Michael Klassen

Arbutus Line red abandoned shopping cart

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:48:44 -0800

I love this shot taken with my iPhone. The bright red cart stuck in these verdant surroundings feels absolutely timeless.

It's so regrettable that there has not yet been a real push to get rapid transit down the Arbutus Line again. The tony Kerrisdale neighbourhood that surrounds most of it might object, but there are many who would use a tram or streetcar between Marpole and through Quilchena and Kits.

Let's hope that common sense prevails and we get this line working again for our city.

Urban sprawl threatens BC's grasslands

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:45:17 -0800

This public service announcement from the Grasslands Conservation Council of BC caught my eye when it ran during the Noon News on GlobalTV BC.

The message is pretty clear about the devastation urban sprawl brings. I like the fact that this campaign can also awaken kids.

Here's the YouTube video link.

Top of Mt. Seymour

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:45:04 -0800

I like to make an annual hike to the top of one of Vancouver's North Shore mountains. Usually it's Seymour (a 90-minute trip to the top), and some years the weather doesn't allow for it. On this occasion, I took the afternoon off on the last day of September, asked a friend to join me and we did the climb to the top.

All I can say is that being at the top of a mountain has its own rewards. It's quiet, and provides a breathtaking view.

Olympic Village (under construction)

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:39:56 -0800

Flickr photo is one of many I took on a warm, early fall Sunday morning down in False Creek.

It's a transport nightmare, it's an energy nightmare. It is absolutely bloody terrifying.

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:29:51 -0800

"It's is not going to work on many levels, from social to infrastructure and ecological" - Thom Mayne

The nightmare referred to in my entry title is not Canada's federal party election platforms. The nightmare is Dubai, which a leading architect says is heading toward an "ecological disaster."

In a speech at the World Architecture Congress's Cityscape Dubai conference, award-winning American architect Thom Mayne "compared Dubai's public transport plans with the development of Los Angeles in the 1960s."

I've seen photos of Dubai, which in parts we're told is emulating some of Vancouver's downtown podium/tower typology, aka Vancouverism. A few of Vancouver's leading architects and planners have cashed in by working there. As Mayne points out, these Western consultants are successfully helping to transform a hunk of sand into gated communities, 12-lane freeways and golf courses.

The photo to the right illustrates where Dubai has come in less than 20 years. From a desert outpost to a major metropolis in the time it takes to finish 10th grade. Yikes!

"Thank God," said a former Royal Institute of British Architecture president of Mayne's piping up on the Persian Gulf port city. He adds, "It's a disaster area if all [architects] do is add eco-bling to their buildings instead of dealing with the fundamentals."

In other words, you can install the most efficient air-conditioning system on Earth, it doesn't matter much if you destroy your surroundings.

Cambie decaffeinated

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 22:00:37 -0800

The Vancouver Sun reports that parent company Kraft is closing the Dickson's Coffee near Cambie & 8th Avenue. Thirty employees will lose their jobs, and the neighbourhood loses the aroma of fresh roasted coffee beans. I even noted the coffee scent in a story I wrote 18 years ago.

The intersection of Cambie and West Broadway, just a block or so from the Dickson's plant is undergoing perhaps the most radical re-development of any urban space in Canada. Hundreds of new condominiums are being built above the most dense shopping area in the city. Home Depot, American Whole Foods, Best Buy, Canadian Tire, a BC Liquor Store and a Save-On-Foods all exist within a 3-block radius, just steps from the front doors of thousands of new and existing residents.

West Broadway is being referred to as Vancouver's second downtown. The health care industry is rooted nearby, as is Vancouver City Hall. With the Canada Line passing through the area, and an east/west transit line proposed by the province, this community could become the busiest hub in the city within the next decade.

The price of industrial zoned land, among other factors, has had companies fleeing to the suburbs. Losing a business with deep local roots like Dickson's is a blow, because Vancouver needs to retain as many jobs as possible to have a sustainable economy. Let's hope a strong new enterprise takes its place.

I'll sure miss the smell of coffee around there, though.

It's time to take down the BowMac sign

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 08:31:26 -0800

BowMac neon sign circa 1996, photo by SqueakMarmot

Like so many dads with young kids do every day, I parked quickly at the Toys R Us on West Broadway, to make a quick dash into the store to purchase a gift. I parked on the roof and took the stairs down to the street.

