Image: Dream

Night Music: Don’t Stop Me Now

Lies My Developer Told Me

Throughout the long — 4-5 years — debate over the Boffo/Kettle tower, the developer and its lackeys claimed that they had frequently asked the City and the Province for money for their required expansion on Commercial and that the governments had said there was no money for mental health housing.

This same myth — for such it is — was peddled by the Kettle and its developer patrons even as late as this month in the run-up to the Council’s debate on the Grandview Community Plan.  Developer Daniel Boffo claimed: “the Kettle has been looking at options for government funding for over a decade with no progress and no results.”  I am being polite calling that a myth, of course, because that is simply one big lie.

In the last decade, the Kettle has applied for and received government funding for mental health housing units at Taylor Manor; they have built, with government money, their new facility on Burrard Street; and yet more government money has gone into a new facility for the Kettle at 1700 Kingsway.  In other words, the only Kettle project in the last decade that has not received government money is the expansion on Commercial — and the reason for that is quite obvious.

Once the Kettle had snuggled into Boffo’s queen-sized they didn’t need the City’s financial help and so never asked for it.

Of course the City was happy to go along with this charade for a number of reasons:

1) they are a developer-financed and directed-Council;

2) the City Council has zero priority for mental health (or homelessness or affordable housing) except to blame everyone else for the lack of assistance. Their priorities lie elsewhere. Getting Boffo to take over the government’s responsibility was a win in every direction for them;

3) the City has for years wanted a major tower at Venables & Commercial (see discussions with planners back in 2011)l it was in fact the City who engineered the sordid marriage between Boffo and the Kettle in the first place.

This is a precedent-setting disaster in so many ways:  the tower at Commercial & Venables will be just the first of many to blight our neighbourhood over the next decade; the City will now advise NGOs to go looking for private money to do government work (destroying in its wake the very Canadian idea that health care for all is a tax-payer responsibility); years and years of planning and thinking can be overthrown by hastily written ideological amendments thrown into the heap at past the last-minute (this wasn’t the first time we had seen that); more than 4,000 residents expressing their opinion can be ignored at will.

Developers’ profits and crony politics win again — and Vancouver should be the sadder for it.

 

 

Image: Curved Bench

July Books

 

I began this reading period with a failure. I had obtained “The Bourgeois Virtues“, the first part of an economic history trilogy by Deirdre N. McCloskey.  However, I realised quite quickly that I just could not handle 1,500 pages of densely argued apologia for bourgeois capitalism, written with an arrogant certainty of its ethical superiority. I threw in the towel at page 27.

Thankfully, my fall back was John Le Carre’s “The Naive and Sentimental Lover” (1971). This is his only non-genre novel and a superb piece of storytelling. According to a brief note in Wikipedia, this tells the fictionalised story of Le Carre’s relationship with another writer and his wife during Le Carre’s divorce from his own wife. It is about double the page count of his earlier novels, and covers a lot of ground that was familiar to me from my own knowledge of London and the West Country of my youth. This is not straightforward narrative, playing with time and location, and with elements, I thought, of magic realism. It engaged me on several levels and I found it a marvelous read.

I then moved on to “Sudden Death” (2013) by Alvaro Enrigue, which I covered in more detail in an earlier post.

Next up was Len Deighton’s second novel, “Horse Under Water” (1963).  This is much more tightly written and plotted than his first, but full of stereotypical characters. However, our working class hero has become a more James Bond-like figure who argues with Cabinet Ministers, harangues Ambassadors, orders NATO staff to launch jets, and gets the girl(s). It is still full of excellent local detail (both about London and, in this case, southern Portugal), especially about food.  One interesting point is that, written in 1963, it has a very different view of “the drug problem” than we see today. Cocaine is not considered a Western problem at all, and cannabis comes from Morocco and the Middle East — South America is not even mentioned. The big problem as Deighton sees it at that date is heroin. However, he does have a major character state that marijuana will be made legal and taxable “in five years” — say the late 1960s. Perceptive, but about 45 years in advance of reality.

And now for something completely different: “Vancouver Is Ashes: The Great Fire of 1886” by Lisa Anne Smith (2014). Ms. Smith has scoured the contemporary accounts, and Major Matthews’ detailed interviews, to create what is essentially an eye-witness account of the fire that destroyed Vancouver. The use of direct quotes and small anecdotes produces a lively narrative, which the author expands judiciously.   Well worth the quick read.

