Vancouver Courier February 12 2014 by Vancouver Courier

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014 Vol. 105 No.13 • Established 1908

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THEATRE: Painterly play 27 / SPORTS : Inspirational coach 28

Parkboard abidesbyDude ChillingPark BUZZ-WORTHY SIGN RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION SANDRA THOMAS Staff writer

photo Dan Toulgoet

GETTING INTO THE SWING OF THINGS: 90 years young, Tong Fook Wah plays tennis everyday at sunrise at the Langara Tennis Courts. See related story on page 19.

Lotto chief exits for casino job MIKE HOWELL Staff writer

he former president and CEO of the B.C. Lottery Corporation has joined a new company in which he will oversee the operations of a $535 million casino complex to be built adjacent to B.C. Place Stadium. Michael Graydon, who announced his resignation from the lottery corporation in January, is the president of the newly formed PV Hospitality ULC, which is described as an equal partnership with afﬁliates 360 VOX Corporation and Paragon Gaming Inc.

Paragon is the Las Vegas company that owns Edgewater Casino at the former Plaza of Nations site. In December, the city’s development permit board granted Paragon a preliminary development application to build a new casino, with hotels and restaurants adjacent to B.C. Place Stadium. News of Graydon’s new job surfaced in a Feb. 7 news release posted on the Canada NewsWire, which said Graydon’s ﬁrst priority will be “oversight and operations of Vancouver’s new world-class urban resort” adjacent to B.C. Place. Paragon spokesperson Tamara Hicks told the Courier in an email Friday that Graydon was unavailable for an interview until next week. See CASINO on page 6

hile late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is considering a move to Canada, legions of dedicated fans (also known as “achievers”) of the cult classic ﬁlm The Big Lebowski are considering pilgrimages to Vancouver. The catalyst for the international attention Vancouver is receiving of late is not the start of the Olympic Games in Sochi, to which this city played host four years ago, but rather a small East Side park and a public art installation declaring the tiny green space “Dude Chilling Park.” For anyone not familiar with the now infamous art piece, it mysteriously appeared in Guelph Park on Brunswick Street at East Seventh in November

2012 as an exact replica of an official park board sign. The name pays homage to the Reclining Figure sculpture by Michael Dennis that lies in the park. The sign was quickly removed but a petition was immediately launched to bring it back. The park board voted last week to reinstall the sign in its original location and erect an adjacent plaque describing the piece and referencing the Coast Salish connection to the land. The park will still officially be known as Guelph Park. Guelph was Queen Victoria’s family name. Following that vote, considered a victory for “achievers” everywhere, spread via social media. The Big Lebowski is a 1998 movie starring Jeff Bridges as “the Dude,” an unmarried slacker who loves to bowl. See KIMMEL on page 4

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W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

Travelling mayor sends tweets and texts back home 12TH & CAMBIE with Mike Howell

ayor Gregor Robertson is quite the multitasker. Last week, he caught a ﬂight to South Africa for a conference, hung with former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and planted a tree in Soweto. Don’t worry taxpayers, apparently Robertson’s tab is being picked up by the C-40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, which invited mayors to Johannesburg to talk climate change. No word on what all that air travel did to the environment. Anyway, the mayor attended the conference while staying in touch with his staff back here in frigid Vancouver and ensured they pumped out a few press releases. It is an election year, after all. The ﬁrst dispatch celebrated the news that London mayor Boris Johnson endorsed the city’s mission to Sochi, where Coun. Tim Stevenson and activist Maureen Douglas landed as advocates for LGBTQ rights and inclusion in the Olympics and future Games. Johnson’s endorsement didn’t come as a surprise since the mop-topped funnyman

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Gregor Robertson poses with the Olympic torch beside London counterpart Boris Johnson. welcomed a Pride House during London’s Summer Olympics in 2012. Still, the mayor thought Johnson’s support was worth a mention and a couple of quotes, including: “I would like to thank mayor Johnson and the people of London for their support and congratulate Councillor Stevenson and Ms. Douglas for their successful leadership on such an important human rights issue.” The same day, Robertson’s words appeared in another release — this time the topic was arts and culture. The city has ﬁnally found tenants for

8,500 sq. feet of ﬂoor space at the downtown CBC building. The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival Society and partners, Touchstone Theatre, the Documentary Media Society and Music on Main Society will move into the space. “The city is proud to support affordable spaces for artists, and the community cultural hub in the CBC building is a great ﬁt for groups like the PuSh Festival,” Robertson said. What wasn’t included in the release is what I reported in January 2013 — that the city had paid $144,000 over three years to rent … vacant space.

