2020 Temporary Civic Shut Down - Check In / Support / Venting / Conversations

[Feathered Friend]

Hi Community, I thought I would create this thread since the temporary measures affecting our region, and lives, means we may soon not have a lot to talk about when it comes to our region's urban growth.

That said, we are a tight-knit community, and we need something to fill our time. So I thought I would create this thread where we can lean on each other, and complain about something other than view cones, the amount of seafoam spandrel, or for one member, the lack of shopping malls.

Whether you just want to talk about life in this new situation, or are feeling under the weather and need some help, I hope this is a place where we can all visit and feel a little bit better.

Times are tough right now, but together we'll get through this, and one day soon our biggest problems will once again be over-opinionated open houses, Urban Design Panel meetings, and public hearings that drag on forever.

Stay healthy everyone, and we'll all go out for drinks (coffee/tea/etc) once this has passed.
Feathered Friend

[scryer]

Thank you for starting this thread. Sometimes reaching out or admitting that you need to check in is tough. I, myself, have been in the middle of a move during this crazy time so I have been apocalypse-shopping while trying to shop for other necessities that I need in my new place.

I know it has only been a few trying days but I hope that the "dens of sins" (yeah, Imma use that one for a while) will open up soon.

In the mean time I think that now is the perfect opportunity for all of us to discuss the future that we want to live in when it comes to Vancouver. I plan on posting more images to stipulate what I want to see in our future moving forward.

[jollyburger]

I guess the scary thing is as good of a job locking things down it literally just takes one more infected person to be out in the community to restart the cycle.

[mcminsen]

A link to some of my recent pics of a deserted downtown Vancouver...

Originally Posted by mcminsen

Downtown Vancouver in pandemic, March 22 '20, my pics

[mcminsen]

At 7:00 PM make some noise. Maybe we can get this going through the whole city.

Originally Posted by mcminsen

Last night and tonight I noticed a lot of noise in my neighbourhood in downtown Vancouver at 7:00 PM, which apparently coincides with a shift change at St. Paul's Hospital in the West End. It's a tribute to health care workers and also supporting people who are shut in and/or isolated.

It's sounds kind of like when the winning goal was scored for the hockey gold medal during the Winter Olympics. A huge wave of cheering echoing through the towers of the downtown peninsula. Click on the link to the article to see some videos.


===============

Vancouver skies fill with cheers of appreciation for health care workers

Nightly tradition brings joyful sounds to city amid COVID-19 pandemic

"At 7 p.m. every night, Vancouver residents are stepping outside - on their own balconies, patios, roofs or sidewalks - to erupt in cheers and applause to salute the city’s hard working health care workers on the frontlines."


source: https://images.glaciermedia.ca/polop...are-worker.jpg

[mcminsen]

......

Originally Posted by mcminsen

In the nineteen years I've lived here in downtown Vancouver I've never seen the Westin Grande Hotel so dead. I can see just one room with lights on. I imagine the other hotels are similarly empty.



~8:00 PM, March 23 '20, my pic

[cairnstone]

So the lock down in Ontario is fake news. With huge exclusions including any construction activities.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/what-s-co...open-1.4865668

[whatnext]

This is good news! I never thought it made sense to close Vandusen while Stanley Park remained open.

Two Vancouver golf courses, VanDusen Botanical Garden to reopen May 1
BY HANA MAE NASSAR
Posted Apr 27, 2020

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Two Vancouver golf courses and the VanDusen Botanical Garden will reopen to the public this Friday, the Vancouver Park Board has announced.

The Fraserview and McCleery courses and the garden will operate with new “physical distancing procedures” so people can still enjoy activities while staying safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Park Board says in a release.

These sites were closed in mid-March because of the health crisis to encourage people to stay home. However, the Park Board said on Monday that “after careful planning and preparation,” as well as consultation with partners and the Vancouver Coastal Health authority, it was determined it would be able to reopen the two courses and the 55-acre outdoor garden, “to provide safe outdoor recreation opportunities.”...

https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/04...en-reopen-may/

[jollyburger]

I would let everyone else be the guinea pigs for two weeks and then see if there's any increase in new cases.

