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Editorial Committee: Evan Alderson, Susan Wright, Sharon Yandle
Production Editor: Robyn Chan
Proofreader: Kathryn Woodward
Contributors this Issue: Wes Knapp (Regatta)
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ART VS SKATEBOARD: WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?
On Saturday October 23rd, a Skateboarding Jamboree took place under the Cambie Bridge and on top of the Vancouver Biennale’s vinyl art installation, Voxel Bridge.
The Jamboree was part of the engagement process for the Vancouver Park Board’s Skateboard Amenities Strategy to develop skateboard amenities in the city’s public spaces.
Unfortunately, the Vancouver Biennale had not been consulted about the possibility of damage to the art installation -- and the damage, particularly at the 2nd Avenue end of the bridge, is extensive. To reprint and reinstall the now-removed vinyl mural on the floor of the pathway will cost nearly $60,000.
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One of the Biennale’s exhibitions of art in public spaces, the $250,000 privately funded Voxel Bridge, by artist Jessica Angel, is authorized by the City of Vancouver to remain under Cambie Bridge for two years until August 2023. The Biennale, responsible for ongoing maintenance at the site including repairing minor rips and marks from the wide variety of conveyances that travel under the bridge, is not funded for replacement of large areas of damage.
The question now: Who should be held responsible?
Diana Garred (Henley Court) was motivated to rally friends and neighbours in support of the artwork.
“What I witnessed was a chaotic situation that did more than damage the artwork. There was disruption of access to services and transportation.
“It is my hope that by alerting our local community to the damage to the art installation that the City will improve communication to avoid a similar situation and will reimburse the organization for repairs.”
Lynn Kagan, a downtown resident who walks in the neighbourhood daily, wrote to the Biennale:
“The whole thing is an inventive, engaging work and I am thrilled that we have such opportunities to enjoy and be cheered and challenged by art in the city. It is a shame that the work has been damaged, particularly by a city-sanctioned event.”
The Biennale staff are currently in discussion with the Park Board. In the meantime, you can send your comments, opinions and questions to Valerie Smaller at *email is hidden, JavaScript is required*.
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Vancouver City Council was decisive and unanimous: the future of False Creek South has found its way out of the Real Estate department and back into the Planning department where it belongs. The direction has been set to ensure that the growth of non-market housing is a priority, rather than an afterthought. This direction speaks to the importance of using public land to build community wealth in a way that retains existing buildings for as long as possible, continues to integrate the tenures and income mix throughout the neighbourhood, and doesn’t leave lower-income households behind.
Read:
- Richard Evans, Chair of RePlan responds to City Council’s decision.
- Vancouver Sun’s cover story (November 6): False Creek South fights to keep affordable homes in an unaffordable city.
- The last word – to fight like hell to do better for False Creek South – on the (now rejected) proposal in a letter to the Vancouver Sun editor.
- Globe & Mail’s False Creek residents hopeful that redevelopment will preserve neighbourhood (subscribers only).
Follow us on Twitter @FalseCreekSouth – it’s where we’re most active and you’ll see loads of media coverage about our community that’s been published recently!
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ED. NOTE: Normally comments to Between The Bridges are included in our Readers Respond section, but Wanda Yip (Pacific Cove) sent a note that may reflect the concerns of others:
“I’m extremely confused why the diagram shows 11 councillors “In Favour” of the plan, while the write-up says they voted NOT to endorse it - that seems to contradict each other - which is correct?”
We understand the confusion. How can a vote against something be also a vote in favour? so here’s a Reply To All:
The confusion arises because there were TWO options facing Council. One was to direct staff to continue on the course it presented. The other was to take a different course.
The report from Real Estate Staff presented to Council began with this key recommendation for Council to vote on:
- A. THAT Council direct the General Manager, Real Estate and Facilities Management (GM, REFM), to continue work to advance the recommended False Creek South (FCS) conceptual development plan outlined in this report.
This “conceptual development plan” was the central issue of concern to the community because it would have dramatically changed the nature of False Creek South to mainly market housing through demolishing existing affordable homes and displacing their residents.
Had Council voted to accept that section, it would have turned Real Estate’s recommendation into official City policy; that is, Council would have effectively endorsed the content of the report and instructed staff to continue on that path.
However, when it came time for the vote the councillors did not direct Real Estate staff to “advance” the report’s content, but instead voted simply to “receive” the plan outlined in the report as “information” to be considered by the Planning Department in a full, open public planning process.
At the same time, councillors added a number of other amendments that emphasized retaining and expanding non-market housing, addressing climate change and promoting social equity. In the result, City Council voted unanimously for a significantly different approach, effectively voting against the motion in its original form.
Among the more than a hundred speakers and likely more written submissions, one from outside the community bore particular significance, coming from Heritage Vancouver. You can read their letter here.
And for a closer look at what the amended motion passed by Council means to a great many Creek residents, check out Lori Culbert’s November 5th article in the Vancouver Sun.
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HALLOWE’EN AT THE SCHOOL - DESPITE COVID
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Although some of the usual school activities were curtailed because of Covid, students, teachers and parents at False Creek Elementary went all out on Friday, October 29th to celebrate the day.
