Other

he people of Canada are going to find out pretty soon whether the folks in Ontario want to keep being our most important Province or our first Province who can’t pay their bills in the next decade.

Heading toward 300 billion of debt with only 13 million people the math is starting to get a bit fuzzy.

If we go back to 5% interest it gets real ugly. Property taxes are thru the roof in the Province.

Then you add on the utility charges that used to be close to the lowest in the country with large increase’s planned in the future it is easy to see why it is hard to create jobs in the Province without buying them.

 

Of the 3 leaders one wants to, thru attrition and cuts end 100,000 Govt jobs. The other 2 want to add jobs.

Hard to imagine how starkly different those proposals are. The one guy is either a complete loon or there is a very big financial mess to clean up. Both McGuinty and Obama did 1 thing right and only one thing only they both commissioned intelligent people to do a report on getting their financial houses in order. Don Drummond did the

1 in Ontario and Simpson and Bowles in USA and they were both on the money and ended up being flushed down the toilet.

When your closing in on 300 billion of debt without the population to pay it and with huge taxes and your running a large deficit something has to give. Hopefully they will figure out soon the rest of Canada doesn’t want to bail out

Wynne the Pooh. This is going to be a difficult transition for the Province and her people and hopefully they are up to the challenge. McGuinty has taken his act on the road to Harvard and hopefully him and the Ford will be hooking up soon in cell block #5. When you have one party wanting to end 100,000 jobs the unions are going to squeal and it is going to get ugly. Hopefully a new Premier will go after the elected officials pensions and roll them back and also his wages and cabinets to set the example that is needed going forward.

 

CP stopped using line in 2001

Naoibh O’Connor
Van. Courier

Residents along the Arbutus Corridor are being told access will be affected as Canadian Pacific clears brush and surveys the land along its abandoned 9.5-kilometre rail track.

CP has informed resident groups along the line that it’s taking steps “to use the property in support of rail operations.” The corridor, which encompasses 45 acres from the Fraser River to False Creek, has been at the centre of a dispute between the company and the City of Vancouver.

The Shaughnessy Heights Property Owners’ Association [SHPOA] issued a bulletin to its members, stating: “The proposed rail operations will impact vehicular/pedestrian traffic at intersections, existing community gardens, public safety, noise levels and property values at some nearby homes.”   

David Cuan, SHPOA’s president, said he spoke to Howie Charters over the phone. Charters, who’s from Colliers International Consulting Services, has worked on the Arbutus Corridor file for CP over the years.

Charters could not be reached by the Courier’s print deadline, but Cuan said Charters told him May 6 that homeowners should expect a letter from CP within 10 days.

A representative from CP also contacted the Arbutus Ridge Kerrisdale Community Plan Implementation Committee [ARKS] via email last week to inform the group about latest developments.

“You may recall that quite a number of years ago CPR undertook a community visioning process that received input from your organization. The process identified alternative uses for the corridor that included public uses such as greenway for cyclists and walkers, community gardens, public transportation and selective “ecodensity” infill mixed use development in selected areas,” the email stated.

“After numerous conversations on these type of uses over the years, CPR has been unable to dispose of this valuable property and will be taking steps to use the property in support of rail operations. In preparation, a number of activities will be taking place that will include brush cutting to permit inspection, surveying and repair work. This work is getting underway immediately and CPR wants to keep your organization and its members informed.”

Jim Hall, chairperson of ARKS, said he had a subsequent discussion with a CP representative, who he didn’t name, at which time Hall was told the line would be used for training and storing vehicles.

“Therefore the vehicular access points will have to be upgraded — the signals. They will close all the pedestrian crossings that are currently being used… and probably fence it to keep the public off.”

Ed Greenberg, a CP spokesman, told the Courier the Arbutus Corridor is still considered an active rail line.

“We’ve had crews out there clearing the brush, so we can do a survey of the land, which comprises the Arbutus Corridor,” he said. “So we’re clearing the brush and the growth along that corridor so we can do a new survey of that area to ensure we have a current record of our property. There have been no decisions made on a fence and there have been no decisions regarding any operations through that area. We are exploring operational options, but no decisions have been made.”

