Abbotsford - The Best Place To Live

Shortly after the last election, council adopted a strategic plan to guide it in the four years ahead. That plan was built on four cornerstones: a vibrant economy, a complete community, fiscal discipline, and organizational alignment. These would be the guideposts for consideration of everything we were to do in the next four years.

During the space of this term, much has been accomplished in terms of anchoring those four cornerstones. Without a doubt, the City’s fiscal outlook is much more positive than four years ago; our accumulated surplus now gives the City more options for addressing the needs of our community. Organizationally, the City has become much more efficient and effective in delivering services because of organizational alignment. The days of individual departments operating in silos have passed. Two recognitions are a testimony to this fact: “The community with the least red tape” (Fraser Institute, 2015), and “The Most Business-Friendly City in BC” (NAIOP, 2017).

With respect to “A Vibrant Economy” and “A Complete Community”, the City has relatively more work to do. An important aspect of an economy that is “vibrant” is one with a wide tax base. The uptake on our industrial lands has occurred in recent years, and within the near future, the full employment of those lands plus the attraction of higher-paying industries will have an impact on tax revenues, which in turn will provide financial resources to provide the quality of life that our residents require and deserve.

Building that “Complete Community” is perhaps one of the more challenging, in that social infrastructure is typically not the highest priority in many cities. A community that is “Complete” will not only offer amenities to the widest range of interests, but will make it an enjoyable experience to get there – transit, walking, cycling – as well as a pleasant environment in which to experience it – “people places”, trails, parks, etc. The “Culture” component of Parks, Recreation, and Culture has been the “poor cousin” of the other two since joining about 10 years ago. Increased attention to the Arts and Culture in our community is only beginning to achieve some degree of momentum, which the next council needs to build on.

While we focus on building a better community, we cannot lose sight of pressing issues that concern our residents daily, and for which municipal governments are not adequately resourced. Two that immediately come to mind are Homelessness and Affordable Housing. Both are provincial government mandates, but both have and are receiving City attention. I’ve written elsewhere on Homelessness (see: Article), and with respect to Affordable Housing, the City is presently updating its Affordable Housing Strategy, which outlines the tools (albeit limited) available to the city to affect supply. Community safety, whether Fire or Police, is important; the police portion of our budget is the single largest slice at 21%. Having said that, I know and most everyone knows that more resources would give the police more tools and staff to do their job. Both the police board and Council have exercised prudence in budget-setting and tried to be as responsive to police needs as possible. With regards to Fire Rescue, I believe we will have to review our short-term financial plan with a sharpened mind. Given our growth in recent years and the increased demand on their time (steep incident call rise), our budget allocation for Fire Rescue may have fallen behind. We have had and continue to have strong leadership in both departments.

The next council will have opportunities to continue focusing on the four cornerstones, but in particular, to advance the agendas of the last two. They are foundational to a better quality of life. I was born and raised in Abbotsford; my children and grandchildren all live here. I want to make Abbotsford a place that others envy; I want to make Abbotsford the best place to live!