Newsletter ∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃« August 2006

Vancouver Public Space Network space e Newsletter ∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃«∂∑∃« August 2006 [email protected] || www.vancouverpublicspace.ca I. VPSN News Mark your agenda! . August Monthly Meeting – Surveillance in the city . Seedball Making Workshop . GG! 1000 Cedars in Cedar Cottage . VPL Deputation / Kokanee . Website Development . Urban Obversion: Elevator Poetry II. Public Space Current Issues . Vancouver Area Cycling . Surveillance cameras in Coalition downtown Vancouver . Momentum Magazine . Poor process: City’s Board . UPDATE – Spaces Between of Variance canned . Insite Safe Injection Site IV. Public Spaces in the Media closing? . The Province’s Safe Streets . Hotels proposed for Campaign; The Tyee looks provincial parks at urban planning; . Billboards for Vancouver Mayencourt writes a bridges letter… . Vancouver Aquarium troubles V. Current & Upcoming Events . New ad-sponsored public . July to August, 2006 bathrooms . UPDATE – Naming Rights VI. Related Campaigns . UPDATE - Freedom of . Public Post Office – Information Act www.publicpostoffice.ca III. Public Space Projects of Note . [murmur] VII. Other Resources . Bubble Battles . Critical Spatial Practice Welcome to the second edition of the VPSN’s e-space newsletter. e-space is sent out every few week or so… it, print a copy and slip it to those two kids currently with a definite emphasis on ‘so.’ from down the street that keep trying to sell What can we say? - we’re getting started and you chocolate almonds. The sidewalk is up to speed with lots of projects. There’s their highway! And given their daily lots going on, and this bulletin aims to involvement in public space, they are more provide updates and information on topical than likely, (you can almost take our word public space items in the city of Vancouver on it), to trade one of those boxes of and its environs. chocolates just for a copy of this publication. Go on, try it! We hope you like the publication. It’s short and sweet – though maybe little text-heavy If you’ve got a relevant project or event that in places. (That will all change once we take other people should know about, please let that VSB course in copper-plate etching). us know. If you’d like to contribute, then please do! Similarly, to get your name on We hope this little folio helps you to connect our mailing list, please send an email to the to some of the great public spaces and above address with your pertinent contact places and issues in the city. Please, let us details. Website in development. (Ideas? know what you think. Send them to [email protected]). Better still, after you’re done reading e- space, please feel to leave it a public space Yours sincerely, for others to discover. Or, circulate it to your friends, colleagues and loved ones. The Vancouver Public Space Network Press forward. Hit resend. While you’re at I. VPSN News August Monthly Meeting – Brainstorming Big Brother The VPSN’s August monthly meeting will focus on issues of surveillance. With the recent proposal by Vancouver Police Chief Jamie Graham to install cameras in areas of “civil unrest,” the presence of closed-circuit television (CCTV) is once again in the news. And yet surveillance devices have already become near-ubiquitous in certain parts of the city – above doorways and storeways, in alleyways and alongside traffic intersections. What exactly are the implications of this? There are questions of understanding and of activity: What impact does increased surveillance have on civil liberties and quality of life? And what can be done to highlight these issues and challenge the push to monitor citizens the second they step out of their door in the morning? Is there a creative response that we at the Vancouver Public Space Network can take on these matters? The next VPSN meeting will workshop these issues and look at a few creative ventures through which members can creatively engage with glass eyes, surveillance-brokers and any other operatives that are plugging the securitization of our urban spaces. For more information >> Please email [email protected]; Stay tuned for date and location information. e-space || august 2006 page 2 Guerrilla Gardening Workshop and Seedball Making Project The VPSN’s July meeting featured an excellent guerrilla-gardening tools workshop facilitated by Catherine B. The evening session walked a dozen folks through the very process of making seedballs – a simple, yet very effective means of re-greening urban spaces. Seedballs are little clusters of seeds, soil and clay which, when mixed together, produce are a fun and effective way to populate the abandoned spaces of the city with wild-flowers, edible landscaping, berry patches and any of a number