Sam Sullivan
Sam Sullivan, CM (born 1960) is the Mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Sullivan was first elected to Vancouver City Council in 1993 as a member of the Non-Partisan Association (NPA). With twelve years of council experience, Sullivan is currently the longest-serving member of the council.
City Councillor
In Vancouver's 2002 General Local elections, Sam Sullivan was the only incumbent member of city council from the Non-Partisan Association to win re-election after the NPA-dominated council was defeated by the COPE party.
In 2004, he took on the leadership role of the 'No' side for the Vancouver wards referendum, in the fight against a proposed ward voting system which was to replace the current at-large system of choosing councillors. The proposal was eventually defeated 54% to 46%.
2005 Mayoral Race
Following the 2002 electoral losses, the Non-Partisan Association rebuilt its slate for 2005. Several high-profile names were nominated to be the NPA mayoral candidate. One of the most prominent contenders was the former BC Liberal Party deputy-Premier Christy Clark. Sullivan defeated Clark to become the moderate, pro-business, NPA mayoral candidate.
Sullivan ran against several candidates, the most prominent of which was Vision Vancouver councillor, Jim Green. Sullivan defeated Green by a narrow margin of 3,747 votes of 130,000 ballots cast in the November 19, 2005 municipal election . A second, minor candidate named James Green also ran in this election gaining over 4,000 votes. Along with Sullivan, five other NPA councillors were voted into Vancouver City council chambers and formed a majority government.
Work with the physically disabled
Sullivan is also known for his advocacy on behalf of the physically disabled. Sullivan became quadriplegic after he broke his neck in a skiing accident at the age of 19. After a struggle with depression, he successfully completed a Bachelor of Business Administration degree at Simon Fraser University. Sullivan later founded six non-profit organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life for disabled people in North America. Though he is considered quadriplegic, Sullivan has retained the use of his hands and can thus write, use the telephone, and drive.
In 2005, Sullivan was invested as a member of the Order of Canada by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. Sullivan has also received the Terry Fox Award for national excellence and the Peter F. Drucker Award for Innovation.
Sullivan has supported various groups promoting interest for the disabled:
- Member of the steering committee for the Central Library
- Vice President of the Metropolitan Board of Health
- founder of Blueways Program
- member of Tetra Society
- Disabled Sailing Association
- co-inventor of TrailRider, a one-wheeled vehicle
Mr. Sullivan has consistently supported city policies that favor the wealthy and make life in Vancouver more difficult and less affordable for the mid and lower income brackets. Often, the city hall regime of Sam Sullivan couches the policies in clever advertising such as the concept of "EcoDensity"--but how does EcoDensity assist the average person when the price of a comfortable two bedroom condominium in Vancouver is around $300 000? Given that many persons with disabilities have lower incomes, if not below the poverty line, it is reasonable to conclude that in reality Mr. Sullivan is quite against the improvement of the quality of life of disabled communities in general.
2006 Olympic Winter Games
Sullivan took part in the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics, in the ceremony where the Olympic Flag was passed from Turin to Vancouver. The ceremony involves an official of the current host city waving the flag eight times, then handing it off to an official of the next host city, who waves it eight times. When it was his turn, the flag was put into a special holder built into Sullivan's wheelchair. Holding it with one of his hands, Sullivan then swung his wheelchair back and forth eight times to wave the flag.
During a press conference before the Ceremony, Sullivan poked fun at his disability, questioning whether they "should send Vancouver's worst skier to the Olympics to represent the country."[1] Sullivan also revealed that he had practiced the flag waving in parking lots during nights.[2]
After the event, Sullivan received thousands of letters from people across the world who were inspired by the act, and received many invitations to be a keynote speaker at conventions. A reporter from NBC also offered to help him write his autobiography. "I especially was moved to get letters from people who wrote very eloquent letters, saying they had considered suicide, and changed their mind when they saw me perform my duties...To see I had such an impact on people's lives was truly a humbling experience," Sullivan said in response to the reaction. [3]
2006 Paralympic Winter Games
On March 19, 2006, Sullivan returned to Turin to repeat the flag ceremony process, this time for the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Paralympics. Sullivan received the flag from International Paralympic Committee president Sir Phillip Craven and waved it in the same manner as the Olympic flag, then handed the flag over to Whistler mayor Ken Melamed. This marks the first time a physically disabled mayor has accepted the Paralympic flag in the closing ceremony. Sullivan remarked, "There are a lot of Paralympic athletes who have contacted me. They say the fact of my being a mayor in a major city, an Olympic and Paralympic city, sends a strong message that disabled people can play an important and crucial part in society."
