While talk of removing or modifying the Georgia and Dunsmuir street viaducts appears to be gaining momentum across the city, a small group of dedicated users who frequent the area under Vancouvers roads to nowhere arent so keen on the idea.
Duncan Fraser, 21, said he comes to the Vancouver Skate Plaza, nestled under the viaducts pretty much every day. The Strathcona resident said he was unaware of the movement afoot to have the viaducts removed or modified to allow for development of valuable land bordering False Creek to the south of Chinatown.
I think theyre fine, they kind of make this place cool because its underneath the basic cover when its raining. It gives you shade, I think it makes this place what it is, he said between tricks at the park on a sunny weekday afternoon. If they were to take them out and leave this place and not change it then Id be fine, he added.
Gabe Dinorscio, 15, also worried for the future of the Skate Plaza if the viaducts are removed. The skate parks got its place in the history of skate parks because its the first plaza-style park, he said, noting cities in California have since mimicked the design. If they do that, Im pretty sure everybody would be pretty mad.
Dinorscio said he was aware the city is contemplating removing the viaducts, which were built in the early 1970s as part of a freeway system that was never completed.
City staff are currently conducting the first phase of a multi-phase study looking into the feasibility of bringing the viaducts down. Many residents of the areas surrounding the viaducts, which rallied decades ago to halt the construction of the freeway system, have supported the bid to remove them.
Last week, nearly 200 people showed up to a town hall forum to hear options for removal, which include terminating the viaducts at Main Street, removing only the Georgia viaduct or removing both completely.
Tami Starlight, a member of the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council and a Strathcona resident, said the viaducts should come down and social housing put in their place.
They should go, it was a bad idea to begin with, she said, recalling how, once homeless, she used to spend nights sleeping under the looming structures. Back in the day when I was homeless, the viaduct was a very vibrant greenspace, but they took it out in order to get people out of there. They put up fences and policed it regularly and now basically nobody stays there.
But fellow Downtown Eastside housing advocate Nathan Crompton was doubtful that, given the history of development in Vancouver, social housing would comprise a substantial part of any newly developed neighbourhoods.
From a planning perspective, maybe theres a strong case to be made for creative use of space, he said at a press conference highlighting the need for more social housing. But if the Olympic Village is any indication of what those people have in mind for False Creek and by those people I mean Vision Vancouver its going to be a fortress for the rich.
However social housing, or lack thereof, wasnt a concern for a homeless man who said he hangs out under the viaducts most days. The man, who asked to be identified only as Ray, said he spends his nights sleeping near the Canada Line Station at the Olympic Village and his days often binning around the viaducts. I dont know, I think it makes it harder to get to downtown, Ray said when informed of the idea being bandied about. If you take it away then its just going to congest here and on Hastings Street.
Indeed, the impact on traffic patterns leading into the downtown core is one of the primary considerations included in the feasibility study, the first phase of which is expected to head to council in May.