I understand that bill jumped another $38,000 since my report and will cost the city $46,000 a year to allow PuSh and the others to operate; PuSh will pay a nominal rental fee of $10 for the ﬁrst 10 years under the agreement. Robertson wasn’t done emailing/texting or phoning in more comments for public consumption. Last Thursday, he issued a statement regarding Transportation Minister Todd Stone’s willingness to delay the transportation referendum and change the governance of TransLink. I included some of it in a story I wrote about the new developments in the transit back-and-forth. But here it is again for those of you who missed it. “It’s a positive step to see the province supporting a delay for their referendum. While I have always stated that I do not support a transit referendum, if it does proceed it’s crucial that it be held at a time when citizens, businesses, mayors and hopefully the province can all focus on making the clear economic and quality of life case for urgently needed transit improvements. I will join other mayors to discuss minister Stone’s letter next week when we’ve had the opportunity to reﬂect on it.” And, no doubt, we’ll hear what he has to say — preferably in an interview or scrum. But these days, I’ll take what I can get. mhowell@vancourier.com twitter.com/Howellings

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Kimmel enchanted by sign Continued from page 1 On Feb. 3, USA TODAY baseball editor @GabeLacques wrote on Twitter, “Canada wins again RT @ParkBoard It’s ofﬁcial, Guelph Park has new public art! “Dude Chilling Park” sign approved.” Meanwhile, another Twitter user posted this ode to Vancouver, “Honestly canada? I f_____g love y’all up north...” But it was the Jimmy Kimmel show last week that had the Twitterverse buzzing. In his opening monologue, the late night host showed a clip of CTV anchor Keri Adams announcing the move, along with a short clip of Vision Vancouver park board commissioner Sarah Blyth discussing the sign. At the end of the clip Kimmel announced, “Between Dude Chilling Park and Rob Ford, I might have to move to Canada.” Blyth told the Courier she was surprised to see herself on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “Art is supposed to start discussion, but I wasn’t expecting it from him,” said Blyth. “But people were tweeting from all over the world, even from Berlin, Paris, Chicago and New York. We got a lot of comments from New York.” Blyth said the sign makes passers-by smile, which is important in these hectic times. “People have stressful lives. I have two jobs and a son I’m raising on my own. I watch the news on TV and it’s a downer,” said Blyth. “But I know that when I walk by

that sign it’s going to make me smile.” Blyth was also happy about the attention the park is receiving from Big Lebowski fans. In a column dedicated to the Dude Chilling Park sign in the Atlantic Cities newspaper, staff writer John Metcalfe wrote in part, “Ascribe this victory to the all-consuming cosmic energy of The Big Lebowski: Over the cries of a vocal minority of residents, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation has designated a green space as ‘Dude Chilling Park.’” Metcalfe continued, “The saga of ‘Dude Chilling Park — which Lebowski purists no doubt will correct as ‘Dude Abiding Park’ — began in November [2012] when an artist covered the original Guelph sign with a fake but totally relaxing Dude version. The new sign was a reference to a nearby public sculpture depicting a person taking a load off in a major Dude-worthy recline...” Even the Main Street Poodle (@MainStreetPoodle) chimed in on Twitter. Main Street Poodle is a Twitter account dedicated to a public art piece that includes a large poodle on a pole, which when ﬁrst erected caused much discussion regarding its relevance. “@ParkBoard How about naming my little park: Poodle Place, Dog Chilling Park or Neighbourhood Cat Extermination Zone?” @MainStreetPoodle wrote in response to the sign. sthomas@vancourier.com twitter.com/sthomas10

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Mayors want answers on transit goals MIKE HOWELL Staff writer

he head of a mayors’ group responsible for developing a future plan for transit in the Lower Mainland hopes to get some clarification and answers this Friday as to what mayors can and can’t do in their pursuit of better transit. North Vancouver district mayor Richard Walton, who doubles as chairperson of the mayors’ council on regional transportation, will join mayors Feb. 14 in their first meeting with Transportation Minister Todd Stone since he announced new details on a transportation referendum and the governance of TransLink. Stone said Feb. 6 he is willing to delay a referendum asking Metro Vancouver residents how and whether to fund major transit expansion projects. The referendum, originally slated for November, would take place no later than June 30, 2015, said Stone, who also promised his government will introduce legislation to give the region’s mayors “approval powers” over TransLink’s 30-year strategy and 10-year investment plan. “It’s a positive step forward and I certainly receive it that way,” Walton told the Courier by telephone as he rode the SeaBus. “But as Surrey mayor Dianne Watts said, ‘the devil is in the details.’ And once we have some answers to those, we’ll have a better idea.” Stone told reporters at a Feb. 6 press conference “the ball will be firmly in the court of the mayors’ council now.” Stone elaborated on his offering to the mayors in a letter he sent to Walton. “To ensure sufficient time is available for in-depth public discussion, this extension [of the referendum] depends on the mayors’ council articulating and presenting a regional vision, with specific priorities and costs,” Stone wrote. Stone said that “vision” or plan has to be

ready by June 30, 2014 or else the provincial government will look to tying the referendum to municipal elections in 2017. Depending on what unfolds over the next few months, Stone said a referendum could still go ahead in conjunction with this November’s municipal elections. He warned a delay in holding a referendum — whether it be next year or in 2017 — would mean the mayors’ council will have to rely on existing funding sources to expand transit in the interim period. Currently, transportation improvements are funded by taxes and fees, including property tax, gas tax, transit fares and tolls on new crossings. Any new funding sources, Stone said, must be generated within the region and not be subsidized by taxpayers in the rest of the province. Also, the government will not permit new funding to be collected from the provincial transportation system. Stone said government is prepared to pay for one-third of major new rapid transit projects and the replacement of the Pattullo Bridge, which links New Westminster to Surrey. In June 2013, the mayors’ council announced it wouldn’t support a referendum, predicting it would fail and jeopardize transit projects. The mayors’ council, which includes Mayor Gregor Robertson, noted the replacement of the Port Mann Bridge and other major road projects did not require a referendum. Robertson echoed Walton’s comments about Stone’s offering being “a positive step.” “While I have always stated that I do not support a transit referendum, if it does proceed it’s crucial that it be held at a time when citizens, businesses, mayors and hopefully the province can all focus on making the clear economic and quality of life case for urgently needed transit improvements,” Robertson said in a statement emailed to the Courier last week. mhowell@vancourier.com

