City looks at blocking off Robson permanently
A short block of Robson Street that is routinely closed to traffic for the summer and turned into a popular pedestrian plaza could be shut down permanently beginning this year.
City manager Sadhu Johnston said staff is preparing a report to go to council in either late April or early May that will recommend the 800-block of Robson Street, between Howe and Hornby streets, be closed year-round.
“It’s something we’ve been directed by council for a while to work on,” said Johnston. “We want to do it because we think it’s the right thing to do. There’s not that many public gathering places downtown – plazas like that. So we want to create a really nice public spot that people can gather.”
Although the stretch of the two-way street is short, Johnston said closing it to vehicle traffic would connect the public spaces at the law courts with the south side of Vancouver Art Gallery, a popular hangout for people, a public protest spot and home to a few food trucks and retail kiosks.
The plan to permanently shut down the block to vehicles has been in the works since 2010 when the stretch was closed for the Winter Olympics. Since then, the block has been closed to traffic every year, between June and August. Funky and whimsical furniture for seating and dining was added to the street during those months.
Chris Bryan, a TransLink media relations advisor, said if city council follows through on city staff’s recommendation and permanently closes the stretch of Robson, then the No. 5 bus will be diverted along Burrard and West Pender streets.
–Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier
BC leads Canada in job growth
Employment in BC increased 3.2 per cent in the 12 months to March, making the province Canada’s top performer when it comes to job growth over the period.
BC gained 72,000 jobs year-over-year in March, helped by an increase of 9,000 positions in the month, according to Statistics Canada data released April 8.
March’s gain pushed the province’s unemployment rate down a tick to 6.5 per cent, although the rate is up 0.6 percentage points year-over-year from 5.9 per cent in March 2015, as more people in BC were looking for work. Compared with a year ago, BC has added 39,000 full-time and 33,000 part-time jobs
Canada gained 130,000 jobs in the past year, pushing the unemployment rate down to 7.1 per cent. The good news is this gain is solely due to growth of almost 134,000 full-time jobs, which was partially offset by a loss of 4,000 part-time positions. The country gained 41,000 jobs in the month – almost all full-time positions.
–Emma Crawford Hampel, Business in Vancouver
