The Unprotected One Hundred.

Laura Christensen was elected to the Vancouver Parks Board on Mr. Sim's ABC ticket in November of 2022.

Ms. Christensen is no longer an ABC Parks Board Commissioner, and is instead now sitting as an independent.

When the good Mr. Sim, the ABC leader and current Mayor, announced his intention to abolish the Parks Board late last year, Ms. Christensen was passionate in her defense of the elected Board, making it clear that when he she first agreed to run, Mr. Sim assured her that the Board would be reformed but would remain if his party won the election.

So.

Is there something untoward going on here?

For example, will the abolishment of the Parks Board clear the way for the selling off of park land under the now public, and some might say infamous, Recommendation #14 from the Mayor's Budgetary Task Force that we discussed yesterday?

Well, according to the actual wording of the said Recommendation #14, you could assume that all parks are safe given that they have been assigned to the 'critical asset' category.

Additionally, as Raymond Tomlin noted earlier today, Mr. Sim had the following to say on December 15th of 2023:

“I want to be very clear: as long as I’m mayor, parks will always be parks in the City of Vancouver,” Mayor Sim told CityNews in an interview on Friday, December 15, 2023.

But here's the thing...

As Ms. Christensen pointed out in her passionate petition to City Council (which you can watch here - it only takes three minutes and it will do your heart good when it comes to restoring your faith in what a true public servant can and should do), one hundred of the City of Vancouver's parks are not designated as 'permanent'. One of those not 'permanent' parks is Spanish Banks, pictured above.

Why does this matter?

Because, according to independent, and straight speaking, Parks Board Commissioner Christensen this means that the not 'permanent' parks are not protected by the need for a public referendum and a unanimous vote from City Council to 'de-parkify' them.

This conclusion of Ms. Christensen is actually supported by the wording in Mr. Sim's December 6, 2023 resolution to remove the Parks Board:

...FURTHER THAT, in accordance with the above (resolution to remove the Parks Board), (Vancouver City) Council formally request that the Province of British Columbia amend the process for revoking and/or cancelling the designation of areas designated as permanent public parks of the City under the VC, notably under section 488 of the VC (“Parks in care of Board”), to a unanimous vote of all Council members, along with provisions for a public referendum... (material in brackets and bolding mine)

And if a big chunk of developer desirable not permanent parkland were to be de-parkified with no elected Parks Board to protect it?

Hmmmmmm.

Perhaps we should ask ourselves what might happen to said de-parkified public land under the good Mayor's Task Force 'Recommendation #14 for asset privatization?

_____

Now, does an entire park have be swallowed, whole, by a developer to make a few of the chosen ones a whole lotta money?....Of course not?...How do I know this?...Because I saw the entire deal go down, up-close-and-personal, when another bait-and-switch happy politician cut the heart out of Pacific Spirit Park under the guise (i.e. initial bogus bait) of protecting the edges of a golf course...Seriously.

Again, Raymond Tomlin is all over this story over at his place.

.

The CBGB Theory Of City Planning...In Lotusland?

AllTheKids

ThatFitVille


I've got to admit that I find what Josh Feit, writing in PubliCola, the hyperlocal Seattle journal of politics and culture, has to say about what might be the best way for that town's downtown core to revitalize itself pretty appealing.

And, get this, it has nothing to do with new building and/or new housing starts, at least at first:

...The first step to reviving (Seattle's) downtown isn’t new housing, it starts with embracing the grim commercial real estate market, where vacancies recently increased from 22 percent to 24 percent...

 {snip}

...And as rents drop, the weirdos, rather than the big employers, move in. And by weirdos, I mean: creative-class, art-centric, small-scale retail...

{snip}

...Call it the CBGB theory of city planning. During the sluggish mid-to-late 1970s, New York City’s famously abandoned and spent Lower East Side neighborhood, where CBGB set up shop on Bowery, attracted waves of bohemians who turned the neighborhood into the epicenter of an urban shock wave that would change cities into magnetic destinations for brains, youth, talent, and commerce...

But what about here in Lotusland?

Could something like that, which certainly seemed to have happened in Kitsilano fifty plus years ago, happen here, in the here and now?

Somehow, I doubt it given that land is worth so much that there doesn't seem to be any room, either financial or three dimensional, for the weirdo first step to take hold before big money-backed gentrification stomps down, hard, on any and all Vancouver neighbourhoods.

Case in point....We live near a strip of Fraser in the 20's that went from dilapidated to glittering seemingly overnight.

And if we have no room for the weirdos and the kids, what the heck will we do then?


______
And then, of course, there is the bizarre situation out on the pointiest of the grey points out on our western-most edge where sizeable chunks of land ready-made for the stomping have suddenly been made available...This includes the Jericho Lands and what was once the heart of Pacific Spirit Park...But another chunk of terra firms that you may not have thought about recently is what used to be old Safeway site on 10th Avenue just east of the Gates of The West...The City Duo folks reported on the latest public meeting about the coming development of that site recently...Here.

And speaking of the lazy, crazy, relatively short-lived, endless summer days of Kitsilano's spin as Haight Ashbury, North...Eve Lazarus, whose blog is new to the Crawl over on the left side of the page for non-palm-based device users, recently had a post on the 'Peace House' on Pt. Grey Road where the likes of the Grateful Dead once hung out...What's really crazy about all that is, though it seems, in retrospect, like they are hugely separated in every way imaginable, including across time, the Peace House's most famous days took place only a decade before all that became infamous at the punk house located cross-townish at Gore and Union.

Buried ear worm in the end of post round-ups?...You bet!

.

Ahead By A (Quarter) Century...

9,129DaysIsA

LongtimeVille

I got an Email from the super big boss at the place where I work the other day.

Usually these things are meant for everyone, and recently they've been all about, as you might expect, online teaching and the like.