of other great, green plants. The seeds are protected by the clay, which, in combination with the soil, provides a good growing medium in which the seeds can germinate. Seedballs, once dried, can be broadcast in brownfields and laneways, and other places that need plants. Instructions for this will be available on our website in the near future. We hope to have other seedball making workshops in the next few months. For more information on seedballs, or to find out about future workshops >> email Catherine at [email protected] E e e e e e 1000 Cedars for Cedar Cottage – Guerrilla Forestry! The Vancouver Public Space Network is looking for volunteers and gardening/tree- planting equipment to help plant 1000 cedar seedlings in Cedar Cottage. We’re hoping to organize this so that we can put the seedlings in the ground during the late summer/fall when the trees will be less likely to be crisped by the sun. If you can lend a hand, please send an email to [email protected]. Call this Act One in VPSN’s Urban Forestry Initiative… to played out on scenes all across a fine East Vancouver neighbourhood. The truth is Cedar Cottage was picked because of its name. But that being said, it’s also a good neighbourhood on which to focus attention. The historical community lies within an almost triangular boundary linking Kingsway, Broadway and Nanaimo streets, with a short jog between Clark and Knight Streets thrown in for good measure. At one time, the towering cedars would have been abundant here as elsewhere in Vancouver but then they were mostly all cut down. There are still some good examples (like Clark Park) and there’s always the opportunity for a few more. We thought ‘a catchy challenge like ‘1000 cedars for Cedar Cottage’ seemed to have resonance. If you can’t be part of the mass plant, but could still take a few cedars for your own back yard, give us a call. The seedlings were provided by gardener extraordinaire Justin Tilson, who was able to rescue them from the mulcher at a Fraser Valley nursery. The subject of a recent e-space || august 2006 page 3 piece by the Globe and Mail, Justin recently acquired a total of 10,000 of the western red cedar (Thuja plicata) seedlings and is eager to find them homes. The VPSN decided a little guerrilla tree-planting was in order! Consider planting a seedling in your back yard. If you leave a little donation, you’ll also help to fund the work Justin is doing with his own community garden project. For more information on Justin’s cedar project >> www.savethecedars.com To help with the VPSN’s urban forestry initiative, email Adam at >> [email protected] For information on Kensington Cedar Cottage >> http://vancouver.ca/community_profiles/kensington-cedar/history.htm E e e e e e VPSN Deputation to Vancouver Public Library: Beer Company Shotguns popular public space with 30 foot Kokanee Can! The VPL’s central library building was the site of an interesting corporate branding event in late May of this year when a 30-foot, flood-lit Kokanee can was installed in the north plaza. The can was part of the corporate wrapping of a night-time display of mountain-bike riding. Every 1/2 hour or so, on the evening of May 15, a couple of riders would take a run at a dirt ramp, do some flips and pedal away. In between rides an MC bleated. Kokanee wrap and ribbon was dispersed throughout the plaza and a sharp beer- logo’d 4x4 was parked prominently for all to see. Though Kokanee would probably claim otherwise, the riders ended up being adornments to the corporate branding exercise that took place. Which is too bad, because without all the beer paraphernalia, the event actually might have been cool. What made this event so interesting is the fact that, for at least a year now, the VPL actually had a strong policy in place designed to protect its public space from this very sort of advertising endeavour. The Library’s Public Space e-space || august 2006 page 4 Policy specifically prohibits for-profit uses of its popular north and south plaza areas. Non-profits can rent the space, but not regular old, profit driven corporations. The policy is a bit of an oasis in a downtown area that is increasingly seeing advertising splashed on any available space. What seems to have happened in this case – though the specific details haven’t been confirmed - was that Kokanee approached a non-profit organization and got them to rent the space. The NPO, presumably for some sort of donation, then re-let the plaza to the beer company. The VPSN, which supports the intent and spirit of the Library’s Public Space policy, was dismayed by the actions of the brewery. In June 2006, we took the opportunity to make a deputation to the Library Board to express our concerns about the loop- hole in the policy.

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