First Community Garden: District of North Vancouver

Coming to a neighbourhood near you very soon. On Monday night District Council will be voting on a recommendation to invest a miniumum of $15,000 in a "community garden" for residents in a " pre-defined portion of Lillooet Park". In addition the staff recommendation would allow three one-time grants in amounts of up to $2,000 each (for a total of $6,000) for seed funding to enable and facilitate small urban agriculture projects in the District using Funds from the 2009 Financial Plan.

The $15K would apparently be used to construct 6 foot high plots to enable residents to work the garden without bending over (also something about making the garden wheelchair accessible). As part of its commitment to the community garden the District would run water to the property to ensure the garden is adequately watered.

Great idea or not?

I Like Taxes

Our esteemed moderator Barry Forward has invited me to contribute to this site. I'm honoured, and delighted, and have been thinking about how to introduce myself. In a nutshell I've worked twenty plus years in non-profit and charitable organizations, have always been on the Left politically, and have worked on a few campaigns.

My first inclination is to speak of my intense embarrassment at our Prime Minister's actions at the funeral of Romeo LeBlanc, but honestly there's not much to be said.

So I'll return to local issues and begin by saying that I like paying taxes.

I like contributing a little bit each year keep the wonderful Lynn Valley Library operating. A good library is one of the single most important institutions in any town.

I like paying my part to support schools and education. I can't think of anything more important than making sure that all children and young people learn essential skills like reading and writing and math, and an equally essential appreciation for music, and art, and literature. I even think it's great that they get a wide ranging education in physical fitness, cooking, or auto-repair.

I like paying for the excellent North Shore gyms and playing fields, and the parks where my dog runs and plays. I like paying for theatres and galleries and farmer's markets and all of the things that make the North Shore a great place to live.

I like paying for (our admittedly poor) bus service, and for the SeaBus, and for the Skytrain.

And of course I like paying for clean drinking water and a reliable sewer system.

Too often in forums like this it seems that all taxes are a bad thing, and that the goal is for no-one to ever pay taxes, or at least to never pay taxes for anything that they don't personally use on a daily basis.

That's nonsense. We're all in this together and the goal is to share what we have so that everyone benefits. It worked in the lunchroom in Grade Three, and it works for grown-ups too.

Should the City outlaw smoking in multi-unit buildings?

At last night's North Vancouver City council meeting, Mr. Sean Soper made an interesting presentation recommending that the City prohibit smoking in multi-unit dwellings.

While 85% of British Columbians do not allow smoking in their homes, very often residents of rental or strata buildings are forced to endure second-hand smoke in their own homes. Mr. Soper, noting that the City has already outlawed smoking at bus stops, asked Council to consider passing a bylaw prohibiting smoking in such buildings.

Council unanimously voted to ask staff to consider the measure and prepare options for Council's consideration.

What do you think? Should this be something left to strata councils and rental property owners or should the government act?

Code of Conduct: NorthVancouverPolitics.com - Lest We Forget

A friendly reminder to all visitors, members and commentators of our Code of Conduct here at NorthVancouverPolitics.com

The Code of Conduct was revised on August 31, 2007, and I ask that everyone who posts or comments on our little blog take another look at it.

I continue to push for an active, open and civil forum here. This kind of open dialogue is difficult - a balance between an active, engaging forum (with anonymous contributors) and a controlled, strictly policed scenario (every comment is moderated and screened before it is posted).

Many of us sitting behind our computer screens forget that, hmmm, we are sitting behind our computer screens. We need to choose our words (anonymous or otherwise) much in the same way we do when we are sitting in a coffee shop or in the line-up at the movies.

Please remember that we are all, no matter what side of the political fence we sit, valued members of the community.

Personal attacks are easy. Well thought out issued-based responses take time to articulate. Let's be respectful of each other, and, just as importantly, let's give the local issues the respect they need.

I believe this community forum has a place in North Vancouver, and I will continue to push for a true free speech type of blog. Where we encourage open and free debate.

I recognize that sometimes this dialogue cuts close to the line, and in the heat of the argument people get personal (often unnecessarily). I truly hope that everyone who contributes here takes a close look at how they participate: Are they truly adding to the depth of debate, or simply taking the easy way out and resorting to mean spirited personal attacks.

That being said, I believe strongly that we need to fight for our right to say things, and call those into question who take advantage of this freedom.

To view the NorthVancouverPolitics.com Code of Conduct click on the following link:

Code of Conduct August 31, 2007

District of North Vancouver Parks Rolls Out Red Carpet for Soccer Tournament

Congratulations to the District of North Vancouver for setting the stage this weekend for a fabulous four days of soccer for ~60 teams from across the province. The girls' teams were in town for the BC Soccer Associations Provincial Cup Championships, hosted by North Shore Youth Soccer.

The site of the tournament was Inter River Park, and District crews did an amazing job prepping the fields and cutting the grass leading to an almost perfect setting for one of the major soccer gatherings of the year.

