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Belize City, Belize, 31 March 2021 (PAHO/WHO) - Belize today received 33,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility, a global effort between the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance Gavi, UNICEF, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The arrival marks a historic step toward ensuring the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, in the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history. This delivery is part of the first phase of deliveries for Belize, and more vaccines are expected to arrive successively during 2021. According to the first round of COVAX allocations, Belize is expected to continue receiving doses until it reaches 100,800, the amount specified by COVAX.
PAHO’s Revolving Fund, which is responsible for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines for the countries of the Americas under the COVAX Mechanism, sent 33,600 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, manufactured by SK Bioscience of South Korea. The vaccines arrived today at the Phillip Goldson International Airport (PGIA).
“The arrival of the vaccines through COVAX is very encouraging as it means that more people will now be able to be protected from COVID-19,” said Dr. Noreen Jack, PAHO/WHO Representative in Belize. “We will continue to work with the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the country to support vaccination along with the known public health and social measures that can help stop the spread of COVID-19, protect health services, and save lives.”
These first vaccines will serve to protect priority groups and those most at risk, such as health workers, older adults, persons with special conditions (cancer, HIV & requiring dialysis), as well as persons in the other vaccine distribution phases in Belize.
Hon. Michel Chebat, Minister of the Ministry of Health and Wellness expressed how grateful he was for this delivery that will add to the vaccines that we already have.
“We extend appreciation for the team effort coordinated through our partners, PAHO/WHO, UNICEF and IDB for negotiating, purchasing, and handling the shipment logistics on behalf of Belize and the other 36 countries participating in COVAX,” said Minister Chebat. “This was our only hope for a long time to ensure that the people of Belize get vaccines and now we can celebrate the arrival today.”
Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in 2020, the country has recorded 12,452 cases and 317 deaths as a result of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (as of 30 March 2021).
“Today’s arrival of the first COVAX shipment marks another milestone for the children of Belize who have been the silent victims of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Alison Parker, Representative for UNICEF Belize. “The past year has plunged Belize into a humanitarian and socio-economic crisis upending the lives of societies, communities and families, especially children. As over 108,000 children prepare to return to the classrooms in the upcoming months, the arrival of the vaccines advances us one step closer to creating a post-COVID environment that is safe for children to return to schools and regain a sense of security and normalcy. It is also a signal of the commitment of the Government and partners like the COVAX, inclusive of UNICEF, to prioritize mobilizing required resources to afford Belizeans optimal health care and protection in response to this crisis. Accelerating vaccination coverage is critical to stabilizing the social and economic impact of COVID-19 and rebuilding Belize, and UNICEF is proud to be part of this national effort in the interest of Belize’s children.”
COVAX seeks to provide vaccines for at least 20% of the population of each participating country during 2021. In this first round of vaccine allocation, all COVAX participating countries will receive doses to vaccinate between 2.2 and 2.6% of their population. The only exceptions are small island developing States, which will receive an allocation of vaccines to cover between 16 and 20% of their population, due to the high logistical cost of delivering small quantities of vaccines.
“Expanding access to vaccines is vital for overcoming the pandemic and its detrimental effects on the life of people and the economy,” said Birgit Gerstenberg, Resident Coordinator of United Nations Belize. “Its progress is crucial in order to get back to the path of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, poverty reduction, food security for all, universal health coverage, decent work and so much more. Thanks to science and technology, the newly developed COVID-19 vaccines are made available in record time and poised to be a powerful tool in the control of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. The public’s confidence in, and willingness to receive the vaccines will determine the outcome of this mass-scale public health intervention. The United Nations Country Team has been working tirelessly this past year to provide as much support to the Government of Belize in facing the consequences of the pandemic and helping those most at-risk. Let us continue to confront the pandemic and take all measures of mitigation at our reach. Stay at home when you are sick, wear a mask when among others, practice social distancing and when eligible, receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. Consider it a measure that may save lives as only together, we will build back better.”
Until vaccination is widespread among the population, basic public health measures remain the basis of the pandemic response. For public health authorities, this means continuing to conduct screening, contact tracing, isolation, assisted quarantine, and quality care. And for people, it means continuing to practice physical distancing, hand hygiene, the use of masks, adequate ventilation of indoor environments, and avoidance of crowded spaces.
“Today is a bright day in the year-ling fight against COVID-19, said Nicolaus Hansmann, Team Leader of the European Union Technical Office in Belize. “With the arrival of these vaccines under the multi-actor global collaboration, COVAX, we are getting closer to the goal of bringing the virus under control. As one of the lead partners of COVAX, contributing over 2.2 billion Euros, the European Union and its Member States are proud of its role in ensuring equitable access to vaccines for people everywhere.”
COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance Gavi) and the World Health Organization (WHO) – working in partnership with UNICEF as key implementing partner, as well as civil society organisations, vaccine manufacturers, the World Bank, and others. In the Americas, the PAHO Revolving Fund is the recognized procurement agent for the COVAX facility.
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After CNIGAL with an H1 and Fakebonnet, BRCGAL shows up with the same Consist as seen from yesterday’s NTWBRC on the Aurora Sub
Promise Fulfilled, Accomplishment Achieved at WSSU Commencement on May 14
WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- For Jeanette Valentine, earning her bachelor’s degree in business administration will be fulfilling on many levels.
Valentine, 50, is one of the approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students who are expected to participate in WSSU’s Spring Commencement exercises on May 14 at 9:45 a.m. in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Stephen A. Smith, noted journalist, media personality and motivational speaker, will be the keynote speaker.
Commencement will mark a special satisfaction not just because Valentine, a travel audit officer in WSSU’s accounting department, will be graduating with her 24-year-old son William R. Valentine. It’s because of a long-time promise fulfilled. Valentine made the promise to her mother back in 1978. Her mother and father never graduated from high school. When Valentine’s mother, who was battling cancer, asked her to promise she would graduate college, Valentine did. Valentine’s mother died two weeks before she graduated high school. Valentine was devastated over losing her mother.
“I started school at WSSU that year, but it lasted only one semester. I didn’t have the drive. I was still too distressed and overcome by my mother’s death. I couldn’t focus on school,” Valentine said.
Instead, Valentine got married, had two children and eventually went to work at a few jobs before coming to work at WSSU in 2006. In 2007, she decided to return to school since her children were adults. At the same time, her son who graduated high school in 2004 was thinking about returning to college after quitting previously. By fall 2007, both with full-time jobs returned to school at WSSU. He was an exercise science major and she was in the School of Business and Economics.
