Ian Gartshore

In light of Nanaimo’s aging population (somewhat higher than Canada’s and even B.C.’s) and that the future looks dim without a greater immigration and retention of younger adults (called “the Millenniums”) who are keen to have a planet worth living on, what does Nanaimo need to do to survive and thrive? A Master’s thesis written by Lan Le Diem Tran, a Millennial who hails from Vietnam, answers this question. Her thesis focused on leisure mobility in Nanaimo for Millennials (born 1984 to 1996). After surveying them in 2016 she concludes that in order to thrive Nanaimo needs to attract and retain talented workers by greatly improving our sustainable transportation system. Young adults want to live in mid-sized cities such as Nanaimo, especially with the natural beauty and amenities offered here if such cities catch up on sustainable transportation, including far more transit and active options afforded by dedicated cycling and walking infrastructure. They want an affordable,...

Core Review questions and comments September 12, 2016 While I applaud this Core Services Review I believe that its greatest weakness is that it sometimes fails to address the causes of issues (and hence expenses) and then only addresses how to treat the symptoms. This is a cultural norm in our part of the world, and costs us tremendously –in every way. I wish to especially focus on the area of waste management and transportation (which are related). Waste policies (pg 77)             The options offered are far too limiting and do not meet our goals of continuing to improve our performance in this area. Indeed, the solutions may encourage us to go in the opposite direction! The following are just two options that most other municipalities are not embracing, ones that would again place Nanaimo at the leader in both waste reduction and boosted related employment: Greatly reduce the weight of the garbage cans being ...

The City of Nanaimo has just released its proposed Transportation Master Plan . This plan is designed to take us 25 years into the future. Very tragically the proposed Plan does little to take us away from the very expensive existing car-centric city we currently pay for. In this 13 page document I outline how it could be vastly improved so as to save us money and improve the city's sustainability, leading us to better health, lower costs, and far more. It requires us to work together, adjust to significant (positive!) changes. It means making it possible to cycle safely, use buses that are frequent and fast, invest in infrastructure and in carsharing, and more. To view the slides and text to my 5 minute presentation to City Council May 26, 2014, click here. To see the Council meeting and the 10 presentations about the Transportation Plan, including mine (second one on the list) you can view it here . The presentations start at about 15 minutes. The picture above could ...