Strathcona Residents Petition Mayor and City Council

 

Georgia Viaducts & Traffic Calming on Prior Street –
　　　A Chance to Right a Historic Wrong

Letter from the Chair

 Dear Mayor and Council,
Re: Georgia Viaducts & Traffic Calming on Prior Street – 　　　
A Chance to Right a Historic Wrong ...

I am writing to give voice to the deep concern, anger, and frustration in my East End community that is the result of recent proposals made by City Staff concerning the demolition of the Georgia Viaducts. Over the past years Strathcona’s support for the removal of the viaducts has been solicited by Councillor Meggs. We have listened with great interest to this idea. The Georgia Viaduct, with its high impact commuter and truck traffic running along Venables and Prior, is the last remaining vestige of a City plan that would have wiped out Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhood Strathcona, and large swaths of historic Chinatown and Gastown. Under the leadership of Mary Lee Chan and others, our East End neighbourhood rallied, organized, networked, lobbied, demonstrated, and sometimes charmed its way forward to the point that in the end Strathcona, home to much of Vancouver’s oldest built heritage and a unique multicultural community, was saved for posterity. The removal of the Viaduct and the return of Prior and Venables to their original function as safer, traffic-calmed neighbourhood streets looked very attractive to us, and based on that link the Strathcona Residents Association voted to support their removal. However, there is no concrete plan for traffic calming along Prior and Venables included in the current proposal. All of the benefits and amenities associated with the demolition of the viaducts stop at Gore. Frankly, we feel betrayed. The East End receives no benefit from the current Viaducts Removal plan. In fact the proposal as it is now further entrenches a deplorable high impact traffic situation that for decades has split off the neighbourhood south of Prior, our Community Gardens, and Strathcona Park from the rest of our community. This is unacceptable to the East End. Strathcona will not stand for it. We demand that traffic calming along Prior/Venables be inextricably and concurrently linked with any plan to demolish the Viaducts. This would be an excellent opportunity for the City to once and for all, symbolically as well as substantively, right the historic wrongs done to our East End community in the 50s and 60s. I implore you to make this a win/win situation. Sincerely, James Johnstone Chair, Strathcona Residents’ Association (East End/Strathcona) Vancouver, BC

Rize Proposal Gets OK from City Council

Controversial Rize Complex Can Proceed

April 17, 2012
Controversial Rize Complex Can Proceed ... The Courier
Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier
City council gave the go-ahead Tuesday to a controversial rezoning application to redevelop a city block in Mount Pleasant into a $150 million mixed-use complex featuring a 19-storey residential tower.
The 9-1 vote, which was led by the ruling Vision Vancouver party, means Rize Alliance Properties Ltd. can apply for a development permit and complete a detailed design of the project.
Six Vision councillors, Mayor Gregor Robertson and NPA councillors George Affleck and Elizabeth Ball voted in favour of the proposal. Vision Coun. Tim Stevenson abstained from voting after missing three nights of public hearings.
Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr cast the one dissenting vote, arguing the proposal didn’t fit with Mount Pleasant’s community plan, which was approved in November 2010.
“It’s too high, it’s too dense, it’s not permeable,” said Carr, who unsuccessfully attempted to have the developer revise its plan.
Though council’s vote was resounding, some were troubled by the initial design of the project, with Vision Coun. Raymond Louie calling for improvements and Vision Coun. Andrea Reimer describing the complex as “ugly.”
The plan calls for building heights of five storeys, nine storeys and a 19-storey tower. The 1.25-acre trapezoid-shaped site is in the heart of Mount Pleasant and will include 241 condos and two levels of commercial space. (Read More Here ... Controversial Rize Complex Can Proceed ... The Courier )