But this particular message was personal.

And it had a letter attached.

A letter that congratulated me for working at the very fine public institution concerned for twenty-five years.

Which led me to smack myself upside the top of the head and ask...

Where the heckfire has all that time gone?

****

When we arrived in Vancouver in the summer of 1995, Bigger E. was two years old and littler e. was still a gleam in her Mom's eye.

It was C. who found the first house we lived in, a rough-around-the edges bungalow in Mackenzie Heights on the westside of town that cost us $1,200 a month. Two years later the off-shore owners offered to sell it to us for $255,000. We balked (yes balked!) and moved to a crazy shanty town on the edge of campus that we loved, not for the buildings, but rather for the people. For a good chunk of the next eight years we tried to build a co-op nearby and almost succeeded only to have our hopes dashed by the BC Liberal Party's version of BC Housing.

I've felt terrible ever since because we were the community group that showed GordCo's, Inc.'s money men that it was possible to extricate land from Pacific Spirit Park. The parcel concerned, which we lost to a developer because our fully-financed $12 million dollar plan for 42 families was about a million shy of the hastily assembled competitive sealed bid mark, was a small one. In contrast, the GordCo-jacked parcel that followed was massive and, in my opinion, it tore the heart right out of the park.

Anyway, in the aftermath of the loss we moved to the eastside of town where've been ever since.

The lab moved as well and I like where it is now. The colleagues are great, the students and post-docs are even better, and we're doing some of our best work right there, right now.

It's just weird how fast you go from being the young trouble maker who can, and does, do everything at the lab bench, to the old guy who mostly manages, raises money, dispenses advice, and writes.

Really weird.

OK?

_______

Image at top of the post...The two E's not long ago, all grown up now.

When our former landlords asked us if we wanted to buy that bungalow I truly and honestly thought they were crazy....Of course, the dirt is now worth more than 10 times what they were asking at the time.

Why were we a million shy on the co-op, which was an equity thing, at that total cost to family number ratio?....Because we had a sliding scale plan that would make it possible for everyone concerned to get in on the action regardless their income level...Me, always with the pipe dreams...Would I do it differently with a 2nd chance?...I'm really not sure, to be honest.

Speaking of the Tragically Hip, E. and I have been working on a cover of 'Ahead By A Century'...I've just been unhappy with my playing on it so far....But it's coming.

.

Advent Jukebox...Day 15

RidingTheWinterHigh
FrozenLotuslandVille



Have been involved in a lot of new-fangled facing-type times going back and forth with folks from the center of the universe this week.

They just laugh at me when I tell them that we're having real winter out here.

I just tell them its wonderful, especially the brightness of the days.

Nobody seems to laugh at that.



 ______
Image at top of post:  Trail into the place I work cutting through Pacific Spirit Park...Not far from where it's heart will soon be removed... And, just to be clear, that heart removal has nothing whatsoever to do with the place where I work...It was and always will be GordCo Inc's doing.


.

At The End Of The Day...

...I've got to wonder why, if we dog owners have to carry plastic bags so that we can pick-up after our charges, folks who ride horses on GVRD park trails don't have to do the same thing.

After all, my quick back of shite-stained tire calculation after I rode through a massive load on a Pacific Spirit Park main trail on the way home from work today is that it would take approximately 162 Whackadoodle poops to come even close to one massive 3 litre horse pile.


_____
And don't cry for thee urban horse rider...It's not like the fine 0.1% that can afford to board their hooved ones in Southlands such that they can ride in the park in question couldn't afford to hire a few young kids (starting at the training wage of course) to follow along on electrified ATV's with big, double lined garbage bags.
And don't get me wrong (sorry, Beer)....I agree that we dog owners should be cleaning up after pets in urban/suburban areas.


.

At The End Of The Day...

...I really want to learn to read again.

For me, the situation is very similar to that described by Corey Robin (although, luckily for me, the chair thing is already over and done with):

Like most academics, I read articles and books. Unlike most academics (maybe, I don’t really know), reading has become harder and harder for me. Not simply because of the distractions that come with department politics, administrative duties (come July 1, I’m chair of my department), advising grad students, and teaching. I wish it were as noble as that. No, the reason I find it so difficult to read these days, now years, is the internet....


The internet indeed.

Not because it's bad (although there is that), but rather because it's so darned good.

Back when we still had the VW (notso) Microbus I sometimes dealt with this issue by parking the thing on that stretch of West 16th that slices through Pacific Spirit Park between Blanca and Wesbrook. I would then climb in the back, and swing out the table so that I could spend an hour or three uninterrupted by my own quest for peripheral knowledge (and/or the latest identified mutations/amplifications of a small leucine-rich mucin we were working on at the time).


Here's how NYC dweller Rubin deals with it:

...Here’s how I do it. After I drop off my daughter at school or summer camp, I jump on the subway. I ride the rails for three to four hours. Maybe the F train: out to Coney Island, back through Brooklyn, into Manhattan, out to Forest Hills, and then back. Or if I’m pressed for time, just the Q train: again out to Coney, back through Brooklyn, into Manhattan, out to Astoria, and back. Or if I’m in the mood for a change, the B or the D trains: they ultimately take me to the Bronx and back.

I take nothing with me but my book and a pen. I take notes on the front and back pages of the book. If I run out of pages, I carry a little notebook with me. I never get off the train (except, occasionally, to meet my wife for lunch in Manhattan.) I have an ancient phone, so there’s no internet or desire to text, and I’m mostly underground, so there are no phone calls.

When I get back, I sometimes post about my little rides and what I’m reading on Facebook: Schumpeter in Queens, The Theory of Moral Sentiments in the Bronx, Hayek in Brooklyn. The more incongruous, the better, though sometimes I find some funny or interesting parallels between what I’m reading and where I’m riding and what I’m seeing.