“He was so career focused on his job and he was doing well. But I kept pushing him and telling him he had to get a degree. I was thrilled he came back to school and that we were in school at the same time. It was exciting,” said Valentine.
Eventually Valentine saw her son was distracted by work. They talked and it was he who asked they agree to push each other so they could graduate at the same time.
That time is now. Valentine is thrilled they are graduating together. She says it feels like she has kept the promise made to her mother times two.
“In addition to the accomplishment, it may be quite an emotional day,” Valentine said.
Valentine is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the international honor society for collegiate schools of business as well as Alpha Sigma Lambda, a national honor society for Adult Learners in Continuing Higher Education. She plans to pursue her master’s degree at Liberty University.
Extraordinary Journey
It will be a festive ending to an extraordinary journey for Jerrica Scott, 24, of Winston-Salem. For Scott, commencement will symbolize the end of a passage marked by limitations, fear and uncertainty. It will be a celebration of a personal renaissance, driven by a theme that anything is possible with faith, passion and purpose.
“No matter how bad things may look, you can make a difference in your own life and the lives of others if you work really hard and know things can change. Soon things may look different, then not so bad, better, even good.”
Scott’s journey is verification of her belief. She entered WSSU to earn a four-year bachelor’s degree in elementary education six years ago as a single teen-aged mom. During that time as a full-time student, living on her own with her young daughter, she worked full-time, changed majors multiple times, quit school, got married, had another child, returned to school, made up a semester of credits lost when she quit and found her way back to the major that gave her the purpose.
“Just before I started my freshman year, I could hear people saying now that I had a baby as a teenager, my life was over or I wouldn’t get very far,” noted Scott. “Because I got pregnant in high school and had a baby in my first year of college, it didn’t mean I would be a failure. I did not want to be the stereotype of a young single mom who would work only at fast food restaurants or be on welfare the rest of her life.”
Although Scott was determined, she became distracted during her second year.
“I was failing classes miserably. I was living on my own and I was 18 years old. I felt lost and beaten, so I quit school,” Scott said who worked as a waitress. “Then one day, my manager told me the biggest thing he regretted was not finishing school. So if you don’t want to be waiting tables for the rest of your life, you need to go back to school. “
That was the turning point for Scott. She also thought about her mother, a cosmetologist, who always stressed the importance of education and often expressed interest in wanting her children to be greater than she. Scott soon quit her job and returned to school. Her best friend and others helped her find her way back to the major that aligned with where her talents and passions had always been -- elementary education.
“My best friend told me this is what I suppose to be doing. She told me we are going over there right now and you are going to get enrolled back into school. I just thank her,” said Scott.
Then she met a good man who cared about her and her daughter. It was like an unattainable dream. They soon married. Her second daughter was born in 2010. Now in school and completely focused on her education, Scott delivered the baby on a Friday and returned class on Monday.
Scott is currently working as a substitute teacher and searching for a fulltime permanent teaching job. She is also going to be the “first in my family to graduate college.”
Multiple Job Offers Early in Her Senior Year
Information technology major Kristen Dunlap, 21, of Charlotte, has accomplished a standout achievement, even before she completed her last year of college. In this challenging economy, she had two job offers from Fortune 500 companies one before her senior year, the other early in her senior year. She selected one position which she will begin this summer.
Dunlap attributes her success to internships, which she began participating in back in her freshman year. That first one was a summer research experience for undergraduate WSSU computer science students at WSSU, funded by NASA. She used, GIS visualization tools to visualize North Carolina weather patterns. The goal of the summer program was to expose students to researching skills and help to develop their problem solving and critical thinking skills.
For her second year, Dunlap interned at the NASA Langley, Va., facility where she worked as a liaison between the technology and client teams for the database tracking system used to manage NASA’s contractual projects.
For summer 2010, she was an intern at Altria Client Services in Richmond ,Va., where she worked on data archiving to consolidate previous and current information to migrate to a new system.
“You can never underestimate the value of internships. I started utilizing the WSSU Career Services office in my second year. My parents always told me to be aggressive at seeking job opportunities. I didn’t want to be a person to work hard for four years and have no job in the end,” Dunlap said.
She will start her new job at Altria Client Services as an IT assistant analyst.
The Entertainment Mogul
Erikka Rainey, 22, of Philadelphia wants to be a female Sean “P-Diddy” Combs. In fact, she has wanted to be an entertainment mogul from a very young age. As a child, she dabbled in music and even took classes, but by age 14, she knew wholeheartedly that she wanted to be on the business side of the music industry.
“When I first learned about P-Diddy, I knew that was where I wanted my future to be,” said Rainey. “I look up to P- Diddy because I’m working to be the first female to start a record label, then restaurants, clothing lines and television shows.”
When she sees a famous entertainer, she wonders what sort of things they did in their career to get famous. If not famous, she wonders what it would take to make them famous. While at WSSU she jumped at every opportunity to market and promote musical artists and events. She worked with Hidden Beach Recordings to promote events for a new CD. She passed out flyers and did social media and internet marketing for jazz artist Monette Sudler of Philadelphia this past summer.
“If there’s one thing I live by, it’s take advantage of all opportunities. Don’t close yourself off to anything. You never know what you will learn that can be the key to your future,” Rainey said.
An honor student, Rainey will be attending New York University’s (NYU) music business program in the fall. She plans to maintain at least one home in New York City after graduate school when her career kicks off.
All Saints, Barrow, Suffolk
I recently revisited Barrow after half a dozen years. I wrote the following after two visits in quick succession in 2002 and 2003. I'm going to do a new entry for the Suffolk Churches site, and so this one will be necessarily retired. I offer it to you for the last time now.
Barrow: A Fantasy in Two Parts
Part I: The League of Gentlemen
It was late summer, 2002: I had never been to Barrow before. I had not expected it to be so big. It seemed a very pleasant place, a proper village, with a mix of old and new housing. It had a couple of shops, a decent pub, one of those funny little Baptist chapels, a village green, several ponds right beside the busy road - I have not seen so many squashed ducks before, which was mildly diverting.
