Category: Commerical Dr/ Main Street

The Vancouver School Board will close schools for 10 additional days next year in order to partially offset a $17M budget deficit. Longer holidays will hurt vulnerable families and further stretch community resources.

Around 50 community members met Thursday to discuss education cuts at a town hall meeting hosted by Jenny Kwan, MLA Vancouver Mt. Pleasant, at the Strathcona Community Centre.

Some parents came with young children. Kwan announced in English and Chinese that translation could be made available those preferring to listen in Mandarin or Cantonese. A small group gathered in the back corner of the room for a whispered translation session.

Tom Barker of the Strathcona Parental Advisory Council said that the Strathcona Community Centre currently runs a Holiday Safe Space program over Christmas Holidays and March Break. The program serves 120 kids who are identified by their schools as “at risk,” and offers them structured activities while schools are closed.

One study found that while children from higher income families increase their learning over extended school breaks, the learning levels of children from low income families actually decrease, Barker said. Children from all income groups showed similar rates of increase in learning while school was in session.

“Inner city children are most vulnerable during extended school breaks,” Ron Suzuki from the Strathcona Community Centre said. “The saddest times of the year are Christmas and Spring Break.”

Suzuki said that the community centre will have to fundraise an extra $26,000 to cover the cost of additional programing during school closures. This funding could otherwise have gone towards needed renovations to the childcare centre or towards offsetting the Food Security Program budget deficit, Suzuki said.

The 10 additional school closure days were proposed as a one-time measure that will save the school board $1M. However, Patricia Badir of the Strathcona Community Centre worries that closures will continue indefinitely.

The Strathcona Community Centre has an amazing volunteer board of directors and an amazing staff that will find a way to put on great programming for the 10 extra school closure days, Badir said. “We solve these problems. We see a leak, we patch it up. We jump into the crisis and we solve it. But that just means that things will look okay to the school board. There will have been no disaster in Strathcona, and I’m worried about what that will mean for the next year.”

A camper van with barber shop candy stripes was parked Saturday outside the Temple of the Modern Girl Boutique on Main Street. In front of the van, a sign read, “Trim ya locks fo whatever ya gots.”

The Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association was hosting a street party on Main Street between Broadway and 12th Avenue. Young families bought vintage purses, sampled artisan bread and perused the stands set up by local businesses and community organizations. Free valet bike parking was available.

A crowd gathered to watch Tom Farmer cut hair in exchange for food, clothing, beer or just about anything. One customer traded for a pair of cowboy boots. Farmer said that it’s weird having everyone watch you while you work, and that it can be exhausting always being the centre of attention. Still, the business relies on an element of performance.

Business has been good, Farmer said, and things have just snowballed since he set out on this adventure about five months ago. It took 34 cans of red and white spray paint to convert the van into a mobile barber shop. Farmer wears a nozzle from one of the cans as a pendant around his neck.

Farmer previously worked four years as a graphic designer in Melbourne, Australia, before losing his job in the economic downturn. A friend convinced him to come to Canada to help start the haircuts for trade business, Farmer said.

The mobile barber shop was not an official participant in the business improvement association’s Autumn Shift Festival. Simon Conway from the association said that they were none the less welcome to be there and offer their services.

Their presence has not always been so welcome. About six weeks ago, the team was cutting hair at Main and Broadway. Farmer said it was great, everyone loved them and they payed $7 a day in rent. However, they were asked to leave by the City of Vancouver. Farmer said he thinks that a local barber shop called to complain.

Conway said it would be fair for a regular tax-paying business to be upset, although it’s not nice to think of someone calling up city officials to complain.

Looking back, Farmer said that being forced to move on was for the best. They drove north to Nelson, where Farmer said his best memories of Canada were made. Near Kelowna, they made just enough money picking grapes to pay for fuel and food to get back to Vancouver. Farmer said he dreams of heading south to the United States, where it’s warmer.

Michael Bowring wore a plain shirt, slacks and a straw hat as he sat on a bench in front of Britannia Community Centre.  His hat shaded his eyes from the bright Saturday afternoon sun as he rolled a cigarette and put it between his lips for a puff.

“We don’t live in a democracy,” the 60 year-old man said.  “The Olympic committee is a private corporation, and governments and corporations are intertwined like the State and the Church.”

Talk to a Vancouverite about the Olympics and you are sure to get a reaction.  Talk to someone about the Olympics who lives on Commercial Drive and you are sure to get an opinion.  And asking whether the $320,000 the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games pumped into the Britannia ice rink was a good thing or not definitely elicits an opinion.