But the joking on Facebook covers up my dirty little secret: I ride the rails to read because if I’m at home, and not writing, I’m on the internet. “It is not simply that one is interrupted,” as Park writes; “it is that one is actually inclined to interruption.”...

Heckfire!

Maybe I should take a few Skytrain trips to Surrey.


________
When I was back east recently I took the train from Ottawa to Montreal and it was glorious...Only trouble was, the WiFi was outstanding....I worked, looking up latest specifics on microenvironmental immunomodulation during the progression of one pathological state to another...But I did not read.



.

The Great Coast Guard Base Swindle...What The 'Memo' Says.

There'sNoBlueprintLike
TheHighCommissioner'sBlueprintVille


Now.

It is still not entirely clear that  the 'memo' first mentioned by Jas Johal and Peter Meiszner of Global on Friday and, apparently, leaked by Jim Sinclair, actually refers to the Kits Coast Guard Base land.

But the timing is mighty suspicious (and does not quite jibe with the previously announced timing of how the other Jericho stuff farther west was supposed to go down).

And with that in mind...

Sam Cooper, of the The Province, gives us a little more of the text of the 'memo':

...The federal memo...{snippety doo-dah}... obtained by the Sunday Province, says agencies have "presented the First Nation equity proposal for the Jericho Beach, Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and RCMP site," in a land negotiation that the government wants to wrap up by May or June 2013.

"This proposal unlocks the value of these properties for the economic benefit of all parties . . . [and the negotiation must establish] a joint-venture agreement between First Nations and Canada Lands Company which will capture the nature of the partnership," says the memo, which does not identify the First Nations involved. Canada Lands Co. is an agency that acquires sites deemed as "surplus properties" no longer needed by government, in order to transfer sale proceeds to the federal treasury...


Look.

We here in Lotusland have seen this 'unlocking of the value' gambit before.

Specifically, it was a grift run by the current High Commisioner of Great Britain, Mr. Gordon Campbell, when he and a bagman ran a little misdirection that led to a billion dollar play that involved the giving away of a chunk of Pacific Spirit Park's heart. 

The thing is, back then, in the case of the Park, the misdirection involved a golf course that had to be 'saved'.

In this case, if the deal really is going down on the end of Kits Point, it was a Coast Guard base that had to be 'killed'.

But, then again, when the potential bonanza for developers is billions....

Well, what does a little faux 'saving' and one true 'killing' really matter when it comes to the public trust?

****

Meanwhile, the federal Minister responsible for (allegedly) turning Public Works private, Ms. Rona Ambrose, was in Lotusland this weekend telling anybody who would listen that it was actually the Coast Guard's decision, or based on their advice, or all such a longtime ago, or some such pretzellian logistical nightmarish thing:

..."Well, my understanding is that was a decision that was made some time ago and everyone in the region was aware of it, and of course this was on the advice of the Coast Guard," she (Ambrose) said...

Sheesh.

No.

Super sheesh.

.

This Day In Harperland...The Great Coast Guard Base Swindle (ctd)...

TheCostOfEverything
TheValueOfNothingVille


In which an un-bylined Province 'Staff Reporter' rewrites Jas Johal's copy.

And I thought the HuffPo was bad.

Now....

If this selling of all the land thing is for real there is likely, as Chris Montgomery speculated (see comments here), a 'bundling' component to it.

Which means that the First Nations may be part of the play. In fact, there is actually a whiff of that in the original Johal/Meiszner story as well as the Province's (allegedly) purloined piece.

Which might sound crazy given the rumours that the Harperlandians keep a copy of the Flanagan Rules on their bedside tables at all times.

But the thing is, making First Nations an offer they can't refuse to facilitate a billion dollar condo-jacking has happened in Lotusland before.

In fact it is happening right now.

OK?


_______
I'll have more on the cutting out of Pacific Spirit Park's heart up soon....Why?....Because it looks to me like they are getting ready to unleash the bulldozers (or at the very least, the surveyors)...Gosh...Wonder what the big hurry is.

.

Budget Day In Snookland....It's The Crown Assets Stoopid!

TheCostOfEverything
TheValueOfNothingVille


I have read Mr. Tim O'Neill's superwide-margined report on the BC government's revenue projections and there is absolutely nothing new there.

Essentially, the entire $25,000 we spent is contained in Table 1...

Now.

Notice what you don't see there...

You know, that thing that is supposedly going to be the last second revenue saviour for Mike and the Mechanics.

The thing that Bruce Ralston correctly called 'revenue speculation' this morning.

It is a thing also known as  'crown assets sales'.

Sales that may, or may not, have actually happened.

So...

What will they tell us they are going to sell?

The Endowment Lands at the far western edge of Lotusland?

Don't be silly.

They can't do that because his Gordness already gave away the heart of Pacific Spirit Park, for free, to facilitate a billion dollar condo-jacking.

Hmmmmm....

Then how about a lake or two?

Maybe Christina and half an Arrow that nobody but a few folks in the Hurtland even know about?

Or maybe the Strait of Juan de Fuca, because, after all, the American's own half of that body of water already anyway?

I know!

How about a Mountain?

You think I'm joking?

Well, actually, as noted last November in the wake of Mike and the Mechanics' faux 'quarterly budget update', I am most definitely not.

Joking I mean.

Because, even then, you could smell the set-up from miles and miles away.....

__________________________________

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Why Should We Believe Anything In The '2nd Quarter Budget Update'?

AllTheMeaninglessNumbersThatFit
Reckless&FecklessVille

...(O)ne of the weird tidbits in the feckless Finance Minister's press release is the following sentence:

...The projected (provincial budge) deficit for 2012-13 is $1.47 billion, a $328-million increase from the First Quarterly Report due primarily to the change in the completion date of the sale of the Little Mountain property...