But no church, apparently. I didn't have my OS map with me, so I asked a man who was tending his garden by the crossroads. "Well now", he said, standing upright slowly and scratching his head, "there's a church over Denham way, about a mile up the road over there. Or there's the chapel, if that's the one you want." I thanked him, and picked my way through the squashed ducks, thinking it curious that someone in a Suffolk village should not know where their village church was. Perhaps he was a Londoner, working on his holiday home. A sign outside the Baptist chapel said Strict Communion, which brought to mind a Minister in leather holding a whip. Just beyond it, a group of boys were fishing for tiddlers in the pond, so I asked them where All Saints was. Unfortunately, this resulted in an argument; one said that it was further up the high street, another claimed vigorously that there were no churches around here, and I left hurriedly, before one of them pushed the other in the water.
It took the nice Asian lady in the village shop to put me right, and she sold me a fine pie into the bargain. I followed her directions up the road towards Cavenham, passing the Hall, and, a great curiosity, half a Volkswagen sitting on the verge. It was the front half. I mused on it for a moment, wondering if this was St Edmundsbury Borough Council's idea of public installation art, or if someone was working on it, or if there had been a particularly nasty but very clean accident. I could now see the church tower in the distance, and hurried on, only to find about a hundred yards further down the road another half of a Volkswagen. And, get this, it was another front half. Not sure if this strengthened the case for installation art or accidents, it was with some relief that I reached All Saints, at a very tight bend in the road (ah, that explains the Volkswagens!).
The graveyard here is huge, and pretty well full of three centuries of gravestones. It must be a fascinating place to potter about. I did a quick circumnavigation of the church, which has obviously been given a thorough going over by the Victorians. It was hard to tell what was medieval and what was renewed, although it is all done well, and looking fine.
The door was locked. To be honest, I hadn't expected this; I had spent the day meandering around the area between Bury and Newmarket, and this was the first locked church I'd found all day. There was a sign giving keyholders' details, but it was pretty useless, being of the Thatched Cottage, Barrow, variety. It gave telephone numbers, but it didn't give the area code. I come across this again and again in porches - anyone phoning a keyholder from a church is, by definition, going to be using a mobile phone. You can't call a number from a mobile phone without an area code, but these notices rarely, if ever, give the code. I had no idea what the area code for Barrow was, and none of the other notices in the porch seemed prepared to reveal it.
Miserably, I wandered around to the north side, and found a modern building that might just have been the Rectory. There wasn't a sign saying so, but it had all the hallmarks of clerical occupancy - two small cars, an untidy front garden, jam jars in the porch, a view of bookshelves and a computer through the window. A television was playing, very loudly. I pressed on the doorbell, and waited. And waited. I pressed again, but nobody came. I wandered slowly back to the road, still expecting the door to open, and someone in a dog-collar to greet me.
But they didn't. I stood on the verge, wondering what to do next. An old lady cycled along the road towards me. She had two baskets, front and back. Small, noisy dogs sat in both. She smiled at me, a big beaming smile - 'Hello dear!', she called. As she passed me, and headed on up the road towards Cavenham, she waved, and I swear she took both hands off of the handlebars. She must have been about seventy.
I had a sudden panic that I had somehow stumbled on to the set of an episode of The League of Gentlemen. I got on my bike, and headed in the opposite direction as fast as I could, until Barrow was several miles behind me. Obviously, I'm never going back.
Part II: Very Graham Norton
I went back to Barrow in the early summer of 2003. I went to the aid of a distressed clergyman. His name was Father Peter MacLeod-Miller. He had been horrified to discover that I thought there was something rotten in the state of Barrow. I must come again, and I must come now. Well, trivialities conspired against me shooting straight over (a full-time job, a family, the lassitude that accompanies mid-life crisis, general fear of the unknown, etc) but within a few weeks I rolled up outside All Saints again. It was 9am on a Saturday morning, but already energetic parishioners were out and about giving the graveyard its first cut of the year after the late Spring flowers had seeded.
My eyes were on the glory of the church door - it was open. As we walked up to it, we were approached quickly in turn by Father Peter MacLeod-Miller himself. I flinched, but he didn't punch me. Instead, he shook our hands energetically, and turned out to be really, really pleasant. This was a plus point for Barrow - a jolly minister. Some are, and some aren't; you tend to remember the ones who aren't. But Father Peter MacLeod-Miller is something else you don't find every day in a Church of England minister - he is energetic. And even rarer than that, he's Australian. This struck me as a very affable combination.
He led us into the church, and proudly showed us around. I can tell you that Barrow church is very nice inside. It is obviously much loved, and well-cared for. I expect you think I'm going to say that it is completely normal, not odd at all, not the least bit Royston Veasyish. Well, you are wrong. There are several ways in which it is most unusual.
Firstly, there's the smell. Not damp, not wood polish, not even flowers, but the smell of incense. Incense is simply not something you find in rural Anglican churches in Suffolk. Outside of the four big towns, there is probably only Mendlesham where you encounter it. Mind you, they use enough at Mendlesham to make up for the rest.
No; in my experience, rural Suffolk protestants are allergic to incense. If you want to empty your church pretty swiftly, use it. Father Peter MacLeod-Miller has started burning it here, and at Risby and Great Saxham. And here's the thing - the congregations are actually growing. There is obviously something unusual and special going on here. And I think I know what it is. I'll tell you in a moment.
Another thing odd about Barrow is that there are still people in the parish important enough to have seats reserved for them. I loved that. There's Lady this, and Sir that, but there's also a health food millionaire who hands out samples of Emu oil after services.
Anything else odd? There's a most unusual tryptich on the altar in the south aisle. It shows St Michael contending with a dragon. The style is - how can I put this? - a prog-rock album from the mid-1970s. I was surprised to learn that it is rather more recent than this.
I suppose you want to know what else is in the church. Well, there's the font with its painted shields ; you can see something similar a few miles away at Horringer. Here, the shields show both ecclesiastical and secular powers, ranging from the Diocese of Ely to the State of France. It was repainted in the 1960s, according to Mortlock. The odd one out is to the local Despencer family.
In a lancet in the north wall are two curious shapes of medieval painted figures. Obviously, they were exposed by the Victorians, and the white plaster had been regularly renewed up to their outline. Unfortunately, the exposed figures have now faded completely; only their ghosts in the plaster show us where they once were.
Up in the chancel, there is a lively painted memorial to Clement Heigham, a rather more sober one to his wife who predeceased him, and one from a century earlier in the sanctuary to one of his forebears. There are some brasses, some of which are replicas of ones now in the British Museum.
The benches are mostly modern, except for a couple of very rustic ones in the south aisle and some bench ends up in the chancel. Father Peter MacLeod-Miller wants to clear the modern ones and replace them with chairs, so that he can have processions. I am sure they will prove very popular.
