Irish Determination Drives
Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan
in his Project Civil City Plan
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
VANCOUVER - Almost anyone in the public eye and certainly in politics is a target for criticism...it seems to go with the territory. Sam Sullivan, the Mayor of Vancouver, is no exception, and he has weathered his own fair share of scathing criticism.
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IN PREPARATION for the 2010 Olympics to be held in Vancouver, Mayor Sam Sullivan has put together a list of objectives to help improve public order. It includes four key goals to significantly reduce homelessness and public disorder on Vancouver streets.
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Recently at the end of a very busy day, I met with Mayor Sam Sullivan in his boardroom to talk to him about his Irish background, the 2010 Olympics, the ongoing drug and homeless problems in the city. I was also interested to know how challenging it was as a quadriplegic to manage his position.
I also noticed how tired the mayor was at the end of the day. He was rubbing his legs to help the circulation and said his ankles were also swollen, but he graciously took the time to speak with The Celtic Connection.
"As long as I'm awake...I'm working," said Mayor Sullivan, "I don't distinguish being in the community or doing my civic duty...it's all called work to me. I'm usually awake at about 7 AM, I will get someone calling me, and then I will do a little dictation."
Since accepting the Olympic flag at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy, Sam Sulivan has become one of the world's most recognized mayors.
As the world watched the closing ceremonies, Sam Sullivan waved the Olympic flag that would be coming to Vancouver in 2010. The picture of Sullivan in his wheelchair, holding aloft the fluttering Olympic flag is still etched in people's minds. I asked the Mayor what his thoughts and emotions were at that historic moment.
"The flag was very much a technical issue," said Sullivan, "I was very much concentrating. I wasn't thinking about the crowd or anything. I was thinking about technically doing my duty. I knew that I had to represent the city and the country and my main priority was making sure that the flag flew and did what I wanted it to do.
"I was concerned about the wind as there was some very fluky wind happening and I was worried that it might interfere with the flag. I was also concerned that in the cold weather, I sometimes start to spasm. Sometimes my legs can jump all over the place and I thought that could be very embarrassing if it happened in the middle of this important moment. I spent all my time before it shaking out my legs.
"I was so focused on doing the work that I really didn't have much of a sense of what was going on around me. It actually happened that I felt very calm and warm. There were warm lights on me and I was quite amazed about how calm I felt.
"It was like I was in the eye of the storm. It was very calm and I watched the flag flutter around and I did the right thing. Then, I went the other way and it did exactly what I wanted it to do, so I was very happy. I didn't really know the impact of my actions until I got home."
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MAYOR Sam Sullivan at the ceremony to raise the Olympic flag on the front lawn of Vancouver City Hall.
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Speaking about the rampant drug and homeless problem in Vancouver and what he is trying to do about the situation before the 2010 Olympics, Mayor Sullivan pointed to a framed list of goals on the wall, called Project Civil City and said, "My goals are up there on the wall and I keep them there so that if anybody comes to me with a new idea, I point to them and say, 'how will it get us towards those targets'?"
Project Civil City is a broad initiative aimed at improving public order and civility on Vancouver streets which includes four key goals to significantly reduce homelessness and incidences of crime and public disorder in the City by 2010.
"I keep myself really focused," said Sullivan, "so if people offer suggestions, unless it can help with those goals, then I'm not really interested in hearing about them. We're going to hire a commissioner to manage the project and it has to do with treating the mentally ill in a better way.
"I have set targets of outcomes, we want more than 50 percent reduction in homelessness, aggressive panhandling and open drug marketing by 2010. Those are pretty ambitious goals seeing as we have been going the other way. Homelessness has doubled in the last three years. What I have to do is wrestle that and control it."
Elaborating on the reality of these goals being achieved by 2010, Sullivan said, "I'm afraid my political career is dependant on it now because I have set these goals. People will have to judge me by the goals I have set for myself. There will be an election between now and the Olympics, so if I do not perform very well on these goals, my future will not look very good around here.
"I have been to Ottawa four times this year and the message is that Vancouver will represent Canada to the world. You have an interest in helping Vancouver succeed in solving its problems. If the world comes and we still have these problems, it's going to be a nightmare for us."
Vancouver will benefit enormously not only from the Olympics but after the event, said Sullivan. Almost $100 million of recreational and cultural facilities will be constructed for the Olympics and Para Olympics, so there will be a tremendous benefit for years to come.
"We're going to triple the size of our convention centre to 60,000 square feet and this will bring long-term benefits. The athlete's village will have 250 units of social housing that will be given to the city once the Olympics are over and we already have a big list of people who want to live in these facilities....mostly families.
Sam Sullivan is a recipient of the nation's highest honour, the Order of Canada, for his community service on behalf of marginalized people. He is also the founder of six non-profit organizations that have improved the lives of thousands of North Americans with disabilities.
After being elected to Vancouver City Council in 1993, Sullivan served as a Councillor for 12 years. He was elected Mayor in November 2005.
Sullivan is a believer in life-long learning and has devoted himself to studying a broad range of topics. He earned a business administration degree from Simon Fraser University and has also taught himself the basics of several languages, including Cantonese.
He is an avid sailor, using a specially designed boat that he helped to create. He also enjoys hiking in the Coast and Rocky Mountains using an assisted device he co-invented.
Sullivan's achievements are noteworthy due to the fact that they were accomplished since he became a quadriplegic after breaking his neck in a skiing accident at the age of 19.
When I asked Sullivan about his Irish background, he said, "I come from County Armagh, from a little town that doesn't really exist anymore. My great-grandfather left there to go to Glasgow to work in the gasworks for a time. He died young.
"His wife, my grandfather and other siblings then left to come to Canada where they ended up in Vancouver, and my grandfather went to work on the railway. My great-grandmother got a small inheritance from a farm that her people owned, so she used that to get to Canada.
"I have never been to Ireland but I sent my brother Pat to do some studying on the history of our family and he found the churchyard where our tombstones are. I found out that we still had a few relatives there and I contacted them and my brother met with them.
"So, I am very interested in my Irish background. We can get our family back to 1702 and since none of my relatives had the family history, I took it upon myself a few years ago and published it all in a little book for my relatives."
Mayor Sam Sullivan is also a great admirer of another Irish mayor...Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, and the two have met to discuss... what else? Getting money from the federal government for their cities.
Mayor Sam Sullivan is expected to take part in CelticFest and be in this year's St. Patrick's Day parade on March 18 as it winds its way down Granville Street. No doubt, he will be wearing his shamrock proudly.
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