Video: Rebecca Bligh on her plans if elected Vancouver mayor

These are excerpts from Stuart McNish’s interview with Rebecca Bligh, the mayoral candidate for Vote Vancouver. You can watch the entire Conversations That Matter interview at vancouversun.com. We’ll be reporting on the interviews with the other candidates in the coming weeks.

Stuart McNish: I want you to use your imagination. It’s four years from now. You’ve been the mayor for four years. What does Vancouver look like after your first term?

Rebecca Bligh: In four years from now, … Vancouver is focused on delivery. … I understand why it’s not happening and what we need to do. There’s a clear plan and it’s underway in terms of delivering affordable housing. We are known for picking up good ideas. … I feel heard and represented in the decisions that they make and that truly city hall is more productive, less partisan and functioning as a local government is meant to do.

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McNish : How do you foresee being able to remove (obstacles) and get to what your vision is?

Bligh: Well, I mean literally open city hall. City hall has more locked doors than open doors. … It’s so illustrative: City hall has locked doors that are closest to the path that gets to the rapid transit and the parking lot and the ways people access city hall. … We know that there’s a population of seniors that need to be able to come into city hall and get their questions answered that don’t use technology.

The counter that’s open all of the time is the counter where you pay your property taxes. Maybe we need a counter that’s open for the small businesses that are needing to navigate city hall. What I see is the need for a small business concierge style of a service.