What the heckfire is that 'Little Mountain' insertion all about, I wondered?

So I went looking for the actual 'number'....

And this is what I found in the so-called 'forecast changes' ledgers attached to the actual report (numbers in millions):

Two hundred and ninety-two million underwater in Quarter #2?

Jeebuz!

Is that just one of the rabbits that will be suddenly pulled out of a hat ..... (in the spring of) 2013 just as the election campaign kicks into high gear?

Monday, Monday.

AllTheTrepidationThatFits
TheLadderOfScienceVille


Last week was a scary/nervous/jangly time for science geeks like me.

Why?

Because we were all waiting for grant results from the big federal agency that funds most of the kind of work we do to be released.

This time around the agency received 2,333 grant applications from across the country and, given the way things are going, they plan to fund approximately 400.

So.

If I can still do that new fangled math all the kids are talking about these days (i.e. long division), that's a success rate of ~17%.

Which scares the beejeebuz out of all of us.

And that includes all 2,333 'principle investigators' (PI's) like me and, perhaps even more so, the 4-6 other folks per grant application (at the very least) whose training and/or livelihood depends on not being in the 'bottom' 83%.

Of course, no one group adjudicates all 2,333 applications. Instead, they are doled out in packets of 50 or so to individual 'panels', each of which is  made up of a dozen or so fellow science-geeks working in the same field as the PI. These gaggles of geeks then peer-review each grant and rank them within that individual panel.

Which means that, with a 17% success rate, each panel will fund 8 or 9 grants, maximum.

Thus, twice each year, in June and January, PI's with grants wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and begin banging the lever looking for that darned Email from Ottawa that will tell them where where they rank this time.

And last June the ranking for one of the grants that funds half of my lab was not good at all.

In fact, we were so far down the ladder that after I was able to shake off the nausea and dread enough to tell the people in the lab, I seriously considered abandoning the project altogether.

But, instead, after my head had been cleared during our early summer driving holiday to Northern California, (which may have been the last one of its kind with both of our kids given that our eldest will soon be 20) I talked to everyone in the lab again, made the rounds to our collaborators, and then decided to take a big step that might take us off a cliff or maybe, just maybe, might take us in a new and potentially important direction.

Because, here's the thing...

I'm a 'fundamental' biomedical researcher, which means that mostly my group works on very basic problems where our goal is to figure out how certain kinds of molecular teflons and velcros on the surfaces of cells actually work to be either adhesive or slippery.

Sounds esoteric, I know, but how cells stick to and/or slip by each other is really, really important in helping to regulate how tissues form during development and are altered during disease.

Anyway, it was a fundamental grant, on a very specific type of teflon, that the panel really, really hated back in June.

Why?

Because they concluded that we had already done enough basic work on the problem. Thus, they recommended that what we really had to do next was develop a 'translational' (which is a code word for 'clinically relevant') project.

So, for the remainder of last summer I pushed everybody really, really hard to develop new tools and experimental paradigms* that would allow us to generate a small amount of preliminary data with that new, very different, translational bent.

Then, right around about the time I shot this, I began locking myself in my office everyday for three weeks and banged out a brand new grant application wherein I proposed a three-pronged approach to develop non-toxic compounds that could, potentially, be used to block the function of the teflon which we think is important in a number of pathological situations.

Weirdly, the soundtrack to this grant was Green Day's 'American Idiot', the only explanation being that I have to music that I know like the back of my hand as background noise blasting in my earbuds when I do these things.

Finally, in mid-September I sent the thing in and did my best to forget all about it while I started to scrimp and save and worried about how long we could go before I would have to start laying people off.

(As an aside, this was also much easier in the beginning, back when I started my lab and everybody was a kid....but now, half of the people working with me have families and mortgages and all those things that really make me sweat, because the grants, not the University, funds everything that goes on in a basic science lab like mine).

And then last week came.

And finally, early, early on Tuesday morning the Email popped up.

And, long story short, we did very, very well.

But that did not mean that I went to work whooping and hollering.

Why?

Because, given the percentages, most of my colleagues did not get such good news.

Which is the nature of the beast.

The folks in the lab sure were happy, though.

And enthusiastic as heck about trying to scrape that teflon off cell surfaces.

I'll let you know how it goes.


________
*I also pushed everybody hard last summer to get papers out the door as these, which are also peer-reviewed in a somewhat different way (I'll explain that another time), are important 'proof-of-principle' building blocks that grant panels use to gauge whether or not you can actually do what you say you will do in an application...
Image at the top of the post is of a frozen and slightly frazzled swordfern that was taken during my very, very late morning (early afternoon actually - you can slack off a little when your grant comes in) ride in to work one of the Pacific Spirit Park trails yesterday...All snark aside...Why did I have to go in on a Sunday?....Well, there was gardening to do (tissue culture), so that I could help get a bunch of cell lines with various levels and variations of teflon on their surfaces ready so that we can use them to test the efficacy of a bunch of antibodies that a collaborator has made against the molecule...


.

My Morning Ride

AllTheSunshineThatFits

LotuslandInWinterVille

The way things appeared as I looked back over my shoulder on the Pacific Spirit Park trail this morning.

No coyotes today, but there have been quite a few around lately.

________

This spot is about 600 meters away from where the heart will soon be cut out of the park.

.

Are They Now Removing The Last Strips Of Astroturf From The Golf Course?

FairwaysWin/ParksLose

DevelopmentalHarmonyForAllVille

Last week I linked to a piece from Black Press' Jeff Nagel which made it clear that the heart of the GVRD's Pacific Spirit Park will now be ripped out, stomped on, and handed to developers.

This is a story that has garnered very little (i.e. essentially no) coverage in Lotuslandian's proMedia.

In fact, the only other Googleizable piece I have been able to find is from Carlito Pablo in the Georgia Straight.

