Vancouver is crying, afraid she is dying

City Conversation #63: exhausted and feeling alone, this is what Vancouver might say if interviewed about the Vancouver Plan:

So many people much more qualified than I have described the many reasons why the proposed Vancouver Plan is wrong. If Vancouver were a person, I imagine her thoughts on the subject might be something like this:

“Departure” by George Lundeen — photo by Brian Palmquist

“I didn’t ask for this.” Vancouver paused her tears, tried on a weak smile like Vancouver sunshine in March or November. “How could a plan bearing my name be so unlike me, and not in a good way? So against all I’ve believed in and welcomed people to for so long?”

She continued. “I know we need to do better for our most needy and for our fair share of those coming to our city, thinking Canada is the answer to their prayers for a better life, as it has been until this.” She gestured dismissively at the Vancouver Plan document sitting before her.

“I’m so worried they will all, newcomers and old-timers alike, be disappointed and feel cheated by me. This, this Plan is not the answer, not for those who live here nor for those who want to.”

I asked her what was wrong with the namesake Plan.

“Let’s start with my children, our neighbourhoods. There are 22 of them, each with their individual personalities, strengths and weaknesses. Line them all up for a picture, if you can, and they will jostle and poke each other for a bit of advantage. But suggest as this Plan does that they should all be sent away without a trace, then watch them link arms and gird for battle.”

I interrupted. “Some say the neighbourhoods were unable to see beyond themselves, to the bigger challenges of more people of differing prospects in the same amount of space.”

She answered, “Of course neighbourhoods will only see themselves. Children need adults to guide them to the best collective decisions that serve all of them.”

“Isn’t that what the Plan does,” I responded, “guide them to a solution?” She positively glared at me, answering through gritted teeth.

“The Plan is like my older sister, their Aunt Victoria, who has no children so feels entitled to manage mine. She loves to ignore their individual characters, instead making broad, sweeping statements about how they should behave, threatening to impose her rules untested by experience on them.” She paused, smiled thinly.

“So what’s the solution?” I asked, trying to steer us back to her sorrow’s origins.

“Like anything with family members of different ages, experiences and dispositions, it’s complicated.” I nodded encouragement and she continued.

“If, instead of proclaiming from on high as the Vancouver Plan does, a simplistic solution that will please nobody, you instead explain what the realistic outcome must be, how many people must be housed in what general forms of home, how many that means each year. Then you leave the neighbourhoods with a deadline to figure it out while keeping track of the totals, monitoring their progress and making suggestions when needed. There is much more likelihood of success with a clear shared goal over time.”

I paused to gather my thoughts, asked innocently, “Can we get there from here?”

She sighed, looking at me through tear-rimmed eyes. “I’m really not sure anymore. The neighbourhoods have been ignored, derided and lied to for so long, they are on the point of checking out, leaving in spirit if not in body.”

“If they do that,” I responded, “what will happen?”

Her tears began to flow freely now.

“What am I without my children, the neighbourhoods? What am I when a forest of tall empty-eyed concrete frames hide my neighbours, the mountains and waters, indeed, the real forests, those empty concrete buildings competing with the eagles who are meant to soar the highest?”

“What am I when my children are covered in a spot rezoned pox of infectious boils? What am I when the larger rashes, these diseased areas with names ending in Lands, Plans and Districts erupt into lesions and legions of phantom neighbours, leading to the atrophy of the limbs, the shops, libraries, schools, parks and community centres where my children expected to live, work, shop and play?”

“What am I when the hard but satisfying work of two lifetimes is erased in a moment?”

She looked at me through tears still able to glisten in the sunlight, because the sunlight is not yet shaded by the advancing phalanx of high-rises.

“I don’t know what I will be, but if this comes to pass I will no longer be Vancouver—and I hope at least a few will mourn my passing.”

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There are currently enough Vancouver homes approved or in the process ”pipeline” to accommodate 250,000 more Vancouverites as soon as they are built, the most generous estimate of our needs to 2050. Less than 700 of these have been completed during the term of the current Council, yet scant effort is being devoted to any ways to accelerate the design and construction process, other than eliminating public consultation as the Vancouver Plan process has done.

This 250,000 does not include any additional homes arising from the Broadway Plan, the Vancouver Plan or any of the proposals that have been tabled but not applied for, such as the Jericho Lands, the Renfrew and Rupert Station areas, Skeena Terrace, etc.—it’s a long list.

So why do we need the Vancouver Plan and these others, what our lady Vancouver calls a spot rezoned pox of infectious boils?

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Call to Action

For those citizens currently sitting on the sidelines, thinking “it doesn’t affect me,” know that the Vancouver Plan, which covers the entire city, will write the Broadway Plan’s high density concepts without further public input onto every quiet corner of every city block, every treed hill in every park, every close and distant vista in our decreasingly fair land. Please review the Vancouver Plan. Whether you agree with it or not, say so by the end of today, July 4th, else Council may not have time to read it before their meeting. Better yet, sign up before 8:30 am on July 6th to speak at the Council meeting. Not much time but the schedule is set by the Mayor and city staff for their convenience, not ours. There is no compelling reason for the Vancouver Plan to be considered before the next civic election. 

Vancouver’s civic election is October 15th of this year. Lots more damage can be done to our city before that date—and it will continue, and worsen, unless TEAM for a Livable Vancouver elects a majority (6 of 10) City Councillors—less than 6 and not much will change. If you are concerned that what you’ve just read is an example of what’s wrong with our city, and want to bring back its livability, join TEAM and work with us to restore Vancouver as a place we can all afford to call home.

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Today’s question: Do you like the Vancouver Plan? Why or why not? 

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I am a Vancouver-based architect, building envelope and building code consultant and LEED Accredited Professional (the first green building system). I am semi-retired for the moment, still teaching and writing, so not beholden to any client or city hall. These conversations mix real discussion with research and observations based on my 40+ year career including the planning, design and construction of almost every type and scale of project. I am the author of the award winning Amazon best seller “An Architect’s Guide to Construction.” I am also a member of TEAM for a livable Vancouver, a new political party dedicated to restoring a livable Vancouver starting with the 2022 civic election. Although I am not a candidate for TEAM or any other civic party, City Conversations are generally congruent with TEAM policy, so if you like the ideas that I’m writing about, please consider joining TEAM.