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Before March 2 2015, please come here to nominate the entire Chinatown as the historic site to be preserved, don't expect City of Vancouver to save Chinatown when the Council approved more condo to be built in Chinatown at rapid rate to destroy the Chinatown.
www.heritagebc.ca/blog?articleid=162
Chinese Historic Places Recognition Project
THE HERITAGE BATTLE FOR CHINATOWN
Historic Vancouver neighbourhood is being redeveloped, raising fears it will lose its character.
By JOHN MACKIE, VANCOUVER SUN November 15, 2014
The marketing line for the Keefer Block condo development in Chinatown is “Heritage Meets Modern.”
But just how much heritage will be left after a wave of modern developments washes over the historic district is a matter of debate.
A new proposal for the 700-block of Main Street would demolish the last three buildings from Hogan’s Alley, a once-notorious back lane that was the longtime home of Vancouver’s black community.
Another condo development at 231 Pender would replace a funky, Chinese-themed garage that is listed on Canada’s Register of Historic Places. Angelo Tosi’s family has owned their building at 624 Main since 1930. It may date back to 1895, and looks it — the fixtures and shelving are as old as the hills.
But Tosi is 82, and will probably sell when the price is right. He doesn’t expect his store to survive.
“It’ll be gobbled up by the monstrous buildings,” said Tosi. “And then they’ll take it all, and it’s finished. They won’t keep the heritage on the bottom, they’ll put down whatever they want.”
His fatalistic attitude reflects the changes in Chinatown, which is undergoing a development boom after zoning changes by the City of Vancouver.
The protected “historic” area of Chinatown is now Pender Street, while much of Main, Georgia and Keefer can now be redeveloped, with heights of up to 90 feet (nine storeys). A few sites can go even higher.
Two towers are going up at Keefer and Main — the nine-storey, 81-unit Keefer Block, and the 17-storey, 156-unit 188 Keefer. Up the street at 137 Keefer, a development permit application has just gone in for a new nine-storey “multi-family building.”
None of them has stirred up much controversy. But a recent public meeting about a 12-storey, 137-unit condo to be built on an empty lot at Keefer and Columbia got people riled up.
“There was a lot of angry people that night,” said Henry Yu, a UBC history professor who feels a “vision plan” the Chinatown community worked on with the city for several years is being ignored.
“The vision plan gets passed, (but it has) no teeth,” said Yu. “Actually (there is) no policy, it’s a wish list of ‘Oh, we’d like seniors housing, we’d like to do this, we’d like to do that.’
“Almost immediately, the two (highrise) buildings in the 600-, 700-block Main go up, and they’re just basically Yaletown condos. Not even Yaletown — Yaletown has more character.
“These are straight out of the glass tower (model), no (historic) character, obliterating everything in terms of tying it to the kind of streetscape of Chinatown. You’re going to split the historic two or three blocks of Chinatown with a Main Street corridor of these glass towers.”
Yu says Chinatown has historically been small buildings on 25-foot lots, which makes for a jumble of small stores that gives it a unique look and character. But the new developments are much wider, and just don’t look like Chinatown.
“The two 600-, 700-block buildings have a rain shield that’s an awning, a glass awning that runs the whole block,” said Yu. “That’s the design guideline for the city as a whole, but it was nothing to do with Chinatown, (which is) narrow frontages, changing awnings.
“We said that (to the city planners), we raised it and raised it, but the planners just shoved it down our throat.”
Kevin McNaney is Vancouver’s assistant director of planning. He said the city changed the zoning in parts of Chinatown to help revitalize the neighbourhood, which has been struggling.
“We have been taking a look across Chinatown,” said McNaney. “What we’re finding is that rents are dropping, and vacancies are rising. And that’s a big part of the strategy of adding more people to revitalize Chinatown.
“There are only 900 people currently living in Chinatown, many of them seniors. It’s just not the population base needed to support businesses, so a lot of the businesses are going under. Along Pender Street you see a lot of vacancies right now.
“So at the heart of this plan is to bring more people to revitalize Chinatown, and also use that development to support heritage projects, affordable housing projects and cultural projects.”
Henry Yu disagrees. “The idea that you need density in Chinatown itself, that you need your own captive customer base, is moronic,” he said.
“Where else in the city would you make that argument, that nobody can walk more than two blocks, that no one is going to come in here from somewhere else?
“They will. People go to the International Summer Market in Richmond in an empty gravel field. Ten thousand people at night come from everywhere in the Lower Mainland, because there’s something worth going to.
“The problem isn’t that you need a captive audience that has no other choice but to shop in Chinatown — that’s just stupid, there’s plenty of people in Strathcona. The problem is, is there something worth coming to (in Chinatown)? And that has to do with the character, what the mix is, what kind of commercial.”
