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Park commissioner Michael Wiebe acknowledges that Vancouver faces challenges today, but he maintains there’s still a lot going right in this city.

“There are a lot of good things happening in Vancouver right now,” the Green party member told the Straight.

Announcing he is seeking a Green party nomination to run for city council, Wiebe said that if elected, he would consider it his job to support residents who are already making Vancouver a more livable city.

“My main goal is to work with the people and all the organizations that are making this city better,” Wiebe said via phone.

“When you look at the mayor of Seattle, one of the things that he talks about is, ‘We need to have a city that an immigrant family can come to and open up a restaurant’,” Wiebe continued. “How do we support young entrepreneurs in finding a place and also ensure that it works for our property owners?

“Commercial affordability is a big issue for me,” he added.

Wiebe said that if the Greens select him as a candidate for council and if he’s elected, he’ll continue work he’s already begun with Vancouver’s 22 business-improvement associations to build neighbourhoods both as places that are unique from one another and as hubs that are connected across the city.

“We want to have connected neighbourhoods,” Wiebe said. “A connected and complete neighborhood is a neighbourhood that has all these essential services. You can walk, you can bike, there’s public transportation that is easily accessible. It has all the services that you need, so your hairdresser and everything is in your neighbourhood.”

Wiebe was elected to the park board in 2014, ranking seventh of seven commissioners elected (but still beating 24 other citizens who competed for spots on the park board that year).

Vancouver’s next civic election is scheduled for this October. The Green party has said that it will select candidates at a meeting scheduled for June 27.

Yesterday (April 24), the Straight reported that Green party councillor Adriane Carr is seriously considering running for mayor.

If she does decide to compete for city hall’s top spot, Wiebe said she would be running with his support.

“She’s someone who I think has what we need if we have a minority government,” he explained. “We’re going to need a leader who understands city hall, who can work with the other parties as a cohesive group to really move the city in the right direction.”