Those “trespassing” gardeners are at it again.
In my last entry, I mentioned how gardeners along the Arbutus Corridor — aka trespassers, as described by Canadian Pacific’s Mike LoVecchio in a July 21 letter — were facing a July 31 deadline to remove their gardens alongside the tracks.
Considering the tracks run across the city, that’s hundreds of gardens.
So what is a gardener to do?
Throw a party, that’s what.
The Arbutus Victory Gardens group will hold a “garden party” this Thursday —deadline day — along a section of the corridor that runs through Kerrisdale along East Boulevard, between 49th and 57th avenues.
Their purpose?
“The purpose is to show what’s being threatened and highlight the value of maintaining the corridor and showing solidarity among gardeners,” said Cleta Brown, a member of the Arbutus Victory group and Green Party council candidate.
Brown inherited her garden 11 years ago when she moved into her Kerrisdale neighbourhood. She said half of the veggie garden (she’s got a couple of apple trees, too) is on city property, the other half on CP land. Neighbours and others in the city have tended to gardens for decades along the corridor, she said.
Mayor Gregor Robertson has said the city is interested in paying “fair market value” for the land. That “fair market value,” according to an article Monday in The Vancouver Sun by Daphne Bramham quoting unnamed sources, is $20 million. That happens to be about $80 million short of what CP wants.
Again, that comes from unnamed sources.
Whatever the price, it will be expensive.
Brown hopes the city is able to negotiate a deal that doesn’t require spending millions of taxpayers’ dollars. Instead, she said, the deal could include land swaps or other creative ways of foregoing a big bill.
“It’s hard to say definitively because we’re not at the table negotiating,” said Brown, although she believes CP is bluffing about wanting to run trains along the tracks again and wants to develop the land.
But that’s not what LoVecchio said in his letter, which was sent as response to NDP MLA David Eby (Vancouver-Point Grey). Eby shared the letter with the Courier last week.
“CP is not able to develop this land and we have no plans to do so,” LoVecchio wrote. “Our right of way — land owned by CP — is considered a valuable asset for our company and we are obliged to maximize its use on behalf of our shareholders. The best and only way we can do this is by operating trains. We do not require permission from the City of Vancouver to do so.”
Added LoVecchio: “Though our July 31 deadline might halt the maturation of some gardens, the scheduling is necessary to take advantage of the season; the continuation of our track maintenance would be hindered in cooler weather and our hope is to have sufficient time to get our crews into the area while the weather cooperates.”
For now, it’s party time.
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