Ironically, all the new construction comes just as Chinatown seems to be undergoing a bit of a renaissance. Several new businesses have popped up in old buildings, attracted by the area’s character and cheap rents.
The très-hip El Kartel fashion boutique recently moved into a 6,000 sq. ft space at 104 East Pender that used to house Cathay Importers. It’s on the main floor of the four-storey Chinese Benevolent Association Building, which was built in 1909.
Across the street at 147 East Pender is Livestock, a runner and apparel store that is so cool it doesn’t even have a sign. “We were in Gastown at the corner of Cordova and Abbott, (and) just felt a change was needed,” said store manager Chadley Abalos.
“We found the opportunity in Chinatown, so we decided to move here. We feel it’s one of the new spots that are booming. You see a lot of new businesses — restaurants, clothing stores, furniture. We see the potential in it growing.”
Russell Baker owns Bombast, a chic furniture store at 27 East Pender. But he is not new to the neighbourhood — Bombast has been there for 10 years.
“I think (Chinatown is) one of the most interesting parts of the city,” he said.
“It’s still got some variety, some texture, architecturally, socially, economically. A lot of what’s happened to the downtown peninsula (in recent years) constitutes erasure. This is one of the places that still sort of feels like … it feels more urban than some parts of downtown. I would say downtown is a vertical suburb.
“If you like cities, Chinatown feels like one. That’s why we’re here.”
Baker said he expected Chinatown to happen a lot sooner than it did. Retailers that do well there still tend to be destinations, rather than stores that rely on heavy street traffic. “The buzz is that Chinatown is happening, but it’s really strategic, what’s happening,” he said. “Fortune Sound Club, that’s a niche market that’s destination. That’s the kind of thing that works down here. We’re destination, Bao Bei (restaurant) is destination.”
The new businesses make for an interesting mix with the old ones. The 200 block East Georgia Street is hopping with hipster bars (the Pacific Hotel, Mamie Taylor’s) and art galleries (Access Gallery, 221A, Centre A). But it also retains classic Chinatown shops like the Fresh Egg Mart and Hang Loong Herbal Products.
The question is whether the small businesses will be displaced as the area gentrifies. Real estate values have soared — Soltera paid $6.5 million for the northwest corner of Keefer and Main in 2011, Beedie Holdings paid $16.2 million for two parcels of land at Columbia and Keefer in 2013.
That seems like a lot for a site that’s two blocks from the troubled Downtown Eastside, but Houtan Rafii of the Beedie Group said that’s what land costs in Vancouver.
“It is a significant, substantial amount of money, but compared to most every area in Vancouver, it’s not dissimilar, whether you’re in Gastown, downtown, Concord-Pacific, even on the boundaries of Strathcona or on Hastings close to Clark or Commercial,” said Rafii. “It’s not an obscene amount of money, it’s market.”
Rafii said the Beedie Group met with local groups for a year about its development, and was surprised at the reaction it got at the public meeting, which was held because Beedie is looking to rezone the site to add an additional three storeys.
Yu doesn’t have a problem with the Beedie proposal per se, but feels it’s on a key site in Chinatown, and should be developed accordingly.
“It’s not the building’s fault,” said Yu.
“People are going ‘What’s wrong with this glass tower, it’s working everywhere else, and Chinese people love buying this stuff if it’s UBC.’
“That’s not the point. There’s plenty of room around the city to build glass towers (that are) 40 storeys, 50 storeys, whatever. Why do they need to be in this spot?
“This one is right in the heart (of Chinatown). Across the street is the Sun Yat-sen (garden), the Chinese Cultural Centre. On the same street is the (Chinese workers) monument. Next door is the back alley of Pender.”
Yu said a recent study found there will be a need for 3,300 income-assisted senior housing beds in the Lower Mainland over the next 15 years. He said the Columbia and Keefer site would be perfect for a seniors project.
“There’s a particular kind of resonance to the idea this is a traditional place where a lot of Chinese seniors can retire to,” he said.
“There is a five-year waiting list for the Simon K.Y. Lee Success long-term care home, so there’s huge demand, huge need, this is a place where they want to go. (Building a seniors home) would actually would help revitalize (Chinatown), because seniors bring sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters into a community.
“That’s the Chinatown vision plan, that’s what’s in there, that’s what those discussions were about. And yet what we’ve got is 137 luxury condo units for hip youngsters. That’s the Beedie proposal, and that’s what the last two towers (on Main) were. It’s not just insulting, it’s the thwarting of the very promise (of the vision plan).”
Wu would like to see a moratorium on new developments in Chinatown “until design guidelines are actually built to create a zone that respects the (area’s special) character.”
