in BC Studies, described the new council as "the cream of the cream in terms of educational and professional attainment", adding it's likely "that few, if any, other cosmopolitan cities with open elections have ever produced a city council composed so completely of persons of high occupational and social status". He noted that all had university degrees, four were university professors, and on average they were more than a decade younger than the NPA members of the previous council. Following Phillip's swearing-in as Vancouver's 32nd mayor, The Province noted that it had been five years since TEAM was formed to combat what sponsors felt was aimless civic leadership. "TEAM's drive for power is over; now the work begins." The new council's priorities were listed as: "More consultation with the people of Vancouver on policy; better bus service and, eventually, a rapid transit system; more direct leadership by elected representatives; evening council meetings that more residents can attend; restoration of the committee system that gives each alderman specific responsibilities; new downtown and West End zoning; greater co-operation with the park board in environment matters; a waterfront development study; greater leadership in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Control of business at city hall meant a shake-up of the established bureaucracy, and TEAM Council's first move was to encourage the resignation of city commissioner Gerald Sutton-Brown, who had been the strongest proponent of the freeway system. "Sutton Brown's departure stood as a powerful symbol of regime change in the local state. [...] Citizen involvement in planning, a focus on regional planning, and an effort to accommodate downtown living became norms." There were bumps along the way. Council overruled the recommendations of Hardwick's committee on the topic of underground shopping malls, which the committee opposed for the damage they do to ground-level street life. A couple of weeks later, at its annual meeting, TEAM voted to make it official party policy to ban more downtown underground malls. At the park board, Cowie was seeking some control over the finances for parks and recreation and complaining that "the new TEAM council is no more receptive to park board matters than the old NPA council". The elected board should do more than rubber-stamp staff proposals, he said. The ensuing conflict led to the abrupt resignation of a long-time bureaucrat, and NPA commissioners blaming Cowie for staff morale plunging to the lowest ebb they said they'd ever