Back to Le Carre, this time for “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”.  This is an odd one. It is Le Carre in full control, as Smiley is obliged to re-imagine the recent past of the Department in order to track down a high-placed Russian mole. It is odd because I read this already knowing their are two more in the Karla trilogy, and thus the ambiguities remain at the end of this volume. It is also odd because it is in this volume that the author rewrites the bios of several important characters, including Smiley himself from what they have been in earlier books. Most emphatically, Smiley’s marriage to Ann — which we learn from each of the previous books lasted just two years  before she ran off with an Argentinian race driver — has unfortunately survived all the years, and they live in a brutally unsatisfactory relationship.While recognising how well it is put together, I did not find this as engrossing as earlier stories.

And I finished the month off with Robert Galbraith’s third outing “Career of Evil“. I did a brief review on the first two Cormoran Strike novels some while ago.  This is J.K. Rowling in her detective fiction role, and damn good she is at it too. She has interesting plots, with multiple sub-plots about personal; relationships, and a clear ear for the interior monologues that describe motive and reasoning. I like the Galbraith style and I look forward to the next.

The VPL loan system (a community treasure) has caught up with me and I start August with five books on my desk, and more expected next week. Looks like another busy reading month ahead!

 

 

Night Music: Molly

I grew to like the track through liking the beautifully made movie.

Now We Wait and Worry Some More

This afternoon, Vancouver City Council approved the Grandview Woodland Community Plan by the not-surprising vote of 10-1 with only Councillor Adriane Carr voting against.

However, not content with the Planning Department’s four years of work, Councillor Reimer had produced a long list of substantive amendments to the Plan that she had conjured together over night. Those amendments — which included allowing the full 12 stories for the Boffo Tower — were approved by majority and so it was this amended Plan that was finally bulldozed through Council.

Councillor Geoff Meggs made it clear he was disappointed in the level of density Grandview would accept under the Plan, and he suggested that we were not carrying our weight. I am certain he will be looking for spot rezoning applications he can help push through against the word and spirit of the Plan, especially around the south end of Commercial.  I am sure most of his Vision brethren will be right behind him.

So,

• Boffo doesn’t need any genuine public hearings for a rezoning now and I expect them to move swiftly, looking for permission to start digging that big hole every tower needs;
• how quickly will we see applications along Hastings between Clark and Nanaimo?
• how quickly will Broadway & Commercial change?  Will tower plans await the subway decision?
• will the renoviction rate accelerate as rapidly as tenants’ advocates fear with new height allowances?
• What effect will all this have on the debilitating business and residential rent increases currently afflicting the Drive?
• Are the folks managing the Britannia Renewal project as upset as they should be that the City has decreed there will be housing on Britannia? And will this Community Plan override any Renewal Plan produced in the future?

An awful lot of intelligent people put an awful lot of effort into trying to help the Community understand what the Plan might meet for them and their quality of life. Outside the strictly-limited boundaries of the Planning process there was an intense debate about height, density, social justice. A great many people got very interested and then got very frustrated by the process that was deliberately closed down, first by the faux “Citizens’ Assembly” and then the year long wait while Planning decided how to spin the Assembly’s requests, refusing to talk with or meet with the neighbourhood during that time.

That being said, I am sadly aware that most people in Grandview will leave their residences tomorrow to head to work or school or recreation and not give a moment’s thought. They might read a report on the hearing in the Metro while they commute, and then turn to the sports pages. In the months ahead they will get cranky about all the building fences blocking sidewalks and smaller streets, but it will be a generalised annoyance only.  Only when the towers are completed at both ends of the Drive will they wonder what was there before.

How do we get to those masses of people and make then understand that they should have some say in the future of their own neighbourhood; and that by having a say they can and will change plans for the better?

The NO TOWER Coalition did a wonderful job with their weekly information tables in Grandview Park. They actually talked with thousands upon thousands of residents and visitors, more than three thousand of whom agreed to sign the petition against the Boffo Tower.  They also did a really good job with getting the signs out and about throughout the community.