Here are a few of them, with thanks to Tracy Betel, PAC Secretary, for being on hand to record the creative and colourful costumes.
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OUR BERM: A CASE FOR KEEPING IT
Wes Knapp, Regatta
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Not surprisingly, several residents of False Creek South have spoken up in support of the berm that parallels 6th Avenue. Recent proposals from the City’s Real Estate branch signalled that the forested berm may be sacrificed to provide space for new housing. Among the 170 citizens who lined up to speak to the recent Council meeting were those expressing fear about this possible loss.
A treasured component of our neighbourhood with its hundreds of trees and some 10 meters high, stretching from the bus loop west beyond the Laurel Land Bridge, the berm is unique in its sharp contrast to the groomed land around the Charleson pond and the textured paths along False Creek.
Where else in the city are we able to find such features in a single neighbourhood?
Consider how effectively the berm shields us from the 6th Avenue traffic noise. Walk along the top of the berm to hear just how loud that noise is. Then walk to the bottom to notice that the noise is practically non-existent. Residents whose homes run alongside the bottom of the berm testify to the difference.
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A wide pathway at the top of the berm, with narrow paths leading off and down, make it a great place for strolling, gentle jogging and playing hide and seek.
During earlier days of the berm’s existence some worried that the density of the trees could present dangers to children playing there. Since then, the thinning of the trees and the creation of pathways has addressed many of these concerns.
The berm is an outdoor children’s education lab: learning about mosses and the change in seasons, examining fallen leaves, listening and recording the sounds of birds, gathering specimens for classroom study and artistic expression. Given its proximity to False Creek Elementary School, the opportunities are endless.
Significantly, trees capture carbon: in these times perhaps this is one of the most valuable features of the berm. It would be terribly ironic to lose this berm at a time when we read signs along the seawall warning of rising sea levels.
Personally, I have discovered how we value the external world differently as we age. We discover how rewarding it is to simply stroll among the fallen leaves and notice the signs of winter with the changes in the trees and vegetation. The berm rewards us with all of this.
Let us hope the City’s Real Estate branch got the message.
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LEY LINES IN LEG-IN-BOOT SQUARE?
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You may have heard of Ley Lines, defined in a recent issue of Viewpoint Vancouver as “drawn lines that direct and tie in different points of reference, either geographical or built”.
Familiar ley lines are thought to be part of Stonehenge in England and the Nazca Lines in Peru. But thanks to Sandy James’ article in a November 5th article, we know they are also part of our own Leg-in-Boot Square, designed as a public art installation in the 1970s by a student of famous Greek city planner Constantinos Doxiadis.
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For a look at the ley lines, head to the fountain at the back of the square and follow the straight bricked lines in geometric patterns as they weave toward the seawall. Take a peak through the porthole in the fountain and create your own idea of where the ley lines are pointing.
For more information on the installation and its background, visit Viewpoint Vancouver’s article The Secret Public Art in Leg-in-Boot Square, False Creek South.
Thanks to Robert Renger (Heather Quay) you can also have a 360 panoramic view of the plaza here.
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GNOMES HELP BUILD COMMUNITY
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False Creek South residents might like to check out an “installation” by our neighbours up the hill who live on the 700-block of West 7th Avenue’s south side.
Some months ago residents in the adjacent 14-unit strata, Willow Arbor, began to liberate the uninspiring grass boulevard between the sidewalk and the road to create a welcoming space for gnomes and faeries and any humans walking by.
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Lilah, a Grade 4 student, and her carved pumpkin, one of her more recent contributions to the gnomes’ new space on 7th Avenue.
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What fills up this half block depends on the time of year, the weather and the creative impulses of a few kids and their adults. The base of each of four trees is now home to whatever each of four children would like it to be. Elsewhere, the space may be occupied by real and pretend plants and flowers, gatherings of stones, hand drawings and paintings, small umbrellas and words of wisdom.
For the creators, this labour of love is repaid daily through the appreciative smiles and sometimes conversation with those who would otherwise be passing strangers on another city street.
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Brian Heath (Heather Point) sent another beautiful photograph with this caption: “My wife, Jennifer, snapped this fantastic shot of a double rainbow over False Creek this week.”
Sheri Briggs who designs the monthly newsletter for the False Creek Co-op wrote to us that their November issue will include our article Community Comes Through (Between The Bridges, Bulletin #37), summarizing events with the city. And, she added, “thanks for your great work!”
Diana Garred (Henley Court) wrote to us about the damage to the artwork under the Cambie Street bridge. She has been in touch with the Biennale organization and recommended that we do a story on it. Thanks Diana! See: WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? in this issue.
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CONTRIBUTOR GUIDELINES: ARTICLES AND PHOTOS
Between The Bridges welcomes readers’ contributions of story ideas, events of interest, original photographs, and completed articles relevant to the False Creek South Neighbourhood Association’s goal to “promote an economically, social and culturally diverse neighbourhood with a friendly, positive and vibrant sense of community”. For details go to:
http://www.falsecreeksouth.org/2021/01/between-the-bridges-contributor-guidelines/
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