Here's the very top of Mr. Nagel's lede:

"Metro Vancouver has lost a court battle against the provincial government over the expropriation of part of Pacific Spirit Regional Park that was handed over to the Musqueam Indian Band in 2008.

Twenty-two hectares (~50 acres) of the park in Vancouver near UBC – worth an estimated $200 million* – was taken from Metro without compensation and transferred to the Musqueam to settle a lengthy court dispute between the band and the province..."

But here's the thing.

Back in the fall of 2007 when Gordon Campbell was still running the province, and the riding of Point Grey where the Park is located, he apparently told his constituents that this would never happen according to a story by Ian Bailey in the Globe:

VANCOUVER — Premier Gordon Campbell says his government will take an extra three months to finalize a deal to cede the University Golf Club in his riding to the urban Musqueam band, according to a participant at the Premier's first meeting with community representatives on the issue.

The deal had been expected to conclude this month, but the Premier told participants at the Friday gathering in his constituency office that the government hopes to resolve it by the end of December.

"It looks like it's just a matter of working on the fine points, but it seems to me it's pretty much a done deal, that the ownership of the golf course is going to be transferred," said Bob Kasting, president of the University Endowment Lands Community Advisory Council, who attended the hour-long meeting at the Premier's invitation.

Mr. Kasting said two other community participants and former Vancouver-Quadra MP Stephen Owen, now an external relations vice-president at the University of British Columbia, were present.

The issue has spurred petitions, angry meetings and even a poll to counter the transfer of the 48-hectare course in Mr. Campbell's Vancouver-Point Grey riding.

Mr. Kasting also said Mr. Campbell flatly rejected the idea of preserving the golf course and giving the Musqueam land elsewhere such as in Pacific Spirit Park.

What's that you ask?

Initially, the Golf Course was supposed to go to the Musqueam for immediate development?

And now, instead, it's a chunk of the Park itself?

What was that all about?

Well....

In my opinion it was an elaborate misdirection play that, assisted by Astroturfing, made the unthinkable first possible, then probable, and finally, a lock.

Essentially, the 'turfing was initiated by Mr. Martin Zlotnik, a man with close longterm ties to the good Mr. Campbell who was also an NPA Parks Board member when he started up a 'grassroots' group called 'Save The Course' that wurlitzered up all kinds of media coverage that allowed him to get public traction with statements like the following:

"The government doesn't want to offend the greater community (by cutting a chunk of land out of the park). It's easier for them to offend the rich golfers who play out at the university golf course."

That zinger was also published in the Globe. The following link instead sends you back to my original post given that the BellGlobeEveryThingElseMedia's subscription wailing wall has been raised in the interim.

Regardless, do you see a pattern here about what gets covered when by the big proMedia boys 'round here?

****

Now, if you go looking for evidence of the 'Save The Course' turfing out on the far outer edges of the Google cache you will find nothing.

But if you use the Wayback Machine the echos are still there. And this wee little bit, from the site's 'About Us' page is ringing in my ears:

"Save the Course is an informal grass roots organization formed in response to the BC Provincial Government's intention to give the UBC Golf course to the Musqueam First Nation as part of a land claim settlement.

The Provincial Government's plan was negotiated in secret with no community consultation on the part of either the members of the Musqueam First Nation, the residents of the GVRD, or the users of the UBC Golf course.

Our organization believes that there are far better ways to satisfy the Musqueam claim than to lose this precious community asset.

Within days of the proposed land deal leaking out, more than 2200 people had signed a petition protesting it, the issue had received national media coverage, and sufficient funds were donated to produce this web site and begin a newspaper advertising campaign.

The two spokespersons for Save the Course are Vancouver residents Marty Zlotnik and Dr. Bob Hindmarch."

Just two rootsy keepers of the grass, those two 'Vancouver residents'.

Sure are.

****

There is one other thing worth mentioning here.

Which is the fact that lot of money was raised at that golf course for the good Mr. Campbell over the years. Here is Sean Holman's report of the take for the year in question, 2007:

"The provincial government's expected decision to cede the University of British Columbia Golf Course to the Musqueam First Nation has been a source of much controversy in the premier's riding. And Gordon Campbell will have an ideal opportunity to think about that controversy this coming Friday. After all, that's when the course will be playing host to the Liberal's annual Leader's Open Golf Tournament, which raised $262,520.62 for the Liberals last year...."

And it things were still going strong as late as this time last year.

So there is a lot of history for Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberal Party there.

Which takes us to the golf course's current, still active right now, 'History' webpage:

"The province operated University (Golf Course) from 1970-1985. From 1972 - 1977, the government spent 2 million redesigning and upgrading all or parts of 13 holes under the supervision of John Reimer, a Surrey golf course architect. In 1971, the government appointed Mr. Ron Willey as the Professional and the golf course was run more or less from Victoria.

In 1985 a group of Vancouver businessmen headed by Robin Lecky and late Shaughnessy Professional Jack McLaughlin was awarded a 25 year lease. Members of this group included sports commentator and promoter Greg Douglas and his partner Ron Gardner, UBC director of athletics Bob Hindmarch, Former Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club manager Bill Gillespie, engineer and developer Ivan Kraemer and chartered accountant Bill Humphries...."

Very finest of the fine Vancouver 'residents' on that list.

But here's one more, again from the course's 'History' page.

"The lease has since been controlled by David Ho...."

****

So....

Above, I noted what gets covered, when, by the big proMedia in this town.

And what does not.

But what I'd really like to know is 'why'.

______

*The 200 million dollar number was first floated, at least in the public prints, by he who now helps write government 'reports', Mr. Miro Cernetig.....But then he revised his numbers and came up with the 'b-word'...As in 'Billions'.....Again, I ask, why, exactly, is this story not being covered?