But that wasn’t enough to engage the active interest of the mass of the middle class, Vision’s heartland. Vision’s constant polling (they are the only full time party in Vancouver) lets them know if they are in trouble in places, like Grandview, where they need to be strong to maintain a majority in the at-large Council chamber. In this case, they felt confident enough to tear down four years of work by their Planning Department with amendments apparently rushed together overnight. While this hardly compares with the pages and pages of hastily-scribbled last-moment amendments that formed part of the DTES Plan, it shows a constant need for Vision to intrude their ideology onto the technical work of the Planners.

I have written several times before about the assymetric power relationship in which a pick-up team of unpaid untrained and unprofessional(ly qualifed) volunteers goes head to head with a well-funded developer, a plethora of expensive PR agents, compliant mainstream media, and as often as not, the power of the incumbent Council regime. This can only be solved by structural changes to the system and it must include a return to the third-party appeals process that we lost a decade or so ago. I also believe that a ward system is key to most of the needed changes.

However, that is all for the next generation of activists to figure out.

Image: Hot Dog

Night Music: Hello, Goodbye

Image: Stone Wall

Poetry: Mayfly

.

the autobiography of a mayfly

would be as short as a page

and as dense as perfect memory

 

the madness of dashing hither and yon

across the summer’s blue distance

to seek the one mate of perfect desire

 

the need to avoid the bloodletting wars

of birds and trout at cool water’s edge

to arrive in one piece at the perfect location

 

the keenness of invention, of new hieroglyphics,

to tempt her away from the maddening crowds

to sing her, to win her with this perfect dance

 

the sense of fulfillment, slowly drifting to earth

with all power spent, all duty completed

to remember, to listen to the end of this perfect life

 

 

Night Music: Fings Ain’t What They Used To Be

Image: Water Lily #2

Night Music: Don’t Rain On My Parade

How Brexit Won — An Ad Man’s View

The always useful Creative Review has an article up right now about how the Leave campaign won the recent UK referendum through more direct, single-minded, and emotionally appealing branding than the Remain side.

Rob Coke notes the Leave campaign’s positive use of active verbs, direct imagery, and the colour red especially when compared with the mixed messages in cold blue of those who wanted to stay.

This is an excellent review of just how branding can be made to work. Recommended as a teaching aid for anyone running a campaign.

Image: Sky Meld

Night Music: The Girl From Ipanema

The Green House

Image: Michael Kluckner

Not so very long ago, the Cultch was dead set on knocking down the old church rectory next door to the theatre on Venables, a building known as the Green House.  It was used for years as administrative offices and rehearsal space for the Cultch but has for some years been allowed to decay. Manage-ment wanted to replace it with a box-like York-Theatre-like modernist block.

The neighbourhood was appalled. Many argued the Green House was an important heritage asset. Others noted that the cost of renovation (including a new roof if required) was considerably less expensive than a demolition and a new build.

It is fair to say that on this occasion, the City listened and decided on a renovation and refurbishment project.

The folks at the Grandview Heritage Group are pleased to note the progress on the building. It is coming along quickly and we all look forward to its completion. For ongoing reports on the Green House from the last few years see “Green House” under Categories on the right-hand sidebar of the GHG site.

 

Shooting The Moon

On this day in 1969 I was in Yugoslavia working as a Third Assistant Director on a movie called “Kelly’s Heroes“. I was nineteen years old and having a wonderful time working with the likes of Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, Telly Salvalas, and a whole wild bunch of American actors. like Harry Dean Stanton and Dick Davalos.

We were living at the Petrovaradin Hotel in Novi Sad and most nights I joined the Americans in games of high stakes poker. We took over one of the small banquet rooms and several of the hotel staff were deputed to look after us with drinks and food. These games were a useful but expensive education for me; over a few weeks, I managed to lose several months’ worth of per diem expenses.

Our game on the 20th July 1969 coincided with the first manned landing on the moon and we arranged to have a black and white TV set up in the room  so we could follow the action.  I remember that, just as Neil Armstrong stepped out of the Eagle and on to the moon, we were in the middle of a game with a good-sized pot of American dollars piled in middle of the the table. We agreed to pause the game to watch the historic moment.

Several of us took the opportunity to stand and stretch for a moment. As I did so, I noticed that the American actors were glued to the TV screen intent on cheering their countrymen while the hotel staff ignored the TV and were all staring at the big pile of money, mouths agape.

It was an unforgettable night.

Image: Philadelph1a Balconies #2