Barrow was the parish where the last wolf in England was killed. How do I know this? Father Peter MacLeod-Miller told me so.
So, what is the magic ingredient that is causing this parish to thrive against all apparent odds? I think it is Father Peter MacLeod-Miller himself. He strides energetically about his church, waving his arms. His long flowing hair is tied back with a large black ribbon. His flamboyance reminds me very much of the actor Graham Norton. I don't dare tell him so, of course.
Let's finish with something else unusual. Father Peter MacLeod-Miller is lucky enough to have a sibling at the Royal Opera House. Because of this, he has a number of stars on tap for fund-raising events. A recent musical evening at the Rectory, Opera to Broadway, included the percussionist Evelyn Glennie. But, because the Rectory isn't very big, they hold the events out of doors, and he keeps his piano on the lawn.
I doubt very much that anyone at Diocesan House reads my site (other than the lawyers, of course) but a memo to them just in case they do; I think you've found a winning formula. Let's have a Father Peter MacLeod-Miller in every moribund rural Anglican parish!
2011 postscript: Since I originally wrote this in 2003, Father Peter MacLeod-Miller has moved on to pastures new. Barrow church still seems to be very well-kept and much-loved, and this time I found it open.
Found at a popular Jerusalem book shop in one of the malls.
Panasonic FZ35, HDR from a single image.
These seats suck. But what can I expect from military hardware? At least it's roomy, and I'm not sharing the plane with a bunch of other shitheads with crappy hygiene and babies that can't shut the fuck up. Arnold got me on this flight with a SAS strikeforce. "Landsharks" they call themselves. They're being sent off to Pera Langit to deal with the last of the Zealot forces that used to own the place. Originally there was a shitheel dictator running the place. High taxes, murdered his own people, the usual shit you'd expect. His people got tired of it, rose up, and took the forces down. Democracy took over, and what's left of the dictator's regime are a bunch of zealots living in fortified caves. Recently the Zealots captured a very, very important General or something from the royal military who was visiting on diplomatic purposes. I'm offering my hand to these soldiers, and they'll help me find my mom. All I have to work with is her name, something I got from Arnold before I left. All I have of her is a name. No photos or birth certificate or anything. Just Maria Davao...She has to be somewhere...
Source: Alfa_Romeo_Giulia-US-car-sales-statistics
Warm welcome or cold shoulder is a new series here on CarSalesBase.com, where we discuss the sales performance of new models in their first year or so on the market. How have they performed in terms of sales: above or under expectations? What could be the reasons for their success or failure? And what do we expect for their future – will it improve or get worse?
First we tackle the Alfa Romeo Giulia, simply because it’s one of the most talked-about launches in recent years and by far the most popular car here on CSB in terms of pageviews. As always, feel free to join the discussion by commenting below or answering the poll at the bottom.
Let’s start with the US, the most difficult market for the Giulia: there have been some articles and comments across the web suggesting the Giulia is a sales failure in the US, pointing out Alfa has only sold 7.900 of them in the first eleven months of this year. Of course, that figure looks a bit bleak when compared to established models like the Audi A4 and BMW 3-Series, which sold almost 30.500 and 54.000 units during that same period. Then again, these brands and models have been around for decades which has given them great brand recognition, a faithful share of repeat buyers and not to forget a much larger dealer network (300 and 341 compared to 184). Alfa Romeo, on the other hand, has not been present in North America for nearly two decades and the few who still remember the brand mostly remember its reputation for poor quality. The US is a mature market and the midsized premium sedan segment is fiercely competitive as even an established brand like Cadillac has had trouble carving out a piece of that pie with the ATS, arguably one of the best cars it has made in a decade. So for a brand that has returned to the market after decades of non-presence, selling an average of 900 luxury sedans a month after its initial launch period is not all that bad.
A better comparison for the Giulia would be the Jaguar XE, another premium mid-sized sedan from a lower-volume luxury brand that was launched a few years ago without a direct predecessor. What’s more, Jaguar has 163 about dealers in the US, more in line with Alfa Romeo’s figure. Jaguar sold about 8.000 copies of the XE in the US in the first 10 months of 2017, not much more than the Giulia has sold, but I haven’t heard a single voice or read a single article claiming the XE is a failure. And keep in mind the Giulia was only launched in the first quarter of this year so its deliveries didn’t pick up traction until the second quarter. From May onwards the Giulia has consistently outsold its British rival. Also, the Alfa has been hampered by some software glitches that not only delayed deliveries but also didn’t do much good to its still very fragile image, proving those critics right that have continued the image of unreliable Italian cars. Not a great way to relaunch a brand and gain confidence from buyers looking to spend upwards of $40,000 on a new car. I think the major reason for the image of “failure” is that the goals set by FCA itself had been set unrealistically high and when the sales figures did not live up to those high expectations, it was easy to call it a failure. If only the company had been a bit more humble (or even just realistic) in their projections, the Giulia would not be considered a mishap. Perhaps the MotorTrend “Car of the Year” award can help put the Giulia on the shopping lists of more Americans, even though I personally take all these different COTY awards with more than a pinch of salt and so should everybody else.
Europe, the story is a bit different. Italian cars are traditionally known for being very dependent on their home market, with for example 80% of Fiat Panda and 64% of Alfa Romeo Giulietta coming from Italy. By comparison, just 38,5% of the Giulia‘s 19.201 European sales in the first 9 months of 2017 came from Italy, in line with the percentage of German sales for the Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class and much lower than the 55% of European Jaguar XE sales coming from the UK. This suggests the Giulia’s appeal is better spread across the continent. The Giulia was behind the German 3 in fourth place of its segment when ruling out coupe/convertible models like the BMW 4-Series and Audi A5 and the Volvo V60 station wagon. It outsold the Jaguar XE and sold almost 4 times as many as the Volvo S60 and Lexus IS, the only other sedan-only alternatives that sell in significant numbers in Europe, where 42% of sales in this segment are station wagons and just 32% are sedans (the rest are hatchbacks like the DS5, 3-Series GT and 4-Series Gran Coupe, or coupe and convertible models). That means the Giulia only effectively competes with less than a third of its segment, resulting in an 11% market share of the premium midsized sedan segment. Not bad for an Italian newcomer in a segment traditionally dominated by the Germans and which is heavily dependent on fleet and lease orders. Those buyers often focus more on total cost of ownership than on purchase price which means resale values play a major factor, something in which the Germans are traditionally strong while the Giulia has no proven track record in that aspect.
