Humans over cars
This is a rave, a response to predictable rants: I am a long-time West End resident (renter and owner) and am hugely supportive of the permanent pedestrian plaza at Robson and Hornby, as Arthur Erickson long envisioned and was so long prevented by the tyranny of the car over all else.
The new buildings on Davie Street, and elsewhere, certainly won't solve the affordability crisis but as we know from San Francisco, not building is disaster. What Vancouver needs is citywide rezoning for multi-unit properties. This is likely not politically realistic, starting with the fact I am once again disappointed with my West End neighbours who rant in the May 19 issue about how changes to benefit human beings on foot are slowing them down in their cars.
–David Ebner
Paving paradise
Today I came across the quotation below while in the small local library I frequent, and immediately thought that it applies well to our attempts to rescue our beloved West End from the evils perpetrated by many architects, engineers, designers, developers, bureaucrats, and politicians who view things mainly from the standpoint of, "Can we do it?" rather than from the more responsible question of, "Should we do it?"
The Joni Mitchell song “Big Yellow Taxi” sure had it right: "They paved paradise to put up a parking lot.”
The following quotation from author Kunal Sen needs to be tattooed on the forearm of every social planner: “There would remain no sign of you ever having played in this house. Your childhood is going to be swept under a camel-skin rug and elevators are going to be built over the lake we once swam in. This address, as we know it, would be lost forever and we’ll wake up in a box-sized room: cramped, trampled and sensationally unhappy."
–Gary Pennington
All rants and raves are the opinion of the individual and do not reflect the opinions of Westender. The editor reserves the right to edit for clarity and brevity, so please keep it short and (bitter)sweet. Email your rant or rave to [email protected]
