Between The Bridges – May 23

You might have heard that many of Vancouver’s community events have been cancelled due to the FIFA World Cup — but not ours! 

Miraculously, we have been given a (somewhat last minute) green light from the FIFA Events Committee to proceed with our False Creek Festival, in celebration of World Oceans Week.

With support from the Centre for Ocean Literacy Collaboration, Langara College, and Water Rangers, we’ve invited a who’s-who of marine stewardship organizations and our project partners to join us to promote ocean health, water stewardship, citizen science, and connection with False Creek in particular. Expect water testing demonstrations, lots of information & activities, face painting, and some augmented reality!

Please join us: Sunday, June 7, 12 pm to 5 pm, Leg-In-Boot Square, plus an evening video installation running on loop from 7 pm to 10 pm.

🚨 Calling all volunteers! We need your help to make this event happen 🙋Please sign up using this form ASAP, or email *email is hidden, JavaScript is required*

Not available all day Sunday? Your help is still welcome!

Co-op Input Sought
The False Creek South Community Housing Trust (FCS CHT) Board and staff have been hard at work over the past few months, including building out the governance and committee structure and setting goals to guide the CHT’s work. 

The CHT has two key focuses: to build new non-profit housing in the False Creek South community, and to support existing co-op and non-profit housing organizations so that our neighbourhood remains a livable, mixed-income community forever. 

The Community Housing Transformation Centre recently provided funds to the CHT to explore two key questions:

To help answer those questions, the CHT will be sending out a survey to co-op residents, committees, and Boards to better understand what community members think about the potential benefits (and drawbacks) of collectively doing some of the overlapping work that each co-op currently does on its own. Co-op members will be asked to consider areas that they believe could most benefit from inter-co-op or CHT-supported collaboration. The CHT Board and staff will then aggregate the data and use it to inform the next stage of the project, including deep-dive workshops and interviews, which will take place in the fall.

So co-op members: stay tuned! The survey will launch at the end of May and will be circulated through your Boards, AWG reps, and CHT staff.

World CLT Day
May 15 was World Community Land Trust Day, an event celebrated by the hundreds of community land trusts around the world. Here in Vancouver the FCS CHT co-hosted an event with four other community land trusts (221A Cultural Land Trust, Community Land Trust Foundation of BC, Downtown Eastside CLT, and Hogan’s Alley CLT). About 45 CLT staff, Board, volunteers, and supporters gathered to create a vision for community land trusts in Vancouver, and how our organizations can support each other.

CHT in the News
A few weeks ago local online newspaper Vancity Lookout featured the False Creek South CHT in an article about the proliferation and potential of community land trusts in Vancouver. Find the article here (paywalled for Vancity Lookout subscribers only): https://www.vancitylookout.com/p/the-affordable-housing-model-gaining-momentum-in-vancouver

FCS Strata Leaseholder Webinar
Wednesday, June 10, 2026 
7:00-8:00 pm
Meeting is ONLINE ONLY, please email *email is hidden, JavaScript is required* to receive the registration link.

RePlan is inviting all strata leaseholders to attend a 1-hour Zoom information session with the legal firm that negotiated the lease extension option with the City of Vancouver. A lawyer will provide a detailed explanation of the lease extension agreement and relevant timelines, and outline possible pathways for those who choose to extend their lease or not. Please note that this session is for information purposes only; no legal advice will be given. 

RePlan Strata Town Hall
Tuesday, June 23, 2026 
7:00-8:30 pm
Sitka Square meeting room

The RePlan Strata Town Hall will take place online and in-person. Please click ONE registration method below:
To register for In-person
To register for Online
 
RePlan is inviting all strata leaseholders to a 1.5‑hour hybrid session to provide an overview of RePlan’s work and activities, outline current issues, and explain how strata residents’ concerns can be relayed to City Council candidates and City staff. RePlan is interested in your experiences living in False Creek South, and with existing leases and extensions—what’s working, what isn’t, where are the gaps, and everything in between—before the City brings forward a proposal in early 2027 to reshape False Creek South. Your perspective and concerns as strata leaseholders will shape how this community responds.

