The following is a guest post by John Tompkins, editor and publisher of the Wesbrook Journal ^[1], former editor of the Hampton Journal, and resident of UBC. If you would like to submit a guest post, contact us ^[2].

Lack of local interest is cited; new thrust is to provide UBC more services

The City of Vancouver has lost interest in the idea of annexing UBC, at least for the time being.

The City has not lost interest in expanding the range of services it provides UBC, however. On the contrary, City Council ^[3] in October voted in favor of starting a courtship which, if consummated, could eventually see—among other things—Vancouver City Police take over policing duties at UBC from the RCMP. (video ^[4])

The same marriage of municipal interests might also see Vancouver providing UBC residents with such important—but non-emergency—services as a noise abatement patrol (which they currently lack), a dog patrol (which they currently lack) and a more efficient system of administering local government elections every three years than the one they currently enjoy.

Vancouver already services UBC residents, either directly or through independent boards, with fire-fighting services, elementary and secondary schools (Vancouver School Board) and library services (Vancouver Public Library System).

The vote in favor of expanding the range of services to UBC residents but against further plans for the annexation of UBC follows the filing of a City Hall report by Community Services Manager Dave McLellan who concludes that “proceeding with this (annexation) initiative and an (accompanying) consultant feasibility study should be deferred until there is a stronger interest shown by UBC, the Residents Association and the University Endowment Lands (UEL).”

Mr. McLellan and City staff focused on both the social and financial implications of studying a UBC/Vancouver merger in preparing this report. Financially, a full-scale study of the merger possibilities would cost Vancouver up to $850,000, Mr. McLellan says in his report to council. Socially, those living or working in Vancouver or that portion of Electoral Area A more commonly referred to as UBC and the UEL may already consider themselves “part of the same community.”

The October 6th vote to defer further interest in UBC annexation by this Vision Vancouver-dominated City Council reverses council policy of 18 months earlier. Mr. McLellan recalls in his report that on April 15, 2008, when council was dominated by the NPA faction, the City voted to “welcome discussions regarding the joining of UBC and Vancouver.” Suzanne Anton, the only NPA member of council to participate in both votes, said in a telephone call, “UBC needs a mayor. UBC is a wonderful institution, but it needs a mayor, a champion.”

Nonetheless, Ms. Anton—a graduate of UBC law school—voted to defer interest in further studying annexation at this time in light of the McLellan report. Council voted unanimously in favor of a share-more-services motion drafted much along the lines recommended by Mr. McLellan.