While the property is designated as a rail right-of-way to be used for rail purposes, CP stopped shipping product on the line in 2001. Pedestrians, cyclists and community gardeners use the land now, although they’re actually trespassers on private property.

The city’s Arbutus Corridor Official Development Plan designates the land for transportation, including rail and transit, or for greenways, following public hearings in 2000 — a position endorsed by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2006 following legal challenges.

For years, there have been suggestions the city should buy it or make a deal with CP, but the two parties dispute the land’s value.

A $100 million figure was floated more than a decade ago, but today’s value is unclear.

A half dozen years ago, CP funded a visioning exercise within the four neighbourhoods the rail line runs through. The final report, issued in 2007, concluded “the best use of the Arbutus lands will come from a coordinated development that integrates them with surrounding city owned lands into a comprehensive development plan.”

In 2010, deputy city manager Sadhu Johnston told the Courier he wasn’t convinced conclusions reached in the document were realistic and that the city wants a streetcar capable bike and pedestrian corridor.

The mayor’s office emailed a statement to the Courier late Thursday afternoon about CP’s intention to reactivate trains.

“Recently, the Canadian Pacific Railway began preparations to reactivate the Arbutus Corridor to run trains. However, the city has very little detail from CP about their plans, other than that they intend to run trains along the route. The city doesn’t support the reactivation of cargo trains along the corridor and we have expressed this clearly to CP. The corridor is a unique, green route running from False Creek to the Fraser River, crossing several residential neighbourhoods, and our vision for it is to maintain it as a greenway for residents of Vancouver until there is a viable case for rail transit use,” the statement from Mayor Gregor Robertson reads.

“The city has spent many years trying to work with CP to have them recognize the need for the corridor to remain a community greenway until there is a viable case for passenger rail use, and that it is not suitable for large-scale development or cargo trains. I support the Arbutus Corridor as a community greenway and future transit corridor, and ask CP to respect the neighbourhood’s wishes and the Arbutus Corridor Official Development Plan.”

© Vancouver Courier

Sunny Dhillon
Other

A subway along Vancouver’s Broadway corridor would have 250,000 trips on its first day, new data suggest – and Mayor Gregor Robertson says it further strengthens the case to build the line as soon as possible.

Mr. Robertson, who is nearing the end of his second term and seeking re-election in the fall, told members of the business community at a downtown hotel Tuesday that building the Broadway subway is his top priority and the single best thing the city can do for its future.

“We’ve seen extraordinary demand on the Broadway corridor,” he said. “… We need to get rapid transit through from Commercial and Broadway to the west.

“The corridor really is choked with cars and we’ll basically sacrifice our liveability and our economic future by not investing in that as soon as we possibly can.”

Mr. Robertson said the Broadway corridor is the second biggest jobs hub in B.C. and the busiest bus route in North America.

Previous data had suggested a Broadway subway could expect 125,000 trips on its first day – half of what Mr. Robertson said is now projected. He said the 250,000 subway trips would outpace the figures for either a new Massey Tunnel Bridge or the Port Mann Bridge. The mayor said building the subway would also cut the number of car trips along Broadway by 50,000, reducing congestion and improving air quality.

The new data were compiled by city staff, who analyzed information released by regional transportation provider TransLink.

The subway would stretch from Commercial and Broadway to the University of British Columbia. The university and city last year released a study, conducted by KPMG, that said rail-based rapid transit is necessary to meet the corridor’s anticipated population growth and economic potential.

Mr. Robertson said it would take at least five years to build the line. The funding, however, remains elusive.

B.C.’s Liberal government has said there will be a referendum that asks the public what funding sources they’re willing to support for transit improvements.

Mr. Robertson said transit referendums have about a 70-per-cent success rate. Voters in Washington State last month voted against a transit tax increase, prompting cuts.

Mr. Robertson said it’s unfortunate the province is going down the referendum path, adding that that it’s critical to let the public know how important transit investments are.

