Death of the Pantages Theatre?

“They’re in the old tailor shop at 134 E Hastings tearing up the hardwood flooring, and salvaging timber. They’ve built pass-throughs from there into the old Blue Eagle at 130 E Hastings and into the building to the east, doing the same work – so basically all 3 of the low rise buildings in the land assembly. The worker I spoke to said they’re going to move east to the 2 storey building directly beside the theatre, then on to the theatre itself. Looks like only a matter of time now. I wondered since the For Sale signs dissappeared.”

From a citizen named Ron, on January 28th, 2011.

*  *  *

I swear to God, if our current City Council lets this happen, they will live in shame for the rest of their lives…

- GJG

*  *  *

Powell Street Festival Returns to Oppenheimer

Another Public Consultation (Sham)

Trooped with family to an open house regarding the old Mount Pleasant Community Centre site this week. A thoroughly dismal and pathetic attempt at consultation — the Parks Board should be ashamed. There was a surprising amount of outrage directed at Vision in the groups of parents that clustered about in the gym and outside on the school playground. They all feel betrayed by pre-election promises and lip service paid by our elected officials that they would all help fight to keep the community pool, one of the last outdoor pools in the city.

This public consultation sham follows several others I’ve participated in recently — a Gastown nightclub expansion, the Historic Area Height Review — where the community spoke loud and clear against a proposal, yet the City went ahead and rammed it through anyway. These are neighbourhood values being trampled, those which make our city liveable and bring us together as a community. The definition of environmental accountability is economic, environmental, AND social. The current “greening” efforts appear to include only the first two.

Sad to see the hope and optimism in these communities when Vision got elected turned so quickly into anger and cynicism…

*  *  *

The Daily Walk to School Past the Rubble of Childhood Memories

There Goes the Neighbourhood…

Sedins Work their Magic

It’s not often one gets to meet the NHL’s leading point scorer. But yesterday, my son went to a friend’s birthday party at Douglas Park and, when I went to pick him up, the birthday boy’s dad took me aside and, in a hushed voice, said, “Don’t tell anyone, but one of the Sedin kids is having a birthday here in an hour. You want to hang out and see if the kids can meet some Canucks?” We’re both hockey dads, so the answer was obvious.

About an hour later, Daniel Sedin and family pulled up, followed shortly by Henrik, Kevin Bieksa and Mikael Samuelson. They all had little kids in tow, and were all happy to sign autographs for the little group of kids who had gathered in the parking lot outside the gym. Needless to say, my son and the other kids were on speed wobble they were so excited, and the smiles were a mile wide. It was quite a thrill for them to meet these guys.

Interesting to note that, rather than play floor hockey for his kid’s party, the Sedin troupe were playing soccer in the gym. Ah, Europeans…

(Henrik’s auto at top — not even sure if it’s the right way up, the two squiggles are his number, 33. Next one is Bieksa, and below is Samuelson. We didn’t get Daniel’s, unfortunately.)

Anyway, this all reminded me of back when I was a wee tot and hockey-crazed youth about the same age as my son is now. My father was returning from a business trip in Toronto and, whenever he returned from a business trip, always brought us kids a little gift, usually some airport gift shop thing. This time, however, he handed me a sheet of paper with all the Boston Bruins’ signatures on it, including my (and every other kid’s) hero of that era, Bobby Orr. Wow, I was over the moon! He had happened to be on the same flight as the Boston Bruins on their way into town to play the Canucks and managed to get most of the team’s autographs, including, yes, Bobby Orr, as well as Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge, Carol Vadnais, Gary Doak, Al Sims, Andre Laval and Dave Forbes.

Of note, the year was 1975 and, for those who know hockey, that happened to be the same road trip when Phil Esposito, while in Vancouver, got told he had been traded to the New York Rangers in what was one of the biggest trades of all time. Bobby Orr went on to win the scoring title one last time that year, but his knees finally gave out and he never regained his magic, eventually getting signed by the Black Hawks (thanks to some shenangigans by his agent, the much-hated Alan Eagleson). Orr played a handful of games over the next two years and then was forced  to retire at the young age of 30. The Big Bad Bruins would never be the same without Orr and Esposito….

As Saviours Go, This One’s a Little Out There

The Athlete’s Village is Going to Smell Like Stinky Hockey Bags

Think City, a well-funded think tank dedicated to urban issues, thinks we should sell the 250 very expensive social housing units in the Athlete’s Village and use the money to buy more and cheaper social units in another part of town.

In my humble, inexpert and under-funded opinion there is a simpler, more responsible, and more cost-effective solution to this whole issue:

We should make the Athlete’s Village 100% social housing, and convert part of it to a satellite care hospital.

1.2 billion dollars – feds, province, city each in for $400 million – and voila! the epidemic homelessness, addiction, and mental health issues in Vancouver will be solved as soon as the torch gets snuffed.

Announced while the eyes of the world are upon us.

THINK about it.

Federal and provincial infrastructure funding budgets are in the Tens of Billions; an obscene amount of taxpayers’ money. But there is no plan that exists at any level that would accomplish anything close to this for a mere 1.2 billion dollars.

The current housing/health course set by the Province, and seconded by Think City, will surely take at least a decade, tens of billions of dollars, and exact a long, drawn-out toll of suffering while only accomplishing half as much.

But this way, the bang for our tax bucks would be both instantaneous and accrue over time (for starters, think: inflation + Chudnovsky’s estimate on the homeless health care savings over ten years + 15 additional development sites within City limits to recoup on + not having to pay Bob Rennie’s commission). The fact that it is luxury housing is irrelevant in the context of these kinds of numbers.

And if we are going to have any serious shot at becoming the Greenest City and solving homelessness anytime soon, it will take bold strokes like this, will it not? Going green means taking social responsibility, NOW.

The legacy left would be Olympian, the PR potential limitless. Knighthoods could even be in the offing.

Best of all, warm fuzzies would be felt around the world.

And did I mention that billions and billions of taxpayers dollars could be saved over the next ten years? Money that could be better spent on other things.

And that years of certain misery for thousands of people will be avoided?

That’s all the legs of the stool, folks. That’s walking the talk.

So, seriously, can anyone out there present a more sensible, ethical, efficient, health conscience and cost-effective plan?

What on earth could make Vancouver look better than this when the eyes of the world are upon us AND in ten years?

Shortcut to a Hallelujah Moment