Province

After reading about South Delta and the highway choices it faces, I’d like to acknowledge Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon’s ability to listen to the people affected.
   It seems that no matter where you live in the Lower Mainland, at some time your community will come under attack from our own growth and needs.
   Whether we like it or not, these changes and highways have to go through. But it is so important to keep those affected in mind and to listen to what they have to say.
   The cost factor of doing the job should be weighed against the community and environmental impacts. And, if it costs more but is achievable, then the changes should be made.
   This Gateway Project has more than 25 different groups currently opposing it — and not just over the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge.
   So thank you, Mr. Falcon, for seeing how important it is to listen and remember when you said: “At the end of the day, it is less of a cost decision and more of just trying to strike the right balance.”
   Lynne Phelan, Delta
Keep it green
   A report by Don Campbell of the Real Estate Investment Network says the Gateway Project will boost property values by up to 20 per cent for commercial property within a kilometre of highway exits — and more than one kilometre for residential property.
   Neighbourhoods within that kilometre distance and all along the length of the highway won’t fare as well.
   These residential areas will dramatically decrease in value until they become commercial areas.
   This has occurred throughout the Lower Mainland wherever major roadways have been built.
   There are options that provide for the movement of goods and people that protect our environment and our livability.
   Transit initiatives, tunnelling and routing highways away from sensitive areas and neighbourhoods are all options that further these ideals.
   They may cost more at first, but will pay out later in better living.
   Savings in construction costs should not be transferred to residents as huge losses in health and property values.
   The constant erosion of our neighbourhoods and our green spaces has got to stop.
   Don Hunt, Delta

TRANSPORTATION: Council to debate twinning of Port Mann, increasing Highway 1 traffic

FRANK LUBA
Province

Vancouver will become the latest city to weigh in on B.C.’s multibillion-dollar Gateway program when council debates its response tomorrow.
   Each city in the Greater Vancouver Regional District was asked to comment on the program that includes twinning of the Port Mann Bridge and increased capacity on the Trans-Canada Highway from Langley to Vancouver before TransLink and the GVRD take their final positions.
   With B.C. categorically rejecting pleas for safety initiatives like photo radar on the deadly Pattullo Bridge or another solution to the Eagleridge Bluffs dilemma, the question is whether anything anyone has to say will make a difference in Victoria.
   “I sure hope it does,” Vancouver Coun. Peter Ladner, who is on the GVRD and TransLink boards, said yesterday.
   “It’s vitally important that the Gateway Program ties in with TransLink initiatives and the GVRD land-use Livable Region Strategic Plan.”
   A Vancouver staff report notes that the Port Mann/Highway 1 widening is “contrary to existing city policy.”
   “The way we’re looking at it is we should do the other things first and delay the decision on the Port Mann and then see if we actually need it,” said Ladner, pointing to coming improvements like the Golden Ears Bridge, the Evergreen Line light-rail transit and the Surrey-Coquitlam express bus service.
   The staff report suggests tolls if B.C. goes ahead with Gateway. It also suggests an examination of distance-based tolls between the Port Mann and the Second Narrows Bridge.
   Among other municipalities, the District of North Vancouver gave conditional support to Gateway, citing the need for tolls on the Port Mann bridge and support for the Pattullo Bridge if it is to be the free alternative, as suggested by Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon.
   But New Westminster fears the proposed North Fraser Perimeter Road will become a truck expressway through its core and doesn’t want its portion of the road transferred to the province until Gateway comes up with a solution.
   Jim Lowrie of New Westminster’s engineering department thinks the answer might be something like putting a roof on the road to shut out the noise and connect the city to its waterfront.
   “It’s useful, developable real estate — or it could be,” said Lowrie.

A new HGTV series focuses on designs for gracious living in our very own great outdoors

Joanne Blain
Sun

You wouldn’t furnish your living room with ugly plastic lawn chairs. So why would you think they’re good enough for your backyard or patio?

That’s the question Kelly Deck wants to get homeowners to ponder in her new HGTV series Take It Outside. Her weekly mission is to get people to look at the exterior of their homes as an extension of the interior.

“It’s all about rethinking how we live in our outside spaces,” says the aptly named Deck, a Vancouver interior designer. “Every square foot of living space that you pay for, including your yard or deck, make it exquisite and make it work for you.”

Luckily, the selection of high-quality outdoor furniture on the market today is making that task easier. Gary Christianson of contemporary furniture retailer Koolhaus says the range of products and styles has changed dramatically in recent years.