Retired city planner Nathan Edelson agrees. Which is significant, because he worked on the Chinatown vision plan for over a decade.
“My suggestion is that there should be a moratorium on the rezonings, for sure, until they can get an assessment of what the current new development is,” said Edelson. “To what degree are they contributing to, or harming Chinatown, the historic character of Chinatown? And it’s not an obvious answer.”
Read more:
www.vancouversun.com/business/Battle+Chinatown/10384991/s...
Every Child Matters/Orange Shirt Day display for the upcoming National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (Sept. 30) at Willingdon Beach, numbers represent graves of indigenous children found at Canadian industrial-residential schools.
Powell River, B.C., Canada.
Nikon D200
AF-S DX VR Nikkor 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED
At least to a four year old. Ethan had just watched his younger sister unwrap a large gift, a toy horse. Then his grandfather handed him a small package. He kept looking at the size of the gift in his hand and the one Anna had opened. He sighed and the opened his and was delighted with his gift and the size no longer mattered,
Today (23rd April) is "World Book Day" according to UNESCO. First "celebrated" in 1995.
Apparently Britain and Ireland have it on the first Thursday in March as after all the 23rd April is England's patron saint of St George day.
Here is my entry for this event. A collage of the before and after shots. A bread making book that I have just finished repairing for my wife's piano teacher. It was so well used that the back board and spine had come off and the front board was also about to do the same.
On Friday 5 June, we lit up our Force Headquarters building purple in solidarity with George Floyd’s loved ones and those who are rightly appalled by the way he lost his life.
We support all those across the world who are affected by this tragedy and our hearts also go out to those who have been affected by the terrible violence and damage across many US cities. Hopefully, peace will soon follow.
We recognise that more must be done to stand up for what is right.
We stand alongside the National Black Police Association, the Police Federation of England and Wales and all other agencies in Greater Manchester to reiterate our unwavering commitment to fairness, tolerance and inclusivity.
Sometimes we do not always get it right, but we are continuously striving to learn and improve. Building tolerance and understanding with the diverse communities we serve is absolutely key to this and will continue to be so.
To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit
You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.
Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.
You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.
You can access many of our services online at www.gmp.police.uk
shoestringonline.co.uk/html/klansmen#.Up37xMRdXh7
Visitors to the Current show at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, Hyde Park were directed by the Chapman Brothers with this message.
GET RID OF MEANING. YOUR MIND IS A NIGHTMARE.
Easier said than done when it comes to this art by the Chapman Brothers which features the familiar mutilated bodies and scenes of horrific torture and gruesome ritualised decapitations that do not necessarily contrive to horrify, as this sentence would appear to suggest.
The Chapman brothers are inclined to provide enough comforting context. We Monks were after all invited to enter a brand new swanky art gallery and no art lover as far as we are aware has thus far been harmed or traumatised by a Chapman image.
We entered cautiously and discovered the familiar grim images, scary in a "ghost train" kind of way. The Chapman Klansmen are comedy Klansmen with rainbow socks and comedy smiley faces. The Chapman crucified martyrs are nothing more than harmless corporate Ronald MacDonald effigies, and so very many of them as in the real world.
I found myself failing to "get rid of meaning" by comparing the Chapman Brothers to Richard Dadd, whose "Fairy Feller's" is arguably more horrific, given Dadd's state of mind, but far less horrifically explicit than the Chapman Brothers.
As far as we know the Chapman Brothers are not actually psychotic. They are more inclined to toy with the visitors most visitors go along with the toying. I could not fail to notice two American ladies failing to "get rid of the meaning" They provided me with an in-depth commentary on each particular scene of horror and mutilation as if Ronald MacDonald were a real person and these were scenes from a soap opera, a warped Nazi soap opera.
The miniature horror model show might also appeal to the model makers within all of us boys, seeking the same thrill you might get when you view an architect's model of a new airport or a shopping centre complete with little trees to provide context and scale.
For this reason I did wonder why The Chapman Brothers had not provided a model Hornby Nazi train-set to circulate about the corpses. Yes, I do believe that there is a train spotting model maker and dark grim humour within us all.
We Monks saw "Hell", the earlier Chapman Brothers work which featured similar miniature grotesque models in glass cases. These works which took years of endeavour to construct were destroyed in the cataclysmic MOMART fire in the 2004. They have now been recreated and re-imagined somewhat in the same spirit.
I discussed this with a young "curator" in the gallery. I discovered that the new Serpentine Sackler Gallery was in fact an 1805 listed building and formerly a depositary for gunpowder and such. I again found myself failing to "get rid of the meaning", so I changed the subject and I told her that I was a little scared to go into the central section behind the black curtain, from where I could hear the sounds of horror. She said that I should not be scared and that all would be well if I were to enter..