So should Alfa Romeo still consider making a Giulia station wagon, as it had for its predecessors 156 and 159? I don’t think it should, as the potential volume for that version, which would really only sell in Europe, is about 30.000 units a year. That’s not enough for a company already struggling for cash, which it could put to better use by developing a replacement to the Giulietta or a crossover below the Stelvio, especially when considering some of the SW sales probably would cannibalize on those of the sedan. Considering the premium midsized sedan segment as a whole is losing share to crossovers like the Volvo XC60, Mercedes-Benz GLC and Audi Q5, the Giulia was facing an uphill battle from the beginning, while the Stelvio is supposed to be the real money (and volume) maker. But in order to (re-)establish the Alfa Romeo brand as a sporty alternative to the Germans and a full-blown luxury brand, the Giulia was needed to give the brand credibility by proving it could compete with them in their traditional stronghold: that of midsized sports sedans in which the BMW 3-Series is still the king of the hill. That’s also why it has focused so much attention on the low-volume, top-of-the-line Quadrifoglio version with 510hp, as that version was able to beat the M3 and rivals on paper as well as on the road. The widespread critical acclaim from press and punters put the Giulia and Alfa Romeo back on the map in Europe and I wouldn’t call it a sales failure at all, even if it hasn’t met the overly ambitious goals set by Sergio Marchionne.
Kriss’ second opinion
I am in two minds about the Giulia’s sales performance. On one hand Bart is absolutely right – if you look at the numbers the right way Giulia’s sales figures looks pretty good for (a) a sedan (b) from a brand that needs to reestablish itself (c) in a crowded market (d) that’s losing volume to crossovers. And if you view the Giulia as a car whose main goal was to put Alfa Romeo back on the map than I would say it has actually been successful – while the sales are so-so, it is viewed as a car that can go head-to-head with the segment’s leaders, unlike for example the compromised Jaguar XE and Cadillac ATS.
On the other hand, however, there is no denying that Alfa Romeo needs to start selling cars now that it has all but killed off the Mito and Giulietta, and in this respect the Giulia is not the success that the brand needs. As such, the acid test will come with the performance of the Stelvio SUV, a car entering a growing segment where established brand values count for less than in the traditional segments. If the Stelvio can generate volume (and profits) for the brand than this will serve as foundation for future growth. So far FCA, and Sergio Marchionne, seem to be determined to drive the brand to succeed. However, as we have seen with Audi’s, Lexus’ and Infiniti’s decades-long journeys, success in the premium segments takes a long time, and even then it is not guaranteed. The Giulia, however, remains one hell of a start for Alfa Romeo.
I wasn't expecting the disused Road Safety School to be still there but luckily it was.
So I went in and looked around.
Checking the DOM on the back of the signs, I assume it shut down in the early 2000s due to money problems.
It was amazing how slowly fading this place was. Didn't look like anywhere else that had been shut for the past two decades.
These place is likely to date from the 1960s.
DOM on Stop On Red Signal Sign 10-01 (October 2001)
This 52 thing is harder than I expected. I'm kind of a perfectionist and want every photo to be better than the last but alas, I'm finding its not quite working out that way. Not that this is a terrible shot, it does have Sammy in it, but it's not quite what I was hoping for halfway into this thing. On the positive side, it does a good job of showing a bit of his character and his love of his tennis balls. :)
As expected, the winter storm has brought several inches of snow to our region and more is forecast today. The windy weather has caused outages around our service area, primarily in South and East King County especially the Enumclaw and Snoqualmie areas.
All ready for the new arrival. Except for the second coat of paint in the nureser, th crib, the glider, the changing table, the stroller, the car seat… but we have the stuffed animals taken care of.
You never knew what to expect on the day, but we had quite a few entertaining trips out and about. I made a few choice scans from Neville's extensive negative collection in 2011 for the 'Steaming Back' Gallery on the 'Monkeysnaps' Fotopic website which folded suddenly and some of those are now here on Flickr. It was quite amazing to see how the scant information in his ledger was beefed out with that stored in his memory. His ashes were to be scattered at his favourite location at Enthorpe Bank on the closed Driffield-Market Weighton line.
Neville at West Sleekburn - on a day out around the Blyth and Tyne. November 1983
Promise Fulfilled, Accomplishment Achieved at WSSU Commencement on May 14
WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- For Jeanette Valentine, earning her bachelor’s degree in business administration will be fulfilling on many levels.
Valentine, 50, is one of the approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students who are expected to participate in WSSU’s Spring Commencement exercises on May 14 at 9:45 a.m. in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Stephen A. Smith, noted journalist, media personality and motivational speaker, will be the keynote speaker.
Commencement will mark a special satisfaction not just because Valentine, a travel audit officer in WSSU’s accounting department, will be graduating with her 24-year-old son William R. Valentine. It’s because of a long-time promise fulfilled. Valentine made the promise to her mother back in 1978. Her mother and father never graduated from high school. When Valentine’s mother, who was battling cancer, asked her to promise she would graduate college, Valentine did. Valentine’s mother died two weeks before she graduated high school. Valentine was devastated over losing her mother.
“I started school at WSSU that year, but it lasted only one semester. I didn’t have the drive. I was still too distressed and overcome by my mother’s death. I couldn’t focus on school,” Valentine said.
Instead, Valentine got married, had two children and eventually went to work at a few jobs before coming to work at WSSU in 2006. In 2007, she decided to return to school since her children were adults. At the same time, her son who graduated high school in 2004 was thinking about returning to college after quitting previously. By fall 2007, both with full-time jobs returned to school at WSSU. He was an exercise science major and she was in the School of Business and Economics.
“He was so career focused on his job and he was doing well. But I kept pushing him and telling him he had to get a degree. I was thrilled he came back to school and that we were in school at the same time. It was exciting,” said Valentine.
Eventually Valentine saw her son was distracted by work. They talked and it was he who asked they agree to push each other so they could graduate at the same time.
That time is now. Valentine is thrilled they are graduating together. She says it feels like she has kept the promise made to her mother times two.
“In addition to the accomplishment, it may be quite an emotional day,” Valentine said.
Valentine is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the international honor society for collegiate schools of business as well as Alpha Sigma Lambda, a national honor society for Adult Learners in Continuing Higher Education. She plans to pursue her master’s degree at Liberty University.