Sullivan's return to Turin was also marked by people recognizing him on the street, most likely due to his appearance at the Olympic closing ceremonies a month earlier. "I would get out of the car in the central square, the piazza, and people would come up wanting to talk to me and wanting my autograph," said Sullivan. "I wasn't really aware that so many people knew who I was." [4]
Project Civil City
Sullivan conducted an informal survey on his website asking visitors how they felt about Civil Disorder in the City of Vancouver. On November 26, 2006, he released the results of his survey and created a new program called Project Civil City, which is known as the mayor's effort to enhance public order in Vancouver's public areas. There are four main goals of the project which include reducing homelessness, aggressive panhandling and the open drug market by at least 50% by 2010. Former Attorney General Geoff Plant was appointed to the new position of Civil City Commissioner to play a leadership role in helping to achieve the targets outlined by the Mayor. Project Civil City was opposed by a number of councillors on city council, but passed in a 6-5 vote.
Police Board
By virtue of being mayor, Sullivan also serves as chair of the police board and was at odds with then-Chief Constable Jamie Graham on various occasions. Graham had Sullivan investigated during his election campaign for admitting to giving money to drug addicts to purchase narcotics, and then allowing them to be consumed in his van. On another occasion, Sullivan sought the advice of the Police Complaints Commissioner after Chief Graham left a bullet-riddled target on the City Manager's desk. No formal punative action was taken in either case.[5]
EcoDensity
In advance of the World Urban Forum held in Vancouver in June 2006, Mayor Sullivan was joined by a number of environmentalists, community activists and academics to launch his proposal called EcoDensity.
EcoDensity has a goal of protecting the local and global ecology through the use of densification as a means of reducing the City's ecological footprint. Sullivan claims that by increasing density throughout the city, there will be a reduced requirement for people to make unnecessary car trips, hence reducing carbon emissions.
UBC Professor Patrick Condon advised Council during the EcoDensity debate that Vancouver was the first city in North America to unapologetically accept increased density as official city policy.
EcoDensity also aims to increase housing affordability as well as make cities more competitive by making them less reliant on fossil fuels. Sullivan indicates that if more cities around the world enacted EcoDensity principles, it would have a great impact on climate change.
CAST (Chronic Addiction Substitution Treatment)
On Feb 26, 2007, Mayor Sullivan unveiled an initiative to assist the thousands of drug addicted individuals living in Vancouver.
CAST is a proposed research trial targeting chronically addicted people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Initially, researchers will place a particular emphasis on providing treatment for 700 chronic offenders (arrested 5 or more times in the last year) and survival sex trade workers.
CAST will work with addicted people to change from using illegal street drugs to legally available, orally-administered prescription medications. After a consultation, Physicians will prescribe appropriate medications. Clients will be monitored on a regular basis and provided with counselling for their addiction issues and assistance with accessing supportive housing options.
Ending drug dependency is the ultimate goal of the trial. Substitution treatment is a means of reducing the users’ impact on public order and public health until durable solutions are reached.
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
Mayor Sullivan is the subject of a National Film Board of Canada documentary Citizen Sam. It premiered in November 2006.[6]
Sullivan has a long history with BC's Chinese community and is the first Vancouver mayor capable of speaking basic Cantonese and of reading Chinese.[7] He also learned to read and speak Punjabi.
Sullivan attended Vancouver Technical Secondary School.
On June 19th, 2007 he became the first quadriplegic in history to throw out the opening pitch of a professional baseball game when he threw out the opening pitch, with the assistance of a purpose-built catapult, at the Vancouver Canadians minor league team's home opener at Nat Bailey Stadium.
References
- ^ http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=4548022
- ^ http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/special_packages/olympics/13952110.htm
- ^ http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=9c575798-57e8-4c5d-892d-949ccc9763bc&k=42980
- ^ http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=a5ad9052-0cf5-4b4b-a4d7-bcdb7f7936cf
- ^ Pablo, Carlito (21 December 2006). "Vancouver Police Chief Jamie Graham rejects idea for Project Civil City commissioner". Georgia Straight. Retrieved 2007-01-30.
- ^ http://www.nfb.ca/trouverunfilm/fichefilm.php?id=53696&v=h&lg=en&exp=${citizen}%20AND%20${sam}
- ^ http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/ctyclerk/councillors/sullivan/