Saturday Afternoon Music
Every Saturday, 2-4 pm until the weather turns in September
June 6 - David Rabinovich - “Bringing the beauty of the violin to the people of Vancouver.” Classically trained violin soloist, concert master, and teacher.
June 13 - Jeff Oster - Contemporary and smooth jazz from Grammy-nominated flugelhorn and trumpet player.  "Miles Davis meets Pink Floyd". 
June 20 - LuiFox Gutierrez - Singer-songwriter drawing on Latin traditions. Granville Island regular, returning to the Square again.
June 27 - Brock House Big Band - 18-piece ensemble playing classic tunes, plus Latin and jazz standards, and big band arrangements of contemporary popular music.

Games Days Sundays 2-4 pm, 
June 14, July 12, August 9, and September 13
Bubbles, board games, giant Jenga, and more!
Bring your family favourites to share with others
Donations can be dropped off at the Convivial Café

Sunday, June 21
Indigenous Peoples Day//Fathers Day

• Displays and information
• Afternoon Tea
• Cycling Without Age Community Rides (check their website for information and booking) https://cyclingwithoutage.org/

NOTE:
All events are weather permitting.
All events benefit from volunteers to help with set-up (come one hour before the event) and clean-up (immediately following the event).

Do you have or know of a school-age kid who might like to discover the joys of paddling before summer arrives? If so, check this out:

Chris Arnold, Greater Vancouver Floating Home Co-op writes – and includes a video.

Kim and I were recently featured in a short documentary on alternative living.   The documentary covers living on a boat, the GVFHC, and South False Creek. 

A few members had suggested sharing this between the bridges. 

https://youtu.be/YNy8oapyGc4?si=Hd_W9SxF5ii_VH6k

Here are events taking place in the next few weeks.  Please join us. 

Friday, May 29, 5:30 – 9 pm, and 
Saturday, June 20, 11 – 2:30 pm 
Family Constellations Workshop with Andrea Woodhouse


Explore the unseen dynamics within your family system – a gentle yet powerful healing experience. In a supportive circle, we’ll bring awareness to inherited patterns, emotional entanglements, and generational influences that may be shaping your life. Through this embodied process, space opens for release, insight, and reconnection with your own inner strength and clarity. No prior experience is needed; just a willingness to show up with curiosity and heart.

Tuesdays, June 2 – 30   
Conversations on Community Services

Please join us for all or part of a brainstorming series on how False Creek South might set up a non-profit co-op to provide its members with health, social, educational, or other community services. Based on the topics, needs, ideas, challenges, and other factors we create through brainstorming, we will hold four more sessions to continue to explore and develop different ideas. Please contact Beth at *email is hidden, JavaScript is required*. (See Can We Create A Community Services Co-Op? elsewhere in this issue.)

Tuesday, June 2, 2-3:30 pm – 
Brainstorming on a Community Services Co-op
 
Please join us for all or part of a discussion series on developing a Community Services Cooperative within the False Creek South neighbourhood. 

Tuesdays, June 9, 16, 23, and 30, 2 pm - 3:30 pm – 
Different topics to be determined 
                                 
Wednesday, June 17, 7–8 pm – 
EV 101: A Friendly Introduction to Electric Cars with Michael Nagel.
See the full article elsewhere in this issue.

Saturday, June 20,  5 – 8 pm – 
Healing Money Flow with Andrea Woodhouse

Healing your money blocks is one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself and the generations that follow. Come and discover what happens when you finally have the support to be abundant. In this transformative three-hour workshop, we use Family Constellations as a foundation to uncover the invisible loyalties that keep us small, stressed, or stuck in “feast or famine” cycles.

If you would like more information or to register, please contact *email is hidden, JavaScript is required*. 

If you have a group or an idea that we might include in the programming for Circles in the Square, let us know, or drop by 665A Market Hill in Leg-In-Boot Square, just down the way from Convivial Café.

