Vancouver as ideology

DEENA LEVENSTEIN

Howard Rotberg isn't afraid to ask questions. As an example, his query, "Who decided to spend all this money on the Olympics?" will probably make some people stop and think, "Yeah, who did?"

Rotberg is an activist and, in his new book, which was launched Nov. 9, he asks many questions about Vancouver culture or, as he calls it, "Vancouverism."

Rotberg explained that most of his motivation to work so seriously on his latest book, Exploring Vancouverism, The Political Culture of Canada's Lotus Land, stemmed from the fact that he's a second-generation Holocaust survivor on his father's side. Rotberg said he feels that most second-generation groups are on the wrong path. He expressed his discomfort with promoting too much tolerance.

"It's really antithetical of what the lessons of the Shoah are," he said. "The lessons of the Shoah are not that people should be more tolerant. It's the opposite. They should have been less tolerant of Hitler earlier and the Jews should have had guns."

He continued, "Tolerance sounds very good, but if you tolerate everything, that means you tolerate the intolerable."

Rotberg argued that, since the second generation has experienced firsthand what vile ideology can do, it is their responsibility to study and understand ideologies at work and promote better ideologies and better value systems.

Rotberg said that he tends to gravitate towards the underlying value systems behind every policy. When he moved to Vancouver two and a half years ago from Kitchener, Ont., he said he saw a prevailing ideology and culture that bothered him. Especially in the sector of urban planning – he works as a development lawyer and a private sector developer of affordable housing in Ontario – he believes there could be improvements.

In his book, Rotberg writes that there are wonderful things in Vancouver, like parks and restaurants, the weather and two of the finest swimming pools he's ever seen. On the other hand, when he first got here, many aspects of the local culture triggered a red light for him. He remembers people telling him that property taxes are high in Vancouver, but, he said, the property tax on a one million dollar home is only 60 per cent of what it is in Toronto. He noticed other "perks and rewards" for high-income people, like the seniors property tax deferral program, which allows people from age 55 and up – himself included – not to pay their property tax until they die or sell.

He said people should be studying the ideology that seemed to be governing a whole set of urban policies and priorities: "basically, keeping taxes low for people in these [million dollar] homes and forcing so-called developers to bear the cost of infrastructure, amenities, parks, libraries and day-care centres."

In his book, Rotberg goes so far as to say that he sees the culture here as creating such problems as homelessness, lack of affordable housing, unfair benefits for wealthy property owners, tolerance of criminals, housing that doesn't accommodate families (which is one of the factors motivating them to move to Surrey, as he mentions more than once) and more.

The book launch was held in the Ray-Cam Cooperative Community Centre on East Hastings Street. The first thing Rotberg did before talking about his book was to mention his family, including his three children (one son was at the launch) and his wife, Penny Gurstein, director of the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia. She focuses on the social aspects of planning and has done a lot of work on issues relating to women in the Downtown Eastside.

Rotberg threw jokes into his speech. More than once, he said that he is enjoying talking to people who are actually listening to him and that he might go on forever if no one stops him. He added that holding the launch on East Hastings was appropriate, since he believes that the negative side of the prevailing Vancouver culture, or Lotus Land culture, is most evident there. One line from his new book reads, "I suppose the only downside about being a dog in Vancouver is having to share the sidewalks with homeless people sleeping under pieces of plastic."

Rotberg read part of the poem from which the "Lotus Land" name comes. "The Lotos-Eaters" by Alfred Tennyson depicts, in Rotberg's opinion, the epitome of Vancouver culture. Among other things, the poem says, "There is no joy but calm!" And, "What pleasure can we have to war with evil?" It even mentions three mountains.

While reading lines like these, Rotberg looked up at the audience, checking to see if they noticed the connection to "Vancouverism."

Rotberg warned, "We're turning this town into a resort." He said, "No amount is too high to spend on turning this into a high-end resort." But, he asked, "Who gave them the mandate to do this? Who gave them the mandate over the last 10 years to benefit developers, hoteliers, restaurateurs and chase out all the poor people? And the answer is that the people – like us – are quite happy if the people living next door to us are exactly like us."

To read more about Rotberg, visit www.howardrotberg.ca. To order his book, contact the publisher at [email protected]. It costs $25.

Deena Levenstein is a freelance writer from Toronto, Jerusalem and now Vancouver. You can read her blog at www.deenascreations.wordpress.com.

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