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 gives FREE potties to area toddlers

Saturday July 17, 2010

11 am

Nelson Park

The redevelopment of Nelson Park was completed in 2007. The completion of the park was the result of a three-year process involving individuals and groups from the West End community who met regularly to assist in shaping a new vision of the park. The West End Residents Association (WERA) participated in this process.

WERA is excited about the renewal and the significant improvements to the public realm such as the new enclosed dog run, community garden, playground equipment, open spaces and water features. However, WERA, and other participants in the process, were disappointed about the destruction of the field house and the public washrooms housed in that building. The public washroom is a vital component of the public realm of the West End and it desperately needs to be replaced.

Thanks to the redevelopment, Nelson Park is again becoming a well-used public amenity. On any day of the week, there are people sitting, strolling, chatting, playing with their dogs in the dog run, gardening, or taking their children to the playground. And on Saturdays in the Summer the park really comes alive thanks to the West End Farmers Market. Unfortunately none of the park users — dog owners, parents, children, sunbathers, market vendors and customers — have access to a washroom.

Therefore, WERA is sending out a call to action to parents and other users of the park. Nelson Park needs a public washroom!

On Saturday, July 17th at 11:00am, WERA will kick start the action by giving out free potties to toddlers in Nelson Park and leaving some potties in the park for the use of children while in the park. Please come out to the park and support WERA’s call to action!

Because when you have to go….you have to go!

by Jim Stanford, Canadian Auto Workers

I’ve just spent an awesome year in Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne is a lot like Toronto: similar population (about 4 million), excellent cafes, diverse culture.

But one of Melbourne’s most unexpected assets is also its most convenient: almost everywhere you go, it’s easy to find a clean public toilet. This makes it eminently relaxing to wander about town, without needing to “go before you go.”

The actual City of Melbourne covers only the immediate downtown core, ringed by dozens of independent suburbs. That central core alone boasts 48 public toilet centres – each with several toilets, running water and soap, and special boxes for used needles. Half the facilities are on street corners; half in the many downtown parks and gardens. They’re cleaned every day, and locked every night. Two are 24-hour facilities with attendants. Not once all year did I encounter a public toilet half as grungy as you’d find in any Canadian donut shop.

The suburbs boast hundreds more public facilities, just as clean. My neighbourhood had several within a 5 minute walk of home. One is a large 1950s-style underground washroom in a busy Italian café district (with all those lattés going down, it is well-used). Few Torontonians would enter a street corner alcove like that, let alone sit on a toilet seat there – but in Melbourne it’s both safe and socially acceptable. continue reading…

Brook + Associates Inc. has applied to the City to rezone this site from C-5 (Commercial) District to a CD-1 (Comprehensive Development) District to permit conversion of the existing hotel rooms and hotel facilities to residential (rental), office and retail uses. The existing Denman Mall would remain unchanged.

314 Rental units would be created. The conversion would not occur until the current hotel operator ceases to operate at this location.

You are invited to an Open House to view the application and to meet City staff and the applicant team members who will be available to answer questions and receive comments. You can also provide comments by filling out our online feedback form.

Date: Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Time: 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Place: West End Community Centre, Denman Room, 870 Denman Street

CoV Rezoning

Dear Sir &/or Madam:
We have received a Development Application from Musson Cattell Mackey regarding the above-noted address. Please see the attached notification letter that was sent to neighbours recently for details regarding this project.

As well, please forward this email to anyone in your Association that would be interested in seeing this letter.

Please contact Joe Bosnjak, Project Coordinator, directly if you have any questions or comments. (joe.bosnjak@vancouver.ca or 604.873.7755)

City of Vancouver
Development Services
453 W 12th Ave
Vancouver, BC V5Y 1V4

CHRIS CARLSSON IS COMING TO VANCOUVER!

Chris is director of the multimedia history project Shaping San Francisco and was one of the founders and editors of the San Francisco magazine Processed World

He also co-founded the monthly bike-ins known as Critical Mass that have spread to five continents and over 300 cities. Carlsson has edited four books, published a novel, After the Deluge, (Full Enjoyment Books: 2004) and his most recent work is Nowtopia (AK Press: 2008).

He will be in Vancouver from June 16th – 20th as part of Car Free Vancouver Day!

Chris will be speaking about Critical Mass, pirate radio, guerrilla gardeners and the invisible revolution of everyday life that is setting the foundation to address for profound global challenges of the era, from climate change to social decay.

Car Free Vancouver Day is hosting three events with Chris:

Wednesday, June 16th : 7:00
Gordon House, 1019 Broughton St.
Co-sponsored by West End Residents Association

Thursday, June 17th : 7:00
Riddim and Spice, 1945 Commercial Drive
Co – sponsored by the Work Less Party and Gateway Sux

Saturday, June 19th : 1:00
Mt. Pleasant Community Centre, #1 Kingsway
Co-sponsored by Our Community Bikes and Momentum Magazine

Join Facebook Event

“Intentional Community: Shapes in Sharing” Workshop for the West End
11:00 am to 12:30 pm, Saturday, June 5, West End Community Centre

City dwellers have many skills and resources all around them, but may not have a mechanism for organizing and drawing on those skills in times of trouble. This class will look at the different shapes in sharing that take place so easily in rural communities and may need a boost in the city. We will talk about building trust and safeguarding our precious possessions while opening up to a wider community and its valuable support.

About Robin Wheeler
Robin Wheeler teaches traditional skills, sustenance gardening and medicinals at Edible Landscapes (www.ediblelandscapes.ca), a nursery and teaching garden in Roberts Creek, British Columbia.

Price and Registration
$15 per workshop. West End Community Centre: Register online (www.westendcc.ca), in person, or by calling (604-257-8333).

Contact: WestEndPrepare@shaw.ca

WERA Director Christine Ackermann was quoted at the City of Vancouver’s recent “West End discussion on community needs and affordability” in Extra West. Articulating one of WERA’s concerns with the City’s STIR program, Ms. Ackermann was quoted as saying:

“The amount of supply we are getting out of the STIR program isn’t really going to make a huge drop in the bucket for affordability,”

Full Extra West Story