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Pacific Spirit Park Development Decision

AllTheRootsThatDon'tQuiteFit

GrassVille

Here's the lede from Jeff Nagle of Black Press:

"Metro Vancouver has lost a court battle against the provincial government over the expropriation of part of Pacific Spirit Regional Park that was handed over to the Musqueam Indian Band in 2008.

Twenty-two hectares of the park in Vancouver near UBC – worth an estimated $200 million – was taken from Metro without compensation and transferred to the Musqueam to settle a lengthy court dispute between the band and the province.

Mayors from Metro's member cities feared the land raid set a possible precedent for the province to confiscate other regional or civic parks or public lands to satisfy aboriginal demands or to negotiate future treaties.

Metro lawyers had argued the province violated the Local Government Act when it expropriated the park land without adequately notifying or consulting the regional district.

The B.C. Supreme Court previously rejected Metro's court challenge, finding there is no legal force behind principles contained in the act that require notice and consultation for provincial actions directly affecting regional district interests...."

Which, of course, means that once again the Astroturf Layers have won.

In this case one of those that did much of the carpet laying turns out be a former bagman for Gordon Campbell and, get this, a former (ie. defeated) Vancouver Park Commissioner.

I've written a lot about this previously. A good place to start, if you are interested in the backstory, is here.

The only way you can find any actual online trace of the original fake grass, however, is through the Wayback Machine, as all signs of it, even at the outer edges of the Google cache have been, apparently, scrubbed.

Sheesh.

_____

And, while this was set up to make it impossible to argue about in most of the mainstream proMedia given the aboriginal connection, there was in my opinion, a middle ground that could have saved this invaluable chunk of the park....Only trouble was, again in my opinion, the developers who will get the biggest windfall in all of this may have made a little less money....

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Rosie, Bigger E and Me.....The Calendar Is On Our Side

SummertimeIs
BeachtimeVille


Seems like it was just yesterday that we embarked on our late-in-the-depths-of-winter Northern World Tour.

And now.... Bingo, Bango, Bongo....it's Victoria Day!

And summer is on it's way.

Can't wait.


____
Image at the top of the post.....Rosie, the Whack-A-Doodle, and Bigger E at the dog park portion of Spanish Banks yesterday, right where it bangs up against that part of Pacific Spirit park that will separated from the rest when its heart is cut out as a result of the secret machinations, ably assisted by the obfuscatory deflector spin of one of his bagmen, of the current MLA for Vancouver Point Grey.

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Campaign Day 18 (wake-up call)....The Trail Goes Cold...

SomethingsAreJustNotMeantToBe
LINORamaLamaDingDongVille


In case you've misssed it, we've been running a little series in which we attempt to identify places Gordon Campbell WON'T be campaigning during the current election season.....

So far we've come up with.....

Pacific Spirit Park in his home riding of Vancouver Grey Poupon.

And the Little Mountain (nolonger)Housing Complex in Vancouver.

And Kimberley Hospital in Kimberley.

And Enron Headquarters in Houston Texas.

And Carmanah Provincial Park on Vancouver Island.

****

Now, as you can imagine, with a project like this it's good to think ahead so that you don't run out of ideas as the campaign grinds on.

And, in that vein, one place I thought Mr. Campbell would most certainly not go was out to 'Belt of Big Books and Even Bigger Buckles' to see maximum John Les.

Heckfire, I even had the image with signs and everything all ready to go.

And then the unthinkable happened yesterdy, as reported by John Bermingham in the VSun:

"....Campbell stumped for Chilliwack candidate and former B.C. solicitor-general John Les at his campaign office in front of 100 cheering supporters.

Les resigned a year ago as B.C.'s top law enforcer, and the RCMP and the Agricultural Land Commission are each doing separate investigations into land deals that occurred in Chilliwack when Les was mayor.

They are probing whether rules were broken when lot lines of rural properties were changed so that farmland could be sold, in some cases to developers.

Les said he was unaware of media reports that the scope of the investigation is widening.

"I expect to be completely exonerated," Les said. "I've been as open and forthright as I can."

Campbell said Les has served the community, and the choice to run was his own.

"It's going to be their choice," said Campbell. "He's served this community well. They know the circumstances under which he's running......"

Yup.

The community most certainly does know the 'circumstances'.

And so does Mr. Campbell.

Which begs the question.....Why would a way-out-in-front-leader stump for such a candidate?

Unless, of course, Mr. Campbell is staring some internal polls in the face that are telling him that he, most definitely is not.

OK?



______
You want more background on Mr. Les and his 'circumstances'? You can get it here, here and here.
Oh, and don't forget that, 'circumstances' or no 'circumstances', Mr. Les was also the Minister-In-Charge-Of........This.


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Campaign Day 14.......Hitting The Angry Constituent Trail

HowMuchIsTheHeartOfAParkWorth?
AskGordoVille


It's easy to figure out where Gordon Campbell will be campaigning today, Apr 27, 2009.

But what about the opposite?

In other words, where will Gordon Campbell make sure he doesn't show up today?

****

Well.....

One place we're pretty sure the Premier of British Columbia won't be is Pacific Spirit Park in his home riding of Vancouver Point Grey.

Why are we pretty sure of that?

Well, if Mr. Campbell did show up there he just might have to explain to his constituents, some of whom are still very angry, why he traded the very public heart of a much beloved park for the edges of a very private golf course that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for him every year.

OK?



_____
And just in case you're wondering....those signs were hard to find given that candidate Campbell has decided not to include headshots on the great majority (all?) of his.....Still yet to be substantiated rumours have led some to suggest that the park's Fairies may have built the ones you see in the image above.

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There Is No Place I'd Rather Be Than....

.....Pacific Spirit Park.

I took the picture above (click on it for full effect) during my ride into work this morning.

