West End Residents Association

Vancouver Needs a Pedestrian Advocate

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:59:44 -0700

The following article by former WERA director Terry Lavender originally appeared in the Vancouver Observer:

In a recent article in The Province, SFU transportation researcher Anthony Perl says Vancouver needs a pedestrian advocate. I agree.  According to the Downtown Transportation Plan, which the City adopted seven years ago, pedestrians are the first priority for the City, followed by cyclists, transit and then private vehicles. The Plan (available here: vancouver.ca/dtp/dtpfinalplan.htm) recommends that the City "Provide pedestrians greater priority through pedestrian activated traffic signals, wider sidewalks, elimination of �delayed walk� at intersections, mid-block crossings and landscaped medians." Yet, seven years on, it is difficult to discern how this has been implemented in practice. Consider:The decision to reallocate a lane on the Burrard Bridge for bicycles (which I favour) has resulted in major inconvenience and loss of safety for pedestrians going to or from downtown. Pedestrians are only allowed on the west side of the bridge -- anyone with a destination to the east has to cross several lanes of traffic in order to get there.

Many traffic lights downtown have advanced greens for cars (in fact, a new one - at Thurlow and Nelson - was put in place last month). Not only do pedestrians have to wait before they can cross, when they do so, they are in conflict with a stream of vehicles which have already psychologically established a right of way.

Traffic lights are not synchronized in favour of pedestrians, but in favour of motor vehicles. For a pedestrian walking downtown, it's almost always stop and go. Cross at one intersection, walk a block and find yourself encountering a red light. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

Pedestrian-activated signals are timed to synchronize with auto traffic patterns. Instead of instantly (or even quickly) changing, they often take upwards of a minute to change, in order to keep auto traffic flowing smoothly.

Walk signals change quickly. At some intersections pedestrian traffic has barely begun to cross before the light changes. Yes, you can still complete your crossing, but motorists waiting to turn assume that you are impinging now on their right-of-way and get annoyed, some honking and others creeping up to harry you along.

The assumption is that the pedestrian is at fault when an "accident" happens. The above-quoted Sun article notes that bars are located near 21 of the most dangerous intersections for pedestrians - implying that the injured pedestrians were drunk and therefore brought it on themselves. There's no cause and effect correlation proved though. The mere presence of a bar near an intersection (and how is "near" defined in the study?) does not prove the injured pedestrian was drinking. Yes, pedestrians are sometimes at fault in collisions and near-collisions, but automatically assuming the victim is at fault is a counterproductive and dangerous strategy.
It's not too late to turn the vision of the Downtown Transportation Plan into reality. Here are some recommendations, easy and inexpensive to implement:

City Council should appoint both a pedestrian adviser (as Perl recommends) and a pedestrian advisory council.

Advanced greens for cars should be replaced by advanced greens for pedestrians (as is done in many cities). This allows the pedestrians to establish their right-of-way before cars begin turning into the crosswalk.

Right turns on red for motor vehicles should be prohibited at many of the busier pedestrian crossings (for example, all the crossings along Robson between Granville and Bute).

More pedestrian-controlled intersections should be established. Alberni especially could use traffic calming west of Bute.

Pedestrian-controlled crossings should be made more responsive and stay active longer.

Traffic lights should be adjusted on some downtown streets so pedestrians get the green light flow.

These are just some suggestions. No doubt other initiatives could be undertaken. Send your suggestions to the Mayor and Council at mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca.

Rezoning Open House Thursday July 23 4 pm - 7pm

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:44:52 -0700

Rezoning Open House for 1201-1215 Bidwell St and 1702-1726 Davie St
Thursday, July 23, 2009
4 pm - 7 pm
Best Western Sands Hotel, 1755 Davie St.

WERA's critique of density in the West End

info about rezoning on CoV's website

Home is where the heart is

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:14:31 -0700

An Open letter to: Prime Minister Harper, Premier Gordon Campbell, Minister Rich Coleman, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, Vancouver City Council, Dr. Perry Kendall and concerned citizens.