While traditional teak-slat chairs and tables are still a popular choice, he says the fastest-selling outdoor furniture is sleek and modern in style, employing materials like powder-coated aluminum, faux-wicker woven resin and easy-care synthetic mesh.

And the big trend is toward comfort, says Christianson, with many people looking for weather-hardy lounge chairs and loveseats that will allow them to relax and enjoy the great outdoors.

Deck agrees that there’s far more choice today in functional and stylish furnishings that can work outdoors.

“The trend in the past five years has really been creating a home, and the market really reflected that in terms of products,” she says. “But now I think the trend is moving outside and rethinking your outside space to make it an extension of your inside space.”

For Take It Outside, which debuts June 6 on HGTV, Deck transforms everything from a deck on a Mount Pleasant condo to the expansive backyard of a North Vancouver house.

The budget for each renovation varies from home to home, ranging from $5,000 to about $50,000, says Deck. The homeowner kicks in $1,000 and the show picks up the rest of the tab, with help from sponsors who contribute products in exchange for the exposure they receive on the show.

Deck focuses on finding ways to entice people out of doors by creating the same sense of comfort and style they have inside their homes.

“Lots of people have neglected backyards,” she says. “So the question is what would make you want to go outside and how can you make it work to suit your lifestyle.”

Many people think about outdoor spaces primarily in terms of landscaping — which is swell if you’re passionate about gardening, but not so great if you have no interest in spending your leisure hours mowing, weeding and pruning.

“My personal association with gardens is labour,” says Deck. “I think what many people associate an outside space is with having to garden, and that’s so much work.”

One recently filmed episode focused on a Kitsilano house with a private, but otherwise fairly plain backyard. The homeowner was more interested in yoga than gardening, so Deck created an outdoor yoga studio, complete with a water feature and sheer draperies to create a zen-like feeling.

“It has almost no plants in it — they are more of a highlight than anything else,” she says. “The space is now conducive to what he does every day.”

The homeowner, Lawrence Cheng, says Deck captured his personal sense of style and used it to create a practical and tranquil space for yoga and meditation.

The change, he says, “was really amazing. I think Kelly really transformed the backyard space into something quite magical.”

On the show, Deck takes her inspiration for the design of the outdoor space from something inside the home. And for homeowners planning their own outdoor overhaul, “that’s a great starting point,” she says.

“When you think the possibilities are infinite and you have no parameters, it’s intimidating,” she says. “So using your inside space as a direction for how to design the outside creates a beautiful flow from inside to out.”

Mark Johnston of Fusion Television, which produces Take It Outside as well as the W network shows Divine Design and Colour Confidential, says Deck has proven to be the ideal designer for the show.

“She had a youthful energy but also a very strong, sophisticated sense of design,” he says. And the serendipity of her last name in relation to the show’s theme “was just a bonus,” he adds.

For her part, Deck — who continues to juggle a full-time design practice at the Simple Design Group with her hosting duties — says her experience on Take It Outside has given her a new appreciation of how to turn an outdoor area into a stylish, comfortable and welcoming space.

“It’s amazing how a simple transformation can make you want to go outside,” she says.

Kelly Deck of Take It Outside will be on the Pacific Centre plaza at Howe and West Georgia today from noon to 3 p.m., providing advice on designing outdoor spaces and offering homeowners a chance to win a design consultation and $3,000 home-furnishings gift certificate.

– – –

FIVE HOT PRODUCTS FOR YOUR DECK OR YARD

Cantilevered umbrellas give you more design flexibility because the supporting post is on one side of the umbrella rather than down the middle, says Kelly Deck of Take It Outside. Koolhaus has several styles with unusually shaped canopies for extra drama.

Furniture made with Textaline mesh, a woven synthetic material, has a sleek, contemporary look and does a great job of withstanding the elements, according to Gary Christianson of Koolhaus. It doesn’t fade or crack and when it gets dirty, he says, just hose it off.

Zinc planters are a great choice for decks and patios, according to House & Home magazine. They’re lightweight and rust-resistant, and the finish oxidizes to an attractive whitish-grey colour when exposed to the elements. You can also fill them with water and float candles or cut flowers in them to create a simple water feature.

Take a break from wood with chairs or tables in powder-coated aluminum, says Christianson. They look great and they’re lightweight and practical — many pieces fold up for easy winter storage.

Sconce lights aren’t just for hallways — try some outside in a powder-coated finish to throw accent lighting up or down and to create “a clean, modern look,” says Deck.

FIVE TIPS FOR CREATING MORE LIVABLE AND STYLISH OUTDOOR SPACES

Consider your needs before you shop for outdoor furniture, suggests Gary Christianson of Koolhaus. “Are you someone who is out there on a Saturday afternoon with a beer enjoying the day, or are you having dinner parties at 8 o’clock at night?” That could determine whether a dining table or a couple of lounge chairs should be your top priority, he says.