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news

Casino critic questions ethics Continued from page 1

games comics quizzes puzzles get caught in our web…

v a n c o u r i e r. c o m

Therelease,however,quotedGraydonsaying “I see this as a culmination of all I’ve achieved in my career, and am committed to help make PV Hospitality the world’s premier operator of destination resorts in North America.” Graydon worked for the lottery corporation for six years and supported Paragon’s original request of city council to build the new casino with 1,500 slot machines and 150 games tables. In April 2011, city council voted unanimously to reject Paragon’s proposal, which would have almost tripled its current complement of slots and doubled the number of games tables. Council, however, did give Paragon the green light to move its casino operations from the Edgewater site to the property adjacent to B.C. Place Stadium — as long as it kept the current number of 600 slots and 75 games tables. Sandy Garossino, spokesperson for the antigambling coalition Vancouver Not Vegas!, said Graydon’s appointment is “stunning” and she questioned the ethics of the move. “This is the question: Was he negotiating his compensation package with Paragon while he was sitting as CEO of the lottery corporation?” said Garossino, adding that Graydon would likely have ﬁnancial information and other knowledge of Paragon’s competitors. “He’s acquired that knowledge on the public’s dime and that’s now gone over to Paragon.” In light of questions being raised about Graydon’s new job, Hicks said it was important to note the regulation of gambling in Brit-

ish Columbia falls under the province’s gaming policy enforcement branch, not BCLC. “This is a highly regulated industry, both by provincial and federal regulators,” she wrote. “Michael’s record of integrity and leadership is well known in the industry, and we are very excited to welcome him to our team.” Garossino said Graydon’s move reminded her of a previous lottery corporation chairperson who later joined Paragon’s board of directors. T. Richard Turner was chairperson of the lottery corporation from 2001 to 2005 before joining Paragon’s board. In April 2010, the Vancouver Sun reported that Turner placed a call in 2009 to the minister responsible for the B.C. Pavilion Corporation (PavCo), which owns B.C. Place Stadium. Turner placed the call on behalf of Paragon to say the company would back away from its bid to build a casino complex if renovations to B.C. Place didn’t include a retractable roof. Turner told the Sun he didn’t try to inﬂuence PavCo’s decision on which company it would pick to develop the property. In a brief interview with the Courier in March 2011, Turner described his role with Paragon as providing “advice from time to time at a board meeting.” Another former BCLC head, Vic Poleschuk, became Great Canadian Casino’s senior vicepresident of operations in May 2010. He spent eight years as CEO and president. In Graydon’s farewell blog post Feb. 3 on BCLC’s website, he wrote that “although I am excited for my new journey, I am sad to leave the family I’ve built here at BCLC. I take with me valuable experience and many memories.”

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Cambie Corridor project poised as Oakridge gateway NAOIBH O’CONNOR

t’s a “cool building.” “Bold expression.” It will be like “living in an idea.” Those are some of the effusive comments members of the city’s Urban Design Panel made recently about buildings planned for West 41st Ave. between Willow and Baillie streets near Oakridge Centre. The UDP advises city council and staff about development proposals or policies, including major development applications, rezoning applications, and other projects of public interest, although its decisions aren’t binding on the city. In this case, the panel voted 8-0 in support of the development called Aperture destined for 799 West 41st Ave. It includes two large six-storey buildings and four twostorey laneway villas. They will be built on five former single-family lots. The project first appeared before the UDP at the rezoning stage in 2012 when it earned support in an 8-0 vote. Rezoning was approved after a public hearing in September 2013. This appearance before the UDP was for the development permit application, so the focus was more on architecture than issues like height and massing, which are dealt with at the rezoning stage. Aperture, developed by Buffalo Investments and designed by the firm Arno Matis Architecture Inc., is one of the approved applications within the Cambie Corridor. Arno Matis told the Courier it’s the most westerly site incorporated into the Cambie Corridor Plan, so it can be seen as a gateway into the Oakridge precinct, which will become a major hub in Vancouver, especially if the proposed Oakridge Centre redevelopment is approved. “So we wanted to make sure, at least from the end, the building had some sort of gesture towards this idea of being a gateway location,” Matis said. The firm also drew inspiration from the historical architecture in the area and the fact Oakridge was one of the last neighbourhoods developed in Vancouver. “There’s some modernist buildings that

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W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

COMMUNITY BRIEFS CITY SEEKS INTERVENER STATUS IN KINDER MORGAN PIPELINE HEARING

The City of Vancouver has ﬁled for intervener status in the public hearing over the expansion of the Kinder Morgan oil pipeline due to concerns about emergency responders’ ability to deal with a major spill. Kinder Morgan is applying to twin its existing pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby, which would see oil tanker trafﬁc in Burrard Inlet increase from 80 a year to around 400. Intervener status would allow the city to take an active role in the National Energy Board hearing and make submissions to the board. If approved, construction of the $5.4 billion expansion could begin as early as next year and be completed by 2017.

