Commercial Drive as a “Pedestrian High Street”

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This evening’s Grandview Woodland Area Council meeting concerned a Motion approved by City Council last year (https://council.vancouver.ca/20210519/documents/pspc20210519min.pdf, page 18) to “develop a vision for Commercial Drive as a complete street”, with a focus on walking.

We were supposed to have both Paul Storer, Transportation Director, and Lon LaClaire, general manager engineering, from the City to share their thoughts, but LaClaire could not attend, and Storer was only available for 45 minutes. However, between statements by Nick Pogor of the BIA and Storer, a very good turnout of local residents asked a significant number of relevant questions.

Paul Storer made clear that the initiative for this development came from the BIA. He noted that there was no grand plan or capital budget to change the Drive, but they were looking at “practical interventions” that could be accomplished in the next few years. These include experimenting with bus bulges on the Drive south of First, eventually losing one lane of traffic in each direction which would be replaced with a wider sidewalk, and improving parking on the Drive.

Nick Pogor of the BIA noted that several changes being contemplated (Britannia, Safeway, traffic calming) are in fact parts of other City initiatives rather than the Pedestrian First motion. He noted that new bike locks will be available in July and praised the new garbage cans that were part of “branding” the Drive. He also mentioned there are dreams of bringing light rail to the Drive at some point in the future.

Several residents were concerned that changes in traffic patterns on the Drive would inevitably result in larger traffic flows through the smaller neighbourhood streets. One suggestion from a resident was to block 3rd Avenue west of the Drive to reduce short cutting. Storer agreed that short cutting was taking place and was something they were concerned about. This is a problem in a number of districts, and they are currently trying to look at traffic calming initiatives in one or two neighbourhoods each year.

Another resident complained about the lack of way-finding signs in the neighbourhood, and she sought more animation to encourage more visitors.

A number of residents complained that the current Britannia Renewal process planned to have Brit’s entrance on Venables rather than the Drive. There was also some surprise to discover that the City’s senior Transportation Director had little or no connection with such a major re-development as Britannia. This led a couple of residents to wax lyrical about the lack of connection between the multitude of conflicting City plans.

As it became clear that a reduction in traffic (both flow and speed) was a consideration in this “pedestrian first” concept, one resident stated that she needed her car to shop on the Drive and she thought the sidewalks were plenty wide enough. Storer noted a City survey that showed almost 80% of shoppers on the Drive walked or took transit.

Several residents discussed improvements that are needed in the provision of bike lanes around the Drive, including the provision of more bike parking between parking meters. Others mentioned better rain awnings.

One interesting idea put forward by a resident was for a “mobility lane.” I assume that is part of the sidewalk and I certainly support it. On the same tack, several residents (including me) called for there to be sitting benches on each block.

Steve Bohus of GWAC and CityHallWatch requested that future design discussions take advantage of technology and be more open and transparent, and thus accessible to residents.

A number of us pointed out that the BIA had not approached what we consider the main stakeholder — the 30,000 residents — before presenting their ideas to City Council. Whether they will bother in the future we will see, though history does not suggest a positive outcome.

Commercial Drive as a Pedestrian-First Street?

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The next meeting of the Grandview Woodland Area Council — tonight — should be of great interest to everyone:

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This will be an important debate on the future of our favourite street — the very heart of our neighbourhood. Join us on ZOOM to add your voice to this vital discussion.

Poem: Driven

He
drove

her home after dinner.
They dawdled for a moment on the porch until the wind

drove

them inside where, after drinks,
their mutual passion

drove

them to seek the comforts of the bedroom, and where
her exuberant energy

drove

him mad with desire, and where
he

drove

his knifeblade deep into
her heart

 

 

He was

driven

they said, seeking to excuse
his excess,
his access to those parts of
her body which even this exhorbitantly open society doesn’t allow.

Driven

he was
they said by television violence and devil music and commercial
radio and the

drive-throughs

he was forced to eat at as a child by
his working mother.
His vanished other parent

driven

he learned to drink by
his inabilty to access the excess promised to all by the features
he sat through at the

drive-in.

His mother and father coincidentally killed in

drive-bys

he read about two continents and two decades apart.

 

 

Driven

they said by these circumstances to commit
his act
her death
they killed
him by

driving

his last of a long line of needles deep into
his arm. And then, in an unmarked car,
they

drove

his body to
his last home, just as
he had

driven

her to the first and last home
they would ever share.