Thumbs-Up
for the 3 principled Councillors voting against the stream - after Council for months goes with the flow by looking away or approving steps within a process light on documented substance and strong on fancy talk.
The substance of this matter - a farmers' market - no more/no less - over time has become an expanded concept that will turn the market into "a regional asset." According to David Reid - its self-appointed mastermind. From farmers' market to Reidworld - the home of a music festival.
For an immediate payment of $30.000 from City Hall - meaning the tax-payer - this on top of the previous $12.600 - the same bottomless source - even though Reid initially is going to handle all fund-raising. Outside!
Thumbs-Down
for Mayor Kozak and those Councillors shrugging-off public input as meaningful mechanism for public participation. Unceremoniously cutting-short the time-frame for possible input with the mayor's the one (market proposal) approved by Council Monday is an overall proposal, the details of which could still be changed. Coulda - woulda! That in itself is a poor P.R. move - public perception and all - and clearly: Reid and Lukas Armstrong, Architect, have had the current proposal fixed among themselves for quite some time. A done deal - now to be fleshed-out with our 30.000.
What Mayor/Council Approve
is no longer so much about buying apples at a basic farmers' market as a circus promising to dazzle with slick tricks.
Reality Check: Have Mayor Kozak and approving Councillors been down there lately? No? Then what might their approval be based on?
Reality 1
All fantasies proposed involve many people - meaning: there needs to be enough parking for them. Yet nowhere is a number of parking-spaces given.
While bragging with up to 600 people possibly accommodated - the flip-side of that success would be the need for at least 200 parking-spaces. With the whole "workable" market-area being rather small, even smaller when all is said (figuratively) and done (literally) ..... you get the picture! A healthy crowd in the market-space - without the garden - is 200 people tops standing, walking - with kids and dogs running - around. And all having a parking-space.
The lack of adequate parking alone precludes all biggish-ticket events!
Reality 2
The word "park" - as "in the park" - appears frequently here. Yet there is no park! A bit of grass with a few trees - including the 2 big cedars: but no park!
While there is the generally called Japanese Garden: more accurately the Shuzenji Garden - but who can pronounce or even remember that. Not even the architect does! The garden starts close to the cedars and stretches all the way along Cottonwood Creek to the Falls.
So it seems this garden is what they mean by park.
Seeing that no seating is factored into the market-proposal anywhere - picnics in the dirt! - and even if it were: there couldn't possibly be enough - people have to sit on the many rocks in the garden. And the more do that - the more damage is done - not necessarily deliberately but by simply exhausting the garden's capacity to maintain and renew itself.
Ironically - while Armstrong goes on about the connection of vaguely origami-like unit-roofing with the Japanese Garden close by: he has no problem with having the garden trampled through/on/down.
And there's Reid with how the new design creates a pleasant interaction with the park. On a market-day there will be a feeling like you are in a park. Not just like you're in a park: you'll actually be all over it! Particularly on special-event days.
This just shortly after Kozak officially recognizes Jim Sawada for having created a jewel in our city with this garden.
People's main focus - while attending the Cottonwood Market of old - is to shop and leave. Staying longer for an event has a different dynamic: different provisions need to be made for people's comfort and enjoyment of the facilities while being and moving around there. Including: being able to take a load off their feet!
Therefore the garden needs to be closed-off to be protected.
While Reid and Armstrong are beside themselves and each other with the possibility of attracting/squeezing-in multitudes - they are not considering the environmental impact any of their envisioned tricks must have. Never mind just using common sense! Basics, Mr. Architect! Worst-case scenarios, Mr. EcoSociety!
Reality 3
While Kozak says Yes, we wanted to make sure it is not used for sleeping over or for unsavory or illegal activities - she does not propose how in reality we are to go about dealing with this triple-threat.
To make sure - entry/exit down/up the slope right next to stalls couldn't be any easier! - how about barbed-wire-topped fencing and watchtowers around the whole? A single well-guarded in-and-out gate? Rent-a-cops with bullhorns everywhere 24/7? Big scary dogs? Strip searches? Bag checks? And at night: laser-triggered floodlights and sirens? More big scary dogs? Loud repetitious mall-music? Surprise no-nonsense crack-downs?
Most helpful during and after the proposed festivals, trade-shows, theatre, music, etc. with hundreds attending. When being unsavory and illegal is common. With getting high, doing it and eventually passing-out.
So we also need a fashion-police-force trained in differentiating between undesirables and real people.
