Jim Green, a former city politician instrumental in the creation of Vision Vancouver and a longtime advocate of low-income people in the Downtown Eastside, is battling cancer for a second time, according to close friend Geoff Meggs.
Meggs, a Vision Vancouver city councillor, said Thursday that Greens cancer has returned and is spreading. Green, who is in his late 60s, is spending all his time with family at his home in the Downtown Eastside.
Hes doing as well as could be expected, under the circumstances, Meggs said. Its been tough news for him, for sure.
Meggs said Green was first diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago. He was treated but received news recently that cancer had returned to his body, Meggs said.
Green was most recently working as a consultant for businesses and development companies. Over the years, he worked with Bastion Development, Millennium Developments and The Holborn Group, which is developing the former Little Mountain housing lands near Queen Elizabeth Park.
Green, who also taught a humanities course at the University of B.C., was part of a group that submitted a proposal to the citys ideas competition on the future of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts. The city is considering the future of the viaducts and whether they should be demolished.
It was the only submission that won both popular vote and an honorable mention from the judges, said Meggs, noting former city head planner Larry Beasley and architect Norm Hotson were also members of the group.
The groups basic concept was to remove the viaducts and combine Expo and Pacific boulevards with a new connection to Georgia Street, which would allow for more park space under the two spans originally built in the 1970s.
Greens move to consulting work came after he lost the 2005 mayoral race to the NPAs Sam Sullivan. Green had served as a city councillor from 2002 to 2005 under the leadership of then-mayor Larry Campbell.
At the time, Green and Campbell were members of COPE, but halfway through their term they decided to create a new party, Vision Vancouver. The move saw other COPE councillors Raymond Louie and Tim Stevenson join Vision Vancouver.
Greens time on council is often highlighted by his drive to redevelop the former Woodwards building in the Downtown Eastside, where market condos are now mixed with social housing and Simon Fraser University, among other businesses and offices.
Green, who now lives at Woodwards, was recognized by his former political foe Gordon Campbell at an official opening of the development in April 2009. The two, who battled each other in a 1996 provincial election, shook hands many times during the press conference.
I want to say thanks to both former mayor Larry Campbell and Jim Green for the vision they brought to the site, Campbell said. Without the leadership that we saw from former mayor Campbell and, of course, the leadership that we saw from Jim Green, we would not be seeing this truly exceptional project coming up from the ground today.
When the Courier asked Green after the press conference whether he and Campbell had made up, Green replied, I haven't been to dinner at his house, but I am meeting with him this afternoon at five o'clock. I think that we've had a good association recently.
Twitter: @Howellings