FIRST HOMICIDE OF THE YEAR One man is dead and two men are in custody following a stabbing in downtown Vancouver on Sunday night that

marked the city’s ﬁrst homicide of the year. Police responding to reports of a ﬁght near the corner of Granville and West Georgia around 11 p.m. found an unconscious man on the sidewalk who had suffered a life-threatening stab wound. The 28-year-old was rushed to hospital but died a few hours later. Acting on tips from witnesses, police arrested two suspects.

AVALANCHE WARNING

Anyone venturing into the nearby mountains in the next few days should be wary of dangerous avalanche conditions across much of southern B.C. According to the Canadian Avalanche Centre, the avalanche risk has gone from considerable to high in recent days for alpine and some treeline zones on mountain ranges from the North Shore to across southeastern B.C., as well as the northwest coast. Recent new snow on top of an underlying weaker layer has created unstable conditions.

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CORRECTION In the Feb. 5 story “West End senior ﬁghts eviction,” the owner of 825 Gilford St. was incorrectly identiﬁed as Linda Fordash. The owner’s last name is Forgach.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4

THE VANCOUVER COURIER

1574 West Sixth Ave., Vancouver, BC V6J 1R2 604-738-1411 Twitter: @vancouriernews vancourier.com

Liberals deaf to ferry users’ input

ey Themes From Written Submissions is the header on one page of the latest tome from the government’s community-engagement process about the ferry system. The top-ranked theme is this: “Opposed to service reductions on all routes.” It was mentioned 563 times. So it was a bit awkward for Transportation Minister Todd Stone last week to release the document at the same time he announced service reductions on all routes. “Service reductions will affect social fabric/communities and result in depopulation” was another theme. Didn’t seem to matter a whit. The previously announced service reductions are going ahead, social fabric be damned. They also heard an earful from people opposed to reducing the seniors’ discount. Received and filed. The plan to end the free ride for seniors will go ahead as scheduled. All the key themes, of course, ran heavily against the government plan. But the plan is going to be executed. You rarely hear a government accused of over-consultation, but you wonder if they overdid the public engagement shows that have been running the length of the coast for the past several months. There was a big round of hearings before the proposed cuts were announced. Then another round trying to gauge reaction to the cuts. Then the cuts were imposed pretty much as announced. It amounts to ignoring people twice, instead of just once. As a measure of how earnestly all this consultation has been analyzed, the government noted that one of the key themes was skepticism about the consideration of people’s input. “Participants said they do not believe that B.C. Ferries and the government have considered their previous input and responded to their concerns.” It’s more a case of them knowing they were going to catch sustained hell for the cuts, catching the hell, going back and catching some more, but then going ahead with the cuts because they have no other options. Stone said Wednesday: “None of this should come as a surprise.” He’s right in more ways than one. There will be some fine-tuning of some specific sailing cancellations. Yet another round of consultation will start to refine schedules. The government said it will “take into account the community input received during engagement.” But nobody can take that too seriously. If the government really took that into account, there wouldn’t be any cuts. The most that users of the minor routes can hope for will be retention of early and late sailings by curtailing some mid-day trips. About the only bone the government will throw to the legions of unhappy customers who made their feelings known after the plan was proposed is a partial fix to make up for the cancellation of the mid-coast Port Hardy to Bella Coola route. There isn’t much talk at this point about more consultation on another round of cuts that are coming on the major routes. B.C. Ferries has whittled $4 million out of the budget with some cuts on the two runs from the Nanaimo area to Metro Vancouver, and the Swartz Bay-Tsawwassen runs. But it has to find another $4.9 million in savings on those runs some time between now and April 2016. Analysis will begin soon on developing potential service cuts. The service reductions on the minor routes have been defended by stressing the absurdly low traffic volumes on selected sailings on some routes. Stone cited sailings in Haida Gwaii and at Bowen Island that average one car per trip, portraying them as classic wastes of money. But the major routes have much more respectable volumes. So curtailing them will be harder to justify. The one intriguing aspect still to come in the long march to financial sustainability is in customer-service technology. B.C. Ferries’ point-of-sale and reservation system is out of date. The consultation showed an appetite for some new features. Huge majorities favour frequent-user discounts and variable pricing for peak and off-peak sailings, something a new system could handle. There’s also a big appetite for early-booking discounts. That might be the one part of the consultation the government hears. lleyne@timescolonist.com

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letters

W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

WE WANT YOUR OPINION

Hate it or love it? We want to know... really, we do!

