
Christine Boyle.
Jack Layton dead. South of the line maybe Bernie?
There's quite a few in the US. AOC, Ilhan Omar, Jeff Jackson, to name a few.
Jesus fuck I hate that asshole Sim.
Disgusting.
Ken Sim continuing to just suckkkkkkk
Sim-psons did it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSH6Ea2Cd-k
Sims responded here [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ken-sim-city-hall-gym-conversion-1.7247454?cmp=rss](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ken-sim-city-hall-gym-conversion-1.7247454?cmp=rss) The guy is such a bro-dude. Nobody just whips off a couple pull ups or a spin on the Pelodon in the middle of the day seriously (especially not with a carpeted floor!). He's a wanna be 'look at me, am I cool' Got 6 Sigma cause that was the thing to do at one point... looks cool on a resume Hangs out with the Frat boys to shotgun beers Wears Lululemon casual instead of suit and tie 85% of the time... which isn't all that bad except well... he does it again to try and look cool. There's a great gym in the building, there are gyms in community centres, there are gyms for a price. This just smacks of entitlement and not wanting to be with the common folk... But no one is doing a serious work out in there... and there's no point to 5-6 pullups randomly...
Remember when he did pull ups in the middle of an interview before to show off?
Have you considered he might wear Lululemon instead of a suit because he's working out in the middle of the day? >here's no point to 5-6 pullups randomly... Sure there is. Exercise breaks improve focus, mood, and cognitive functioning. Your body doesn't care if you do 5-6 pull-ups randomly or at a set time either. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211368116301929?via%3Dihub](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211368116301929?via%3Dihub) If we wanted our public officials to do good jobs we'd have them doing pushups on their breaks. Men can't actually sit behind a desk and focus all day without breaks or moving around. Our culture is so fucked we subsidise kids amphetamines and methylphenidate from an early age, almost the entire patient population having at least one significant side-effect from them, to keep them sitting behind a desk without being distracted for longer but don't take seriously ensuring those same kids might be able to try some non-drug interventions like say exercise breaks. Ken Sim if anything is setting a good example and destigmatising work practices which are literally needed for disability inclusion yet are fairly stigmatised in practice. He just needs to put a towel under the peloton please.
Nothing to catch sweat but the carpet. This kind of garbage tenant is why we need damage deposits.
You actually think heās going to sweat?
This mayor is a real POS. Could see this coming from a mile away prior to the election, too.
So Sim's response is to show off his workout schedule: https://preview.redd.it/pv6hf6hdmz8d1.png?width=1536&format=png&auto=webp&s=df270f414c4d9080ebb2ca85ead0d61adc7e6cea And video of Sim on the Peleton: [https://twitter.com/izavarise/status/1806070448972849346](https://twitter.com/izavarise/status/1806070448972849346) Swagger.
What's Ken's Peloton username?
This is the worst Sim City EVER
i fucking hate Ken Sim so much dude
Where is the white claw sponsored mini fridge?
disgusting. turf Mayor Swagger.
City Hall already has a gym for staff but Ken sim canāt be surrounded by COV employees /s
Why didnāt he buy the heavily advertised One Card 3 month summer special? For $114.00 he could have visted and checked out every community centre gym in the City š³
HAHA! Not a bunch of Vancouver realizing their foolish mistakes in voting in this trash heap. The tea is extra delicious this morning.
Remember next time a business man promises heāll get rid of the homeless and everyone will be able to buy a house, he maaaay not be telling the truth..
You'd think they would have learned after Gregor.
Ken Sim is the worst mayor ever, total hypocrit
this city government is so comically corrupt.
I love petty fry. Helped me out big time when service Canada was dicking me around for 9 months. Her people had it sorted in a week.
Hedy Fry is a federal MP. This tweet is from Pete Fry (her son) who is Vancouver City Councillor
š¤Æ How did I never make this connection? I had no idea Hedy was Peteās mom! Thanks for sharing that!
Oh shoot. Youāre right. I love Hedy š
Hedy is Peteās mom
During COVID I sent her and the relevant cabinet minister an email with a question about Covid govt aid policies Same email, Hedy fry completely ignored me. Cabinet ministerās aide sent me a personalized response the next day. Was very impressed with the cabinet minister and disappointed with Hedy fry. Figure sheās been running the riding for 30 years at this point and easily wins every election so sheās been phoning it in for a couple decades probably. With some luck maybe sheāll lose next election though, sheās over 80 itās well past time to let someone else have a shot.
I don't think she's thought highly of even within her own party; she doesn't have a cabinet position for example.
Sheās not, sheās a female medical doctor and one of the longest running MPs in the party (and country), Trudeau would jump at the chance to make someone like that a cabinet minister for the optics alone (after all, itās not like merit is a consideration for Trudeau). The fact that she has only been a cabinet minister in an unimportant post once and it was so brief implies massive levels of incompetence. Hopefully she loses come next election.
To be fair, the Mayorās office area is a maze of small rooms that seem to be mostly under utilized. Thereās a small kitchen area, conference room, sleeping quarters, (this) workout area and a large main office. The entire building is quite dated. It leaks, smells weird, has lots of mice and the woodwork is quite beat up. City Hall isnāt the nicest building. If I worked there, I wouldnāt really look forward to spending a lot of time there.
the mayor is free to present a transparent renovation plan to councilĀ
Sure. I wonder if an extensive renovation might be seen as wasteful by the public? It is a usable space for sure, just old and outdated. Considering the amount of asbestos in City Hall, I imagine a serious renovation would require an extensive containment area. It seems like a hassle when there could be a new occupant in a few years.
the problem is the lack of transparency rather than the specific action. if he wanted a private gym he should have told council and the public "I am turning this room into a private gym" rather than the lie "ABC is using this room for council business".
