Posts from — June 2010

Vancouver City Council today unanimously approved a study into future options for the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts, with the proviso that the project be phased to ensure good control over cost and scope.

All five speakers at council were in support of the study, for a range of reasons. Ultimately, however, said Strathcona resident and architect Graham Elvidge, the study should be about “people and community,” focussing on the potential for what many considered a “city-building” decision.

Even if council decides ultimately to keep the Viaducts, city staff believe the study will produce valuable new informatoin on traffic patterns and soil contamination. The work will also support ongoing reviews of upcoming developments in Northeast False Creek.

But if council decides it is feasible to go all the way and tear the viaducts down, False Creek resident Michael Alexander believes the city will be better for it, based on his experience in San Francisco.

Andrew Owen and politician at the new gallery wall between Woodwards' and the Cambie Hotel.

Vancouver artist Andrew Owen, who now has a show at the Marion Scott Gallery in Gastown, has taken over the walls of the old Slam Gallery, a two-story building attached to the side of the Cambie Hotel, for his very unique brand of public art.

Cambie regulars have enjoyed Owen’s work on the building’s Cordova St. frontage for years, but this month the public  gallery has been extended along the building’s long east wall, directly across from the new Woodwards’, where Owen and other artists, many from the Downtown Eastside, are displaying their work.

Much of Owen’s work is taken straight from the street, including the remarkable Brilliant Cut, a very large piece in the Marion Scott show that carves down through the multiple layers of street posters to excavate months of informal public art. [Read more →]

Interest is growing in this motion I’m proposing at council today for a BC Cycling Development Program with the view of co-ordinating cycling policy and investment province-wide. Drafted with the advice of some leading cycling advocates, it seeks to create a new relationship between municipalities and Victoria to tackle many issues that local governments can’t deal with on their own.

The staff report seeking authorization to study the future of the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts, which I requested last year, goes to council’s Planning and Environment Committee for decision June 24.