Reach us by email: letters@vancourier.com

Changing minds isn’t an easy matter

hen was the last time you changed your mind? I don’t mean that you changed your mind about what to have for dinner or what tie to wear. I mean, when was the last time you changed one of your core beliefs about the world? And what made you do it? I’ve been thinking about this ever since I watched a movie called Pandora’s Promise recently. It’s about environmentalists, most of whom were firmly against nuclear power, who have made a 180-degree turn. They are now pro-nuclear power. Nor is this a function of old hippies turning into right-wingers as they age — these folks believe that nuclear power is necessary to ward off global warming. The most fascinating part of the program was watching one of the environmentalists visit the devastation and the somewhat irradiated zone directly around the Fukushima nuclear plant in the aftermath of the tsunami that largely destroyed the building. He admitted that it wasn’t comfortable to have his new beliefs about the relative safety of nuclear power challenged. He couldn’t help doubting his own still-recent conversion. Most of the film was about nuclear power itself, but it was those moments of questioning that left me fascinated. What causes — or allows — a change of belief? We cling to our core beliefs, but we do so with a fervour that suggests it has little to do with the fact that we think the beliefs are right. We push back hard when we are challenged. One of the easiest ways to bait me into an argument is to speak up in favour of creationism — the idea that the Earth is only about 6,000 years old, and that humans and animals and plants were all created around the same time. (Ditto for intelligent design.) Why does creationism bug me so much? Because while I’m not a scientist, I love learning new things about the universe. I love the idea that the universe is, for the most part at least, knowable. I find awe in the idea that we are only the most recent branch of evolution, the tip of a broad and branching tree that includes dinosaurs and bacteria, sea sponges and redwoods. I could (and do) make a lot of arguments about why I’m right and why the creationists are wrong. But at least part of the reason why it winds me up so much isn’t the objective issue, it’s the way it’s bound up into my sense of who I am as a person. Likewise, the creationists who are no doubt reading this and getting upset because they’re having something at the core of their own beliefs challenged. Politicians, you’ll notice, don’t try to change our actual opinions. They just try to tie things we already like (families, security, money, patriotism) to their party. Then they try to attach things we don’t like (lies, stupidity, failure) to their opponents. An election is no time to debate real issues, after all. Many of our beliefs seem to be subject to clustering. What’s the connection between supporting lower taxes and the death penalty, exactly? Most of us get a lot of our beliefs pre-packaged. You support A? Then you also support A1, A2, and A3. The conventional wisdom of the group dictates that, if you strongly believe one tenet, you probably believe the others, so as not to rock the boat. Finally, consider this: at least something you believe firmly will be condemned by history as backwards, barbaric, and foolish. Go back a hundred years and your great-grandparents certainly believed things that would make you cringe now. Out in the world now are the iconoclasts who will be proven right. mclaxton@langleadvance.com

MATTHEW CLAXTON

“

We cling to our core beliefs, but we do so with a fervour that suggests it has little to do with the fact we think the beliefs are right.

”

QUEEN OF KITSCH WILL BE MISSED

To the editor: Re: “‘Queen of Kitsch’ remembered for her warmth and wicked wit,” Feb. 5. I was shocked, yesterday, when I went to Urban Empire to see Patricia. I was going to lend her my cell-phone when she went into the hospital for surgery - she didn’t have one, and wanted to be able to order in REAL food while there. The store was closed, and the notice on the door said it all: this one-of-a-kind businesswoman gone forever. Patricia had no time for the politically correct and the smarmy New Agers. She spoke her “wicked sense of humor” and it showed itself — from the front window to the back wall of her store. There are many people more worthy of an early death than Patricia.

Mike Tropp, Vancouver

JUSTICE SYSTEM TAKEN TO TASK

To the editor: Re: “‘Aboriginal voices missing from task force,” Feb. 5. At least as important as having voice on task force committees, all aboriginal nations and communities deserve a strong voice in what kind of justice system will maintain the laws by which they live, most notably

their traditional healing/sentencing circle. As a white man, when I many years ago had to stand before a criminal-trial judge, seated way up upon a wood bench, my chronic anxiety had turned what was a fairly minor infraction, into an ordeal. Thus, when I heard about the aboriginal healing circle, I thought that our non-aboriginal society should realize how beneﬁcial it would be to allow all aboriginal peoples to practice their healing/sentencing circle, for aboriginal-based crimes (i.e., aboriginal perpetrators against aboriginal victims). The healing/sentencing circle should be utilized because our criminal-court system can be unproductive and even destructive. The aboriginal healing/sentencing circle, on the contrary, has all of those people involved with a crime (the offender, the victim and their families, etc.) sitting in a circle and facing one another apparently with equal status. Furthermore, instead of just shipping an offender off to jail, he is made to answer directly to those he has hurt and possibly bring about healing resolution. He hears and responds to his victim’s pain, and may perhaps also express his own painful past which may have corrupted him. Our current, often pompous adversarial justice system could very well learn a positive thing

or two from the healing/sentencing circle, especially when dealing with those accused who are already enduring a life affected by mental illness and/or substance abuse.

Frank G. Sterle, Jr., White Rock

KITS ROAD CLOSURE LACKS VISION

To the editor: Re: “What to expect with Point Grey closure,” Jan. 23. For decades Vancouver has had a policy of land acquisition to provide a sea view route along English Bay. With the high cost of the land on Point Grey road, the land bank was stalled. Now, the Vision party has abdicated this valid policy and designated the route as a private driveway for the wealthy residents at a great loss to tax paying citizenry who wish to access our waterfront and the mini parks on Point Grey Road. What next, close English Bay access via Beach and Paciﬁc in an area where cyclists are actually spotted in modest numbers? And why did Vision close the street when the City of Vancouver right of way could accommodate a bike route separate from the existing road? Could it be lucrative political support over common sense?

