25933 replies to this topic

[Awaiting Juno]

What I wouldn't give for a mayor who uses an unrelenting focus on evidence to make decisions....you know rather than personal interests.

[Nparker]

Or to prove how "woke" she is.

[mbjj]

Or to prove how "woke" she is.

 

 

Or to prove how "woke" she is.

God I hate that stupid term. I had to look it up to see what it meant, lol! I said to my husband, do you know what that means? He had no idea...clearly neither of us has woke to being woke.

[aastra]

 

The NPNA deserves to have their parks, Fernwood deserves their parks, Fairfield deserves their parks, James Bay deserves their parks

 

But what are their parks? The designated neighbourhoods come in all shapes and sizes. The official neighbourhood boundaries are irregular and very contrived & arbitrary.

 

In reality, every part of town is not going to have the exact same character as every other part of town. A smaller downtown neighbourhood like North Park can't expect to be a carbon copy of Fairfield -- not because North Park is inferior (or superior) to Fairfield, but because North Park is physically smaller, different in character, and in a different location. If North Park deserves its own slice of Beacon Hill Park then does Gonzales deserve its own Crystal Pool? Does James Bay deserve its own arena? Does Oaklands deserve its own downtown? Does Vic West deserve its own Hillside Mall? Does Hillside/Quadra deserve its own Gonzales Beach?

 

Heck, does North Park deserve its own cluster of modern condo towers? The residents of North Park are severely underserved in that regard. I suspect the NPNA would say any North Park residents who want to live in modern condo towers can simply go to a different neighbourhood.

 

etc.

[Nparker]

...Does Hillside/Quadra deserve its own Gonzales Beach...

Yes, and I think this should be the #1 priority of this council.

[aastra]

 

But what are their parks?

 

And it isn't just the implied ownership of things that's at issue here, but it's also the implied disowning of something like Beacon Hill Park (or downtown) while it's under siege. The exact same thing happened with the courthouse tent city, and it happens because of the politicization of the neighbourhoods and the falsities of their supposed isolation and independence. That attitude just isn't productive. Its main usefulness is as an easy way out of sticky situations (in reality nobody is getting out of anything, but people can feel like they've washed their hands of something that they don't want to deal with). Again, all about the politics of division.

Edited by aastra, 14 July 2020 - 08:29 AM.

[Nparker]

I'd especially like to see North Park get its own Inner Harbour, complete with water taxis and a large passenger/vehicle ferry to an international destination (I'd prefer Hawaii, but southern California would be acceptable). North Park is VERY underserved in the harbour/ferry departments.

[aastra]

 

...it's also the implied disowning of something like Beacon Hill Park while it's under siege.

 

Why should a North Park resident care one bit about Beacon Hill Park? It's way down there on the south side of the city*. Let the folks in James Bay and Fairfield deal with it. It's THEIR park.

 

*It's actually less than 1 mile away -- the northwest & southeast corners of Beacon Hill Park are more distant from one another than Mason Street is from Beacon Hill Park

[aastra]

I was waiting for you to go off about the water taxis.

[Nparker]

Why should a North Park resident care one bit about Beacon Hill Park? It's way down there on the south side of the city*...

Since moving to North Park (from the CSV) in the late 1990s, I have probably visited Beacon Hill Park more often than Central Park. Of course these days I am unlikely to visit either of these low budget campgrounds.

[Victoria Watcher]

sometimes I take the water taxi from oak bay to hillside mall. along bowker creek. it’s not bad.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 July 2020 - 09:09 AM.

[rmpeers]

What I wouldn't give for a mayor who uses an unrelenting focus on evidence to make decisions....you know rather than personal interests.

At this point, I would settle for even an occasional focus on evidence.

[mbjj]

Just took a walk around the perimeter of Beacon Hill, on Southgate. I see no evidence whatsoever that any tent has moved. The same one is still under the large juniper (bikes sticking out), plus a new one nearby under a deciduous tree. The set-up back towards the rocky area in the long grass is still there. The tent that's almost on the sidewalk closer to the Beacon Hill park sign is still there. I walked through the cut to St. Ann's and the small area there that's fenced off with a split-rail fence and a "sensitive areas" sign has a tarp in it, which may be unoccupied. Hard to tell. So when's this big change coming to Beacon Hill?

[Victoria Watcher]

more signage is needed of course.

[Nparker]

...some say they’re comfortable where they are and don’t want to move. They’ve built a home for themselves where they have a bit of privacy from other park users, some of whom take photos of their living situation or make threats against them. Drew, who has been asked to relocate, said the areas that city staff have identified as acceptable for sheltering have fewer trees and offer less privacy than his current situation...Privacy is a concern, because more exposure can mean more risk in an already vulnerable situation. Drew said he has been harassed in the park by people who returned later with friends and jumped him...Campers are also frustrated by what they see as conflicting and changing information about where they can camp, and are suspicious of the city’s motives.“They’re structured solely to push us out and to make it almost next to impossible for us to find comfort,” said Devin. “Once we do move to a place and we’re over to where they say is a green area now, two weeks later, they’re going to find a reason to push us out of there, too.” Wayne has moved three times during a month of living in Beacon Hill. He started in an area with long grass that provided some privacy, “because it’s kind of shameful to be living in a park, so I just kind of hide,” but he was told to move. “And every time you’ve got to move, it just wrecks your stuff more, and it gets taken, right. Your stuff gets stolen and taken.”...

https://www.timescol...safe-1.24169775

Another sympathy ploy by the Times Colonist. Do Lisa Helps et al pay the TC for this degree of biased reporting?

[aastra]

 

So when's this big change coming to Beacon Hill?

 

I'm wondering if the big changes may be yet to come. If the authorities drag this out for long enough, many people would eventually accept the premise that BHP requires extreme remediation similar to what happened with the courthouse lawn. Excavations, tree chopping, etc.

[Rob Randall]

Another sympathy ploy by the Times Colonist. Do Lisa Helps et al pay the TC for this degree of biased reporting?

 

Biased? Talking to a camper is being biased? What planet are you from?

[Victoria Watcher]

can we get that legislature wood splitter?

even the guy complaining. if the hardest part about free camping is moving once every few weeks that’s still a great deal.

[Rob Randall]

even the guy complaining. if the hardest part about free camping is moving once every few weeks that’s still a great deal.

 

I can see the frustration. Yet another bureaucrat come along and says, "I see you are here, you need to go there" like pawns on a chessboard in a neverending game.

[Nparker]

Biased? Talking to a camper is being biased?...

No, but painting the bylaw-breaking campers as victims and the local residents as villains certainly is biased. Did you read the full article?