KEEPING THE DOOR OPEN: Dialogues on Drug Use (KDO) has solicited the support of the sentiments expressed in this letter from members of the community, who are listed at the end of this letter.
We support shelters as a short term initiative; however, we need to develop more mid and long term options. The controversy over the HEAT shelters should be leading us to call for an increase in drug treatment services. This includes expansion of supervised consumption sites and more methadone and heroin substitution treatment. Barriers to shelters for people who use drugs will exacerbate the situation, ensuring entrenchment, increased marginalisation and desperation of people on the street.
We call on our government nationally, regionally and locally to provide leadership and stewardship of policies that reflect humanitarian values of respect, compassion and inclusion, while protecting the human rights and dignity of all citizens.
We are concerned by the current attempts to meet the housing needs of homeless people in Vancouver. There appears not to have been integration into a broader strategy that identifies the complex issues of addiction, mental health, HIV/AIDS and the vast amount of work that has been done by many people, to develop robust and comprehensive interventions. We are calling for a practical approach to solving the problem of homelessness that openly acknowledges the many stakeholders, communities and individuals involved in tackling this issue.

Homeless is a term that describes people we identify as such, from seeing them sleeping in the open throughout Vancouver. Apart from not having a place to live, they may well have addiction problems, mental illness or personality disorders, brain injuries or other trauma resulting in behaviours that are difficult to understand and which require complex interventions. These problems must be addressed when housing policies are developed. To ignore them has contributed to the current situation where one part of the community is angry with another. Citizens would not be forced into a position of blame and contempt for each other if appropriate policies attended to the realities of homeless people.
While applauding the motivation of the HEAT project during last winter and appreciating the need for swift action due to the weather conditions and unacceptable fatalities of homeless persons, we request consideration of the following:
(1) Housing must come first; responding to people�s housing needs without drug use being a conditional barrier means housing policy must be viewed through a harm reduction lens. It is almost impossible to deal with an addiction, mental illness, HIV/AIDS and other chronic illness in unsafe and unstable environments. Housing policy has to address the needs of active drug users in such a way as to prevent negative impact on neighbours.

(2) A comprehensive community health promotion approach is needed. To be effective, all citizens should be able to access housing that allows them to participate and provides access to appropriate services and supports that are free from barriers. Service providers must work together. The current experience with shelters in Yaletown demonstrates the need to expand supervised injecting and consumption rooms where needed in the city. Health promotion requires a change in our perspective from �let�s fix them� to �let�s find out what they need to participate as citizens in our community.�

(3) Communities can be engaged in working towards solutions through education and dialogue about interventions that have been shown to succeed in Canada and elsewhere. Sitting together as a whole community to listen and learn from each other is a powerful way to resolve hard feelings.

When presenting policy, clear and consistent communications are vital to ensuring citizens are informed and understand the needs of all members of the community.

KEEPING THE DOOR OPEN (KDO) has worked collaboratively over the past decade to introduce Vancouver citizens to new thinking and policies founded in compassion and pragmatism that have been successful in other jurisdictions regarding marginalised populations and people who use drugs. It believes that healthy communities are informed, educated and engage in dialogue on seemingly intractable issues; stigma and blame cannot be sustained when people sit and talk together to discover common bonds.
As members of this community we offer our support to you in advancing the cause of a just and humane society, and recommend community processes take place to give all concerned an opportunity to find common ground.