Rick Angus, Vancouver

ON YOUR MIND ONLINE COURIER STORY: “‘Queen of Kitsch’ remembered for her warmth and wicked wit,” Feb. 5. Holly: What an amazing lady. I hope the store stays open. COURIER STORY: “Showboating Vancouver council finally approves senior centre funding,” Feb. 7. Mike Sullivan: They needed to put a bike path to the seniors centre and it would of got all the money it needed. Sam Foxdale @SFoxdale: Vision & NPA did NOTHING to get this done. The people in the community & community centre did all the work and convinced Feds. COURIER STORY: “Sun Sui Wah removes shark fin from menu,” Feb. 7. Dave Wicks: Bravo to Vancouver Animal Defense League but more importantly the sharks. If you consider that the west coast of Canada is the largest market for shark fins outside of Hong Kong, every success here will have significant impacts on the global shark conservation effort. COURIER STORY: “Vancouver goes a little bit country,” Feb. 7. Wes Mack @WesMackMusic: Check out @Thuncher‘s article in the @VanCourierNews talkin’ about myself, @jrfm, the @bourbon and country in #yvr. COURIER STORY: “Hotel Vancouver raises the Roof,” Feb. 5. Hotel Vancouver @FairmontVan: Thank you! We are excited to reintroduce Vancouver to The Roof! Follow us on Facebook: The VancouverCourierNewspaper and Twitter: @VanCourierNews

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letters may be edited by the Courier for reasons of legality, taste, brevity and clarity. To be considered for publication, they must be less than 300 words, signed and include the writer’s full name (no

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initials), home address, and telephone number (neither of which will be published), so authorship may be veriﬁed. Send to: 1574 West Sixth Ave., Vancouver BC V6J 1R2 or email letters@vancourier.com

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4

community

EVENT OR COMMUNITY NEWS WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?

604-738-1411 sthomas@vancourier.com

photo Dan Toulgoet

Head instructor Sabrina Bouzid demonstrates proper chopping technique in the H.A.V.E. kitchen.

H.A.V.E. great food for a good cause COMMUNITY CALENDAR with Sandra Thomas

FAIRVIEW

A fundraising event taking place Feb. 13 at the Waterfall Building on West Second Avenue promises an evening of entertainment, delicious food and beverages. All for a good cause. The Michael Cuccione Foundation and H.A.V.E. Culinary Training Society are the beneficiaries of the event, sponsored by the Vancouver Courier, WE, Wazuku Advisory Group, and Mills Office Productivity. The Michael Cuccione Foundation was founded in 1997 with a goal to change the way childhood cancer is researched. Funds raised by this foundation are donated in memory of Michael Cuccione, who at nineyears-old had a vision to support various research programs across Canada and the U.S. Since Michael’s death, the foundation has spread his message and kept his dream alive. H.A.V.E, the Hope Action Values Ethics Culinary Training Society, is a non-profit charity and social enterprise located in the Downtown Eastside. H.A.V.E. provides food service job training and work opportunities to individuals who experience barriers to employment, including addiction, mental health issues, mental and physical disabilities, learning disabilities, age, language difficulties, homelessness and poverty. The Waterfall Building is located at 1540 West Second Ave. For more information email, Geneva at ggigiotti@wazuku.ca.

RILEY PARK The popular Baker’s Market is back and will take place at the Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre, 7646 Prince Albert St., Feb. 16 and 23, March 2 and 9, April 20 and 27 and May 4 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The market launched in response to the many talented amateur and professional

bakers in the city who kept creating their specialties and sharing them with friends and family. They now are sharing their talents and spoils with the community so look for hand-made chocolates, brownies, cupcakes, cake pops, scones, organic mufﬁns, vegan baked goods, preserves, tarts, you name it — but no veggies please, it’s not that kind of market. Anyone interested in showing off their wares and being a vendor at the Baker’s Market can sign up at bakersmarket.com. The market is indoors and there’s lots of free parking so bakedgoods lovers can shop in comfort.

DOWNTOWN CBC Vancouver’s Toque Sessions continue now through Feb. 28 at the CBC Broadcast Centre, 700 Hamilton St. These free concerts, in their ﬁfth year, run each Thursday and Friday beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Studio One. Reservations are not available, and the lineup is pretty impressive, so if you want to catch one of the shows it’s advised you show up by 6:30 p.m. in time for the 7:30 p.m. start. Remaining shows include the Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer (Feb. 13), Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (Feb. 14), Said the Whale (Feb. 20), Dean Brody (Feb. 21), Dan Brubeck Quartet (Feb. 27) and Hannah Georgas and Ryan Guldemond (Feb. 28).

RIVER DISTRICT Kids can enjoy a free screening of the movie Turbo Sunday, Feb. 16, at the River District Centre at the south end of Kerr Street off Southeast Marine Drive. Turbo is a movie about a snail that gets the gift of speed after a freak accident, even competing in the Indianapolis 500. With a little help from his friends, Turbo proves that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. Show time is 4 p.m. and free popcorn will be served. Don’t forget to take a pillow, blanket, sleeping bag and stuffed animal so kids feel right at home. For more information, email jlam@parklane.com or call the River District Centre at 604-431-5594. sthomas@vancourier.com twitter.com/sthomas10

W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

CITY LIVING

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GOT AN EVENT WE CAN SHOOT? LET US KNOW! 604-738-1411 | events@vancourier.com

photo Rebecca Blissett

WISE GUY: Matt Anderson, cider-sipper and volunteer board member for the Vancouver Homebrewing Association, checks out some of the offerings from Merridale Estate Cidery during Saturday’s CiderWISE tasting at the WISE hall. Scan this page using the Layar app to see more photos from the event.