“People are going to pay more if we don’t invest in transit,” he said. “It’s actually more expensive to travel by car, and if you add a million people and you don’t build more transit then people are going to be in more traffic and spending more money.”

Mr. Robertson said Lower Mainland mayors will soon forward their 10-year transit plan to the province. Although he called the Broadway subway his top priority, he said transit upgrades are needed throughout the region. When asked if Vancouver should get the Broadway subway before Surrey gets its proposed light-rail transit network, Mr. Robertson said he sees a need for both.

“Our goal as mayors is to put together a cohesive plan for Metro Vancouver, and make sure that the whole region is served,” he said. “…We need to make sure that the transit system serves all of us.”

© Copyright 2014 The Globe and Mail Inc.

Raman Kang
Other

False Creek residents are illuminating the night sky to shed light on a broken promise.

Twenty-four years ago, a parking lot near Pacific and Quebec was promised as a park but the neighbourhood is still waiting. Residents are hoping that by placing green lights in their windows they will get the city’s attention – and their green space.

The space is being used by Concord Pacific, which continues to develop the former Expo 86 lands. It had promised to create the park if 7,000 units were sold in the neighbourhood; there are now more than 10,000 units.
Residents, such as Andrea Mackenzie, have had enough.

The entire community feels the need for green space, says Mackenzie, a member of the False Creek Residents’ Association’s park committee. Desperate and not willing to wait another 24 years, Mackenzie pitched the “green lights” idea to fellow park committee members.

They created a volunteer-run campaign that includes selling $5 green light bulbs to residents in buildings from False Creek north to BC Place.

“People consider green lights to be their daily email or daily letter to city hall,” she says. In just over a month, they have sold more than 500 light bulbs, and these green lights will continue to glow until residents get what they want.

“The green lights are on and no one can turn them off but us!”

Copyright 2014

 

National designation sought

Sandra Thomas
Van. Courier

The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden and adjoining park are one step closer to being listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places thanks to a statement of significance from the park board.

Jeannette Hlavach, a board member of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden Society, said the city must first add the attraction to the Vancouver Heritage Register. Support from the park board means a lot towards achieving that goal.

“Chinatown was added to the Canadian Register of Historic Places in 2011,” said Hlavach, a former heritage planner for the City of Vancouver. “That was very important.”

Hlavach was involved with that effort, as well as the Millennium Gate and Keefer Memorial Square projects.

The garden was created in time for Expo ‘86 to celebrate Vancouver being the twin city to Suzhou, China, and for 15 years Sun Yat-Sen was the only one like it in the world outside of China. The garden is named after Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, a nationalist leader considered by many to be the “father of modern China.”

According to the garden’s history, he stayed in Vancouver for three extended visits while travelling the world raising money and support for the Chinese nationalist movement. The large number of Chinese nationalists who lived in Vancouver helped finance the revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty in 1911. Sun Yat-Sen became the first president of the Republic of China.

Funding for the garden came from the provincial, Canadian and Chinese governments, as well as Vancouver’s Chinese community. Later, when more money was needed, organizers turned to the city’s affluent West Siders and businesses.

Architects Joe Wai and Donald Vaughan designed the outer park, while architect Wang Zu-Xin conceived the inner garden with help from the Landscape Architecture Company of Suzhou.

In total, 52 master craftsmen travelled to Vancouver from China to create the attraction modelled after a scholar’s garden from the Ming Dynasty, which dates back to the 15th century.

The men brought with them 950 crates of materials and constructed the garden using traditional methods, which excluded the use of glue, screws or power tools.

In 2011, National Geographic listed the attraction as one of the top 10 city gardens in the world, and in 2012 it was named Canadian Garden of the Year by the Canadian Garden Tourism Council.

Hlavach said the fact the garden is somewhat hidden makes those awards more special. She added Ming Dynasty-style gardens are extremely complex and typically aren’t as manicured or picturesque as gardens found in Japan, France or England.

“They can look a little higgledy-piggledy, but then you realize there’s a symmetry to them,” said Hlavach. “There are small details worked in and the idea of yin and yang plays heavily so every time you see something round, somewhere nearby will be something angular.”