The Britannia ice rink is one of the dozens of buildings that make up the well-used, well-respected Britannia Community Centre complex.  The rink resides on the northern end of Commercial Drive in Mount Pleasant, an area, according to Statistic Canada, where over one of three households are low-income.

Inside the rink, dozens of children of all ages prepared to hit the ice, their legs stretched out as they tugged on the laces of their rented skates.  Above, photos of the professional ice hockey teams that came to practice here during the Olympics proudly hung, taped against pillars in front of the canteen.  The photos showed national heroes like Jerome Iginla, Henrik Sedin, and players from other teams, resting on their sticks, shooting, laughing – all in this very rink.

“I might be biased but the kids got new equipment, got to watch teams like Sweden and Canada, and we got new boards, new glass and new lights and money for new programs,” said James Smith, 21, community centre staff, hockey coach and lifetime resident of the area.

Just as a referee’s whistle signals for the game to start, Shania Twain suddenly boomed from the speakers above and echoed throughout the frosty rink.  Dozens of skaters moved onto the ice – 37 people to be exact.  27 others, remained on the benches.  Although not the “200 a day” the rink often gets, considering the nice weather today, Smith said the turn out was pretty good.

Meanwhile, back outside, Bowring continued to sit on his bench.  “With the Olympics we got a new ice rink, but is that what we needed?  Or does it make more sense to address the issue of children living in poverty in the area?”

Temporary

No Stopping

September 25th

Traffic lights flashing green. East Broadway meets Prince Albert Street.  Rain, rain, rain.  A banner hangs from the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House.

Harvest Festival

Saturday, September 25th

It is the eve of the festival and the house is buzzing with activity.

The front entrance is plastered with community bulletins: Job opportunities, volunteers needed, community events, UBC research projects.

Three computers.  Free internet.  One man admits that he started coming here because of the complimentary phone.  He volunteers on occasion, helping out where he can.

The house is a welcoming and inclusive space.  “People don’t look at you funny here,” said a young Aboriginal man.

Posted behind the front desk is a giant whiteboard:

Date: Friday Sept 24^th 2010

Time:               Group:

9-12                   FDI

10-12                 Seminar Mandarin

10-4                   Mahjong

10-12                 Vietnamese Seminar

11:30-1              In Pleasant Care

1-3                      Line Dance

3-6                      Teen

6-10                    Pre-Teen Dance

The whiteboard accurately reflects the diversity of the visitors here.

Children and caregivers button up their coats.  Family drop-in time is over and the East Hall is being converted into a dance hall.

Seniors pour in the front door as noon approaches.  One woman picks through the shopping cart full of free bread.

Free loaves of bread are available to visitors on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Women rush in and out of the kitchen.  Lunchtime is fast approaching and people are lingering outside the dining hall.  There is talk about line dancing and the Harvest Festival.

The festival is an annual event thrown by the neighbourhood house.  Block party.  Live bands.  Workshops.  Cake walk.

The house is an important gathering place for the community.  An alternative to city community centres, the house connects people from diverse backgrounds through a variety of activities and programs.

Volunteers are hopeful that people will come inside this Saturday to see what the house is all about.

Owned and operated by the Association of Neighbourhood Houses of BC, the house has served the community of East Vancouver since 1976.  It is one of eight neigbourhood houses in the Lower Mainland.

For more information visit www.mpnh.org

Budget cuts, language differences, and poverty are at the heart of why children from Vancouver’s oldest residential neighbourhood have been found to face the most challenges to receiving a successful education.

According to a report published in the Sept. 22 edition of The Vancouver Sun, children of the Strathcona neighbourhood have the highest percentage of “developmental deficiencies expected to impair their early learning and possibly their entire learning experience.”  The report, conducted by the University of B.C.’s Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), stated that 58.5 per cent of Strathcona children face developmental deficiencies that range from communication to health challenges.

The same day the newspaper published the article, one of Strathcona Community Centre’s child support workers sat on a bench outside of the centre, watching over dozens of children dash after one another around the playground, dangle from monkey bars and push one another on swings.

The centre is physically connected to Vancouver’s oldest elementary school, Lord Strathcona, a big red brick building located just outside of Chinatown.  A total of 55 children from the ages of one to five, including Lord Strathcona kindergarten students, make up the community centre’s daycare program.  According to Julie Brassard, the program’s coordinator of six years, this number had been going up until this year when the centre had to double the program fees from $120 to $225 due to provincial budget cuts.  Something that only magnified the problems the children in the area face.

“There are language issues for sure,” said Brassard.  Strathcona is one of Vancouver’s most culturally diverse neighbourhoods, with over 29 cultural groups living in the area, the main ones being Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Jewish.  But poverty is also a major issue.  Even with a breakfast program which serves 150 families, “kids come up to the kitchen asking for food because they are still hungry,” said Brassard.