Beermakers branch out with gluten-free brewski REBECCA BLISSETT Contributing Writer

hen Adam Chatburn moved to Vancouver from Blackburn, England six years ago, the reason certainly hadn’t anything to do with Canadian beer. While the long-time home brewer of cider and mead wanted a change of scenery, it didn’t take long to realize there was more to beer culture in his new home than what the television ads of ﬁctional mountain creatures and voluptuous snow bunnies would have anybody believe. “Canada didn’t have a great reputation for great beer but when I came here and realized how much great beer there was, and what the world didn’t know about, I wanted to get involved,” said Chatburn, now the president of the Vancouver chapter of the Campaign for Real Ale Society of British Co-

lumbia, better known as CAMRA. The group originated in England more than 40 years ago because of the proliferation of factory beers replacing traditional regional beers. Even now, in more modern times, there’s still far more to the group than hanging out in a pub with a pint as evidenced by this past Saturday’s cider and gluten-free beer tasting event at the WISE Hall. While most urban eateries and bakeries have recently been offering gluten-free options for those with celiac disease, or even those who are just sensitive to the sticky substance found in many grains, CAMRA realized there must be no fate more terrible for a beer lover than not being able to drink beer. “Two years ago there were one or two and they weren’t very nice,” said Chatburn of the gluten-free beers that were available at the time. “I think people tried them and they were turned off quite quickly.” Thus, CiderWISE was born. And Chat-

INCREASE YOUR SAVINGS, NOT YOUR WAISTLINE.

burn plans to make it an annual event to showcase some of the new options available to gluten-sensitive beer-drinkers. “We have people who are new to the experience of tasting beer and we’ve been amazed by the response,” he said. “It’s not just, ‘Here’s the beer, drink the beer!’ We’re here so you can learn about this stuff, get interested in it, find out more about it, find out what flavours you like.” While cider is already gluten-free by nature, there are two approaches to making a gluten-free beer. One is using grains that don’t have any gluten, such as oats, rice, or millet. The other is removing the gluten from the beer by adding an enzyme that breaks down the gluten. The result is that the latter tastes more like traditional beer, but still may contain traces of gluten, which is only fine for those with minor sensitivities. There is much more to the process, of course, which is why there was a continual

cluster of people listening to Danny Seeton all afternoon Saturday. Seeton, a graduate student at the University of B.C., is CAMRA’s education liaison and has a personal interest in perfecting a gluten-free beer because celiac disease runs in his family. Experimenting with beer is something that comes naturally to local craft beer lovers, said Chatburn, adding that the local microbrewery scene has exploded in the last few years. “It’s fantastic it’s all happening here,” he said. “Places like England and Germany, they’re classic places for beer but there isn’t the variety. They’re very set in their ways in what they like and how they make it. In B.C., anything’s up for grabs,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, we’re going to try and make this Finnish beer made with… juniper berries!’ There’s this wonderful sense of experimentation that goes with it. And I think that’s got something to do with the multiculturalism… There’s room for different possibilities here.”

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4

garden

Garden extras offer a mixed bag of delights for green thumbs SLUG SALOONS, FAKE WASPS NEST BOTH UNUSUAL AND ‘LOVELY’

ANNE MARRISON

ver the years I’ve tried out all kinds of gardening extras — some I still cherish, others not so much while a few more would likely be perfect for someone with a different garden and very diligent habits. For instance, slug saloons where the slimy critters drink their way into a happy demise are now manufactured in a larger size with more

apertures capable of holding 40 bodies in one night. Forgetting to check slug saloons every day can lead to experiences best forgotten. A totally beautiful Slug Shield is a scramble of woven copper wire, which you wrap around the plant you want to protect and unwrap when necessary. It would be important to keep up to date with weeding because slugs are quick to cross plant “bridges.” Another lovely garden accessory is the fake wasp nest said to deter wasps from building nearby. Regardless of just how far away the real wasps would relocate, the make-believe nest is deﬁnitely worth a spot in the garden (or over a doorway) for attractiveness alone. Another good-looking addition to the garden is the

expanding willow wood trellis, which would be a sturdy support for those fascinating but annoying heritage beans that are scrambling types: not sturdy enough to be dwarf beans but too short to be pole beans. The trellis is also a simple, easy support for cucumbers or short peas. Sometimes peas are planted thickly and left to support each other — and united, they do stand. But picking pods out of this tangle takes a lot more time than trellising them. This trellis comes in two sizes, expanding to either 4 feet (1.6m) or 8 feet (3.1m). Both are 4 feet (1.6m) high. One of my favourite accessories is a heating mat for starting seeds fast through bottom heat. My elderly and so useful mat is about 10x20” (25x50cm)

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Topsy Turvey tomato planters help produce more fruit because they’re more visible to pollinating insects.

photo submitted

An expanding willow wood trelllis provides extra support.

