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Beers lead to council bid as Richmond residents look to shake up fall election

With a cat and three Kevins on their slate, six Richmond friends hope to see change at council.

Is it time for a shakeup at Richmond city council? A group of residents dubbing themselves the “Driveway Party” thinks so.
 
What started out as a weekly gathering for a group of friends to drink beer, talk politics and discuss issues in the neighbourhood has grown into a bid for council in this October’s municipal election. For Kevin Coles, who suggested the idea to his friends, Richmond’s council needs a change.
 
“A lot of us aren’t happy with the way things have been in Richmond,” Coles told the Richmond News. 

“Most of us feel the politicians here don’t really represent what people want. At least on the surface, they seem to have more of a vested interest in what the developers want…than they do in the people.”
 
“It just seems like they’ve all lost touch. It’s that sort of ivory tower mentality and I think people are kind of fed up.”
 
Coles, who has lived in Richmond his whole life, said his five friends that he posted on the Driveway Party's website as council candidates didn’t think he was serious when he pitched the idea. But now, a platform for the team in the works.  Some key elements they group wants to focus on include reducing the size of homes on the city’s agricultural land, supporting the modular housing project on Elmbridge Way and refocusing on basic community services.
 
“There are a few too many pet projects in city hall…we need to really focus on what our core services are as a municipality,” Coles said.
 
“What is a municipal government really intended for? It’s those local services like streets, sidewalks, roads, lighting, sewage, garbage services…we’ve gone a little off-track with some of these big expenditures like the (Olympic) Oval and things like that.

“While they do have an attraction to them, they don’t necessarily serve the people of Richmond that well.”
 
Coles said his team isn’t putting someone forward for mayor yet because of its significant time commitment, but the Driveway Party’s website currently has Coles’s cat Neko listed as a mayoral candidate.

Neko cat
 
“I’ll probably get pushed by my friends to (run for mayor) but I don’t think I would want to do it,” Coles said. “Maybe next time.”
 
Regardless of whether or not he’s elected to council on Oct. 20, Coles said he hopes to at least start a dialogue.
 
“There’s too much of these lifelong politicians and we need to start refreshing it,” he said.

“For us it’s more about starting a conversation.”