Posts from — March 2009

Vancouver City Council erupted in cheers and desk-thumping Thursday when city business strategy manager Karen Levitt announced that the Olympic Village’s Neighbourhood Energy Utility is being completed on time and on budget.

The utility, which captures waste heat from a sewer main passing underneath the Cambie Bridge, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent below those expected from conventional systems, while meeting 70 percent of expected energy demand in the Southeast False Creek area.

Warm water created by a heat exchanger in the utility will be circulated through radiant heating systems throughout the project. Supplementary power will come from natural gas. The capital cost is $29.3 million.

Thursday’s council committee meeting established the rates for energy sold by the utility, which is wholly city-owned. (Energy pricing wonks will appreciate the details available in the report, which can be downloaded at item 4 here.) Residents will have long-term stable pricing, but may wonder why their rates are linked to BC Hydro’s, which are expected to rise in the coming decade as private power generation is blended into the supply. Never mind, the utility will earn its way and actually pay for itself.

The on-time, on-budget announcement by Levitt and city engineer Brian Crowe, who made the council presentation, comes in spite of a long detour the project made three years ago, when the council of the day toyed with burning wood waste at the site. My False Creek neighhours on Spyglass, adjacent to the utility, objected loudly, even mounting a billboard that made the proposed incinerator look like a left-over from early Soviet steel plants in the Donbas.

The city backed down, the waste heat recovery system was restored, and False Creek residents who have followed the project are very happy with the new design.

Look for Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Greenest City Action Team to seek more big gains in greenhouse gas reductions by updating or greening some of the city’s existing central and district hearing systems.

Local 40 workers, employed by Aramark, drum for a new agreement.

About 750 Aramark employees at GM Place,  members of UNITE-HERE Local 40, have scheduled a strike vote March 7.  Job action, if no settlement is reached, could affect not only the Canucks’ play-off schedule but also raise questions about the benefits of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Several hundred of the Aramark workers rallied on Abbott St. outside the stadium before the Feb. 27 game, sending a noisy message about their determination to win decent wages, more respect on the job and a commitment that they will have access to work during the Games. Their ranks were bolstered by Local 40 members from major hotels in the downtown core,  Cara Flight Kitchen and Host concessions workers from YVR and representatives from across the labour movement.

Aramark, a global company which is a regular bidder for Olympic Games food services work, has used volunteers for its concessions in other cities . So far, it will not guarantee 2010 work to  its Vancouver employees,  some of whom have worked at GM Place since it opened.

And in stark contrast to the spacious, airy and immaculate dressing room provided to Canucks players by team owners — fans can view the facility on the Jumbotron at each game — more than 500 Aramark women employees at the stadium must change into their uniforms in a cramped, insecure locker room with space for half that many. The line-up stretches out into the hall.

With an average wage of $12 an hour, many of the Aramark workers earn only about $50 a shift and some pay 25 percent of the total for parking. All this and no access to Olympic work? That’s not what GM Place workers, long-time employees in the hospitality sector, expected or will accept.

Bob Mackin of 24 hours had to call to Philadelphia for an explanation. Aramark spokesperson Kristine Grow said her company is “at the mercy of VANOC.”  Talks continue with a mediator. The contract expired Dec. 11, 2008.

You can see the rally — and the energy of the Aramark workers — here:

Vancouver city council has unanimously approved the motion proposed last month by Raymond Louie, seconded by me, to take immediate action on the affordable housing crisis. (Debate was deferred to the March 3 Transportation and Traffic meeting to allow more time last month to hear from residents facing eviction at 4550 Fraser St.)

The first step is a quick consultation co-ordinated by Mayor Gregor Robertson, but the motion looks for immediate action on several fronts to confront a critical issue for the city. Renters will be included in the consultation.

Although an inclusive housing policy has been a pillar of city land use planning since the 1970s, this recent Vancouver Sun editorial makes it clear that some question the need for affordable housing at all. According to the Sun, those who can’t afford Vancouver will have to make do somewhere else.