I've been spending the last few months talking to small businesses. And today I
had a chance to meet with Paul LeBlanc , the owner of fast signs.
And his views on small businesses echo what I've heard across the city.
For some reason Vancouver takes a long time to process and approve permits.
When businesses are in the permitting stage of their startup, they are burning through money without
having any money coming in. And so what that means is that maybe for a small
business there simply isn't enough money to get through that process and so they
don't even start. And I hear this from people who do business in multiple
municipalities around the Lower Mainland. Things that are possible in other cities
in a short time can't seem to happen here.
I've been in business for over 20 years
and I can remember when people used to come to my door with skills.
It is much, much harder now because it is just so incredibly expensive to live here.
And as a result for somebody who needs to hire people it's hard to find them.
On Main Street those small businesses that make that Street so
so cool, so interesting, are getting pushed out in favor of large corporate businesses
And the vibrancy of our neighborhoods is not what it was.
What we're seeing in a lot of our interesting neighborhoods is speculation.
Developers are buying up places that used to have interesting, quirky, little businesses in it
and they're not interested in renting to businesses like that.
They are waiting. They are waiting for bigger rents, bigger money and I guess I
understand why they want to do it but I don't like what it does to my city.
Shauna, I'm glad you're running. I've known you for a few years, long before you decided
to do this. I know you because you're in my world
Your involvement with the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement
Association led you to deal directly with many businesses of different sizes.
Your involvement with the Assessment Board means that you understand the nuts
and bolts of how people's properties are assessed which determines how much tax
they're going to pay. You've also been involved with boards of larger companies
which means that you see that side of it and we do need that as well in Vancouver.
These three pieces come together and that's why I wanna support you.
I'm Shauna Sylvester and I'm running as an independent candidate for mayor -
to protect the city you love and create the future we need
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