From protests over developments to job action by teachers, Vancouverites had a lot to say about this city in 2012. We've selected the best comments from the past 12 months of the Vancouver Courier to present who said what about the most prominent news, community, entertainment and sports stories of the year.
BOWLED OVER
It'll just be a huge loss in our lives. People my age, I mean what do you do? It's nice to have housing for people but this is something kids can do, middle-aged people can do, seniors, anybody... It's here, we can do it, we can get to it. When you get to our age they start taking your driver's licences away and you just can't go to things because they're too far away.
-Arlie Johnston, bowler at Varsity Ridge Bowl, which will be demolished in a redevelopment at Arbutus and 16th Avenue.
RIZE UP
As the population of Mount Pleasant continues to grow, I feel it would be a giant step back for the neighbourhood and the city as a whole if this rezoning application doesn't get approved. I make my living off of this, so you could say that I have a vested interest in the continued awesomeness of Vancouver.
-Vancouver Is Awesome blogger Bob Kronbau-er on the rezoning application for the Rize development highrise at Kingsway and Broadway.
I fail to see how the community benefits from this highrise. I am happy for the new residents who move into these top-notch buildings with their rooftop gardens and stunning views, but what does the rest of the community receive?
- Chris Bevacqua, computer animator and Mount Pleasant resident.
TUNNEL VISION
We cannot reach our goals without rapid transit through central Broadway. The region can't meet its goals without rapid transit through central Broadway, we can't meet the provincial goals without rapid transit through central Broadway.
-City of Vancouver's director of transportation Jerry Dobrovolny on the need for a subway from Commercial-Broadway transit hub to the University of B.C.
PIPE DREAMS
It's like one of those condo sales jobs where you look at a condo model and decide whether you're going to move in. It's not a legitimate process with any ability to give feedback to government about whether it should be approved or not. I see it more like a focus group session that people are volunteering to take part in.
-Wilderness Committee spokesperson Ben West on the Kinder Morgan public consultation process about its proposal to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline.
BEACH BUMMED
It's not the same experience when you walk on Kits Beach as it is when you walk on what we call the Point Grey foreshore. People see this as their opportunity within a big city to have this urban rural experience. We have a deep-seated need to have a rural experience even if we live in the heart of the city.
-Mel Lehan, longtime activist and director of The Point Grey Natural Foreshore Protective Society, which opposes a proposed seawall expansion on the south shore of English Bay.
STREETS WITH NO NAMES
Halloween is the most depressing. My mom still carves seven pumpkins and still buys a lot of candy but no kids come around. This street is sad.
-Rachael Bingham, whose family home on West 38th Avenue is surrounded by empty houses and speculative real estate investment.
LITTLE INCENTIVE
Most of these single-family houses [in the area] are owned by retired people and retired people don't get out. If you go down to Main Street and look at all the eateries, all are for young people, so the merchants are having a hard time because there's not enough young people [in this area] and how many people can afford a $1 million house.
-James Cheng architect of the Little Mountain development.
VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED
There is no Kerrisdale Village anymore. Hobbs became like a museum where people just dropped by to put on free hand cream.
-Thomas Hobbs on the closure of his Kerris-dale gift store Hobbs, which was scheduled to close at the end of December.
MARPOLE HAWK DOWN
They land right there. There is no room for error. And now we can't even leave them this tiny postage stamp of property. We have to take it all.
-Marpole resident Richard Wozny lamenting on the fate of a family of hawks that will likely be displaced if a community garden is approved next to the Marpole Museum on Southwest Marine Drive west of Granville Street.
PARK PLACE
Basically the park board wants us to become advisory committees with no power.
-Todd Constant, treasurer for the Riley Park/ Hillcrest Community Association, on the power struggle between the park board and several community centre associations over funding and operating agreements.
CLASS BARRIERS
As good as it would be to educate all of the students on breaking down those misconceptions and stereotypes, at least we're starting with our own people because, geez, if we can't even break down those stereotypes, how are we going to teach the rest of the city, the world?
-Aboriginal focus school teacher Fiona LaPorte on why she thinks the school, which opened in 2012 at Sir William Macdonald elementary, is necessary for young aboriginal students to succeed.
Seven out of 10 aboriginal kids don't graduate. That should have been, in our mind, the number one issue, is how can we all collectively, all aboriginal service providers, non-aboriginal service providers, the school board, the parks board, work together to address that crisis that's going on right now. If this was happening to the mainstream community, where 70 per cent of the kids were being pushed out of the system, there would be an uproar, but it seems to have been normalized.
-Scott Clark, executive director of Aboriginal Life in Vancouver Enhancement Society, who sees the aboriginal school as an exercise in segregation.