Extraordinary Journey
It will be a festive ending to an extraordinary journey for Jerrica Scott, 24, of Winston-Salem. For Scott, commencement will symbolize the end of a passage marked by limitations, fear and uncertainty. It will be a celebration of a personal renaissance, driven by a theme that anything is possible with faith, passion and purpose.
“No matter how bad things may look, you can make a difference in your own life and the lives of others if you work really hard and know things can change. Soon things may look different, then not so bad, better, even good.”
Scott’s journey is verification of her belief. She entered WSSU to earn a four-year bachelor’s degree in elementary education six years ago as a single teen-aged mom. During that time as a full-time student, living on her own with her young daughter, she worked full-time, changed majors multiple times, quit school, got married, had another child, returned to school, made up a semester of credits lost when she quit and found her way back to the major that gave her the purpose.
“Just before I started my freshman year, I could hear people saying now that I had a baby as a teenager, my life was over or I wouldn’t get very far,” noted Scott. “Because I got pregnant in high school and had a baby in my first year of college, it didn’t mean I would be a failure. I did not want to be the stereotype of a young single mom who would work only at fast food restaurants or be on welfare the rest of her life.”
Although Scott was determined, she became distracted during her second year.
“I was failing classes miserably. I was living on my own and I was 18 years old. I felt lost and beaten, so I quit school,” Scott said who worked as a waitress. “Then one day, my manager told me the biggest thing he regretted was not finishing school. So if you don’t want to be waiting tables for the rest of your life, you need to go back to school. “
That was the turning point for Scott. She also thought about her mother, a cosmetologist, who always stressed the importance of education and often expressed interest in wanting her children to be greater than she. Scott soon quit her job and returned to school. Her best friend and others helped her find her way back to the major that aligned with where her talents and passions had always been -- elementary education.
“My best friend told me this is what I suppose to be doing. She told me we are going over there right now and you are going to get enrolled back into school. I just thank her,” said Scott.
Then she met a good man who cared about her and her daughter. It was like an unattainable dream. They soon married. Her second daughter was born in 2010. Now in school and completely focused on her education, Scott delivered the baby on a Friday and returned class on Monday.
Scott is currently working as a substitute teacher and searching for a fulltime permanent teaching job. She is also going to be the “first in my family to graduate college.”
Multiple Job Offers Early in Her Senior Year
Information technology major Kristen Dunlap, 21, of Charlotte, has accomplished a standout achievement, even before she completed her last year of college. In this challenging economy, she had two job offers from Fortune 500 companies one before her senior year, the other early in her senior year. She selected one position which she will begin this summer.
Dunlap attributes her success to internships, which she began participating in back in her freshman year. That first one was a summer research experience for undergraduate WSSU computer science students at WSSU, funded by NASA. She used, GIS visualization tools to visualize North Carolina weather patterns. The goal of the summer program was to expose students to researching skills and help to develop their problem solving and critical thinking skills.
For her second year, Dunlap interned at the NASA Langley, Va., facility where she worked as a liaison between the technology and client teams for the database tracking system used to manage NASA’s contractual projects.
For summer 2010, she was an intern at Altria Client Services in Richmond ,Va., where she worked on data archiving to consolidate previous and current information to migrate to a new system.
“You can never underestimate the value of internships. I started utilizing the WSSU Career Services office in my second year. My parents always told me to be aggressive at seeking job opportunities. I didn’t want to be a person to work hard for four years and have no job in the end,” Dunlap said.
She will start her new job at Altria Client Services as an IT assistant analyst.
The Entertainment Mogul
Erikka Rainey, 22, of Philadelphia wants to be a female Sean “P-Diddy” Combs. In fact, she has wanted to be an entertainment mogul from a very young age. As a child, she dabbled in music and even took classes, but by age 14, she knew wholeheartedly that she wanted to be on the business side of the music industry.
“When I first learned about P-Diddy, I knew that was where I wanted my future to be,” said Rainey. “I look up to P- Diddy because I’m working to be the first female to start a record label, then restaurants, clothing lines and television shows.”
When she sees a famous entertainer, she wonders what sort of things they did in their career to get famous. If not famous, she wonders what it would take to make them famous. While at WSSU she jumped at every opportunity to market and promote musical artists and events. She worked with Hidden Beach Recordings to promote events for a new CD. She passed out flyers and did social media and internet marketing for jazz artist Monette Sudler of Philadelphia this past summer.
“If there’s one thing I live by, it’s take advantage of all opportunities. Don’t close yourself off to anything. You never know what you will learn that can be the key to your future,” Rainey said.
An honor student, Rainey will be attending New York University’s (NYU) music business program in the fall. She plans to maintain at least one home in New York City after graduate school when her career kicks off.
Expecting and nursing mothers require social protection but workers in the informal economy are often not covered. Maternity protection has been a primary concern of the ILO since its creation in 1919. Workplace support for mothers who are breastfeeding has been a basic provision of maternity protection. The Philippines expanded maternity leave benefits in 2019 to align with international labour standards. The ILO also promoted exclusive breastfeeding in the workplace to advance women’s rights to maternity protection and to improve nutrition security for Filipino children.
Photo : E. Tuyay / ILO
Date : 2011/11
Country : Philippines
Nearly 1,000 Students to Participate in WSSU Commencement on May 15
WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- Christina Wareâs story is one of the many inspiring testimonials of the nearly 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students from near and afar who are expected to participate in Winston-Salem State Universityâs commencement ceremony on Friday, May 15, at 9:45 a.m., at Bowman Gray Stadium, 1250 South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.
Academy Award-winning recording artist, activist and actor Common will be the keynote speaker. There are no guest limits or ticket requirements for the ceremony.
It is conceivable that Wareâs story of work ethic, undeniable spirit and enthusiasm encapsulates the sentiment of her graduating 2015 classmates.
Ware, 43, of Winston-Salem, is quite active on and off campus as a mentor to other students, a member of the non-traditional student organization, the first president of Epsilon Chapter 130 of Tau Sigma National Honor Society at WSSU, a wife and proud mother of two. She is also legally blind. She wants to blaze trails, set examples and raise the bar for others with disabilities.
âIn 2007, I lost my eyesight. After a six-month pity party, I decided to continue my education and make a difference for others. Since 2008, I have spent every day of my life proving to society that having a disability does not mean we are weak. I am now an advocate for persons with disabilities,â Ware, a business major, said, "We are not handicapped, we are handy capable!"
