Each candidate for Vancouver City Council, Position 3, has selling points that bolster her candidacy. After weighing those strengths — along with the contestants’ weaknesses — The Columbian’s Editorial Board recommends a vote for Linda Glover.
As always, this is simply a recommendation. The Columbian trusts that voters will examine the candidates and the issues before making an informed vote. In voting for Position 3 on the city council, the public will be selecting a successor for Anne McEnerny-Ogle, who is running for mayor.
Glover brings an exceptional resume to her race against Michelle Beardshear. She is the executive director of Gifts for Our Community, a nonprofit organization that runs a consignment furniture shop and clothing store downtown, with proceeds benefitting human services, education, and the arts.
After a career as a teacher and an elementary school principal, Glover has been deeply involved in community organizations. She serves on the steering committee for Bridgeview Education and Employment Center, and has experience with Vancouver’s Downtown Association, the Fort Vancouver National Trust, and numerous other endeavors.
Along with her deep community involvement, the editorial board believes that Glover’s experience with Gifts for Our Community is a strong attribute for her candidacy. Her experience running a small business in the downtown core provides her with valuable insight that can help facilitate development in a burgeoning part of the city.
Not that Glover is solely focused upon downtown. In an interview with the editorial board, she demonstrated a sharp understanding of the issues facing the city and the best way to approach those issues. She provides thoughtful answers while stressing the need for community engagement in solving problems.
Glover’s vast community involvement also brings up an issue that we have mentioned several times in our recommendations for the Nov. 7 general election. There is a movement in this country to support candidates who portray themselves as being “outsiders.” But this diminishes those who have spent years or decades working for the community, building relationships, examining problems, and devising solutions. If a candidate has a long history of community involvement, that does not mean they are part of the problem; it means they have a deep understanding of the community and its residents. Glover is one of those people.
Beardshear, meanwhile, also stresses her uniqueness as a candidate. On her website, she notes: “Living the past 20 years of my life in a wheelchair I have seen, heard, and experienced things, both positive and negative, that all citizens may not have had to endure. As an activist I support basic human rights and civil liberties on all levels, and my vision on quality of life for everyone is equal.”
Those are worthy qualities for a city council candidate, but they do not outweigh Glover’s strengths. For example, Beardshear notes that after taking a tour of the Port of Vancouver, she supports a proposed oil terminal for Vancouver. The city council has no say in whether the terminal will be constructed, but Beardshear’s position makes us question whether she has the appropriate vision for the city.
Glover, on the other hand, opposes the oil terminal and embraces a robust vision for what Vancouver can and should be. The Columbian recommends a vote for Linda Glover for Vancouver City Council, Position 3.