Hlavach said that same principle applies when smooth items are combined with rough and dark with light.
“It’s the universe in harmony,” said Hlavach.

Hlavach explained because the garden will be “listed” a heritage site rather than “designated,” means it will be business as usual when it comes to the day-to-day operations of the attraction.

Once the city lists the garden on the Heritage Register, the next step is for the provincial government to recommend it for the Canadian Register of Historic Places.

“There’s a long road ahead of us, but being added to that list will raise our profile,” said Hlavach. “We want the garden to become an attraction for tourists and some people do plan their itineraries around national historic sites.”

© Vancouver Courier

Kenneth Chan
Other

Got tech skills? Looking for a job? Amazon Vancouver is currently in the process of hiring as many as 1,000 employees for its Canadian development centre in downtown Vancouver.

It was announced last fall that Amazon will open a 91,000 square foot office at the under construction $750-million, 22-storey TELUS Garden office tower, with the possibility to expand to 156,000 square feet.

TELUS Garden will be complete in late-2015: the expected move-in period for Amazon Vancouver. Between 750 to 1,000 people will be employed at the office.

In addition to the great, centralized, urban working space and environment, the company is attempting to lure talent from both Vancouver and across the world with the city’s renowned quality of living and the immense possibilities of working with this Amazon office: “Whether you’re interested in building a great browser, pushing the limits of high scale cloud computing or delivering the best online shopping experience, you will find a challenging and rewarding career at Amazon Vancouver.”

Vancouver has been internationally known for its highly-trained tech talent and is within very close range of Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle. The Vancouver office is hiring employees within the following fields and interests:

• Software Development
• Project/Program/Product Management (Technical)
• Operations, IT & Support Engineering
• Project/Program/Product Management (Non-Technical)
• Systems, Quality and Security Engineering
• Database Administration
• Research Science

©2013 Buzz Connected Media Inc.

Hell hotel finds new life as haven

Mike Howell
Van. Courier

The drug dealer doesn’t live there anymore.

He was evicted.

But he was on the corner last Friday morning, lurking.

Inside the old building in which he lived, there now exists surveillance cameras and an alarm system. The security provisions allowed “Jenna” to enjoy the serenity of the same morning as she walked along a quiet hallway in her pajamas.

“We’re warm and off the street and safe and we actually have a home,” she said from inside the former Seaview single-room-occupancy hotel in the 300-block Alexander Street.

It was a different story for Jenna in the summer.

She pointed down a narrow hallway to a room where she said dealers installed a locked metal gate. Inside, she said, they tortured her and other women. Young people, she said, also died of drug overdoses in the 1912 hotel.

“Now it’s totally done a 180 and it’s clean,” said Jenna, who was homeless for two years.

The building’s history was notorious, or “profoundly checkered,” as Janice Abbott, the CEO of Atira Women’s Resource Society, described in a tour. Atira now manages the privately owned hotel.

“There were a group of alleged drug dealers who lived here and women were being brought in and tortured – head shaved, lit on fire, raped, assaulted,” said Abbott, whose non-profit along with the help of the Vancouver Police Department rid the hotel of the gang, including the dealer hanging outside the building Friday.

The women, she added, have been afraid to pursue charges against the men for fear of retribution. Moving in to the same hotel where she was tortured was a concern for Jenna – who slept the first night with her light on – but her options were limited. The police continue to work with Atira to ensure the hotel doesn’t revert to the horrible place it was.

“The VPD have been all over this and been absolutely fabulous to work with through this process – they are keeping us safe,” Abbott said.

The building, renamed the Empress Rooms, has become a refuge for Jenna and 35 other women who would otherwise be living on the street. The hotel got a new coat of paint, new floors and a renovated kitchen.

Tenants, whose rent is $375 per month, are guaranteed at least two meals per day and have access to professionals for whatever health or personal problems need to be addressed.

The B.C. government provided $350,000 for the renovations and management of the building. The money helped pay to have two staff on duty around the clock and employ a security guard.

