April Steering Committee Meeting Date: June 21, 2023 Wednesday Time:  7pm Location: Zoom mediated meeting*

           Access: Contact norm.dooley@gmail.com for the link

Agenda:  TBA Everyone is welcome to attend!

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These are the responses to the January 2023 questionnaire.

Heritage Responses to Questionnnaire

What is Heritage? Heritage is the full range of our inherited traditions, monuments, objects, and culture.  Most important, it is the range of contemporary activities, meanings, and behaviors that we draw from them. Heritage includes, but is much more than preserving, excavating, displaying, or restoring a collection of old things.  It is both tangible and intangible, in the sense that ideas and memories–of songs, recipes, language, dances, and many other elements of who we are and how we identify ourselves–are as important as historical buildings and archaeological sites. Heritage is, or should be, the subject of active public reflection, debate, and discussion.  What is worth saving?  What can we, or should we, forget?  What memories can we enjoy, regret, or learn from?  Who owns “The Past” and who is entitled to speak for past generations?  Active public discussion about material and intangible heritage–of individuals, groups, communities, and nations–is a valuable facet of public life in [...]

ADHD linked to air pollution, lack of green space in sweeping Metro Vancouver study A study tracing the early lives of roughly 37,000 children in Metro Vancouver has found lower access to green space and increased levels of air pollution lead to higher levels of ADHD Stefan Labbé, Vancouver is Awesome, February 24, 2022 The less air pollution and more green space a child is exposed to, the less likely they are to develop attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a sweeping Metro Vancouver-wide study has found. The pathbreaking research, published in the journal Environment International, followed a cohort of roughly 37,000 children born in 2000 and 2001. Tracing a three-year exposure period, researchers from the University of British Columbia analyzed the combined impacts of satellite-measured green space, noise and concentrations of fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometres (PM 2.5) on the development of ADHD. Seven years after the exposure period, over 1,200 ADHD cases were diagnosed. [...]

On August 31, 2021 the contract between the Province of British Columbia and Holborn International for the purchase of the former Little Mountain Social Housing site was made public.

To view the unreacted final version of the agreement, click on this link–Little Mountain Sales Agreement

Just last week I watched as two houses were demolished and 17 trees cut between 27th and 26th on Cambie, east side. See photos. The houses were old growth timbers, and some of the beams were incredible…and totally destroyed under the excavator. The disregard and waste was evident as the excavator also pulverized most of the trees, saving only the lower portion of the trunk for sale. Douglas Fir, Cedar, Spruce, Hemlock….fruit trees and large flowering shrubs…stacks of barely used plywood (having been used to board up the windows) being crushed (are you aware of the cost of a single sheet of plywood these days? around $100!!) And all this so ironic given the actions that are currently happening to save the last old growth forests

To see the photos I took, click on this link. Naomi’s photos

 

Naomi Steinberg.

In October 2020 City of Vancouver announced its latest climate emergency plan.  You will find the document here: Climate Emergency Action PLan

 

ANOTHER HOLBORN STALL ON LITTLE MOUNTAIN CONTRACT

 Holborn Properties, the giant international development company that owns the privatized former Little Mountain Social Housing site in Vancouver has applied for judicial review of the Freedom Of Information decision ordering their contract with BC Housing to be made public.

“It’s another attempt to hide the details of the contract,” said former MLA David Chudnovsky whose application for FOI began the process.  (CBC Producer Jeremy Allingham subsequently made the same request for FOI.)

Chudnovsky commented, “They’re stalling again.  We’ve been asking to see the details of the deal for 13 years.  What have they got to hide?  We need to know why a thriving and successful social housing community was demolished and how it’s possible that the site is still a huge vacant lot.”

In September a Freedom Of Information Adjudicator ordered BC Housing to release the full contract to Chudnovsky (and Allingham).  Holborn’s appeal to the BC Supreme Court could [...]

RPSC has responded to the Vancouver Plan.  Below are two documents from RPSC. One is a letter to Mayor and Council expressing the group’s concerns. The second incorporates feedback to the Plan that it sent earlier to the Planning Department (Cory Dobson) following his attendance at a RPSC meeting.

RPSC to Mayor & Council re- Van. Plan

Vancouver Plan — ideas submitted to Cory Dobson

 

Balfour and Other New Re-developments in RPSC

 

1.  Another large site will be coming on stream — the Balfour site.  ( Review RPSC Community Visions document, November 2005, Ch. 30, p. 65 (our website) and Cambie Corridor Plan, 2018, Ch. 6 Unique sites, pp. 153-161.)  RPSC has received the initial proposal for a rezoning submission from Wesgroup. Please review the attached material and forward your comments to Allan Buium    abuium@telus.net  by  SEPTEMBER 4th. We will collate the responses and submit them to Wesgroup for discussion.

https://wgpropertieslp-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/fleitner_wesgroup_ca/ERkE3ofIdIFAqvexZzMYkEYBZJU2riAtzv_w6dzNgUdyTg?e=U195XO

2. Don’t forget to check out the revised proposal for the Oakridge Transit site — vancouver.ca/Rezoning application, 949 West 41st Avenue…
3. New Development at 33rd and Main—Here’s an item that you may find of interest — further rental redevelopment along Main St. — goodmanreport.com   (go to “development sites” then “under contract”, Main & East 33rd Ave.) –  It may be a good idea to review the City’s plans for future rentals along arterials as well as off– [...]