The Vancouver park board will vote Monday whether to demolish a large part of the paved wharf at Jericho Beach that was once used by the Royal Canadian Air Force.
This prompted us to wonder: What else would readers like to see demolished to improve the look of Metro Vancouver, especially with the city getting ready to host the world for the 2010 Winter Olympics?
Some of their responses:
How about the downtown toilet bowl, the once Eaton's, now Sears building?
- Fiona
I say we demolish the Shangri-La complex. It appears like a gargantuan middle digit sticking out of the centre the city.
- Michael Chu :O
Eyesores we'd like to see removed from Vancouver, in no particular order of offensiveness: the Sears (née Eaton's) building; the Terry Fox arch at BC Place; BC Place itself; the Dal Grauer substation if BC Hydro can't pony up the cash to restore it; the Identi-Kit glass towers on the north shore of False Creek; the painted bears and orcas (and this year, eagles) that infest downtown; Surrey (except for Simon Fraser University, the parks and the art centre); the dollar stores on Fraser Street; any building that has a name ending in "Pointe"; whatever's left of the Plaza of Nations, including the casino; those two car sculptures outside the art gallery; every empty building between Cambie and Gore on Hastings; lowrise pants and shirtless men downtown; Vancouver specials; overgrown front yards and chain-link fences; that empty parking lot and cesspool under the Georgia viaduct; the weeds choking Beaver Lake in Stanley Park; gigantic white yachts with satellite domes and helicopter pads; flip-flops; the blank white billboard atop that building at Main and Broadway - and let's not leave standing the BowMac sign over-printed with Toys-R-Us. I do have a priority eyesore, the one I'd like to get rid of first: the situation at Main and Hastings, Ground Zero. Not funny.
- Michael Cox
It is time to get rid of or build a new aquatic centre. Situated on Sunset Beach and facing west, there isn't one window looking out. Huh! This building should be made of glass and should highlight its beautiful surroundings. Whoever designed the building must have been inspired by the sand on the beach because the place looks like an old tired lump of sand.
- Eric Cruz
How about the domed stadium, that big puffy thing? It's embarrassing to have that dominate the view of downtown. I know that this is a fairly jock-intensive city, but must we be constantly reminded? It's bland, uninteresting, derivative and huge. Put it out of town. Also, let's demolish all of the green glass-and aluminum residential towers that are all over downtown, especially along West Georgia Street and in Metrotown. They look like they'd be easy to knock down, although we'd have to be awfully careful of flying glass. They're cheap-looking, nearly all identical, and will be corroding ruins in 50 years. They are emblematic of tawdry exploitation. Is this really the best we can do in our magnificent setting? Such bad taste should make Vancouver a laughing-stock.
- Katherine Collins
Where Cambridge Street dead-ends at Wall Street in the east end, a defunct playground has become a fenced-in, weed-overgrown tire dump. Area residents have made an effort to improve the situation. They dug out the tires and dragged them to the curb but there's been no luck yet in getting city staff to come pick up the junk, even though it's entirely on city property. The park benches are rotten and appear not to have received any maintenance in the past quarter-century. Attempts to get action through the Green Streets or some other program have proved fruitless. Best suggestion I've heard was to set the tires on fire; then they're sure to be removed.
- Steve St-Laurent
For at least 20 years, there has been an eyesore at the corner of Robson and Gilford in the West End. There's some sort of contaminated soil covered with tarps and the whole area is enclosed with a rusty chain link fence. How about getting this cleaned up?
- Peter Weir
I would like the worst eyesore of all cleaned up - the mentally challenged people lying all over the city sidewalks. Let's help these people to a better life.
- Dave Jones
The big stone building at 12th and Cambie. It doesn't help anyone, just keeps on collecting money from everyone for nothing.
- Jacob
The ugly eyesore that is the new elevated Canada Line that runs through the centre of "downtown" Richmond along No. 3 Road. It is a concrete scar that forever more has ruined the core of this growing community.
- Rich
Could someone please destroy the Front Street parkade in New Westminster? It is ugly, scary to park in, and is completely devoid of any positive attributes.
- Lisa
Get rid of the fast-ferry eyesores. Lose the big gear sculpture on Pacific near the Cambie Bridge. Lose the cheesy steel exoskeletons at the SkyTrain stations.
- Mike
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/n...f-ed0253e96229
Also theres a few buildings along the Broadway corridor that need to go as well.
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