Category: Cambie Corridor

An emergency preparedness workshop was held at the Marpole-Oakridge Community Centre Wednesday, drawing an audience of only two people.

Robert Trowhill, a volunteer with the Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness Program, set and organized tables and chairs for ten guests.  “If we had had a 7.0 in Afghanistan or something, the room would have been full,” said Trowhill, “otherwise it goes on the back-burner because it might not happen for 200 years.”

Two attendees eventually found their seats.  “This is the earthquake one,” one woman queried.

“My name is Robert, I’m a volunteer with the city of Vancouver,” said Trowhill as he fiddled with the overhead projector and began his presentation.

The program is governed by the city’s Office of Emergency Management.   This particular class was one of six such workshops taught several times per month in community centres around Vancouver.

The woman in attendance furiously scribbled notes as Trowhill delivered his presentation.  She was hanging on his every word.

Trowhill volunteers his time for the program, as well as with Vancouver Emergency Social Services and the Vancouver Emergency Community Telecommunications Organization.  “I decided some time ago that the citizens of vancouver live in a high risk zone, which everyone knows, and that it was important for me to help them understand some of the small things they can do to prepare for a high risk event,” said Trowhill.

He is the picture of preparedness.  Clad in a long, yellow and black raincoat, its pockets filled with items one would not ordinarily expect to find in a coat pocket.  One bottle of water, one can of diet cola, one LED headlamp, a small baggie containing an assortment of crayons and a small card containing a list of out-of-area emergency contacts, were amongst the treasures in Trowhill’s coat.  It was, in a manner, an emergency “grab and go” kit, of the type that this program urges people to assemble for themselves.

The city, according to Trowhill, is well-prepared for any pending disasters in comparison to other Canadian cities.  “I think Vancouver is in one of the higher risk zones in canada for disasters and I think the city understands that and is taking steps.”

“Stuff happens, expect the worst, plan for the worst and hope it doesn’t happen.  There’s nothing like having a plan B,” said Trowhill.

Beneath the Cambie Street bridge, at the junction of two sidewalks, an abstract art instillation attracted the attention of two passersby.  The Garde-Temps, a french phrase meaning time-peace, silently recorded its surroundings.  The composition of LEDs was strung together in a shape resembling a large bowling pin.  The object intermittently flashed with light, and bewildered its visitors.

“This artwork is a vessel for the distorted appearance of the place and the passersby,” wrote Tania Ruiz Gutiérrez, the Paris-based artist commissioned by the city to create the installation. “Its surface alternately shows images captured by the nearby close circuit thermal camera and a series of pre-programmed patterns obtained by transforming these images.”

The visitors were unaware of the object’s purpose or abilities.  They stared, briefly questioning its meaning.

Without a label of explanation, Gutiérrez’s work went unappreciated.  As they left, the vessel logged their movement and heat signature with its seeing-eye, unbeknownst to them.  Its tiny diodes illuminated in a sweeping motion, mirroring their image as they walked away, bidding them a silent farewell.

Meanwhile, at the end of the walkway, another thermal innovation went unnoticed.  The passing traffic on the bridge overhead produced a dull thumping noise as the tires rumbled across the concrete slab sections.  The deadened noise softly punctuated the silence of this otherwise vacant, concrete jungle, hidden beneath the bridge.

Steam billowed from one of five tall smoke stacks protruding from a building shrouded in the shadows of the bridge.  A colourful placard affixed to a bridge standard established the building’s purpose.

The Southeast False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility provides space heating and domestic hot water to the budding community, including the Olympic Village development, by utilizing a highly efficient sewage heat recovery system.

Southeast False Creek, though, currently consists of more abandoned buildings and vacant land than residential buildings.  The span of property between the Neighbourhood Energy Utility and the Olympic Village, the site of this future community, is a barren wasteland of un-development.  It is scattered with the remnants of a heavy-industry past.  Yet at its peak, the utility will service up to 16,000 residents in the area, when they do arrive.

Until then, the dominant feature of the community skyline is a rusty, corrugated metal quonset, the remains of Vancouver Machinery Ltd., established in 1968.  The decrepit shell of the building is framed by the slick lines of the Olympic Village, forming a distant backdrop of great contrast, and an equally distant hint of things to come.

The Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park was unanimously saved Monday evening from the Vancouver Park Board budget chopping-block, following months of public outcry.

Park Board members voted to accept a proposal that will integrate the operation and management of the Conservatory with the VanDusen Botanical Garden.  The two facilities will work collaboratively with the Park Board.

A crowd gathered at the Vancouver Park Board head office to witness the decision.  Three rows of long green upholstered pews were full of spectators by 7 p.m., when the meeting was called to order.  A group of onlookers huddled near the doorway.  A Park Board staff member entered with an armful of stackable chairs and lined them up in front of the benches.  The overflow seating filled quickly as well.

As the proceedings wore on, one by one, circling the roundtable, the Park Board Commissioners expressed their support for the proposal.

“Bloedel was left to wither, it was ignored and we found ourselves in this crisis and through this crisis we have renewed our love for this incredible institution for this incredible amenity that we have.   And I’m very proud of the people of Vancouver for standing up and saying no to a decision that was made that was wrong,” said Commissioner Stuart Mackinnon.

The crowd that had amassed near the doorway stirred and chattered excitedly as it became apparent that the motion would pass.  And, with a unanimous vote, the crowd burst into applause, a standing ovation and a few congratulatory cheers.

“This is a remarkable achievement, I think the VanDusen Botanical Garden Association and the Friends of Bloedel can be so proud of themselves for doing this,” said Mackinnon.

The Friends of Bloedel Association and the VanDusen Botanical Garden Association filed a joint submission recommending this collaborative approach, after a Request for Expressions of Interest was issued by Parks staff on Jan. 29, 2010. The joint submission was presented to the Park Board’s Services and Budgets Committee on July 10, 2010.  At that time the Park Board expressed considerable support for the proposal.

This is in stark contrast to a Nov. 13, 2009, Park Board Meeting that identified the Conservatory as a facility that could be cut to address a $2.8 million operating budget shortfall for 2010.  However, a public outcry, rallied by the Friends of Bloedel, forced the Park Board to reconsider the fate of the 41-year-old plant and bird sanctuary.

“We’re just thrilled that this little jewell at the top of our city is going to be there for many many years and we’re going to continue to work extremely hard on it,” said John Coupar, president of the Friends of Bloedel Association.

Despite a morning rain-shower and a few lingering storm clouds, hundreds attended the Sharing Our Wealth Festival at Douglas Park, Sunday afternoon.

The annual event features local merchants and community members who want to show what they have to offer, according to Ken McFaul, Vice President of the Douglas Park Community Association.

“How it started was, I guess 20 years ago we had a multicultural grant to bring multiple cultures together. Out of that gathering we were to come up with some idea and this is what we came up with, the Sharing Our Wealth Festival, to gather the community together to show what is available in the community and what the community has to offer,” said McFaul.

Scattered amongst the trees that surround the Douglas Park Community Centre were the telltale signs of a festival.

Four brightly coloured “bouncy castles” wobbled under the weight of their jubilant occupants.  Two portable generators powered electric fans to hold the inflatable structures upright.  The excited giggles of young children pierced the muffled rumbling of the generators.

Children of all ages, their parents in tow, dotted the 13-acre park.  A crowd of youth gathered around a baseball diamond backstop.  It was a queue for the most popular attraction, the Sky Ride.  Planted at the center of the diamond was a Vancouver Park Board bucket-truck, used for pruning trees.  Arboriculture Staff from the Park Board manned the extendable bucket, maneuvering it skyward, giving patrons a view of the community from above the trees.

Meanwhile, the unmistakable aroma of buttered popcorn filled the air near the Community Centre’s entrance, a free treat provided by Choices Markets on Cambie Street.

“Everything here is local, all the sponsors are local merchants,” said McFaul.  “Whoever wants to set up a community table is more than welcome to.”

“Mom! They’ve got pizza!” said one young boy, clad in a team uniform, cleats and shin pads from an earlier soccer match.  The Community Centre concession did indeed sell pizza, as well as smokies, samosas, veggies, and an assortment of baked goods.

Next to the concession was a display of wares up for silent auction.  A diversity of plants from the Vancouver Park Board Nursery made up the bulk of the items.  Gift baskets and certificates from neighbourhood merchants interspersed the plant species.

“All the money raised goes right back into the festival,” said McFaul.  “Most years we don’t make anything, we just break even.”