Gillian Maxwell
Convener
KEEPING THE DOOR OPEN: Dialogues on Drug Use (KDO)
keeping the door open

BC PERSONS WITH AIDS SOCIETY
CARNEGIE COMMUNITY ACTION PROJECT
DIRECTIONS YOUTH SERVICES (Vancouver Family Services of Greater Vancouver)
DR. PETER AIDS FOUNDATION
DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE NEIGHBOURHOOD HOUSE
FIRST UNITED CHURCH MISSION
FRANCISCAN SISTERS OF ATONEMENT
LILAHC (Low Income Land Use and Housing Coalition)
PIVOT LEGAL SOCIETY
SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE OF THE UNITARIAN CHURCH of Vancouver
VANCOUVER AREA NETWORK OF DRUG USERS
VANCOUVER NATIVE HEALTH
WEST END RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
YOUTHCO AIDS SOCIETY

Nelson Park

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:09:08 -0700

photos of Nelson Park

WERA in the News: Riding the Burrard Bridge

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:07:43 -0700

The West End Residents Association was mentioned in a Vancouver Observer story about the first day of the Burrard Bridge lane re-allocation trial.

Burrard Bridge protected lanes

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:05:01 -0700

Rezoning of 1215 Bidwell St.

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:55:49 -0700

a WERA critique of density

Breakfast and a ride over Burrard Bridge Monday July 13

Tue, 7 Jul 2009 08:13:50 -0700

One week to go! After years of close calls, conflicts and collisions between people who walk and cycle over Burrard Bridge, on Monday, July 13, you will finally be able to cycle and walk safely over Burrard Bridge. During the Protected Bike Lanes Trial, a southbound traffic lane will be reallocated to create a southbound bike lane separated from traffic by barriers, the east sidewalk will be reserved for northbound cyclists while the west sidewalk will be reserved for north and southbound pedestrians.

Bike Over the Bridge
For the trial to be successful, lots people need to cycle and walk over the bridge, especially on the first day when there will be tons of media out looking for a big story.

Lets make the story crowded bike lanes, not congested traffic lanes!

So bring your friends. Make a celebration out of it. Make a Summer of it.
- Cycle over the bridge to go to Kits Beach, English Bay, Stanley Park or Granville Island.
- Enjoy dinner and a drink on a patio. Have a picnic on the beach.
- Take the long way to work over Burrard Bridge
- Take the long way home over the Bridge
- Go to a movie or a play

Several opening celebrations are planned for July 13th.

Breakfast and Ride over Burrard Street Bridge
1154 Gilford, 7am; ride starts at 8am.
breakfast and ride

Take the long way to work - Burrard Bridge Trial Opening Day Bike Ride
take the long way to work

The bottom line is: Use it or lose it!

Contact Mayor and Council
Please e-mail mayor and council:
gregor.robertson@vancouver.ca, clranton@vancouver.ca, clrcadman@vancouver.ca, clrchow@vancouver.ca, clrdeal@vancouver.ca, clrjang@vancouver.ca, clrlouie@vancouver.ca, clrmeggs@vancouver.ca, clrreimer@vancouver.ca, clrstevenson@vancouver.ca, clrwoodsworth@vancouver.ca
If you wish to call them, their numbers can be found here:
http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/mayorcouncil/mayorrobertson.htm
http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/mayorcouncil/councillors.htm

Join the Facebook Group
For those of you on Facebook, please join the group:
facebook group

Contact the Media
Write letters to the editor and phone radio call-in shows letting them know you support the trial.

Stay Positive and Avoid Conflict with Motorists

More Information

City of Vancouver:
city of vancouver

Burrard Bridge Blog:
blog

Councillor Megges has a good summary of the history of the Burrard Bridge proccess:
meggs' blog

WERA President Brent Granby in the news

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 12:57:52 -0700

WERA president Brent Granby was quoted in the Vancouver Courier on the issue of traffic calming. There's also a great picture of Brent in the full lotus position in front of a car.

Click for the story.

WERA Director Sharon Isaak in the News

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 09:23:23 -0700

WERA Director Sharon Isaak was quoted in a story in the Georgia Straight by Matt Burrows about the possibilities of evictions of tenants during the Olympics because of the lack of protect in the Residential Tenancy Act.

the full Straight story