[whatnext]

City of Vancouver going back to enforcing metered parking. Not sure why they ever stopped, it seemed a bit counterintuitive if you're crying poverty:

Vancouver is expected to end free parking in metered spaces across Vancouver within a few days.

Councillors voted Monday night to reinstate pay parking and the decision is expected to be implemented later this week.

It comes a month after enforcement stopped when traffic volume and parking demand fell as residents complied with stay-at-home orders.

Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung says “the honour system didn’t work,” as property and business owners have reported some drivers have been parking in prime spots all day.

However, the city is considering ways to ensure pay-parking exemptions continue for health-care and other essential workers....

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-...-32d7a3d6ebce/

[jollyburger]

There was no one driving and I maybe they thought bylaw officers would be better off staying home or helping with other city tasks.

[svlt]

Yeah but... they didn't need to say outright they weren't enforcing it... People would still be paying and there would be a small chunk of revenue from April even with unspoken zero enforcement

[s211]

Originally Posted by svlt

Yeah but... they didn't need to say outright they weren't enforcing it... People would still be paying and there would be a small chunk of revenue from April even with unspoken zero enforcement

I saw them enforcing a week or two near Cambie and Broadway, writing a parking ticket. When do they claim to have stopped?

[whatnext]

WTF, why is the mayor and council cutting $8 million out of policing behind closed door without consulting the Police Chief? Maybe keep libraries closed one day a week?!

....Vancouver Police Chief Const. Adam Palmer said he’s surprised the city has asked for a reduction to frontline response during the pandemic.

“Since the pandemic began, police officers have been working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Patrol officers have been on the frontline, putting themselves at risk, to keep the city safe,” he says in a release.

“Police cannot reduce or defer frontline work, as in-progress emergencies have continued throughout the city.”

He added crime has not stopped, nor have calls from the public.

“I appreciate the hardship faced by employees of the city, the library, and the park board who have recently received lay-off notices. I do not want to minimize the impact the pandemic has had on these employees and their families,” Palmer said.

“However, it’s important to take into consideration that there was a corresponding reduction in their workload due to closures as a result of physical distancing rules. This has not been the case for police.”...

https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/05...t-8-5-million/

[WarrenC12]

LOL what's the police chief going to say?

The cops can take a 1% reduction, all things considered.

[misher]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

LOL what's the police chief going to say?

The cops can take a 1% reduction, all things considered.

Usually am supportive of the police but I agree here with Warren. Massive cuts are needed across Vancouver. There proposing a 7% increase in taxes and utilities this year. That needs to go down to 0. But they need to cut everywhere to do so.

I don't believe they should have made this cut because its tiny. But also I'm not against it.

[s211]

Originally Posted by whatnext

WTF, why is the mayor and council cutting $8 million out of policing behind closed door without consulting the Police Chief?

That they did it without consultation doesn't surprise me. These past few decades, I could have sworn that Vancouver's official motto was changed to "F*ck the Police".

[jollyburger]

Crime makes Vancouver green..

[logicbomb]

I remember feeling so optimistic about this city in 2010. Then I remember the hard feeling of reality hitting me in the face when I refused to give money to a junkie in 2015. The police did nothing of course. 2020 now, and the junkies own the city and we are essentially no longer enforcing any law or order in the city proper. In fact, we are rewarding them with free drugs and phones!

[whatnext]

What kind of stupid fuckery is this?! The Parks Board needs to be less concerned about matters out of their jurisdiction, like solving homelessness, and more concerned about managing their parks!

Large crowd, lack of physical distancing at Stanley Park drum circle draws criticism


VANCOUVER -- As B.C. grapples with an uptick in COVID-19 cases, video taken at a drum circle in Stanley Park Tuesday night is raising concern about whether people are heeding the advice of public health officials.

Videos taken by multiple people from several angles show a large crowd with well over 50 people gathered at Vancouver's Third Beach Tuesday evening for a weekly drumming event, with many dancing closely without masks on. ...

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/large-crowd-la...cism-1.5034179