It's a trip, not through the deep wilderness but rather through the edge of a great city, that I've made pretty much every single day since I arrived in Vancouver thirteen years ago.

And not once have I ever felt unsafe, or the least bit threatened

Even when I played in the woods with my kids when they were toddlers.

Which does nothing to help alleviate last Friday's terrible tragedy.

And while I understand that everyone needs be cautious and fully aware of their surroundings, I still hope, more than just about anything, that anyone who wishes to can visit, and re-visit, the park forever and ever again.

Without fear of harm or worry.

OK?

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Will George Bailey Tell Mr. Potter Where To Go...

...During The Superbowl Halftime Show?

I dunno for sure.

And I must confess, I'm a little ambivalent about having the idol of my teenage spirit climb atop the hype-heap to sing, sandwiched between the latest 30 seconds of shill swill from the likes of InBev's BudLightLime and Cash4Gold's Promoification of the profit to be made panning through Grandma's jewelry, about the dilapidated 'Mansion on the Hill' that his country has become.

But, then again, Mr. Springsteen is, at the end of the day, an entertainer.

And, besides, as he said, apparently somewhat sheepishly, at a pre-game press conference on Thursday....

"We have a new album coming out...."

Meanwhile, rumour has it that they closed down the autoplant in Mahwah late last night.....

****

Later last night I was perusing the pages of the real paper/dead tree edition of Friday's New York Times ($3.18 Cdn, thanks for the gouging Pacific News Distributors) when I stumbled across the following from one of my favorite sportswriters, Harvey Araton:

".....who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and there will be at least one bold moment Sunday night when Springsteen goes rogue and rails against - oh, I don't know - offensive Wall Stret bonuses, $18 Billion worth.

Go ahead, Bruce, make those corporate fat cats squirm on their sofas. It's a one-time forum - make a lasting impression....."

Ya.

And if Bruce were to go rogue and spout something that made Woody and Pete, and maybe even Pete's hat, proud?

Well....

Then he and his Buddies from the Boardwalk days could probably launch into 'Born In The USA' without even a trace of irony or, even better, a crass car commercial, in sight.

Although, personally, I'd much prefer a ripsaw rendition of 'Johnny 99'.

OK?


_________
And if not a requiem for that Johnny, well, how about the one for this one.
Here's the real thing about Mr. Springsteen for me.....sure he's not perfect...and sure, he does kinda/sorta still works for the man...and surer, he never actually really knew all that much about '69 Chevvies or Racing in the Streets....and even surer, there was that thing with Ms. Phillips.....but in the end, even as I now age faster than him despite being a full decade younger.....well....unlike the other spirits of my teenaged night, Bruce has never let me down....(and my kids like him too!)
Photocredit: Jim Ritland's fantastic concert photography.
Just a note for Bev....my time in the Bloggodome will be light for awhile....Science geek stuff beckons....even more so since Diamond Jim and our own Little Stephen told us all to go to hell earlier this week....And make no mistake about it, the country formerly known as Canuckistan is in the grips of a truly evil coalition now....And if Mr. Ignatieff thinks he's going to effortlessly shed the LibCon label down the road, he's clearly drinking Mr. Kinsella's KoolAid by the bucketfull (and/or he really is a republicant reptile from outer space).

.

Vancouver Civic Election Live Flogging Part Deux....

AllTheBlatherThatFits
Lotuslandia

(live flog session #1 is in post directly below....also please understand that I've left this up, unchanged, sloppy drums and all because it was written entirely on the fly with immediate impressions thrown in...in other words, no attempt was made to get to a level of deeper analysis - that will come later )

9:15pm: Geller really dropping off the bottom of council....Is Anton getting an alphabetical save?.....No Funcouver is alive and well in NPA Marriot Ballroom.....FABula caught blogging on not-soGiant98....

9:20pm: Whoops, I was off last time...Geller back in Capri pants out....you want up to date numbers - they're here. Interestingly, there is quite an East v. West split.....looks like this election is bring back the old class warfare swords (that's one thing Smilin' Sammy actually did right last time when he got folks to sheath 'em)..... still a lot of Southside polls to come in...

9:25pm: I'm really proud of my fellow Vancouver citizens.....capital questions, all three, are way, way, way up 3:1....poor fuzzy Senator DaVinci....he can't figure out where the polls are coming from.....if he looked at the map he would see that Ladner has pretty much already shot his Westside wad.....Tieleman catches up to us bloggers in the FeverSwamps - mentions the East vs. West Split in the map (with a slight North South tinge)....It's actually quite striking how polarized it is....Uggggghhhhhhh....Zlotnik is almost back in Parks Board race - hope the wad really has been shot....Senator daVinci does make one important point - all the Twittering going on is coming from Visionista kids, not NPA sad-sacks...

9:28pm: Some of the Southsides are now coming in.....looks to be kinda NPAish....so they may recoup a little...Top kinda/sorta independent councillor at the moment - Chris Shaw of WorkLessParty (and anti-Olympic advocate).... Ellen Woodsworth is not there - not sure there are enough strong Vision polls left to get her back up above the bar....Tieleman starting to spin already - moving his Gregorness towards the middle.....

9:30pm: Think Meggs might be in a bit of trouble, near the bottom of the pack with a lot of Red states still to come in (and Meggs as the union guy may have a real problem there.....FABula is the dissenting punditocratic voice - says COPE will survive.....incredible how naive (stoopid?) many of the proMedia commentators are.....good on FABula for standing on her ground and giving us the real deal (really dig that she doesn't grind her own POV axe)....FABula now making the BigTent argument....