“How can you do well in school if you don’t eat every night and roam from home to home?” said Deborah Carter, as she leaned against a railing, watching her five year-old daughter play with the other kids outside the centre.  Carter also said Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) as well as other hyperactive disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) make it harder for children in the area to develop the means to learn properly.

“I hate to put it on money and resources, but I think the needs are known and if the resources were there we could work toward meeting the needs,” said Brassard.

The smiles of the children who gathered in the playground in front of the non-profit Strathcona Community Dental Clinic reveal the state of the province’s deteriorating dental coverage for low-income families and families on welfare: there are often gaps where teeth should be or shaved-away pointed spikes where you would expect a rectangular toothy grin.

“20-30 years ago, provinces had dental coverage for people 18 years and under.  In the 70s there was a dental plan that covered students.  In Quebec, children under nine years old are covered. But in B.C. you need a university student plan, a government plan, a plan through work,” said Stephen Leary, the Executive Director of Strathcona Health Society who works at the dental clinic.  Now, the only thing enabling the children of low-income families (families that earn $29,000 dollars or less each year) and families on welfare is The healthy Kids Program, which also has been cut back with Gordon Campbell’s 2010 budget.

Among other various amendments, the 2010 budget cut back the program’s previously-covered, twice-a-year check-up to once-a-year, as well as put a limit on what services dentists can perform that are considered insured, such as the number of x-rays a dentist can take. This may not seem like much, but when you include cutbacks on school supplies, unpaid-for school trips and lunches, HST and the Air Care in BC which targets cars with poor emission-ratings, “low-income families are taking the hit on so many fronts, the burden builds up so high that dental is the last thing on the list to pay for,” said Leary.

A painted mural of cartoon characters with smiling teeth, colorful fruits and healthy vegetables greets you upon entrance to the clinic.  A series of plaques listing the donors who help keep the clinic in business hang on the wall of the waiting area.  Pictures of children with tooth decay and neatly lined up pamphlets with reminders of the benefits of proper dental care rest on the front desk.

“The concern is the long term effects of the changes,” said Peter Lam, one of the regular dentists at the clinic who tends to the over 1500 active patients from families with various income levels.  “A lot can happen in one year, between a checkup.  That is what we are worried about.  Preventative care is always better than treatment.”

A ten year-old boy, who preferred not to be named, was dropped off by his father for a cleaning.  When asked why he comes to the dentist, he said: “because it makes you look good.”

Do not underestimate the importance of this response, Leary would say.  “It’s a weird thing: you’re whole body is covered [by insurance] but not this mouth of yours and if you cannot prevent that root canal, what employer is going to hire someone with missing teeth in the front of their mouth?”

When Pastor Joe Russell from the New Beginnings Baptist Church found out that Woodland Park was already booked for Saturday Sept. 19, he saw an opportunity.

The park had been booked by the Grandview-Woodland Community Policing Centre for their annual event, Cops, Kids and Commercial Drive.

By hosting the church’s community day in the same space, both New Beginnings and the community policing centre had the chance to reach out to people who might not otherwise come to their event.

From noon until 3 p.m., community policing centre volunteers led the activities. Kids could ride bikes through a traffic safety course, learn how to call 9-1-1, and meet a police dog.

The community policing centre hoped that by bringing families to Woodland Park, parents would feel safer coming back with their kids, Adrian Archambault said. When a parent complains that they feel uncomfortable in a park because there are “people hanging around,” it often says more about the person making the complaint than it does about the safety of the space, Archambault said.

A row of tables split the park two. From one table hung a banner that read “Everyone Welcome!” and in smaller print, “Aboriginals 4 Jesus.” Behind the tables, two grey-haired men gave Christian-themed books to children who stopped to look.

At 3 p.m. Cops Kids and Commercial Drive volunteers lowered tents, while churchgoers erected a small stage on the other side of the park. The congregation of New Beginnings, mostly aboriginal and poor, gathered.

Davie Paul rode up on a bicycle and was greeted with an embrace from Russell. Silver and black hairs strayed from under his backwards baseball cap. He asked, “Pastor Joe, are you going to feed us some good food today?” Paul turns 57 next month.

A girl asked Russell why the potato sack race hadn’t started. Her face was painted with a pink butterfly and decorated with sequins. Her wide grin exposed two missing front teeth, and the teeth on either side of the gap were capped in metal.

Dr. Don Bartlette came to the Baptist Church event as a guest speaker. Born with a cleft palate, Bartlette had spent 12 years as an outcast from his aboriginal community before finding God, he said.  Bartlette waived his usual $2000 speaking fee, Russell said. “I came to speak to my people,” Bartlette said.

