Natural beauty is worth protecting. Our children not only need places to play, but also places to enjoy and explore nature. We all need places of tranquil refuge from our busy lives. The animals and birds that help make our urban lives enjoyable need places to nest and raise their young.
People and nature in balance is my vision for our parks and recreation system.
One of the Community Centre Associations I am Commissioner Liaison to is RayCam. This issue has been very important to the community. I am sharing this press release from Guy Wakeman and Judy McGuire for information purposes.
For Immediate Release: October 30, 2015
In
what can only be described as a nasty trick to play on Downtown
Eastside children and families, the City of Vancouver has just given
approval for a brewery and tasting room to open across the street from
the Ray-Cam Community Centre.
Ray-Cam
is a well-known and respected centre which offers numerous programs for
local families and seniors, daily childcare and after-school programs
for over 100 children, sports activities for young people, and evening
programs for local teens. Located adjacent to the Stamps Place Housing
Complex and the Strathcona neighbourhood, it is widely regarded as the
community living room by families with few other resources
.
Raising
children in the Downtown Eastside is a daunting challenge. Parents,
already stressed by trying to provide for their families, also face
trying to protect their children from witnessing the activities of local
drug dealers and sex trade workers, to say nothing of having to
constantly guard against them finding discarded needles and condoms.
Local
families were relieved when City Council implemented restrictions on
marijuana shops which will prevent them from operating within 300 metres
of schools and community centres. The two located half a block from
Ray-Cam and Stamps Place will now have to move. This decision fits well
with the City’s Health City Strategy which, among other goals, aims to
ensure that Vancouver’s children have the best chance of enjoying a
healthy childhood.
The
City’s seeming care for the well-being of children is now being
questioned by local families facing the prospect of having a brewery
serving alcohol on-site located right across from the community centre
they considered a refuge for their young
.
On hearing of the decision, Guy Wakeman, president of the Stamps Place Tenants Council, was extremely upset. “I
do not understand why the City would agree to a brewery opening here. I
have two young children who will now be exposed to the open promotion
and consumption of alcohol every single day. It’s right beside our bus
stop. They will not be able to avoid it. I’m very upset and worried
about how this will affect my children and my neighbours.”
The
City has acted responsibly in restricting the location of marijuana
shops. Residents are hoping they will quickly take similar steps to
protect children from the promotion and open consumption of alcohol, and
direct this proposed brewery to move to a more suitable location.
For further information, contact:
Guy Wakeman, President, Stamps Place Tenants Council
Okay, not about Vancouver parks today. But I thought an important post nonetheless. Thank you to Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada for this list:
We need a stock-taking. A “to-do” list. Some of what the Harper
administration broke will be easy to fix; much will be very hard indeed.
What
we must do is insist the damage be reversed. There is an equally long
list of steps to take moving forward – but we need to repair immense
damage to nearly every aspect of federal law and policy.
Here’s a start:
1) Fixing security law:
Repeal
Bill C-51. As a compromise, the Liberals could amend part 2 (No Fly
lists) while repealing Parts 1 (info sharing), 3 (terrorism in general
propaganda), 4 (the most dangerous, unleashing CSIS as covert
disruptors) and 5 (allowing evidence obtained by torture).
Repeal C-44 – allowing CSIS agents to operate over-seas.
Repeal C-38 – with a section eliminating the Inspector General for CSIS.
Repeal C-3 (2007 legislation that introduced unconstitutional security certificates).
Instead – build security law drawn from advice from the Arar and Air India Commissions of Inquiry.
2) Rebuilding our criminal law system:
Reinstate the Law Reform Commission and Court Challenges programme.
Repeal C-10 and other mandatory minimum provisions.
Repeal C-2 (Insite).
Repeal C-14 (NCR).
Repeal C-25 (Truth in Sentencing Act).
Repeal C-309 (Preventing Persons from Concealing Their Identity during Riots and Unlawful Assemblies Act).
3) Reverse trend to slippery citizenship:
Return Canada’s embassies to aggressively act for Canadians abroad in trouble – including on death row.
Repeal C-24 (only one citizenship exists – unless obtained by fraud, citizenship is citizenship).
Repeal FATCA (found in omnibus C-31).
Restore citizenship for Lost Canadians.
4) Immigration and refugee law:
Repeal the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act from Fall 2011 that puts refugees arriving by boat in jail for a year (C-31).
Return to principles of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act – create a predictable path to citizenship.
Prioritize family reunification.
Create a sponsor-friendly refugee support process. Restore health, housing, language and other supports to refugee claimants.
Appoint board members to Immigration appeal board to deal with backlog.
