One campaign is over, but another one has just begun, says Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver leader Randy Helten.
The third-place finisher in the mayoral race with 4,007 votes said independent candidates are discussing the creation of a "shadow" city council to monitor the two "developer parties" and rescue civic democracy.
"This networking and grassroots work will hopefully cut through the BS and get the true facts out to the public and maybe in three years our society will be a bit more mature to cut through the mist and smokescreen that the mainstream media are putting up," said Helten, who finished far behind successful Vision Vancouver incumbent Mayor Gregor Robertson and runner-up Coun. Suzanne Anton of the Non-Partisan Association.
Helten, the CityHallWatch.ca blogger and former West End Neighbours president, called the campaign a learning experience. NSV fielded four candidates for city council, led by Elizabeth Murphy who tallied 19,644 votes, and ran the campaign on a shoestring budget under $40,000.
In 2008, Vision Vancouver spent $2.5 million and the NPA $2.1 million. The two main parties were expected to meet or beat those totals for the 2011 campaign.
"With absolute power [Vision Vancouver is] not really afraid until the next election, when they can fudge things through with their huge campaign budgets," Helten said.
NSV hosted an event billed as the People's Party at the St. James Community Hall where various independents gathered to watch the results come in. City council candidate Lauren Gill took a break from Occupy Vancouver to dance as mayoral candidate and rapper Dubgee deejayed.
Gill was supported by 4,682 voters. Dubgee had 419 votes, seven fewer than the offbeat Darrell "Saxmaniac" Zimmerman, but less than half the 1,195 of fourth-place finisher Gerry McGuire of Vancouver Citizen's Voice.
Zimmerman's stuffed lobster-waving disruption of the Board of Trade debate between Mayor Gregor Robertson and Coun. Suzanne Anton produced one of the most memorable moments of the campaign overshadowed by the Occupy Vancouver protest camp at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Sandy Garossino, who led the broad Vancouver Not Vegas anti-gambling expansion coalition, had 20,866 votes. Her 22nd overall finish was the most of any independent candidate for council, but 28,000 fewer than the Green Party's Adriane Carr. Perennial provincial and federal candidate Carr won the 10th and final council seat.
Garossino gathered with pink scarf-clad supporters at a former church in Strathcona and said there is a hunger among the populace for a moderate choice.
"I don't think people are as partisan as the process forces them toward," she said. "They are really hungry for an alternative."
For park board, Jamie Lee Hamilton was the top independent with 19,362 votes for 15th. On school board, independent Lily Harvey's 20,214 was 16th.
"When you're dealing with 30-plus per cent of the population voting you don't really have a representative fraction of the citizens of Vancouver," said Chris Shaw, who had 8,219 votes for De-Growth Vancouver. "I think it's really disappointing that more people weren't involved, but I can't blame them because they thought it was going to be Vision and NPA, no matter what they did.
"There is a lot of energy from the candidates that didn't get elected to try and bring some sort of rationality to Vancouver city politics."