9:31pm: Interesting split on Schoolboard...somehow Denike is still there - sheesh!.....FABula is actually now starting to run the notsoGiant98 show by asking folks to voice their expertise....brings up the Millennium 'default' issue...Macomb knows nothing....Frances says she has the 'numbered documents'....Raymond Louie, despite the Globa-TV ambush is kickin' butt for Council - Macomb wants to know if Millennium is a big issue for him (is the man stoopid? - has he been paying attention?)

9:35pm: .... Interestingly, the only Red States left are deep Point Grey....Will those good folks remember that Mr. Zlotnik ripped the heart out of the Park in their backyard?.....I think Meggs is now safe....he's 9th....Capri pants is 11th (how was that Springsteen concert anyway Kimmy?) but 2000 votes behind....Flipside (and it's too bad) Woodsworth will not get back...

9:43pm: ....With a lot of Southside polls still to come, will be interesting to see how much Dhaliwal (Vision) and Singh (NPA) can get back because they are both well behind (think they may have cancelled each other out).....Stephen Quinn wants to know if his Gregorness won because of his looks.....How about the VV GOTV effort oh MightyQuinnish one...HeadGirl says the NPA thing was a 'TEAM' is she going to run with Nancy C. next time out....sheesh....go get yourself some Creme.....

9:47pm: .....SouthEast corner is going outlier Red....things could really tighten here....not many Green States left....Can the punditrocracy not see this?....Capri pants on not-soGiant98.....ha!.....she knows nothing about polls...everybody loved me!.....

9:50pm: OK....now more putative GreenStates left....HERE COMES WOODSWORTH ON THE OUTSIDE!!!!!!....Bye-Bye Geller.....Same for Zlotnik - and good riddance!!! Only Anton, with her alphabetical-assist is left for the Red-Rump party..... Making fun for Woodsworth's desire to decrease transit ticket prices....and how much laughing punditry is the Olympics going to cost us, exactly?

9:52pm: Fontaine is right....it's a retroVote....There is diagonal line across the City although the green goes way West through Kits.... Wonder how many votes Eby would have gotten?

9:53pm: Only 10 polls left....Betty K in third....where is 'James' Green tonight?.... Re: the South Asian vote and why they can't elect a (non-Ward) candidate, FABula hits 'em with facts again - they've only got 30K votes so can't make the City-Wide nut, which I think (with all my heart and head) is just plain nuts (thanks for that one too Shammy!).....

9:55pm: Woodsworth and Geller neck-and-neck in the backstretch.....Capri pants fading.....

9:57pm: M Paulsen and Senator daVinci get into an interesting (and honest) conversation on campaign spending; head girl says little or nothing except for a clipped 'I agree with that', although I'm not exactly sure what she was agreeing to (she doesn't agree with rolling reporting however).....

9:58pm: Hey! An old friend and compatriot of mine (and a lover of Pacific Spirit Park, take that Private Golf Course lovers!), Maria Harris, has just been elected representative for Electoral Area 'A'.......

9:59pm: Only one for sure Red State left with at least 5 Green States.....I'm calling Woodsworth in, Geller out.....Heck I'll even take short odds on it.....

10:00pm: Yup.....Woodsworth is pulling away from Geller now....Zlotnik now two out!....It's a Landslide....talk about the GOTV effort now somebody....pleasssssseeeee!!! .......Anton says we are all dopes because we didn't elect Geller, has no idea why her party got smoked....figures she got elected because she has something to do with Astroturf fields, or some such thing....Quinn says she made it because of 'hard work' and signage, think he's slyly referring to the alphabetical-assist....

10:02pm: Last remaining RedRump party member Ian Robertson is now in danger of dropping off the bottom of ParksBoard slate (kinda sorry about that because he's actually pretty good)....Sarah Blyth is way, way, way in!

10:05pm: Still SouthVan votes to come and Dhaliwal is charging, hard.... he could pass Woodsworth, or even Meggs....this could be interesting because the next above, last remaining RedRumpist, Anton, is too far up....

10:08pm: Only three polls left....two in SouthVan..... Dhaliwhal is only 9oo votes behind Woodsworth....I think he could do it....and then the folks screaming about buses coming to big tent nomination votes will just have to shut the heckfire up....

10:12pm: .....Anita Romaniuk only 500 behind Ian Robertson Parks Board....three green states are all that's left...will she make it?....His Gregorness is on stage, sounds a little Gordo-like (just in timber, no hate mail please Visionistas!)...

10:15pm:.....Just one poll left...it's all done.....Woodworth is in - Dhaliwal will just fall just short...RedRumpers Left are: Ian Robertson Parks....Anton with alphabetical-assist is in on council....Schoolboard has Denike (blechhhh!) and Gibson....

10:17pm .....His Gregorness gives kudos to Shammy.....gives shout out to Greens (one on Parks - Stuart Mackinnon ) and COPEatistas for helping to erect the BigTent.....damn....wish Eby was there....

10:22pm.....Just noticed COPEatista Bargeman is only 16 votes behind with one single green State left....he could overtake RedRumper Gibson....


10: 25pm:.....Hmmmmm.....wonder if this means it is now safe for Estelle Lo to come back to town?....Could there be an 'In Camera' personnel matter meeting coming?




.

If You Only Vote For (And Against) One Candidate In Vancouver Tomorrow....

WeAreTheWorld
WeAreOurParksVille


Vote For:
Sarah Blyth for Parks Board.....
Why?
Because she actually works to build parks. Real parks. For all Lotuslandians.


Vote Against:
Marty Zlotnik for (anti)Parks Board....
Why?
Because he actually works to destroy parks. Real Parks. Not for all Lotuslandians anymore.

OK?



____
And just so he and his know it for sure.....All The Cremes' Horses And All The Creme's Men won't make me or mine forget that Mr. Zlotnik is THE NPA member who orchestrated a fauxian 'Save-The-Private-Golf-Course' campaign as a prelude to cutting the Heart Out Of Pacific Spirit Park.

.