Posts from — September 2011

Tamara Frank installation at West Pender Place

When Dutch artist Tamar Frank turned on her major new light installation at 1409 West Pender in July, early reviews were so positive she declared herself astounded and “almost bashful at the way people are complimenting me on the work.”

Frank is an internationally-recognized artist whose work has been installed in many countries.

But that public acclaim was not forthcoming from some neighbours of four or five condo towers south of the new building just opened by Reliance Properties, which paid $400,000 for the light work as part of the public art program.

By early August, nearby residents were bombarding councillors with angry e-mails, insisting that the illuminated display, that lasted all night, was keeping them awake. In many cases, nearby residents lacked blinds and had the LED display flashing into living rooms and bedrooms.

(I met with some of the affected residents in August and went down at night to see the display for myself. From the street, the lights seem muted, but passersby have a hard time comparing that experience to that of neighbours, who see the building at close quarters from higher floors.)

So far, Frank’s work remains up for all to see, albeit on reduced hours. Take a look.

Have you got an idea that would transform the north shore of False Creek and the city’s critical False Creek flats, the eastern core of the city? If so, you could win $1,500 in Vancouver’s Re:connect ideas competition.

You can be the city planner and city engineer: create a new vision for key lands bounded by Yaletown, Chinatown, Strathcona and right out to Grandview Woodlands that ensure a properous future for the city.

City residents will vote on the People’s Choice idea in an online ballot Nov. 21 to 25.

The Wild Card prize is just one of three “streams” of prizes totalling $10,000 designed to trigger wide public involvement — and professional input — on the final development of these critical elements of the city’s future.

All the tools you’ll need to make your submission are on the city’s site.

The ideas competition flows from the two-year debate on the future of the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts, the remnant stump of a freeway project the voters rejected in 1971.

With an engineering report confirming that the Viaducts could be reduced or eliminated as rapid transit investments continue to reduce vehicle traffice, the way is open to a new plan for this area.

There are some boundaries: the city wants to protect the flats for jobs, goods and services must still flow, there are some view corridors.

 But the “wild card” option can be right outside the box — and could be the winner.

Are green jobs a political fad or the key to future prosperity for Vancouver?

Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Greenest City Action Plan proposes firm targets to grow green jobs as part of the city’s economic development strategy. While only three percent of the city’s economy now, the green sector is growing at twice the rate of other key sectors.

I believe green jobs are critical to the city’s future and made the case in this recent column for Business in Vancouver:

Who says regulations are job-killers?
A new ban on sending mattresses to landfill generated 45 new private sector recycling jobs — and yes, those are “green” jobs — in less than eight months, according to a recent Metro Vancouver news release.
The three new businesses jump-started by the ban deconstructed 47,000 mattresses, enough to create a pile one and a half times the height of Everest, diverting 95 percent of the materials from landfill.
Is this the kind of job to expect from Vancouver’s new Greenest City Action Plan, which has as one of its goals, “to double the number of green jobs over 2010 levels by 2020?” [Read more →]

The NPA streetcar program re-announced by mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton today offers nothing to the tens of thousands of commuters crammed on crosstown routes today who hope Metro Mayors vote Oct. 7 to approve new investments in bus and Skytrain service by raising the gas tax.

I say “re-announced” because the streetcar has been a staple of Vancouver election campaigns for a generation. I should know — I have strongly supported a streetcar program and still do.

But streetcar dreams and streetcar realities are a study in contrasts. Here are some realities:

• Translink has consistently refused, until 2009, to consider the streetcar as part of the regional transportation network. It only did so in 2009 as the Broadway Corridor study began after Mayor Gregor Robertson’s 2008 election, and then as a key to build ridership on Broadway and sustainable development on False Creek flats. This change by Translink means Vancouver could promote the streetcar as part of the regional network and see funding shared by the region. The NPA plan would put the entire $200 million cost on Vancouver taxpayers and would not even serve the flats;
• As the NPA demonstrated in the Olympic Village financing fiasco, public-private partnerships are fraught with peril. Transit systems do not make money. Vancouver taxpayers would be on the hook for the entire $200 million, plus operating losses and the premium cost of private sector borrowing. Proponents often propose to finance such projects with huge density lifts, as in Hong Kong. Where would the NPA add this massive density in a line that would snake through heritage neighbourhoods and around the West End?
• Triggering new investment in existing bus routes and out to the TriCities is the main task facing Metro municipalities today. That’s the reality and that’s where senior governments have offered to cost share. Does Councillor Anton support the proposed two cents a litre increase in the gas tax so service improvements could arrive next year? Or are Vancouver transit riders supposed to wait, and wait, and wait, for the streetcar that could only come with regional commitment to the Broadway corridor?

The reality is that the previous NPA council committed the city to $9 million in capital investment for the 2010 Games streetcar pilot project with no idea when or if the entire system could be built. The rusting tracks are a monument to that “no real plan, no real budget, fingers crossed” approach. It was a great ride for eight weeks.

My money’s on the Translink streetcar option. It’s cheaper, more practical and may actually arrive in my lifetime.