You've seen the movies; you know the drill. And if none of this does it - we can always get tickets for their night-bus to Vancouver! And watch them get on!
Bottomlines
According to the Star Reid said: the plan was developed with the help of a committee of market vendors. Horse-puckie!
A committee is "a body of people subordinate to a deliberative assembly." No deliberative assembly - here all market-vendors (unless Reid is the assembly)! - ever got together and approved a committee for making unilateral decisions for the Whole!
A couple of camp-following market-vendors at the EcoSociety do not comprise a committee.
Ultimately - what was supposed to be a basic farmers' market may cost close to a cool million. How much beyond the 42.600 so far is the tax-payer to get stuck with?
This fairie-dust proposal is a manipulation of the approval-process by Armstrong & Reid, clumsily attempting to get themselves on the map for reasons unconnected to local needs.
All this is what Mayor Kozak and (partial) Council approve (of).
And feed.
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Mr. Armstrong was the recipient of a public grant I believe $75,000 for the Bedford Roadhouse for a "passivehaus" energy efficent home. It was a triplex, I am not sure the intent of the grant was to build a home for his mother and brothers family, but they were the occupants of the home, we all need a grant to build homes for our families. The structural engineer was our local solar engineer who had just completed the CBT workshop on "how to apply for grants" and occupied the same building as the now defunct "Seed Network" whom received this $25,000 solar grant, 75% of the project, their in kind 25% brought the project to $34,800. The solar system was installed and sold by the engineer who filled out and signed the grant application. The "Seed Network" went broke and took all the equipment and sold it and kept our money after about a year.
ReplyDeleteFurther to Mr. Armstrong's PassiveHaus built on Bedford road he was claiming it would use 90% less energy than a typical home. He also states "a major concept to the success of a home built to PassiveHouse standards is the need to have a lot of exposure to winter sun. He also said the house was wired to accept solar panels, this is where I provided him with access to Nelson solar data showing very very little winter sun. Today we are about to see the Nelson Solar Garden picking everyone's pocket for yet again another solar project with public money, Nelson has already seen over $50,000 in solar projects with public money. Using those years of data the NCSG project 50kW of solar panels won't make enough power from November through February to power ONE average home for half a year. It would be interesting to see Mr. Armstrongs results regarding his claims of 90% less energy usage for his passive haus, this was part of the grant requirement to show everyone how those building techniques would create those savings.
ReplyDeleteTwo thoughts on this blog:
ReplyDelete1) As long as the market matches the colour and motifs of new condo developments down there, we should all be grateful for economic development!
2) The world is run by people with C+ averages.
First up, parking.
ReplyDeleteWhere exactly do you think those parking spots should come from? Sure, you could triple the number if we chopped out the Shuzenji gardens, and killed the market itself, but then you’d also kill the reason for people to go down there in the first place.
So here’s the deal… people have to get used to the fact that there won’t be any more parking. A good chunk of what will go in should be allocated for handicapped individuals and the elderly. As for the rest of us… try walking from home, or parking a few hundred meters away in the downtown. And you know what? It will be fine. Cool places rarely have enough parking, but that’s the problem with the devil automobile.
As for protecting the park from all of the visitors… I’m not sure you get the notion for what a park is for. It’s for visitors. Let’s trust that people won’t trample the gardens, and that the impact of increased use will be mitigated by more garbage cans and proper washrooms. This isn’t an eco-preserve, after-all. Sure, it could use more seating, but that’s what this process is for. It’s not like this is a done deal.
And you’re kind of being silly about security. Sorry, but the city does have to ensure that people are not setting up camp in that park. Homelessness is a huge problem. But we don’t solve it by turning a blind eye to transients in our parks. I was just in Vancouver this past weekend walking through a lovely mini park when we came across a cozy private area. It was full of bloody needles. I’m not suggesting that all homeless people use and leave needles, but this is a problem commonly found in areas like this.
So me, I’m ok with not providing people with privacy to pursue their vices. No barbed wire, or dogs, or other totalitarian devices are required. Simply make the space open. In no way does this restrict people from using the park. It just restricts people from using it in certain ways. That’s not an evil thing.
And yes… the price is high. I agree 100% that all should be done to keep it low, but if we want quality facilities that can be used to host events through the year, we have to be prepared to pay for it. The payoff is that this sort of increased activity will drive our economy.
This design needs work to be sure. What is helpful is constructive criticism. Not endless complaining, and suggestions that everyone involved is either incompetent or corrupt.