How many neighbourhoods do you know that hand out “how-to-live-here” guides? Well, in the early days of False Creek South, new residents in the neighbourhood received the False Creek Residents’ Handbook, full of useful information about nearby amenities, emergency numbers, and even how the streets work. 

Most notably, the early days of the False Creek South Neighbourhood Association are documented, with the interim Residents Association meeting every second Thursday. 

Curious about electric vehicles but tired of the online noise?   

Join EV owner Michael Nagel for a relaxed, myth-free session that explains EVs in plain language. Using real-world experiences and real facts (not Facebook!) Michael breaks down the basics in a fun, approachable way.

What you’ll learn:

• What’s all the buzz about EVs?
• How charging really works.
• Honest pros and cons of EV ownership.

Event Details:
Date:  June 17, 2026
Time:  Doors Open @ 6:30 PM — Starts 7:00 PM to 08:00 PM
Location:  Circles in the Square, 665A Market Hill (Leg-In-Boot Square)
Cost:  Free — bring your own refreshment
Optional:  Donation to the Food Bank
RSVP:  (space is limited): *email is hidden, JavaScript is required*;  include Name(s), Email, & Mobile Number

Please join us on Tuesday afternoons throughout June in a series of discussions to develop a Community Services Cooperative within the False Creek South neighbourhood. 

When and where:

Tuesday, June 2, 2-3:30 pm – Brainstorming on a Community Services Co-op
Tuesdays, June 9, 16, 23 and 30 - 2-3:30 pm – Different topics as determined

Sessions will be held at Circles in the Square, 665A Market Hill, just up from the Convivial Café.  
           
Neighbours helping neighbours have been part of our history since the neighbourhood’s inception. We hope that, with work and imagination, a Community Services Co-op could become a distinguishing feature of this place we love to call home and a means for people to continue living in community, regardless of their age or capacity.

As individuals, we often find it frustrating and expensive to arrange and manage ways to meet our daily needs. Helping each other in mutually beneficial ways will improve the lives of many and enhance our sense of community. While discussion often focuses on seniors, broadening the scope will broaden the benefits for individuals and for the community.  

Services could range from tasks as simple as changing a lightbulb, cookie-making lessons and wellness checks to art and creativity workshops to more complex services such as shared health and food services, senior/child daycares and more. Service providers could range from neighbours to trusted professionals, businesses or organizations.

First in the series will be a brainstorming session: How might False Creek South set up a non-profit co-op to provide its members with health, social, educational or other community services? Based on the topics, needs, ideas, challenges and other factors this brainstorming creates, we will hold four more sessions to explore further and develop ideas. 
 
If this idea interests you, please attend one or more of our brainstorming and discussion sessions and add your voice to our community. 
 
If you have any comments or questions, drop in to the Convivial Café for a chat with Beth, or email *email is hidden, JavaScript is required*.

Sunday June 7th, 2026
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Sitka Square meeting room

We will be reading Gentrification is Inevitable and Other Lies by Leslie Kern. 

The Granville Island bookshop, Upstart and Crow, pens this description at https://shop.upstartandcrow.com/item/mynpmgPBvvJGwWbj69IYzA

“From the author of the best-selling Feminist City, this urbanite’s guide to gentrification knocks down the myths and exposes the forces behind the most urgent housing crisis of our time. Leslie Kern travels to Toronto, Vancouver, New York, London, and Paris to look beyond the familiar and false stories we tell ourselves about class, money, and taste. What she brings back is an accessible, radical guide on the often-invisible forces that shape urban neighbourhoods: settler-colonialism, racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, and more.

“Gentrification is not inevitable if city lovers work together to turn the tide. We can mobilize, demand reparations, and rewrite the story from the ground up.”

We have limited copies available to lend out. Please email me directly to be added to the borrowing list. The book is also available at the Vancouver Public Library in two formats: hard copy, or online in e-book format. Contact https://vpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S38C9022380

If you can join us, help us plan refreshments and appropriate seating through an RSVP to *email is hidden, JavaScript is required*. 

Boy dogs take note.

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”. Signed articles reflect the views of their authors. For details go to: