Posts from — March 2010

From the latest Business in Vancouver, my take on labour relations in the Port of Vancouver, where the greatest threat of labour unrest appears to come from the employer side of the bargaining table. Given the critical importance of the port to the city’s economy, this is not good news.

Today on the The Tyee, my take on a largely unnoticed Olympic legacy: the real-life experience of society organized, even if only briefly, around goals more positive than money, work and consumption.

Observers of the controversy over the Vancouver Art Gallery’s proposed move to Larwill Park, or people with time on their hands — I fall into both categories at the moment — will be interested in this 2006 council report setting the city’s direction for what was grandly called the “Cultural Precinct.”

The report, drafted by former city manager Ken Dobell, set out a work plan to deal with a host of urgent and conflicting city priorities for its cultural infrastructure in the run-up to the 2010 Olympic Games. The basic concept was a new “Cultural Precinct” of a concert hall, a new art gallery and related developments in and around the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, all bundled in a way that would attract provincial and federal funding.

The report endorsed the VAG’s view that it needed to double its size and move to a much larger site.  It proposed that the VAG, a concert hall and federal office towers all be considered for the Larwill Park site. This grand design would be driven forward with hands-on involvement by the province.

In fact, the report contemplated an advisory committee including “the Premier, Minister of Tourism, Sports and the Arts, as well as the Mayor and a City Councillor, be established to meet quarterly, receive progress reports and provide advice on the program.”

There are few clearer examples of how the city became a branch of the Premier’s Office during Sam Sullivan’s term as mayor. [Read more →]

Granville Mall without trolleys: a pedestrian thoroughfare with great views of the north shore mountains. Richard Campbell photo.

Cycling and transportation advocate Richard Campbell is urging Vancouver City Council to keep Translink’s trolleys off Granville Mall as an easy and popular way to create a pedestrian thoroughfare through the downtown core.

Campbell is speaking for many in an e-mail to council when he hails the beauty of the newly-designed street, particularly its striking views to the north shore mountains, now unencumbered by a spider’s nest of trolley wires.

But city transportation engineer Jerry Dobrovolny has reminded councillors that Translink invested $10.4 million into the mall’s renewal to preserve transit access, particularly close to Skytrain and Canada Line stations.

Work to restore the trolley wires will begin next week, but the existing wires on Seymour and Howe will remain. That will give the city tremendous flexibility to close Granville, with minimal transit impact, for street festivals or other activities.

The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, which feared Olympic street closures would hurt business, is now on the record favouring more such events to enliven the area.