West End Residents Association

What makes the West End Great? report
What makes the West End Great? report with photos

On May 29, 2010 the West End Residents Association (WERA) hosted a community forum entitled “Planning for Change: What makes the West End Great”. The intent of the forum was to facilitate a respectful, informed public dialogue about the relationships between built forms and livability in the West End.

WERA hired a facilitator to generate a written report from this forum.

Vancouver’s challenge to become the “greenest city” is one that begs a response from the architectural, design, development and planning industry. It is clear that the built form will play an important aspect of how the City will achieve that goal.

WERA feels the West End is a model Vancouver neighbourhood. When our high density neighbourhood is combined with high quality living it can lead to an ecologically sustainable future, but there are still challenges to be met as evidenced by this forum. The presentations and discussions captured in the report illustrate the elements of high quality living in a dense neighbourhood.

By engaging residents in education and discussions about built form, WERA continues to involve ordinary citizens in shaping the future of their City. We offer this report to you for your consideration as you work towards creating an affordable, sustainable and livable City.

WERA director Christine Ackermann, IOCC Chair Am Johal and Wendy Pedersen CCAP

This article first appeared in the West Ender and is reposed here with the permission of the author.

homelessness, Olympics
Posted By: Jackie Wong
11/19/2009 12:00 AM

Housing, homelessness, and the 2010 Olympics will be the focus of a public forum on Monday (November 23) at SFU Harbour Centre’s Fletcher Challenge Theatre. The forum is part of the Right to the City lecture series organized by the Impact on Communities Coalition, an Olympic watchdog group.

The forum features speakers with a wide range of expertise on Vancouver housing and homelessness, including Martha Lewis of the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre; Wendy Pedersen of the Downtown Eastside’s Carnegie Community Action Project; and Reverend Ric Matthews of First United Church, the site of one of the first homeless shelters to open last winter under Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Homeless Emergency Action Team (HEAT).

While preparations for the 2010 Games have drawn criticism from housing and civil-liberties advocates, attributing all of the city’s housing issues to the Olympics is too simple, says Nathan Edelson, a former senior planner for the City of Vancouver and a speaker at the Right to the City forum. continue reading…

Action Plan From WERA Community Forum

1. Attend open house on Nov. 24 for rezoning application of 1401 Comox St.:
Coast Plaza Hotel, Nelson Room, 1763 Comox St., 4 to 7 pm
Jackie Wong article
open house notification letter

For more info:

Rezoning application

2. Sign up to speak at public hearing on Tuesday Dec 1. On the rezoning application of 1215 Bidwell. St., Council Chamber City Hall call 604 871 6355 to put on the speakers list.

3. Email Mayor and Council and let them know what your views of the proposed rezoning application

mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca
or
Vancouver City Hall
453 West 12th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Y1V4

or call

311

More info available at:

1401 comox.ca

CoV rezoning applications

WERA Director Sharon Isaak, photo by Doug Shanks

By Jackie Wong

This article first appear in the West Ender and is post here with permission of the author.

The West Ender

Since the landmark mass eviction of tenants from the West End’s Bay Towers apartment building three years ago, the advocacy work of local organizations such as Renters at Risk and the West End Residents Association has resulted in stronger public awareness of the precarious housing situation facing renters, who make up 80 per cent of households in the West End. But awareness of the issue hasn’t stopped mass evictions and volatile landlord-tenant relationships from continuing in the neighbourhood.

The stress of finding and keeping affordable rental housing takes a particular toll on seniors, says Sharon Isaak, who co-founded Renters at Risk after taking her Bay Towers eviction notice (issued by the now notorious Hollyburn Properties) to B.C. Supreme Court, where she and other tenants fought for — and won — the right to continue living in their apartments during renovations Hollyburn claimed would necessitate eviction.

“One of the seniors that got thrown out of my building… had been living in the building for years. She was the first one to go,” Isaak recalls. “Watching her move out and move into her daughter’s place in Kamloops was heartbreaking.” continue reading…