Welcome to the first newsletter for the Burnaby Green Party.
Our intention is to keep our members and supporters up to date with what is going on in Burnaby as it relates to the Green party and its members. We want to share with you what is going on with Joe Keithley on City Council and with Christy Cunningham on the School Board and other items of interest.
We also have a new Burnaby Green Party website to share as well. We will be posting on the Events page for events as they occur throughout the year, such as Hats Off Day in North Burnaby (June 6th) and the Edmonds City Fair and Classic Car Show in South Burnaby. Not a Green member but you would like to be? Click over to the Membership page where you can join the Burnaby Green Party, for only $10.
It’s the Executive of the Green Party organizing and curating information for this newsletter. Have information or pictures you think should be shared with others Green members? Events or ideas? Send it to me, Cathy Griffin at communications@burnabygreenparty.com and we will see about getting it in the newsletter. The cut-off date for each month is the 30th each month.
Not interested in receiving this newsletter? This letter is being sent to both supporters and members, so if you don’t want to receive this newsletter, note the email above and let me you know you wish to UNSUBSCRIBE.
Just a note here about the 2018 election. A small team of volunteers and all the candidates worked incredibly hard for about six weeks on the 2018 civic election campaign. Total expenditure was just under $10,000. Incredible, and incredible what you can do with the right volunteers. We stood on street corners waving banners, leafletting riders on skytrains and buses and depositing thousands of flyers in mailboxes. It was all about connecting by cell phones and conducting street corner meetings. Compare this to the BCA (Burnaby Citizens Council) that spent $502,362 and Mike Hurley, now Mayor Hurley spent $250,000. We did well in 2018 and we can do better in 2022.
Thank you to the candidates who ran for election in 2018.
The Executive would like to thank all the individuals who ran in the 2018 election. A huge amount of time, meetings and effort was contributed by all our candidates, their families and friends:
Mehreen Chaudry – City Council
Christine Cunningham – School Board Trustee
Joe Gibbs – City Council
Joe Keithley – City Council
Rick McGowan – City Council
Carrie McLaren – City Council
Erika Schinzel – City Council
Emily Zhang – School Board
What do our elected Green party members do?
Joe Kiethley was elected to Burnaby City Council. A calendar of dates the Council sits is included in the link should you wish to go and hear how Council works and what actually happens in your community. Joe also sits on the Social Planning Committee as vice-chair, the Planning and Development Committee as a member, and is a member of the Public Safety Committee.
Social Planning works to improve the social well-being and social development of the community and all Burnaby citizens.
Planning and Development advises Council on transportation planning, affordable housing, City land leasing for non-market and special needs housing, planning issues for residential land use and the reports on the impacts of federal and provincial policies on the aforementioned topics.
Public Safety provides oversight of the RCMP Burnaby Detachment, Fire, Risk Management & Emergency Planning, Parking Enforcement and the Realty & Lands divisions.
Christy Cunningham was elected as a School Board Trustee. As a Trustee, the school board is a policy-making body whose primary function is to establish procedures and guidelines for the operation of Burnaby’s public schools. The seven Trustees are responsible for producing a budget, administering expenditures, and liaising with individual schools through the School Trustee Liaison Program.
In addition to this work, Christy also sits on the Traffic Safety Committee, as a member. The Traffic Safety Committee is tasked with advising on ways to improve safety on Burnaby roads for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.
Green member Andrei Zawadzki sit as Citizen Representatives on the Environment and Social Planning Committee. The latest information from this committee indicates the City is moving towards a reduction in single use plastics e.g, bags, straws and utensils at civic facilities.
Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY)
Interested in helping homelessness in Burnaby? For $25 you can join the Burnaby Green Teams Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY) event on February 22. All proceeds go to two organizations committed to assisting those who are homeless. Contact teresa.rossiello@outlook.com who is leading this event and is being joined by Christy Cunningham our Green School Board Trustee. Lots of room for you too. Get hot drinks, have food, walk 5 km.
Transportation Plan – Phase 2
The City has just announced Phase 2 of the Transportation Plan. This plan has not been updated since the late 1990’s. The world has changed a lot since then. More cars, more skytrain, more people, lots of people cycling and moving around in different ways. Call the city at 604-294-7944, or email at: clerks@burnaby. ca to ask for a copy or where it is located on-line.
There are also to be numerous consultations between City staff and the community. Watch your local newspapers for dates and times. We will also keep you posted.
Environmental awards now open.
Do you know someone or perhaps a business that should be recognized for their environmental efforts? You have until April 23, 2020 to do so.
Environmental week is put on by the City June 6 – 14th.
The Repair Cafe is coming to Burnaby in June 2020. Bring your broken stuff and people fix it, for free. Stay tuned.
Donate.
While we have you here we should talk about money. We can’t do this newsletter without you and we can’t run the Green Party of Burnaby without your support. Your support goes towards paying for the website, purchasing supplies for events as well as for mail-outs and canvassing materials in the future, perhaps some advertising too.
At the top of this website just on the right is a donate button. See if you can squeeze $10 or $20 a month to the party. Its the cost of a couple of cups of coffee or a lunch. It’s easy to add it to your credit card. If you can’t donate month, please consider a one time donation. If its only $50. once, that’s great, thank you.
AGM
Our AGM is coming soon. We will give you lots of notice. We are looking for candidates for 2022, which is really not that far away. Women, individuals of a variety of social and cultural backgrounds are more than welcome. The Burnaby Green Party wants candidates that will show the diversity of the community. We need you to support a Greener Burnaby.
Fundraising the easy way.
The Burnaby Green party has set up an account with Return it Express Bottle Returns for easy fundraising. Anyone with bottles to return for a deposit can donate their deposit returns to the Burnaby Green Party..
For a location near you https://www.return-it.ca/locations/
1. Go to an Express depot.
2. Use # 604-444-9944 to deposit your bottles.
3. Place your containers in a clear plastic bag, NO sorting required.
4. f you like you can either pre-print a label or do this at the the kiosk.
5. One label per bag. leave the bag in the bag drop area.