Attorney General Suzanne Anton toured the hotel Friday and said the government is committed to the safety of vulnerable women. Anton visited the Empress Rooms on the National Day of Remembrance and a day where temperatures dipped below zero degrees Celsius.

“The goal here is to help women get into more permanent housing and into better circumstances,” said Anton, standing in the hotel’s kitchen. “That need is always around. People come and go and they have different circumstances in their lives, so it’s very important to have a safe place for women to get themselves back into a better personal space.”

The demand for housing for women is so great in the Downtown Eastside that Abbott said “we could probably fill this building a couple of times over. And if we took into consideration women who are living in unsafe buildings elsewhere in the community – yes, the need is huge.”

© Copyright 2013

Vancouver spent $13 million to restore theatre in deal brokered by the late Jim Green

Mike Howell
Van. Courier

It was dilapidated, filthy with rats and was once slated for redevelopment.

Now the 1913-era theatre at 639 Commercial Dr. has had a $14.8 million rebirth and will officially open Friday with the production of Jack and the Beanstalk: An East Van Panto.

The York Theatre, which operated previously as the Alcazar, the Palace, The Little Theatre and the Raja Cinema, has been restored to a mix of modern and classic design that features 365 seats, a balcony, an orchestra pit, new lobby and ticket booth.

“It’s so exciting and I’m still kind of all in that pinching myself place,” said Heather Redfern, executive director of The Cultch, which will manage the York. “I still can’t quite believe it’s actually going to open tomorrow night, but it is going to open tomorrow night — and hopefully the paint will be dry.”

Redfern joined Mayor Gregor Robertson and architect Gregory Henriquez of Henriquez Partners Architects at a press conference Thursday to mark the opening of a theatre whose future seemed doomed back in 2007.

That’s when EDG Homes purchased the property for redevelopment. News of the purchase prompted a community group led by arts activist Tom Durrie and others to found Save the York to battle for the building’s survival.

In September 2008, the NPA-ruling council approved a 120-day temporary protection order on the building. The order allowed city staff to assess the viability of operating a theatre in the building and determine the cost of restoration.

Soon after, Wall Financial Corporation purchased the building and worked out a deal with the City of Vancouver to restore the theatre. Many speakers at the press conference credited the late Jim Green, a former city councillor, for ensuring the deal got done.

“Jim was certainly the catalyst to bring partners together and to make sure we all took that next step together, “ Robertson said. “It wouldn’t have been possible if we hadn’t had that coordination and confidence that other partners were going to be there for each other. So Jim really was the glue and visionary for this.”

Henriquez recalled a conversation he had with Green about the importance of arts and culture in the city. Green was a supporter of the arts and long time activist for low-income people before he died in February 2012.

“He always explained to me that culture is not for the wealthy – culture is sort of a fundamental right of all human beings,” Henriquez said. “It is something that we all hold near and dear to our hearts and allows us to distinguish us from other species on this planet.”

Redfern recalled the first email exchange between Bruno Wall of Wall Financial and Green suggested the theatre could be restored for $2 million and be completed before the 2010 Winter Olympics.

“I believe that after the first walk-through with Gregory Henriquez, we realized it wasn’t going to be $2 million and finished by the Olympics,” she said of the building’s poor condition.

The City of Vancouver contributed $13 million of the $14.8 million cost to restore the theatre. Canadian Heritage provided an additional $1.8 million. When questioned about the city’s cost for the project, Robertson pointed out “tens of millions of dollars” were spent on restoring the Queen Elizabeth and Orpheum theatres, both of which are city assets.

The opening of the York Theatre comes as residents have rallied to save the Hollywood Theatre on Broadway from being redeveloped into a gym. Robertson said there is no city money in the capital plan to restore or buy the Hollywood, although the city does have “tools” such as transfer of density and rezoning provisions that could entice the owner, Bonnis Properties, not to redevelop the theatre.

“I would hope that seeing the York Theatre revived gives us some more hope for the Hollywood Theatre to continue to survive and be a great community arts and culture asset,” Robertson said. “The owner of that building has to make a decision that benefits the community at some point here if we’re going to save the Hollywood.”