5) Restore evidence-based decision making:
Restore Long Form Census. Rehire Munir Sheik as Chief Statistician of Canada and give him the Order of Canada.
Repeal
C-38 sections that wrecked environmental assessment (EA). Eliminate any
EA role for energy regulatory agencies (NEB, offshore petroleum boards,
CNSC, etc) and return EA to the Canadian Environmental Assessment
Agency. Repeal C-38 destruction of CEAA, and further amend the Act to
remove the conflict of interest found in the pre-2011 CEAA. A good model
can be found in the Liberal 1993 Red Book (never implemented).
Repeal C-38 elimination of the National Round Table on Environment and Economy.
Re-hire scientists.
Restore funding to the Canadian Climate Forum (formerly the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences).
Restore funding to Polar Environmental Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL).
Restore the Marine Mammals Contaminants Programme.
Restore testing of smokestacks for air quality.
Restore ozone layer testing.
Restore freshwater science. Resume funding and DFO work in Experimental Lakes Area.
Restore research funding and monitoring for ecological integrity to Parks Canada.
6) Repair environmental laws and policy:
Repeal C-38:
I.
Damage to Fisheries Act (restore habitat protection, reverse
administrative changes in interpretation of “deleterious to fish” as
meaning acute toxicity at LD50, as well as removing the equivalency
provisions for provincial down-loading); II. Section that amended
NEB also damaged Species at Risk Act, Navigable Waters Protection At,
Fisheries Act exempting these acts – as not applying along route of a
pipeline; III. As above in decision-making section, restore CEAA as sole agency to oversee environmental reviews.
Repeal C-45:
I.
Restore Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA), and repeal the 2009
omnibus bill that re-defined “navigable waters” to a matter of
ministerial discretion. Return NWPA to its pre-2006 condition. Navigable
waters are any and all waters that can be navigated.
Restore funding to Canadian Environmental Network.
7) Climate action:
Ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
Work
with other Kyoto parties and support the information sections and the
mechanisms, especially the Clean Development Mechanism. No new targets
need be established within the KP as our new targets will evolve in the
new comprehensive COP21 agreement.
Restore ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program.
Consider the other actions in place in 2006 that the Harper administration cancelled.
8) Repair Official Development Assistance:
Restore funding to MATCH, KAIROS, Canadian Council for International Cooperation, etc.
Consider re-establishing CIDA as its own agency, but at a minimum reverse funding cuts and restore goal of poverty alleviation.
9) Service Canada:
In
what was described as an effort to save money, the Harper
administration created a new department to house administrative, IT and
finance roles. Call for a full audit by the Auditor General and
determine if Service Canada has in fact resulted in savings, or, if, as
many suspect, it has been a boondoggle. Consider restoring functionality
in the public service.
10) Reverse monumental mistakes:
Cancel
any federal funding to Canadian Memorial to the Victims of Communism
and cancel plans for its current location. Allow it to proceed in
another location with a more modest and reasonable design as a private
charitable project.
Restore land from Green Cove in Cape Breton
Highlands National Park to the park, reversing private give-away to
private sector interests. Allow the so-called Mother Canada statue to be
built on an appropriate site in industrial Cape Breton.
11) Repair national parks:
Cancel any and all plans to further privatize within national parks.
Amend
the Sable Island National Parks Act to remove the role of the
Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board as a regulator within the
park. Ban seismic testing, drilling and any industrial activity in the
park.
Amend the Rouge Valley National Parks Act to restore ecological integrity.
Re-affirm the guiding principle of the National Parks Act to protect ecological integrity.
12) Repair legislative damage to First Nations rights and title:
Amend the NWT devolution act to restore the water boards and other agencies created by treaty.
Repeal
C-27 (First Nations Financial Transparency Act) and S-2 (Family Homes
on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act).
Restore funding and re-open the National Aboriginal Health Organization and the First Nations Statistical Institute.
13) Women’s rights:
Restore purpose of Status of Women Canada to include achieving equality for women.
Restore funding to Canadian Association of Women and the Law, National Action Committee, etc.
Institute an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.
Implement pay equity for women in federal civil service.
Repeal manipulative laws that contort women’s rights creating increased risks to women:
I. S-7 (Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act) II. C-36 (Sex trade worker law)
14) Restore funding to CBC-Radio Canada:
Cancel sale of assets
15) Reverse cessation of home delivery by Canada Post
16) Re-engage with international sustainable development:
Restore funding to CIDA.
Halt sales of diplomatic residences.
Ratify the Convention to Combat Desertification (from which we withdrew under the Harper Conservatives).