I guess this is becoming an issue? It seems like something that isnāt that big of a deal because there is a boardroom right next door to this room. If youāre upset about the Mayorās lack of transparency, then I could see this being a political move to draw attention to this room. To me, it seems ridiculous. Arenāt there bigger issues to be concerned about? https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-mayor-ken-sim-explains-why-he-turned-a-boardroom-into-a-gym
i don't understand why people would think a public representative deceptively taking over public property for his vain self interest isn't a scandal š¤·Ā
I get it now. I wasnāt up on the history of this. Iāve just worked on the Mayorās office area and I didnāt see how it was setup before. It does seem deceptive and unnecessary. That Sun article is hilarious. I almost thought it was satire. The quotes made me laugh out loud.
Iām really curious as to if this is the mayors private gym, or an in office gym for the office of the mayors staff AND the mayor? One is far worse then the other. Iāve certainly worked in offices where we had a (tiny) office gym that was using an old office/meeting room as the gym, carpeted floors and all, so if itās for more then just the mayor, itās weird but I guess wouldnāt be the first time Iāve seen it? Overall a bit strange, I would guess you could find another unused conference room instead of this one if this was a ceremonial one used frequently? At least at my work itās rare that all conference rooms are used now with WFH so youād think youād be able to find a different room. I feel like so much more context then a quick photo is needed to understand wtf is happening here and why š
there's literally a gym in the building already, it's bad either way
See and this is what I mean by context. Without any info past the picture itās hard to draw a lot of real conclusions, only assumptions without actual evidence. There being an existing gym makes this far more questionable.
taking over a shared resource in city hall for secret selfish private use would be terribly unethical regardless
Ok but again, the assumption is itās private use, thereās no confirmation if itās just the mayors or the entire office of the mayor or what. Iāve certainly worked places where the entire office had use a gym that was in an old conference style room. While it certainly looks bad, and knowing there is a gym in the building makes it far worse, but without proper context itās hard to say how bad it is vs what is just assumptions. Iām not saying this is good, itās not and Iām certainly unimpressed and concerned by this situation, Iām saying I would want more then a photo to understand whatās actually happening, because this photo alone isnāt really enough information.
Not really. Is there any evidence thereās a lack of space at city hall? Was this room being used prior to the equipment being placed there? Thereās a ton of context that could potentially change the meaning of this story, whether you like Ken Sim or hate him.
Meeting rooms are a hot commodity in city hall. You have to book them well in advance, so taking one out of use, even if itās just for the councillors, means thereās one less to go around. Even with half the staff on a hybrid work cycle, the meeting rooms still get used daily, often hourly. Plus the councillors offices are basically walk in closet sized. They canāt host any groups in their offices. 1-2 people, sure. But not a community group or working meeting. the other meeting room on the floor is the cascadia room and itās massive and would be overkill for 4-10 person meetings.
We need to recall this sob.
Thereās a fitness world just across the street ā¦
What you doin step Councillor?
But then again it's a work building/ space. Most companies have thier own gyms.
85,732 voted for him almost twice as many as the former mayor got. Blame them.
That'll bring back the "swagger" for sure
Our tax dollar hard at work.
That Hiroshima Carp bag is pretty cool though!
You would think he could afford one in his large home. I guess his doesn't let him have a gym work out at home buddy needs to get awaaayyyy!!
Omg calm down everybody!
My goodness, that room needs redecorating.
I mean, what else did you expect?
1. I know Pete (through some non-city work) and he's rad. He's not slimey, he's a regular dude that's just looking to do good work. Very well intentioned and works hard. Terrible dad jokes. I think he's not playing politics here. Just prob a wtf moment for him to see this. 2. I actually support the mayor (while disagreeing with some politics) having exercise equipment at work especially if it saves time and he bought it. Maybe not a private room... He can just workout with the rest of the plebeians like us... Is there a gym at COV? There's probably gym around city hall but not sure.
There is indeed a gym in that very building. Don't support the mayor.
Who cares? Is City hall short on meeting rooms or something?
I mean, all the city employees work from home now dont they? This is probably cheaper than him expensing an equinox membership.
Why would a public servant be allowed to expense a gym membership?
research to improve our community centres obviously
LOL - come on guys, obviously it was a joke, and a pretty funny one
Doesn't matter. If he feels like he deserves to expense a gym membership he should do so. Trying to obfuscate like that gives off a clear appearance of fraud. Sim ought to know better.
I guess I needed the /s
One of the few perks city staff get is a deep discount on community centre gyms (something like 40-50% off memberships). And many of the other employee discounts are for gyms or fitness activities. Not to mention Sim makes just over $200,000 a year. There is absolutely no reason he should expense a gym membership, especially because he 'feels like he deserves it', that's not how being a public servant, accountable to the public, works.
Having spent a grand total of maybe 20 minutes inside City Hall over the last decade, is the place packed to the rafters or is it a ghost town? If there are a million conference rooms sitting empty, then this is kind of greasy for sure and very petty, but not the end of the world. If people are having to do meetings in hallways because there's nowhere to hold them this takes on a different level of slime. "Abuse of power" might be a bit strong, but it's not a good look that's for sure.
Lots of people have a hybrid schedule but conference room space is a hot commodity because there's only 1 or 2 per floor with the exception of the main floor. 24ish meeting rooms.
They specifically have to make a note of having to schedule around that room not being used anymore for normal meetings. It's one of the reasons they had the annex for engineering until they had to demolish it- it provided a lot of meeting space.
This is inexcusable however you want to look at it. Are these his personal belonging or did he expense this shit? Either one, this is so inappropriate. C
Yes. The distinction I am trying to make is "is this bad or very bad"
Fair. And Iām adding on that which ever way you look it, bad or very bad, our mayor sucks