Actor Christopher Gaze, artistic director of Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, hosted the press conference at the York and later performed an impromptu piece on the stage from Henry V. Gaze, originally from England, said he was impressed with the renovated theatre and that it reminded him of the venues of his youth.

“When I was a lad, this was the kind of theatre you went to,” he told the Courier. “The colours, the redness, the plushness – in a contemporary sort of way – is very evocative of what theatres used to be.”

© Copyright 2013

Sandra Thomas
Van. Courier

The neighbourhood of Arbutus Ridge is interesting in that it encompasses several enclaves, including Mackenzie Heights, and reaches blocks into territory typically considered Kerrisdale.

The boundaries include West 16th to the north, West 41st Avenue to the south, Mackenzie Street to the west, and Arbutus Street and Maple Crescent to the east. The population is about 16,000, with the majority living in single-family homes on tree-lined streets.

It’s ironic this now largely affluent neighbourhood was once dubbed “Asthma Flats,” because in the late 1800s and early 1900s it was nothing more than a swamp that could only be traversed by a plank walkway.

Like many neighbourhoods of Vancouver, it was the Canadian Pacific Railway that brought about development to Arbutus Ridge. In 1888, the province turned over more than 2,100 hectares of land to the CPR, including the area now known as Arbutus Ridge, which became a municipality of the city in 1929.

The now defunct Arbutus line is still visible throughout much of the neighbourhood.

According to the most recent statistics available from the city, in 2006 almost 36 per cent of Arbutus Ridge residents were between the ages of 40 to 64, followed by the second highest demographic, aged 19 and under, at 23 per cent. English was still the predominant language in 2006 at 45.9, down from 57 per cent in 1996.

Meanwhile the number of Chinese-speaking residents rose from 29 to 34 per cent between that same time. Single family homes dominated the landscape at 6,100, and the median household income was almost $55,000, but that number is likely considerably higher today.

Starting in 1912, Mackenzie Heights, located in the upper southwest corner of Arbutus Ridge, was the first area of the community to be developed for residential settlement.

It wasn’t until the 1940s and 1950s that sand was hauled in from False Creek to fill in the Asthmas Flats so development of the low lands could begin.

The area was once home to dozens of houses designed by architect G.L.Thornton Sharp in the English arts and crafts style and even today, several can still be spotted along West 37th Avenue.

Arbutus Then and Now – PDF

© Copyright 2013

Jennifer Thuncher
Van. Courier

Victoria-Fraserview stretches up from the Fraser River to East 41st Avenue and is bordered by Knight Street to the west and the Fraserview Golf Course on Vivian Drive to the east. The region takes the Fraserview part of its name from the golf course and the first part of its name from the city of Victoria – and so indirectly from the former queen.

An “average” Victoria-Fraserview resident is 43 years old, speaks English as a second language — more than likely speaks Mandarin, Cantonese or Punjabi as a first language – is in a committed relationship and has one child.

For the 30,000 residents who call Victoria-Fraserview home, there is an eclectic mix of stores and mom-and-pop restaurants along Victoria Drive to choose from.

Historically, the Musqueam First Nations were the first to settle at the southern end of what is now Victoria Drive, in a village on the banks of the Fraser River. Their village was the start for a number of trails that led to settlements further east.

The first European settlers arrived in the 1860s to a vast forested area divided by trails. In 1891, Victoria-Fraserview became part of the municipality of South Vancouver.

In the early 20th century, the population continued to grow with farmers taking advantage of the arable land along the river and in 1929, the community became part of the City of Vancouver.

Early landowners lent their names to Vivian Drive, named after William Thomas Vivian, and Knight Street, named for Robert Knight.

After the Second World War, hundreds of houses were built in the area to accommodate returning soldiers. During the 1950s, Victoria-Fraserview was known as “Diaper Town” due to its large population of young families.

In the 1980s, the area’s industry began to be replaced by residential development. That trend continues today along the shores of the Fraser with the building of new townhomes and apartments.

© Copyright 2013