Housing and economic development were the big themes of Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle’s 2019 State of the City address, which touted the accomplishments of the last year and the challenges to come in a rapidly growing city.
Leaders from the city’s government, police and community groups packed into the lobby of Vancouver City Hall on Thursday evening to hear the mayor’s speech.
“I can say that the state of our city is strong,” McEnerny-Ogle told the crowd.
She started off the address on a somber note, with a brief nod to the recent spate of police-involved shootings that left two men and one boy dead over the course of a month.
“We are very deeply saddened by these tragedies,” she said. “We are committed to listening and engaging with dialogue in our community. And we must work together to help heal our community.”
From there, her focus was on development — both residential and business — and the fiscal prudence the city needs to practice in order to support that development in the future.
Talk of development couldn’t kick off with anything but September’s grand opening of The Waterfront Vancouver, which McEnerny-Ogle said capped more than a decade of planning and work.
“At last year’s State of the City, we were looking forward to the new waterfront opening,” McEnerny-Ogle said. “Thousands attended the grand opening celebration.”
The city also issued more than 10,000 building permits in 2018, a 10 percent increase over the year before.
“It seems that our downtown is transforming every few months with restaurants, breweries and shops,” McEnerny-Ogle said.
From a housing standpoint, Vancouver’s at a landmark moment, she continued.
The city has more than 5,200 units in various stages of development, including 600 affordable units, that together can house 12,000 residents. Some of those new units have been funded by Vancouver’s $6 million Affordable Housing Fund.
Those units are growing more and more crucial, as Vancouver is the second-fastest-growing metro area in the state and attracts around 3,500 new people every year, she said.
“(It’s) the most we’ve ever seen at any one time,” McEnerny-Ogle said. “Vacancy rates are improving, and rents are starting to stabilize.”
However, such intense growth isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Since 2015, the number of unsheltered homeless people within Vancouver city limits has shot up by 80 percent, she said.
An increasing number of residents also means that the city will be looking at an operational budget deficit by halfway through the next decade unless leaders take action now to prevent it, McEnerny-Ogle said.
“2019 will be fantastic, but we’re not without our challenges,” she said. “We have fewer resources to serve more people.”
To address the disparity, the committee tasked with creating a long-term financial strategy for the city is scheduled to present its Stronger Vancouver for public comment on April 12. The funding recommendation package will seek to identify options for generating city revenue to beef up infrastructure and livability.
“Compared to cities of similar size, we have less than half the median park acreage,” McEnerny-Ogle said. “We have a street system that is literally the least safe for pedestrians than any city in the state of Washington.”
“The city is in the forever business, and its financial policies support the key principles of financial prudence,” she added.
Despite that, the city wrapped up major infrastructure projects last year. The Vancouver Fire Department celebrated the grand opening of two replacement stations in February, better located to improve response times in areas with high demand. The city also unveiled the Navigation Center, a day center for homeless people where they can access counseling and housing services. And the Public Works Department finished a $14 million improvement project along Northeast 18th Street, a major chunk of a $25 million overhaul focused on east Vancouver.
McEnerny-Ogle closed her speech with a plea for residents to get involved in their city’s governance — through volunteering on a board, or attending city council, or even just answering a survey.
“We need to hear your voices. We need you to make your city great. I believe our call is to do big things, things that would not occur if we did not do them,” she said. “We can reach our shared goal of fulfilling Vancouver’s tremendous potential.”