Ware, who can be described as always pleasant and having an unlimited enthusiasm for life, says every day alive is like Christmas. She demands to be treated like everyone else and has been noted to say, âI may physically fall, but mentally I can get back up and pull a 4.0 semester.â After graduation she wants to start a Kosher/Halal foods business and become active on community boards.
The China Connection
From the City of Harbin, the capital and largest city of the Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China, WSSU Master of Arts in the Teaching of English as a Second Language and Applied Linguistics students Yaowen Xing and Chunling Zhang have found a second home at WSSU and in Winston-Salem. They perhaps have come the farthest distance attend the university.
With a population of more than five million people, Harbin is situated in the northeast region of China so close to Russia that only the Songhua River separates the two countries. Nicknamed the Ice City, the average winter temperature is -3.5 °F with annual lows hitting -31.0 °F. Itâs no wonder the students say the warmer weather here in the Piedmont Triad has not been lost in translation with them and itâs one of the things they enjoy.
âWe really love the weather in North Carolina, especially the long summer time, since our hometown is so cold with snow for almost 6 months of the year,â Xing, 30, noted. âWe also love the people at WSSU and the faculty who all are nice and it has been a really good experience.â
Xing and Zhang, 35, are in America as part of a Chinese education immersion program to help exchange the cultures between China and America. They enjoy working as cultural ambassadors to students in both the cultures. The two came to the U.S. in 2013 and have been teaching at Konnoak Elementary school during the early hours and studying and researching later in the day. âComing to America was a dream for me after learning about it through books, movies and music, and my time here it has been amazing,â Xing said.
Zhang, said she didnât know much about WSSU or Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUâs), but after a short time here she knew WSSU would be was special part of life. âI have met many African- Americans who have been friendly and helpful. I now can say I truly have many black friends,â Zhang said. She and Xing have taken advantage of the HBCU experience. They have been often seen attending evening lectures and presentations, sports events, musical and visual arts events. With their WSSU master degrees they will return to China one day in the future to make an impact on teaching and the quality of education there.
The All-In Approach
Olivia N. Sedwick, 21, a political science major from Indianapolis, has taken âthe all-in approach" to her WSSU experience. The current WSSU student government president (SGA), honorâs student and champion athlete, chose WSSU over other schools she could have attended.
Featured in a USA Today article highlighting the HBCU experience released last June, Sedwick is quoted as saying about WSSU, âI fell in love with the school.â She says, âWe talked about things that I had never had the chance to before coming from a predominantly white high school.â
Liking the intellectual and social environment, she was comfortable becoming involved around campus. In her first year, a walk-on athlete for the womenâs track and field team, she was a 2013 CIAA Indoor Womenâs Track and Field All-Conference competitor and the WSSU womenâs shot put record holder until earlier this year, although she never competed in the throws until coming to college. In her second year she served as the sophomore class vice president while also being appointed to serve on many committees throughout the university. In that same year, she was a delegate to the UNC Association of Student Governments (UNCASG), representing WSSU students on a state-wide level. At the end of that year, she became the first African-American female elected senior vice president of UNCASG and served in that capacity for the entirety of her third year while being active as the chief of staff for the WSSU student government association that year also. Toward the end of her term in UNCASG, she decided to run for student body president and has served as the voice of the students for the duration of her last year. With all of her activities, she has maintained a 3.95 GPA throughout her time in college.
Sedwick has been selected as a UNC General Administration Presidential Intern, which begins in July. Upon completion of the prestigious one-year appointment, Sedwick plans to attend Howard University School of Law.
A Drum Major who will March for a Noble Cause
Willie Davis, 22, a social work major from Fayetteville, N.C., who has led WSSUâs Red Sea of Sound Marching Band as a drum major for his senior year, will now march to lead the charge for helping veterans and their families cope with typical and unique challenges of serving in military. Davis will be one of four Cadets with the distinct honor of being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant U.S. in the U.S. Army during this yearâs commencement ceremony. Despite that professionally Davis will help vets, military and families with things like dealing with emotions, he said, âI donât think I will be ready for the commissioning part (of commencement) emotionally.â
Readiness for Davis is an understatement. The youngest of three siblings, who was age 10 when his father died, Davis has been an A average student throughout life. He was in the top ten of his high school class and the first generation in his family to attend college. At WSSU, besides maintaining high academic achievement and serving in the U.S. Army ROTC, Davis has been active with the WSSU Band, the University Choir, a Campus Ambassador, a mentor to freshmen students, vice president of the WSSU chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity, a Veterans Helping Veterans Heal intern and a member of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.
After graduation, Davis is going to graduate school at the University of South Carolina. He plans to complete that program in one year and begin his military duties. As a clinical social worker, his responsibilities may range from clinical counseling, crisis intervention, disaster relief, critical event debriefing, teaching and training, supervision, research, administration, consultation and policy development in various military settings. He wants to specialize in helping military veterans who suffer from different traumas such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), paranoid schizophrenia and other conditions.
2017 World Championship Group Stage at Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium in Wuhan, Hubei, China on 13 October 2017.
I wasn't expecting much from this film, but it is actually brilliant. The clear base makes scanning easy too. Getting it on the reels is a bit tricky since it has the feel of litho ortho.
Devleoped in Sprint Systems for 20 min @ 20 degrees following the time for D-76.
Shot on a FED-2 with the 50mm 3.5 collapsible.
I was expecting to get more photos of these dinosaur featured characters, however they were fast and hard to take photos of. I collected a small set of photos of these scaly friends to share.
Click her to view other photos I took in Curacao Dutch Antilles
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Most of these photos, for the exception of the Willemstad photos, were take at or around the Santa Barbara Beach and Golf resort. For more information on this resort go to www.santabarbararesortcuracao.com/ . This is one fo the top five islands in Caribbean it is especially popular for snorkelers and divers because it boasts of 100m of visibility in their emerald blue waters. It is 25 miles from the coast of Venezuala and one of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) The landscape is beautiful but rugged full of thick brush and cactus. The temperature (in November) was close to 90 degrees F each day I was there. The capital city, Willemstad, is rich with history with fort walls and cannons protecting its coastline. The buildings are colorful and rich with the Dutch influenced architecture. For more information on this island to to www.curacao.com/ or en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cura%C3%A7ao
A couple who are expecting walks in a wheat field owned by their family. North Idaho Model released.
Yes, we're pregnant. No, I am not leaving my job at Gonzaga.
(Will we find out if it is a girl or boy? No- We want it to be a surprise.)
I will do my best to refrain from pregnancy/ baby photos, so this is it!