Think outside the box when you’re looking for outdoor furniture, says Kelly Deck of HGTV’s Take It Outside. By all means, check out stores that specialize in patio furniture, but also look in stores that are better known for home furnishings. Two Vancouver retailers she suggests are worth a look are Chintz & Company and Moe’s Home Collection.

Make sure your outdoor furniture is functional and flexible, says Christianson. “Everything has to perform double duty — it has to stack or store, because people want to put it away for the wintertime, and it has to be able to survive the outdoor elements.”

To extend the usefulness of an outdoor space, consider adding a source of heat — anything from an outdoor fireplace to an overhead gas heater, says Deck. You want a space that you can use for more than a few hours a day, a few weeks a year. On the west coast, she says, “there is often a chill in the air, even in the summer … and when your body’s not warm, people don’t enjoy themselves.”

Give some thought to using contrasting materials in your outdoor design scheme, says Christianson. For example, consider something other than wood furniture if you’re furnishing a wood deck, he suggest. “Break it up a bit so it’s not all wood — maybe it’s a combination of teak and stainless steel and fabric.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

SELF-EMPLOYMENT I All it takes is a lot of hard work

JOHN MACKIE
Sun

There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of people who collect old Vancouver postcards. But few if any have ever had a collection like Abe Charkow.
   The 89-year-old’s collection stands at about 10,000 cards, and about 80 per cent are of Vancouver or British Columbia. Most of them would be pre-1920, or even pre-First World War.
   Charkow spent three decades building the collection. But he has had health problems the last couple of years, and has decided to part with his postcards — all 10,000 of them.
   This Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., his daughter Jill will be selling off the collection at the Vancouver Postcard Club’s annual show and sale at Hastings Community Centre, 3096 East Hastings St. (across from the PNE grounds).
   Prices will range from a low of $5 to a high of $200, and you’ll be able to find old postcards of almost anything you could imagine.
   In Charkow’s office, the postcards are arranged by subject on stacks of shelves. There are separate categories for Vancouver bridges, Central Park, Chinatown, Hastings Park, Mount Pleasant, Fairview, Wholesale District, Forest Lawn, and Queen Elizabeth Park.
   There are categories for storefronts on Broadway, Commercial, Cordova, Georgia, Pender, and Westminster/Main. There’s a box filled with postcards of residences in the West End, and boxes for Vancouver train stations (CPR, CNR, Union Station, Great Northern Station). There are multiple boxes of postcards for Granville Street, Hastings Street and Stanley Park.
   And that’s just the first couple of shelves.
   Charkow’s favourite cards tend to be the early black and white cards that came out before the First World War. There is an incredible black and white card of what appears to be a policeman riding a horse across Fourth Avenue in Kitsilano, when the street was unpaved, streetcar tracks ran down the centre of the road, there were no cars in sight and Fourth was virtually all houses.
   He also has a collection of postcards of shipwrecks such as the SS Mariposa, wrecked in October 1915 near Bella Coola.
   In the days before newspapers published much photography photographers raced to the scene of disasters, snap photos, then produce a run of postcards for the public to buy. A good example is a postcard of a sinkhole on Broadway that swallowed a house. Someone has labelled the photo “the only drop in real estate in Vancouver’s history.”
   Some of the subjects stagger the imagination, such as a postcard of sawmills on False Creek. At the time the sawmills were probably considered a sign of progress, but today people who see the pollution spewing from the sawmills’ burners are aghast.
   Charkow started as a stamp collector, and got into postcards by accident. In Toronto on business, he went to a store looking for stamps and came across a box of postcards.
   “He started off buying [hand] coloured cards, because they look nice,” says Jill Charkow. “Then he discovered no, it’s the black and whites that have the value.
   “Most of his original collection he ended up finding in England, because that’s where the B.C. cards were mailed to. People who retired or moved from England to Victoria or Vancouver sent postcards home. It was the cheapest form of mail in those days.”
   Charkow started haunting flea markets and antique sales looking for postcards. He noted the names of photographers and companies, and assembled a superb collection of cards by Philip Timms, early Vancouver’s best photographer.
   Timms’ cards are extremely rare and are worth hundreds of dollars apiece; Charkow sold the bulk of his Timms collection to another collector a couple of years ago, but some extra Timms cards will be for sale Sunday.
   Charkow focused on Vancouver postcards because he’s a born-and-bred Vancouverite. He had the financial resources to assemble the collection because he owned and operated a successful women’s clothing company, Fitwell Garments.
   His first love, though, was music. Charkow played violin in a 1930s classical troupe called the Mozart Trio, which put on recitals around town. Alas, though he has many postcards of musicians, there are none of the Mozart Trio.
   But he does have a cache of old newspaper articles and an amazing document detailing the financial success of a 1935 concert, from the attendance and ticket price (207 adult tickets at 50 cents each is $103. 50) to expenses (flowers $2.50, rental hall $35, piano $5, assisting artist $10, stamps $2.50, taxis $2.40, music $15.25) and the net profit ($24.81).
   He was just as thorough with his postcards. Whenever he bought one, he’d put a value in pencil on the back, which is how Jill was able to figure out what each was worth.
   Hence, each one of his 25 postcards of the old post office at Granville and Hastings is priced, as are his 33 postcards of the first Hotel Vancouver, 41 postcards of the second Hotel Vancouver, and six postcards of the third (current) Hotel Vancouver.
   Many cards are quite expensive (a 1912 Vancouver Sun advertising postcard is $35), but a lot are quite cheap.
   For about $10, you can pick up a lovely postcard of the Sun Tower when it was called the World Tower and had a globe at its peak; a somewhat shocking postcard of the bridge across Westminster Avenue (Main Street) before the east side of False Creek was drained for railway tracks in 1916; and an idyllic view of the old English Bay promenade around 1907 or so — small prices to pay for a piece of history.