17) Investor State agreements that cannot be undone:
Canada-China
Investment Treaty was signed and ratified without any hearings in
Parliament, without a ratification vote in the House or Senate.
The
earliest Canada can be out from under this treaty is 2045. To protect
Canadian interests and sovereignty, we need a law requiring immediate
public disclosure of any and all complaints by the People’s Republic of
China against Canadian legislation, regulation or policy changes,
pending or concluded, at all levels of government. This notification
includes any diplomatic pressure from the PRC in the six month window
for conflict resolution prior to the lodging of an actual arbitration
claim. Canada must be prepared to pay damages to the People’s Republic
of China if our environment, labour or safety laws require it. The
Canada-China Investment Treaty is the worst of the changes wrought in
the Harper era. It could operate to stop the needed repairs. All we can
do now is ask to re-negotiate while ensuring our domestic legislation
guarantees transparency.
This week, Vancouver City Council is expected to vote
on removing the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts—although as many City
Hall watchers suggest: It is already a done deal.
The proposal to remove the viaducts has been an ongoing issue for
several years now; one that has piqued concern and activism in
neighbouring communities.
As many of us have been advocating for years: if we are going to remove the viaducts, let’s do it right.
(*Full
disclosure: my political genesis was viaducts removal. After losing a
close friend and neighbour to unsafe Prior Street traffic conditions,
I’ve been advocating for safety improvements east of Main to be included
in the viaducts planning.)
The
removal of the viaducts is supposed to open up some 2.5 million square
feet of residential and commercial development, provide new green space,
and add thousands of new residents. More importantly, the development
of Northeast False Creek is key to the eastward migration of Downtown
Vancouver—an inevitability that urbanists and realtors have been
describing for decades.
At his 2015 Urban Development Institute address,
Vancouver's pre-eminent real estate marketer Bob Rennie described "big
game changers" that will trigger the movement of the city centre east.
Bold moves like the relocation of St. Paul's Hospital to the False Creek
Flats, and the removal of the viaducts are two of those game changers.
But in any game changer, there are winners and losers.
The
winners, of course, will be the developers and landowners who stand to
immediately benefit from viaducts removal. Concord Pacific who own and
will develop much of that land; the Crown Corporation PavCo and the City
itself have significant holdings that will open up; and Ian Gillespie's
district energy company has inked a deal with the City to provide heat for all new development in the area.
Optimistically,
Vancouverites could be big winners if this project is done right—but
the losers might well be the most vulnerable in our population,
particularly as development puts the squeeze on housing affordability
and new road networks bring more traffic.
Here are some caveats I outlined before council at first reading of the city staff report on October 21.
First, the City must commit to traffic management east of Main Street as part of the viaducts' removal.
One of the biggest concerns expressed by commuters and businesses is that viaducts removal will exacerbate congestion.
According to the report, however, the proposed viaducts replacement
road—a new at-grade “grand boulevard”—will accommodate viaducts and
existing Pacific and Expo traffic streams, while actually increasing
road capacity.
The City’s report offers no commitment to address
that traffic flow beyond Northeast False Creek, however. To the east:
the communities of Strathcona, Grandview–Woodland, the Downtown
Eastside, and Chinatown lack the road infrastructure to accommodate the
traffic from the new post-viaducts street network and millions of square
feet of new development.
As the plan currently outlines, the new
Pacific Boulevard will connect to Prior Street. Prior, a narrow
neighbourhood street without the setbacks and width expected of an
arterial road, is the unfortunate legacy of the proposed freeway system
that citizens managed to stop in the 1970s. Prior Street.Wayne WordenAn
In-Service Road Safety Review of Prior and Venables (prepared for the
City in September by Urban Systems and Morr Transportation Consulting)
concedes: “the collisions occurring along Prior Street are involving a
higher number of vulnerable road users than other comparable corridors
and are potentially more severe.”
Of course, locals recognize the
inherent danger for vulnerable road users outlined in the road safety
review, and seemingly everyone knows someone who has been touched by
reckless commuters racing through our neighbourhood. In Strathcona,
parents won’t allow children to cross the busy street to the park as
unsafe speeds and the running of red lights are all too common; in
Grandview–Woodland, the same sort of situation manifests itself along
Victoria Drive north of First.
The report before council does
acknowledge the need to secure a new east-west arterial route, but
defers that to an indeterminate plan to be considered in 2016 and
contingent on securing senior government funding. In the meantime,
uncertainty over the how or where of a new arterial is cause for concern
among residents and businesses. We ask that the wording of the report
reflect that those details be established before the viaducts are
removed.
Second, delivery of affordable and social housing must be guaranteed.
