847 replies to this topic

[todd]

There are some who might argue that the hotel site should be restored to the vacant lot it was before 1911.

In the interest of proper reconciliation the lot should be removed.

[aastra]

 

New Orleans style?

 

Exactly. New Orleans style, like how Victoria used to do it before it was decided that Victoria shouldn't do it that way because Victoria never did it that way even though Victoria actually did do it that way.

[Nparker]

In the interest of proper reconciliation the lot should be removed.

And put into storage until an appropriate use for it can be found.

[sdwright.vic]

Let build a reconciliation storage unit to store all the wrongs of the past in!

[aastra]

From TC article, "Businesses in fire zone struggle with extended closure, smoke":

 

 

The tourism consultant said it’s unlikely tourism would be affected by the fire since visitors usually do not walk farther north than Johnson Street.

[UDeMan]

I wouldn't be surprised if the building is torn down and the land is given to the FN.

 

The building next door at 613 Pandora was given to Songhees Nation through a treaty agreement.

 

https://vancouverisl...-yoga-1.4269982

[sdwright.vic]

^The property is privately owned, not by the city or province.

[todd]

Let build a reconciliation storage unit to store all the wrongs of the past in!

In statue format.

[UDeMan]

^The property is privately owned, not by the city or province.

 

 

City/Province will buy the land from the owner and give it to FN. 

[Jackerbie]

City/Province will buy the land from the owner and give it to FN. 

 

That would be an expensive purchase (or expropriation, which I am almost certain would fail in court). The sale would be based on the appraised market value, not the assessed property value.

[Jackerbie]

One thing is for certain though: this whole project just got a whole lot messier, and the timeline is completely out the window now. The rezoning included bonus density of 4.57 FSR contingent on restoration of the heritage building, so these guys will have to go through rezoning all over again if they want anything higher than 3.0 FSR

[spanky123]

That would be an expensive purchase (or expropriation, which I am almost certain would fail in court). The sale would be based on the appraised market value, not the assessed property value.

 

Going by recent history, the City and/or Province have paid 2x-3x the appraised value for local properties so there haven't been too many owners complaining.

Edited by spanky123, 09 May 2019 - 02:41 PM.

[Nparker]

Some of the east wall is now down, but it appears the majority of effort is to tackle any remaining hot spots. It's amazing how much water is still being poured on this site. A fairly strong smoky odour still permeates the 1400 block of Broad Street, but the area in front of MEC smells clean.

[Sparky]

When Mike posted the Facebook video of the storm drain runoff of the millions of litres of contaminated water bubbling into our inner harbour, we got slammed pretty hard right from the get go.

Vibrant Victoria was being identified as being “negative” even though the video was watched over 5,000 times in the first 24 hours. The video portrays a poorly constructed containment boom and allows the viewer to visualize the vast amount of contaminated water that ultimately just ended up in the drink.

After watching the Chernobyl episode, I was reminded how human nature dictates that we do not like to accept to being wrong. In the animal world when you are wrong that would usually end up by being eaten.

Could we be wrong about how we deal with old vacant buildings laden with asbestos, lead, and countless other contaminates? Could we be wrong trying to extinguish a fire in order to preserve a facade instead of just spending our efforts protecting neighbouring buildings and let the fire take care of the poisons? Could we be wrong about letting a vacant building (like Ian’s Coffee Shop) continue to exist because someone wants to save a wall?

https://www.facebook...45816586225195/

[Cassidy]

 Could we be wrong trying to extinguish a fire in order to preserve a facade instead of spending our efforts protecting neighbouring buildings and let the fire take care of the poisons? 

 

This isn't how fire departments fight fires in a dense urban core.

The VidFD didn't do anything that detracted from fighting the fire in order to "save" any heritage features ... they simply focused on putting the fire out.

 

There was a point on Monday when the VidFD feared they were going to lose the entire block ... and some polluted water in the Inner Harbour is the price you pay for saving that downtown block.

 

As for the "poorly constructed containment boom" ... says who?

I know we're presumably all experts here on VV, but somebody with a camera standing on the banks of the Inner Harbour is hardly qualified to make comments on the expertise that was levied in setting up an emergency containment boom.

 

The VicFD did an excellent, some might even say "brilliant" job in dealing with the Century Hotel fire. That there were issues with local air quality, and millions of gallons of water going into the Inner Harbour are ultimately irrelevant, indeed both are beyond human efforts to mitigate ... they're a by-product of saving a city block, something the residents of Victoria have mandated their Fire Department attempt to do since the City was founded.

 

I won't say the VV "slamming" was deserved, but slanting the story to highlight a personally perceived negative, and to do so when the scene was still a highly unpredictable and active fire that may have taken a life ... may have been slightly misplaced.

[Victoria Watcher]

here is the full text:

As Victoria's fire crews kept a handle on hot-spots at the Plaza Hotel following yesterday's blaze that destroyed much of the complex, contaminated water from firefighting efforts was seen entering the INner Harbour via the City's sewer system.

At the end of the video a boom placed at a sewage outfall to restrict contamination from entering the harbour was seen to have failed.

Video courtesty of "Sparky."




is there “story slanting” there? where?

[Mike K.]

Here’s what the post actually said:

As Victoria's fire crews kept a handle on hot-spots at the Plaza Hotel following yesterday's blaze that destroyed much of the complex, contaminated water from firefighting efforts was seen entering the INner Harbour via the City's sewer system.

At the end of the video a boom placed at a sewage outfall to restrict contamination from entering the harbour was seen to have failed.

Video courtesty of "Sparky."

There was no dig at anyone, no blame on anyone, just an observation. Thousands of people saw the outflow and despite the fire many wouldn’t have put the two together. Certainly not visitors. Highlighting that this happened is newsworthy and part of the greater conversation about our outflows and how they have an impact on local waters.

Some people are always critical of VV’s social media posts. There’s not a day that they won’t find something to criticize or nitpick. Why that is I don’t know, but obviously some people have either too much time on their hands or haven’t checked themselves in a while to gauge just how their flippant remarks are actually being perceived).

Regardless, 6,000 people saw that video and witnessed something that was an unfortunate side effect of the fire.

[Victoria Watcher]

technically it should have read “storm drain” system not sewer.

[Victoria Watcher]

what’s worse? 4 million gallons of dirty water or 4 million gallons of horse urine?

ben?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 May 2019 - 06:29 AM.

[Cassidy]

.......Some people are always critical of VV’s social media posts. 
.......Regardless, 6,000 people saw that video and witnessed something that was an unfortunate side effect of the fire.

I'm not one of those people. In fact I can't recall ever criticizing VV specifically about anything.

An "unfortunate side effect" is an accurate and responsible representation of the situation as it played out.