Posts from — November 2009

Is this the last Eastside Culture Crawl for the creative colony of artists at 901 Main?

It may be, given Amacon’s decision to raise rents sharply — up to 100 percent — for the dozens of artists who make the building the westside anchor for one of Vancouver’s most important cultural events.

Some of those who fought so hard to keep the building an artists’ centre are preparing to leave the mothership for a new location at 150 McLean, close to Powell, in the heart of the Crawl territory.

Eri Ishii, who is exhibiting this year at 901 Main for the last time, advises that a small new artists’ co-op created during the fight to save the Main location has signed a five-year lease for space above Peregrine Plastics, with great windows and views of the North Shore.

Those remaining at 901 will face rent increases to $2,100 for a full floor of the building, up from about $900 today.

It was the high rents demanded by Amacon that made it impossible for the artists to move to space near Scotia and 7th Ave. approved for Amacon by the last council as part of a rezoning. The future of that space, notionally allocated for cultural purposes, remains unclear.

But creativity will flourish on McLean.

My motion to consider the future of the Georgia Viaduct passed unanimously Thursday with a commitment by city staff that a report on scope and cost of the review would be forthcoming by March or April, after the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The death Nov. 4 of former Fishermen’s Union president Jack Nichol, at the age of 83, broke another of the few remaining links to the turbulent post-war labour movement that did so much to shape modern BC.

Jack Nichol (right) and Homer Stevens examine the UFAWU's Prince Rupert organizing boat, 1974. A disappointing purchase, it was unaffectionately called the Northern Breakdown.

His memorial service, to be held Friday at 1.30 p.m. at the Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph St., promises to be an emotional reunion of that era’s veterans.

As president of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union from 1977 to 1993, Nichol was a leader in a generation of great union leaders who was unafraid of any personal sacrifice — including jail time  — to help move the members forward. He, like others, saw his role as much more than narrow collective bargaining. He had a vision of the union as a force for social justice in coastal communities.

In post-war BC, organized labour was virtually the only counterweight to the corporate power of resource companies. Those who look for the first fights for public power, environmental protection, sustainable community development, a nuclear-free world, workers’ rights, a decent Columbia River treaty and much more must look to the history of the labour movement.

Born in Ontario, Nichol came up from the ranks, finding post-war work in the Canadian Fish Home Plant at the foot of Gore Ave. Here his big build stood him in good stead in the demanding physical environment of the cold storage plant, where workers heaved 200-pound frozen halibut from boat to freezer and from freezer to rail car. He quickly became a union activist and then a full-time organizer.

His undoubted physical strength was matched by a powerful intellect. He was a strong writer, commanding public speaker and had near total-recall, able to quote from letters written and received years earlier with eery accuracy. [Read more →]

For next week’s council agenda, I have proposed this motion  to determine the costs and benefits of removing the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts, as well as the p0tential to redesign transportation connections, particularly for goods movement.