Proponents
of viaducts removal point to this as a great opportunity to build
affordable housing, and indeed it could be—but the delivery of social
housing relies on a complicated shell game.
Concord’s land
development is contingent on former landowners (the province of B.C.)
removing contaminated soil. In turn, if the City of Vancouver awards
significant and sufficient densities to developers Concord, some degree
of profit will be shared with the Province, which the City hopes will be
directed to social housing.
If you aren’t confused yet, consider
that profits will have to factor in the Developer Cost Levies and
Community Amenity Contributions (CACs); the latter, paid by the
developers, is negotiated behind closed doors and will be expected to
help cover the cost of viaducts removal, parks, seawall, and a new road
network.
At a recent SFU City Conversations on the subject, noted
urban planner Lance Berelowitz questioned whether the math could work to
deliver all the promises via CACs. One thing is for sure: if we are to
extract maximum public benefit, these as-yet-to-happen negotiations need
to be transparent.
Among the parcels for redevelopment,
city-owned land is being considered for sale in order to finance
viaducts removal and housing. The city has previously shown leadership
in advocating for a housing land trust—and these locations would be a wonderful opportunity to build leasehold public housing on city-owned land.
On
the blocks flanking Main Street in particular, the City could further
honour the black community of Hogan’s Alley who were displaced to make
way for the viaducts, by embracing the idea of retaining public
ownership of the land rather than selling it to the highest bidder.
The
future of the viaducts land, St. Paul’s Hospital, and the Flats,
together with development in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside, are
putting extraordinary pressure on housing. We need to advocate at all
three levels of government to ensure that we are protecting residents
from displacement and be much more proactive in the building of
affordable and social housing.
The city knows they cannot build
this housing alone, and the staff report details the negotiations that
must happen with senior governments. However, the City must ensure that
their plan includes real and achievable targets in writing, along with a
meaningful commitment to delivering affordable housing, lest we end up
with more Olympic Village-style broken promises.
If we do it
right: with comprehensive traffic management for the East End and a
commitment to social and affordable housing; honouring the displacement
of the black community at Hogan’s Alley and the diversity and struggle
of the area’s low income community; and delivering existing residents
their overdue and long-promised Creekside Park; viaducts removal could
be a great opportunity for our City.
“Climate change isn’t an “issue” to
add to the list of things to worry about, next to health care and taxes. It is
a civilizational wake-up call. A powerful message—spoken in the language of
fires, floods, droughts, and extinctions—telling us...that we need to evolve.”
- Naomi Klein
Vancouver Climate Change Theatre Action
November 22, 2015
STUDIO 1398, 1398 Cartwright, Granville Island
2 pm – 4 pm
FREE – First come, first served
For
Immediate Release: October 16, 2015
On November 22 at 2 pm, Vancouver actors will read
short plays by Reneltta Arluk, Kendra
Fanconi, Jordan Hall, Kevin Loring, David Geary, Elyne Quan, Elaine Avila
and others, as a Vancouver response to the international CLIMATE CHANGE THEATRE ACTION
(CCTA). CCTA is
a global series readings and performances intended to foster discussion around
climate change during this November and December, coinciding with the United Nations 2015
Paris Climate Conference.
The
Vancouver action is open to the public and admission is free. The program will
culminate in an opportunity to meet and discuss ways for theatre makers to
react creatively, practically and locally to the climate change crisis.The event is organized by The Only Animal, with
the assistance of Playwrights Theatre Centre, playwright Elaine Avila, and Event
Coordinator Mark Vulliamy.
The
main goal of the international project is to invite as many people as possible to
participate in a worldwide conversation about climate change. Vancouver’s Climate Change Theatre Action is
an initial response by local theatre artists – writers, actors, directors - to
the international call to engage with a global crisis. As Elaine Avila, one of the international
co-organizers, notes, “Coming together to tell stories is one of the best ways
we have to organize and educate ourselves, to feel and to understand.”
“This artivist action on climate
change is an opportunity to reflect, with multiple communities, on one of the
most vital issues on the planet, continuing our mission toward a theatre that
can illuminate the relationship between humans and nature,” says international
co-organizer Caridad Svich.
“I’ll go on. It feels better to be
in action than to be in despair. I’ll go on. I’m “out” on the climate change
issue. It’s my work. I’ll go on. Creatively, with hope, with beauty. With a
love of the impossible. I’ll go on.” -Kendra Fanconi
to volunteer:Mark Vulliamymark_vulliamy@telus.net
media contact:
Kendra FanconiKendra@theonlyanimal.com
For
more information on the international Climate Change Theatre Action, a joint
venture between NoPassport, The Arctic Cycle and Theatre Without Borders, please
go here.