STADIUM I More studies not the answer, president John Rocha claims

JEFF LEE
Sun

Vancouver is at risk of losing the proposed Whitecaps soccer stadium on the downtown waterfront if the city continues to demand planning studies without promising when the proposal can go to rezoning, John Rocha, the team’s president said Thursday.
   Rocha said he and team owner Greg Kerfoot understand and support the need for the city to make sure the privately funded stadium, proposed for the land east of the Waterfront SkyTrain station, is appropriate for the area.
   But he said delays sparked by the city’s demands for special land-use studies have already cost the team millions of dollars in lost opportunities, including the ability to buy a Major League Soccer franchise, which instead went to Toronto.
   “We don’t want to cut any corners, and we want it to be done properly, but our desire is for council to recognize that this is a great community asset that the public wants and that they should commit to it,” Rocha said.
   “We want them to give a reasonable time frame and give the project some certainty, because without it, we are not sure we can continue.”
   He said the team is losing $6 million to $8 million a year in opportunities, from international sporting events to concerts.
   The Whitecaps began trying to build a stadium in Vancouver in 2003, when they were approached by former mayor Larry Campbell, who wanted such a facility. But the project has been plagued by problems that have cost the franchise several lucrative opportunities, Rocha said.
   “The challenge has been the process. In no reasonable situation in the world would you have situation where it takes from 2003 to only get to this stage,” he said.
   The Whitecaps originally wanted the stadium ready for 2007, when the FIFA Under-20 World Cup will be held in six locations, including Canada.
   The city directed the Whitecaps to city-owned land at the east end of False Creek, but then decided not to sell it, Rocha said. As a result, Kerfoot bought seven hectares (18 acres) of Canadian Pacific rail yards along the waterfront.
   The stadium would be built over the railway, which would continue to operate.
   As a result of the delays, the FIFA event went to Toronto, which won a World Soccer League franchise.
   Toronto quickly approved a $65-million stadium on the Canadian National Exhibition lands, chipping in $9.8 million in money, and $9 million in donated land. The federal and Ontario governments kicked in a total of $36 million. The rest was from private funds.
   The Whitecaps would likely have received that federal funding if its stadium had been fasttracked, Rocha said.
   Kerfoot is pressing ahead with plans to build the Whitecaps facility with private funds, but isn’t ruling out the possibility of asking for similar government support, said Rocha, who estimated the cost at $60 million to $70 million, not including the property.
   This week, an independent consultant’s report prepared for city council identified major, but solvable problems with the new Whitecaps proposal.
   City staff are recommending the project only be considered when those problems are fixed, and only after a major new study on the future of the waterfront lands and rail yards.
   The consultants identified five major issues:
   The provision of an adequate street network.
   Resolution of the risk of moving dangerous goods under the stadium.
   Reconfiguration of the stadium to make it fit better with neighbouring Gastown.
   Resolution of negative impacts on people living nearby.
   Resolution of the impact the stadium would have on development of nearby port lands.
   Trish French, the city’s assistant director of current planning, said she understands the Whitecaps’ concerns but the project is complex.
   “We can’t ensure their viability. What we can do is make best efforts to resolve the issues with them on a timeline that we can develop in detail. We’re doing our best. I think the city’s attitude with major developments is that we have to do it right. This is a major development in a contentious location.”
   She said the new study affects the future of a wide area, but the Whitecaps’ issues could be resolved earlier.
   “The full study is slated for about 18 months,” she said. “What we are saying to the Whitecaps is that it may be possible by around 12 months to have a solution to these particular issues that are affecting them.”

