From Pro Fun City
Contents |
[edit] End Vancouver's reputation as No Fun City
This unaffiliated group of volunteers is dedicated to overcoming Vancouver's reputation as a No Fun place to live. We support changes in policy that will allow the city's culture to develop freely and make Vancouver a more fun place to live. This means lowering the barriers to entry for new bars, restaurants, music venues, galleries, and clubs. We would also like to see licensing become more transparent and fair across different communities, allowing more places to stay open later in more areas of the city.
The places we have to hang out in should be as diverse as the citizens that live here. This also means working to change zoning laws so smaller more affordable spaces are available to new businesses, or being able to legally bring a bottle of wine to a picnic.
This is a positive effort to improve an already fantastic city, read about how Pro Fun policies are already part of many pre-existing city initiatives.
Vancouver can claim to be a world class city only if its citizens are allowed to have world class fun.
[edit] Make a More Diverse Urban Culture an Issue
All you have to do to join is to consider candidates' positions on Pro Fun policy questions when you vote on November 15. If you want to make a bigger difference, engage directly with the candidates on what they will do to end the No Fun legacy, and join our Facebook group to show the candidates how many votes are at stake.
A Pro Fun pledge has been collaboratively developed by people who care about this issue and will soon be sent to candidates for council. You can see the pledge as it was sent out here. As we get completed pledges back we will be giving each candidate a score and publishing their answers so you can make a better informed decision.
[edit] Why is This Important?
A city that does not appeal to a wide variety of creative individuals threatens its own long term prosperity, failing to attract and retain the innovators that drive a modern economy. Vancouver is a very attractive city, rating high on quality of life indexes for most factors, but its nightlife and No Fun reputation are often singled out as exceptions to everything else the city has going for it. Young, mobile citizens spend time in cities that don't actively stop or strictly limit nightlife, and wonder why they can't have the same thing here.
So many of the fantastic things that help a city to thrive don't start at a convention or on the pages of a grant application, but late at night as a group of programmers sketch out ideas on cocktail napkins, or as artists drink unlicensed wine at an illegal gallery. When people have less spaces and less time in those spaces there are less chances for the sorts of interactions that lead to fresh ideas and fulfilling purpose.
Individuals have a basic right to responsibly pursue their own agendas in spaces of their choosing at times that work for them and their communities. Neighbours should be able to go out for a drink in their own neighbourhoods helping to foster community. We would like the policies inconsistent with these simple goals to be reviewed.
[edit] How to contribute to this site
It's just like Wikipedia. Click on 'Edit' to make changes, we especially are looking for help fleshing out the pages containing citizen's stories and the history of No Fun City. You are encouraged to create a user account and to engage in conversation on the discussion page for any controversial edits that you want to stick.
You can also join the discussion on the Facebook group. A lot of the ideas on this page started as discussions on that group and its predecessor.
If you'd rather just send your thoughts or information in, or if you want to be more involved you can email profuncity@profuncity.com.
The Fun Vancouver Pledge These are the policy positions that we are asking candidates to pledge on. A candidate does not have to agree to every policy suggestion here, but we are asking them to check the ones that they feel they can honestly support.
No Fun City History How did we get where we are? What policies have been discarded, and what progress has been made?
Pro Fun Leaders If you're running or have run a business or an event and it was harder than it should have been tell your story here.
Citizens' Stories Lose your good times to city shutdowns? Move away because you were too bored? Tell us your story here.
