SULLIVAN'S NEW PROJECT GETS A $500,000 BOOST

U.S. Publishing Heir Donates To Global Civic Policy Society

An heir to an American publishing fortune has donated $500,000 to Sam
Sullivan's new urban-sustainability policy society -- further proof
the former Vancouver mayor remains one mean fundraising machine.

Sullivan's patron is Charles Annenberg Weingarten, one of five family
trustees of the Annenberg Foundation, a private $1.6-billion charity
established through the sale of the family company, which included TV
Guide and Seventeen Magazine.

The Annenberg Foundation gift was announced Thursday at the Pan
Pacific Hotel launch of Sullivan's Global Civic Policy Society, a
non-profit group established to promote urban sustainability and a
harm-reduction approach to drug addiction.

Just how Global Civic will function remains unclear; Sullivan himself
describes it as a work in progress. What's clear is that Weingarten
and other donors have faith in Sullivan, and that the ex-mayor, one
year after being dumped by the Non-Partisan Association as its mayoral
candidate, still has a formidable ability to persuade supporters to
finance his projects.

Sullivan's relationship with Weingarten began in 2006 when the
grandson of media tycoon Walter Annenberg, during a visit to
Vancouver, read a front-page headline in The Vancouver Sun, which
said: "Provide drugs to addicts, mayor says."

"And he came right down to city hall to see me with a whole entourage
and the newspaper," Sullivan recalled in an interview.

"And he said that he'd never known of any mayor willing to say stuff
like that. And he took an interest in what I do."

The two became friends, Sullivan said, and over time Weingarten
provided $75,000 to the Sam Sullivan Disability Foundation's disabled
sailing program and $175,000 to the Inner Change Charitable Society, a
drug substitution research group championed by Sullivan.

Weingarten, a documentary filmmaker, learned about Sullivan's plan to
create Global Civic when he visited Vancouver again last spring to
show some of his short films at the VanCity Theatre.

As Sullivan sat beaming in his wheelchair at the Global Civic launch,
six local philanthropists, including C.M. Oliver chairman Michael
O'Brian and Lululemon founder Chip Wilson, mounted the stage and
praised the project. Sullivan said the local benefactors donated
between $5,000 and $10,000 each.

The launch, which featured brief speeches on sustainability by several
academics and music by a string quartet, was as much about announcing
donations to Global Civic as it was about encouraging audience members
to write cheques themselves.

After the luncheon, Sullivan greeted audience members, many of whom
told him that they would be sending money to his new group.

Among those was Stephanie Carlson, granddaughter of timber baron H.R.
MacMillan. "I'm a supporter of Sam and have known him for years,"
Carlson said. "And I think all of us need a moment of inspiration each
day and Sam is certainly that. I believe in what he does."

Lindsay Gordon, president of HSBC Bank of Canada, similarly
congratulated Sullivan and later said he'd be donating $5,000 to the
ex-politician he's known for many years.

The establishment crowd of about 200 people, mostly longtime
supporters and colleagues of Sullivan, heard various academics warn
that Metro Vancouver needs to become denser and less
auto-dependent.

University of B.C. earth science professor John Clague said world oil
supplies are becoming depleted and Canada needs to transition into an
economy that is "no longer reliant on cheap, easy oil."

UBC urban planning expert Patrick Condon said Metro Vancouver needs to
create about 800,000 dwelling units by 2056 to absorb projected
population growth. Land development policies need to change to
accommodate this growth, he said.