More photos posted on the Blog
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© Becka Lynn Photography
Santa Rosa Maternity Photographer | Do Not Copy
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.”
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Not the most wonderful timing, but we are very happy about it! I am 12 weeks and I am due January 7th, the same day as my niece! Jason and I were both born in January as well. We are going to be a household full of Capricorns!
Nearly 1,000 Students to Participate in WSSU Commencement on May 15
WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- Christina Wareâs story is one of the many inspiring testimonials of the nearly 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students from near and afar who are expected to participate in Winston-Salem State Universityâs commencement ceremony on Friday, May 15, at 9:45 a.m., at Bowman Gray Stadium, 1250 South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.
Academy Award-winning recording artist, activist and actor Common will be the keynote speaker. There are no guest limits or ticket requirements for the ceremony.
It is conceivable that Wareâs story of work ethic, undeniable spirit and enthusiasm encapsulates the sentiment of her graduating 2015 classmates.
Ware, 43, of Winston-Salem, is quite active on and off campus as a mentor to other students, a member of the non-traditional student organization, the first president of Epsilon Chapter 130 of Tau Sigma National Honor Society at WSSU, a wife and proud mother of two. She is also legally blind. She wants to blaze trails, set examples and raise the bar for others with disabilities.
âIn 2007, I lost my eyesight. After a six-month pity party, I decided to continue my education and make a difference for others. Since 2008, I have spent every day of my life proving to society that having a disability does not mean we are weak. I am now an advocate for persons with disabilities,â Ware, a business major, said, "We are not handicapped, we are handy capable!"
Ware, who can be described as always pleasant and having an unlimited enthusiasm for life, says every day alive is like Christmas. She demands to be treated like everyone else and has been noted to say, âI may physically fall, but mentally I can get back up and pull a 4.0 semester.â After graduation she wants to start a Kosher/Halal foods business and become active on community boards.
The China Connection
From the City of Harbin, the capital and largest city of the Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China, WSSU Master of Arts in the Teaching of English as a Second Language and Applied Linguistics students Yaowen Xing and Chunling Zhang have found a second home at WSSU and in Winston-Salem. They perhaps have come the farthest distance attend the university.
With a population of more than five million people, Harbin is situated in the northeast region of China so close to Russia that only the Songhua River separates the two countries. Nicknamed the Ice City, the average winter temperature is -3.5 °F with annual lows hitting -31.0 °F. Itâs no wonder the students say the warmer weather here in the Piedmont Triad has not been lost in translation with them and itâs one of the things they enjoy.
âWe really love the weather in North Carolina, especially the long summer time, since our hometown is so cold with snow for almost 6 months of the year,â Xing, 30, noted. âWe also love the people at WSSU and the faculty who all are nice and it has been a really good experience.â
Xing and Zhang, 35, are in America as part of a Chinese education immersion program to help exchange the cultures between China and America. They enjoy working as cultural ambassadors to students in both the cultures. The two came to the U.S. in 2013 and have been teaching at Konnoak Elementary school during the early hours and studying and researching later in the day. âComing to America was a dream for me after learning about it through books, movies and music, and my time here it has been amazing,â Xing said.
Zhang, said she didnât know much about WSSU or Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUâs), but after a short time here she knew WSSU would be was special part of life. âI have met many African- Americans who have been friendly and helpful. I now can say I truly have many black friends,â Zhang said. She and Xing have taken advantage of the HBCU experience. They have been often seen attending evening lectures and presentations, sports events, musical and visual arts events. With their WSSU master degrees they will return to China one day in the future to make an impact on teaching and the quality of education there.
The All-In Approach
Olivia N. Sedwick, 21, a political science major from Indianapolis, has taken âthe all-in approach" to her WSSU experience. The current WSSU student government president (SGA), honorâs student and champion athlete, chose WSSU over other schools she could have attended.
Featured in a USA Today article highlighting the HBCU experience released last June, Sedwick is quoted as saying about WSSU, âI fell in love with the school.â She says, âWe talked about things that I had never had the chance to before coming from a predominantly white high school.â
Liking the intellectual and social environment, she was comfortable becoming involved around campus. In her first year, a walk-on athlete for the womenâs track and field team, she was a 2013 CIAA Indoor Womenâs Track and Field All-Conference competitor and the WSSU womenâs shot put record holder until earlier this year, although she never competed in the throws until coming to college. In her second year she served as the sophomore class vice president while also being appointed to serve on many committees throughout the university. In that same year, she was a delegate to the UNC Association of Student Governments (UNCASG), representing WSSU students on a state-wide level. At the end of that year, she became the first African-American female elected senior vice president of UNCASG and served in that capacity for the entirety of her third year while being active as the chief of staff for the WSSU student government association that year also. Toward the end of her term in UNCASG, she decided to run for student body president and has served as the voice of the students for the duration of her last year. With all of her activities, she has maintained a 3.95 GPA throughout her time in college.
Sedwick has been selected as a UNC General Administration Presidential Intern, which begins in July. Upon completion of the prestigious one-year appointment, Sedwick plans to attend Howard University School of Law.
A Drum Major who will March for a Noble Cause
Willie Davis, 22, a social work major from Fayetteville, N.C., who has led WSSUâs Red Sea of Sound Marching Band as a drum major for his senior year, will now march to lead the charge for helping veterans and their families cope with typical and unique challenges of serving in military. Davis will be one of four Cadets with the distinct honor of being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant U.S. in the U.S. Army during this yearâs commencement ceremony. Despite that professionally Davis will help vets, military and families with things like dealing with emotions, he said, âI donât think I will be ready for the commissioning part (of commencement) emotionally.â
Readiness for Davis is an understatement. The youngest of three siblings, who was age 10 when his father died, Davis has been an A average student throughout life. He was in the top ten of his high school class and the first generation in his family to attend college. At WSSU, besides maintaining high academic achievement and serving in the U.S. Army ROTC, Davis has been active with the WSSU Band, the University Choir, a Campus Ambassador, a mentor to freshmen students, vice president of the WSSU chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity, a Veterans Helping Veterans Heal intern and a member of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.
After graduation, Davis is going to graduate school at the University of South Carolina. He plans to complete that program in one year and begin his military duties. As a clinical social worker, his responsibilities may range from clinical counseling, crisis intervention, disaster relief, critical event debriefing, teaching and training, supervision, research, administration, consultation and policy development in various military settings. He wants to specialize in helping military veterans who suffer from different traumas such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), paranoid schizophrenia and other conditions.