Province

You double checked your math. You filed your return on time. You reported all your income.

And yet you still found that dreaded letter in your mailbox from the Canada Revenue Agency that says you’ve been selected for an audit.

Tax experts say the key is not to panic — just because you’ve been tagged for a review of your tax return, it doesn’t mean the tax man thinks you’ve done something wrong.

“There’s nothing to fear — the CRA are not a body to be afraid of . . . the more co-operative you are, the easier the process will be,” said Diane Akelaitis, tax expert at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The audit process in Canada is generally random, but the agency does have things it looks for in tax returns that could increase the risk of being audited, such as a return that constantly reports business losses year after year or higher than average deductions.

“They have some metrics around what they expect or what is normal for a particular industry — for example what a commission-based stock broker is entitled to deduct as expenses,” she said.

“So they would look for brokers that might be claiming expenses in excess of what is normal for a stock broker . . . other things that might flag them are individuals who are repeatedly claiming large rental losses or business losses.”

Akelaitis said that compared with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the Canada Revenue Agency is much more approachable and offers more assistance to taxpayers.

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

Ashley Ford
Province

Aaah! The sounds of silence.

Downtown Vancouverites who have been living with a ringing in their ears for the last 13 months can now rest easy.

The massive pile-driving program for the Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project has been successfully completed.

Vancouver Pile Driving has thumped in 1,443 land and marine piles, with the deepest, a marine pile, going down 56 metres.

“The completion of pile driving represents a major milestone in the construction of the expansion,” said Russ Anthony, president and project director of the $565-million development.

“It’s been a unique and sometimes challenging site for pile driving, particularly as we’re building over both land and water. In addition, much of the site is fill and contains almost 100 years of debris, everything from broken concrete to rail lines and docks.”

“The pile driving was a disruptive but necessary part of the project,” Anthony acknowledged

“However, we’re building a unique facility on one of the world’s most spectacular waterfronts. As a result, we want to thank our residential and business neighbours for their ongoing support.”

He said the ambitious project is on schedule. Foundation concrete is being poured and the steel frame for the centre will start to rise this fall.

The project, to be completed in 2008, will triple existing convention space and serve as the international broadcast and media centre for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

Five major issues identified by consultants

David Carrigg
Province

An ambitious plan to build a soccer stadium in Gastown, above the railway tracks, must overcome key problems before it can go ahead, says a city report released yesterday.

It recommends council back the project only if five major issues are dealt with:

– That an adequate street network be provided;

– That the risks associated with having dangerous cargo travelling under the stadium be resolved;

– That the proposal be reconfigured to ensure a better fit in Gastown;

– That the impacts on the livability in areas south of the rail lands be resolved;

– That the impact on future port lands development be resolved.

“It’s a difficult project and I hope we can make it work,” Coun. Peter Ladner said. “But I’ve been around Gastown and speaking with people, and there are a lot of problems.”

The Whitecaps Football Club has proposed a 15,000-seat, open-air stadium above a portion of rail yard it owns along the northern edge of Gastown.

The city hired four consultants to assess a preliminary proposal before the Whitecaps submitted a formal application for approval.

That consultants’ report — dubbed the High Level Review of the Whitecaps Stadium Proposal — was handed to council on May 15.

It says “the proposal as submitted has significant flaws.”

“These cannot be resolved if the concept is not revisited in some fundamental ways.”

It said the problems relate to urban design, impact on adjacent heritage buildings, impact on the future development of port lands, stadium functionality and access.

Whitecaps president John Rocha said he remains upbeat about the proposal.

“You could think, ‘Geez, this is not positive,'” Rocha said. “But it’s been simplified for us. We can now work with the city and staff to request a time frame. We’d love it [to be] ready for 2010.”

Rocha is confident the Whitecaps can address all the issues raised. The city has been in discussions with the Whitecaps since 2003, when former mayor Larry Campbell asked the organization if it was interested in building a stadium in the city.

An initial plan to develop the field on city-owned land in the False Creek Flats fell through and last July the Whitecaps bought a large stretch of waterfront land from CP Rail.

Council will vote on the staff recommendation at meetings on June 27 and 29.

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

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