The Napier Greenway, that short section of non-road leading from Commercial to Britannia, is one of the joys of our neighbourhood. It is a restful oasis of trees, plants and benches in the heart of our concrete jungle. It is maintained that way through the hard work of the volunteers of the Britannia Neighbours group who tend to the gardens and organize litter removal.
We understand, thanks to ILiveInEastVancouver, that during its dying moments, the last Vision Vancouver Council voted — in a secret in camera meeting — to change the name of Napier Greenway to Margaret Mitchell Plaza. Apparently led by Andrea Reimer — famous for disparaging and ignoring local community groups, and probably the worst Councillor ever to pretend to represent us — Vision’s majority took this step without any consultation with Britannia Neighbours or anyone else that I am aware of.
(Let me hasten to say that Margaret Mitchell, long our MP, deserves all the recognition we can pile on her. This complaint has nothing to do with our fond memories of her).
We should all be upset that they took this step without consultation. We should also wonder how or why the Vision Council decided to make this change in an in camera meeting. I just re-read sections 165.1 and 165.2 of the Vancouver Charter which states that all meetings should be open and public except for very specific matters to do with legalities, personnel, and similar stuff. I would love to know from the City Solicitor how this change was allowed to be made in secret.
More importantly, I hope that the current batch of Councillors will reverse this decision and actually ask the residents of Grandview what they think. By doing so they can prove themselves a lot more democratic than Reimer and Vision ever were.
Jak's View of Vancouver v.3 