The staircase itself wraps the bottom portion of the old BowMac sign, now covered by a large TOYS R US that barely reveals the rusting hulk underneath it.

I've concluded that the old sign must go, and here's why.

The original intent was to retain the sign as a part of Vancouver's heritage. I admit I was one of those who desperately wanted to keep it as part of West Broadway. I liked its kitsch. Surely it added some much needed personality to this rather boring retail strip in the city. No retail sign of its size would ever be allowed under today's zoning rules, so it really was more of a monument to olde Vancouver than a sign.

What the developers delivered was a real disappointment. A big-box store was built right up to the sidewalk over the parking lot of the former car dealership, and instead of repairing or restoring the sign to its former glory, they simply attached the new sign over it.

What is left is a rusting, broken mess. It looks like an old icebreaker in dry dock. The BowMac sign is a sad reflection upon Vancouver's attempts to retain its heritage, and it is arguably a safety hazard.

When I made my dash past the toy store, I found a blabbering homeless guy taking a crap in the stairwell. He was clearly mentally ill. He'd found a convenient place to hide off the main street. If I ever go to this store with my child, I'll never again use the rooftop parking to avoid that awful stairwell.

The decision to rezone that site for a big box store and let the toy store put its cladding over the BowMac sign was perhaps the right one a decade ago, but the wrong one for today. An opportunity to apply some wit and create fine urban design was overlooked in the rush to get new retail floor space on Broadway.

Up close the building appears cheap. The stairway and elevator beside it look like an invitation for a mugging, or as it was the other day, an outhouse.

It saddens me, but I think it's time to take down the old BowMac sign out of respect for its glory days, and to make the street below safer.

Let's schtick to the issues

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:47:57 -0800

Why the hell wasn't The Honey Party seated at the table at last night's Federal debate??

Here's a political ad I made (eek!) 15 years ago. The cast includes the late, great Laura Janeshewski, brilliant Vancouver comedian David C. Jones, and my old friend, the talented J.B. Shayne as the merchant.

Politics and funny are fine bedfellows. It's a little crass in spots, but you gotta love Sarah Silverman and The Great Schlep, a "micro-campaign" which urges American Jews to persuade their grandparents in Florida to vote for Barack Obama. Even if it means schlepping down to the Sunshine State.

A bit like burning books

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:09:11 -0800

Noticing all the destroyed election signage in our neighbourhood, my young daughter asked, "Why are those signs all ripped?" She was pointing to lawn signs for the local federal Liberal and Conservative candidates in the riding of Vancouver-Kingsway where we live.

Standing beside them untouched, the signs of the local NDP candidate. A typical site if you've ever paid close attention to Vancouver politics.

You can practically set your watch to it. If it's a local civic election, the NPA (centre-right coalition) signs will be trashed. The signs of left-leaning parties remain unscathed. Provincially, BC Liberal signs sliced by a sharp packing knife, 2x2 wood frames cracked and damaged, bag signs and wires bent and tossed into a bush. Their opponents - just fine.

You never get used to it. I'm sure someone can cite places in the city where the left wing signage is vandalized, but in my experience it's the exception rather than the rule in Vancouver.

Why does it happen? Young rowdies can be partly responsible, but as someone who has put up plenty of lawn signs in his time (I'm currently not involved in any fed stuff), the destruction is a little too methodical to only be kids full of cheap beer. The sign vandalism I describe is not a couple addresses on a block, but along entire thoroughfares and overnight.

Half a decade ago it was enough to trash the sign, or knock it down. Now signs are usually slashed with a sharp object. And it gets expensive - 4x4' signs are about five bucks each, and the wood and nails holding them up are at least that much.

Erecting signs, usually done by dedicated volunteers, or a bunch of retired guys with some time to spare, is hard, thankless work. If it's a Fall or early Spring election, you can bet that the sign team got cold and wet putting up those signs.

To me, knocking down an election sign is a form of barbarism. A bit like burning books.

In response to my little girl's question I reply, "selfish people, Sweety."

Photo: Handicap Parking at a Liquor Store

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:53:46 -0800

A got a smile out of this shot, which I took at a liquor store in my neighbourhood.