The Baptist Church had encouraged its congregation to participate in the community policing centre’s event. “In our church we teach that cops are our friends,” Russell said, “even if there are some bad cops.”

An afternoon in Queen Elizabeth Park accompanied by the leftovers of summer. Atop this particular hill: a stunning view of downtown Vancouver, Seasons in the Park and the Bloedel Conservatory.

The conservatory is a curious building.  Think Bio-Dome, circa 1995.  Whatever happened to Pauly Shore?

A West Coast Sightseeing bus unloads a bus full of camera-toting seniors.  Pants and light jackets.  Sunglasses.  A tourist with a camcorder trips over his own feet: moment captured with hilarity.

Aaron Jasper, once a tour bus operator himself, stands outside the Conservatory talking to a CTV cameraman.  Jasper is chairman of the Vancouver Park Board, which voted unanimously Monday to keep the conservatory open.

Conservatory stays.  Petting zoo goes.  That’s the story.

The conservatory will remain open with help from the Friends of Bloedel Association and the VanDusen Botanical Garden Association.  The Vancouver icon first opened in 1969.

Mavis Hnidy is happy with the park board’s decision last night.  She has been a cashier at the conservatory for six years and is one of the founding members of the Friends association.  She greeted Jasper with excitement as he entered the conservatory this afternoon.  “Thank you, thank you,” she said as she shook his hand.

The conservatory seems like a good place to take your children, if you have any.  It’s probably a good place for a cheap date as well.

Admission:

Adult (19-64)                     $5.35

Senior (65+)                       $3.75

Youth (13-18)                     $3.75

Child (6-12)                         $2.70

Pre-Schooler (under 6)   FREE

Humid, lush and bright – arthritics beware.  The geodesic dome is tightly packed with greenery from around the world.  The dense arrangement is littered with signs indicating the name and origin of the plants:

Venus Fly Trap (North/South Carolina), Lollipop Plant (Peru), Rattlesnake Plant (Brazil).

A Bird Watcher’s Check List reminds visitors that botanists and biologists are both welcome here.  The dome is home to more than 100 species of birds.  There are also a number of Koi scattered throughout the ponds.

Excerpts from the conservatory guestbook read:

“Excellent garden”          “I eat bugs”          “I liked the birds”

While the conservatory is a nice place to visit, it does show signs of neglect.  The guest shop is a strange arrangement of watering globes, embroidery patches and batteries.  The Self Guided Tour pamphlet is lacklustre at best.  Promotion outside the conservatory seems non-existent.

As news of the conservatory facelift spreads, visitors to the hilltop landmark will likely increase.  And maybe, just maybe, the Friends-VanDusen partnership will offer a free screening of Bio-Dome?

Local band Legally Blind played Friday at a fundraiser for the legal defense of Vancouver activists arrested at this summer’s protests of the G-20 Summit in Toronto.

The lead singer resembled a young Johnny Rotten as he dedicated Pink Floyd’s We Don’t Need No Education to Premier Gordon Campbell. Next the band played original tune No G-20 on Stolen Land, formerly No Olympics on Stolen Land.

A banner over the stage at the Royal Canadian Legion on Commercial Drive read “Business as usual kills! Stop the tar sands,” and to the left of the stage hung of portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

To the right, a slide show of photos from the G-20 protests were projected onto the wall. One depicted a person dressed in black throwing a rock through a Tim Hortons store front. Another showed a young man with dreadlocks embracing a young woman in front of Toronto’s Old City Hall.

The crowd mostly gathered near the bar at the back of the room, sipping beer. A few young women stood closer to the stage, moving their feet to the tempo of the music.

Outside, the thumping bass and drums were just vibrations coming through the walls, and friends gathered for conversation.

Lliam Brander said he spent most of the G-20 protests “trying not to look like an activist.” He went to Toronto in show of solidarity with activists who came west for protests against the Olympics earlier this year.

Brander was arrested while walking with a friend a block away from a planned anti-prison demonstration, he said. After being put under arrest, police searched his bag and found a few articles of black clothing. He was told that he was being charged for “disguise with intent.” His charge was later changed to “conspiracy to commit an indictable offense,” and was eventually dropped, Brander said.

Brander paid $300 out of pocket as a result of his arrest. $200 went to legal fees, while $100 went to a judge-mandated contribution to a charitable donation, Brander said. Friday’s event will help with those fees.

But the event was not just about raising money. Dawn Paley, a journalist who covered the protests in Toronto with the Vancouver Media Co-op, said, “A lot of people were really traumatized [at the G-20 protests]. It’s really good to have social space where we can talk about what happened and where we can celebrate the victories and where we can figure out where to go from here.”