There was only one thing that would have made this event better. That would have been a clubhouse and washroom facility at Inter River to house the throngs of visitors who came to the North Shore to play a little soccer and spend a few pennies in our community.




* Tournament Photos available at www.mpmccue.com/galleries

Happy Canada Day: North Vancouver Style!

Happy 142nd Birthday Canada!

Celebrations in North Vancouver took place at Waterfront Park. The weather was perfect, the entertainment was great, and the politicians cut cake!

http://www.northvancanadaday.com/about.html

North Vancouver MP Andrew Saxton summed it up best telling the crowd that we live in an amazing country!

North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA Naomi Yamamoto and MP Andrew Saxton.

District Mayor Richard Walton, MP Andrew Saxton, and North Vancouver-Seymour MLA Jane Thornthwaite cutting cake!

North Vancouver MP Andrew Saxton speaking to the crowd.

New Lonsdale School Board Admin Building Dubbed 'Taj Mahal'

Comments from the advertised display board and discussion Tuesday night at the Harry Jerome Memorial Centre regarding the School Board / Polygon development at the Lonsdale School site. (June 24th, '09)

Several observations:

Improvements: from the earlier plan
- The residential buildings are sited north and south to give some outlook and massing relief to the buildings across on both 22nd and 21st streets.
- The HYAD project is nicely incorporated into the Chesterfield area and has adequate parking for caregivers to the residents.
- The parking ingress and exit for all the residential buildings is now located off Chesterfield Ave
- The 21st street parking access is only for the school admin building and none of the existing Rey Sargeant Park needs to be used

Concerns:
1) Local residents are browned off at the residential buildings heights changing from 4 stories to 5 stories. Density, views, outlooks, privacy, traffic and parking, shadowing etc. For the development, this will add 45 suites, bring the total to 260, plus 16 HYAD units (14 resident, 2 mgmt stes).
2) all residential visitor parking is located in the underground parkade off Chesterfield and not likely to be used by visitors, which will create traffic jams and overload traffic on 22nd street which is a very narrow street. ( front entrances to the residential buildings are on 22nd st.)

Big concern:
- A question was asked to the school board. How many staff will work in the school board office? Answer = approx 110-120 staff.
How many parking spaces are in the underground parkade? Answer = 86 spaces. (includes 5 visitor spaces.)

Special Events:
NV City and the School Board have agreed that Centennial Theatre parking can be an overflow for special events at the school board and 'Arts for Kids' and vice versa for special events at the Theatre. Wonder how many of the public will be aware ....

3) Problem: Woefully inadequate parking at the school board admin office building.
- Inadequate parking for staff
- Inadequate parking for students who will attend some classes at the school board admin offices
- Inadequate parking for visitors
- Inadequate parking for teachers who will attend workshops/meetings at the school board offices
- Woefully inadequate parking for the 'Arts For Kids' students. 1800 dist 44 school children are offered participation in this program 3 days a week, all year. Some of this is all day school hours (drop off and pick up by parents). There are also regular after school and weekend programs. In addition for special events, the children will be bussed to the site.
The only planning for parent drop-off and pick-up parking is on Lonsdale in front of the building.

Local Resident and Guest comments:

"The School Board is planning to build a 'Taj Mahal' administration building, 90 ft high, with 5 stories for staff office and classrooms above the 2 level 'Arts For Kids' lobby level, plus a sub-penthouse boardroom, and a penthouse for whatever? (query-lunchroom?), while the student population is declining .... "

"They are trying to force this overloaded density onto a residential neighborhood, to pay for the $38 million dollar construction of the 'Taj Mahal' School Board office on Lonsdale, when they have property at the Queen Mary School site and at the Lucas Centre."

The planned admin building on Lonsdale will be 90 ft high. "Towering over Lonsdale, the entire length of the school board property. A straight up and down facade. No set back." "It doesn't fit in with the neighborhood of 3 and 4 storey buildings."

And the new plan requires the school board building be sited closer to Lonsdale. "Can we save the chestnut trees on Lonsdale?" No answer, no arborist report available at the meeting.

When asked why they need all this density revenue, the School Board replied that they need 3 1/2 million for the Ridgeway School upgrade and similiar upgrades to Queen Mary School. (compare $3.5 x 2 to the cost of$38m to build the admin office bldg.)

When asked why they need so much space in the admin bldg, the School Board replied "with declining student enrollment, we need to find new sources of funding, such as overseas students, and we need more staff to do this."

When asked why they are not using monies from selling/developing the land at the Queen Mary School location, they replied that "the funds from the sale of lands are years down the road, maybe 5 years". A comment from the crowd "My bank understands asset values. Doesn't theirs?"

When asked why they are not relocating the school board administration site to the Lucas Centre location and upgrading/rebuilding the buildings there and keeping the 'Arts For Kids' location there, with all the adequate parking and ideal quiet surroundings, there was no time to answer this question. Except "we need the funds in the present budget. This is what we have planned."

A Townhall meeting is planned for September.