Beyond the black curtain masked members of the KKK were sitting amongst the visitors watching a Chapman movie. There I observed Mrs Monk sitting next to a KKK pointy hat both of them watching the horror movie as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
There was a Chapmanesque resonance in the movie but no fearful reaction from the visitors. Just the occasional knowing laugh.
Nottingham, June 2020
Forest Recreation Ground
A moving and challenging demonstration. Peaceful but emotional.
#blacklivesmatter
www.itsnicethat.com/news/resources-supporting-black-lives...
Mark is a freelance writer based out of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, where he finds the soothing snoring of his bulldog and the chill of the fog a perfect backdrop for getting work done. When he’s not typing away at his laptop, he loves to get outdoors and play in the ocean, ride his bike for way too long, or run barefoot on the beach. His greatest design accomplishment is in his ability to make the perfect milkshake.
GRC Photo Contest 2019
Greg Rhodes, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Somerville, Massachusetts, USA
No Master Disaster
A well near Kunming, China was completed with no pressure control and is now flowing uncontrollably. October 2017.
Clojure eXchange 2016, Thursday, 1st - Friday, 2nd December at CodeNode, London. skillsmatter.com/conferences/7430-clojure-exchange-2016 Images copyright www.edtelling.com
making my days bright
an eye of your sight
real sky was so high
i saw you smile
nothing else matters
“No matter where I am, and even if I have no clear idea where I am, and no matter how much trouble I may be in, I can achieve a blank and shining serenity if only I can reach the very edge of a natural body of water. The very edge of anything from a rivulet to an ocean says to me: “Now you know where you are. Now you know which way to go. You will soon be home now.”
Kurt Vonnegut “Fates”
No matter how she tried she was unable to get her arms free from the tight leather binder that held them together behind her back.
Black Lives Matter shuts down Eglinton Ave W and Allen Rd.
#BLMTOshutitdown #justiceforjermainecarby #justiceforandrewloku #blacklivesmatter
©Jane Brown2013 All Rights Reserved. This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without explicit written permission
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the remarkable thing about John's funeral and wake is that for the first time ever it brought the whole immediate family together. We were:
Peter and me with Ben, Abby, Elsie, Max and Jane
Caroline and John
Alex and Sarah with Freddie and Susannah
Michael with Becky (Maisie's mother) and Maisie; Sarah (Briony's mother) and Briony
and then there were friends of John's and Pat's as well . . .
this photo from left to right foreground - Michael, Maisie, Briony, Sarah, Becky and little Elsie
in the background - Jane, John and Max
NAMI Mercer hosted its 4th NAMIWalk on Saturday, May 21, 2011, at Rider University in Lawrenceville New Jersey. Hundreds of people (and dogs) from all over New Jersey walked the 5k walk. There was food, music and vendors from the community. We got to see old friends and make new friends. The weather was beautiful and a good time was enjoyed by all.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness is a nation-wide American advocacy group, representing families and people affected by mental illness as a non-profit grass roots organization and has affiliates in every American state and in thousands of local communities in the country. NAMI's mission is to provide support, education, advocacy, and research for people and their families living with mental illness through various public education and awareness activities like NAMIWalks.
Please support your local NAMI
Rider University - 2083 Lawrenceville Road (Route 206) in Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Washington DC, July 6 2019. A motley collection of about three hundred folks affiliated with various far right wing groups gathered here today under the banner of "#DemandFreeSpeech*" for a rally with speeches. Mostly the speakers whined into the mic about being kicked off of social media for unsportsmanlike conduct. As I wandered around Freedom Plaza I saw pizza-gaters and other nut job conspiracy devotees, Roger Stone fans, anti-semites, Christian Supremicists, gun fetishists, Proud Boys and unapologetic racists. What unites all of them is their obvious love of their leader, President Donald J. Trump. Over in nearby Pershing Park I found over a thousand gathered in opposition to Trump and his facist supporters. After hours of speeches there was some great live music and dancing. Thumbs up to Black Lives Matter DC, MDC-DSA, #AllOutDC, @DCDefend and the other groups who made it rock.
*Theirs, not yours.
Here at id-iom there's nowt we like more than a tight deadline. It means we are forced to focus which means there's less time for messing around on our behalf and also it tends to mean we're left to our own devices a little more than if there's plenty of time and every little thing has to be approved by about 20 people - which is always frustrating. Here we had a couple of days to produce 9 canvases with certain quotes on and a bigger piece on wood of a hand holding a glass of wine for a booze based event. Given the time frame and what we had to work with I was quite pleased with the end result.
On a more serious note wine is actually on our banned substance list. It doesn't sit well with the id-iom boys. Just so you know for future reference...
Cheers
id-iom