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but there’s now a windowsill version about 20x3” (6x50cm). The flexible, light Tubtrugs in a variety of colours look like an improvement on my random collection of detergent buckets, Sprackle pails and other clanky old cast-offs. Each Tubtrug has two handles, and can be squeezed narrowly to pour liquids. There are small (14 litre), medium (26 litre) and large (38 litre) versions. Topsy Turvey tomato (or strawberry) planters have become very popular. These hanging pots with flowers and fruit cascading down the sides are easy to pick and their high, sunny locations result in more fruit because they’re very visible to pollinating insects. Seniors might want to make sure they’re strong enough to hang up these planters in spring and take them down in fall. It’s also helpful to ensure soil in these hanging pots is a lightweight mix. Netting is a universal way of protecting berries and vegetables from birds and animals. But, sadly, birds are especially likely to get tangled in it. Freeing them can be difficult and sometimes heart-breaking. The smaller mesh sizes keep birds safer while still being excellent deterrents. Half an inch (approximately 1.5cm) is one of the smaller mesh sizes available. The black Bird D-Fence netting is especially effective over pools. In shady areas it’s almost invisible. amarrison@shaw.ca

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W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Spotlight on Hillcrest Plumbing – Your Tried and True for Plumbing & Heating VC: Are you members of any associations? When looking for products or services for your home BB: We’ve been a member of the Better Business renovation or repair needs, it’s beneficial to call upon Bureau (BBB) since 1967. a business with many years of dedicated experience. In Vancouver, you can look to none VC: What is the most challenging other than Hillcrest. project you have taken on? A big part of Hillcrest service ‘Uncle Bill’s’ Hillcrest Plumbing + BB: Our drainage crew has dug Heating was founded over 60 years out 900 sq. foot crawl spaces and operations is the discount centre ago by Bill Schroeder and family, to 10 foot deep perimeter drains. offer full-spectrum residential and located just off Main Street in Plumbers have re-piped 100 year commercial plumbing services. old buildings. Vancouver on 17th Avenue,where A big part of Hillcrest service VC: If people could remember operations is the discount centre locals know they can find excellent just one thing about Hillcrest located just off Main Street in Plumbing after they read the deals on high quality plumbing Vancouver on 17th Avenue, where story, what would you like that locals know they can find excellent one thing to be? supplies and fixtures. deals on high quality plumbing BB: We’re proud to be a family supplies and fixtures. business that thrives on customer In 2006, Bill Schroeder and family opened Ripples loyalty and customer satisfaction, and we have been Kitchen and Bath, a contemporary showroom filled with active in the community by sponsoring many sports the latest in kitchen and bathroom furnishings, fixtures teams. and designs. But the core of the business remains the VC: Anything else you would like our readers to know? company’s stalwart plumbing and heating service. BB: Long story short… we really want readers to know The Courier spoke with Brent Black, general manager that though Uncle Bill’s Hillcrest rebranded to the of the business located at 212 East 17th, to find out what white trucks you see driving around, we are the same makes them so well-respected in the industry. Hillcrest that has been servicing the Lower Mainland

“

”

VC: How long has Hillcrest Plumbing been in business? BB: Bill Schroeder and family have owned and operated Hillcrest Plumbing since 1967, but Bill has been working in this industry for many years under the instantly-recognizable Hillcrest name.

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W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

SANDRA THOMAS Staff Writer

itting at the McDonald’s restaurant on Southwest Marine Drive early Tuesday morning, Tong Fook Wah describes the difference between tennis and badminton. “Tennis is easier because you hit the ball and it comes back to you, it bounces,” explained Wah, sipping on a green tea. “With badminton you need to chase [the bird] all over.” Wah said making the switch 16 years ago is why at age 90, his knees are still in good shape. “I had tennis elbow the ﬁrst year I played,” he said. “But by the next summer it was gone.” Wah plays at the Langara Tennis Courts at West 56th Avenue and Ontario Street every day of the year weather permitting, including during the bitter cold Vancouver suffered the ﬁrst week of February. But on this day, tennis was cancelled due to extremely icy conditions. But black ice didn’t stop the 90-year-old from driving in from his Burnaby home where he moved three years ago with his wife to live with the couple’s youngest daughter. Prior to the move, the family lived in the Sunset neighbourhood, where he played at Memorial Park before joining the Langara group. Wearing a ski jacket bearing a logo from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and a grey baseball cap, Wah belies his nine decades and in fact looks decades younger. And while he also credits his longevity to the fact he doesn’t drink, gamble or smoke, Wah said it’s tennis that truly keeps him going. “Seniors who play tennis get good

photo Dan Toulgoet

Tennis player Tong Fook Wah, 90, plays daily at Langara Tennis Courts

exercise and fresh air,” said Wah. Langara Tennis Group president Terry Kong said besides the fact Wah rises as early as 5:30 a.m. to head to the tennis courts in the summer he’s also in charge of cleaning them prior to the ﬁrst games of the day. “We bought him a battery-powered blower to clean the courts,” said Kong, who turned 76 in January. Kong said the group is broken into two informal groups including seniors and the players he fondly calls the “senior seniors,” most of whom are in their 80s. The club began more than 25 years ago as an informal group of players who used to play at the Langara College courts prior to their renovations in 1995. Kong said that’s when the college started charging a fee so the group moved onto the public courts

tucked into the southeast corner of the Langara Golf Course, which he says at the time were in deplorable shape. Two of the courts were so badly ruined by tree roots that the park board deemed them too dangerous to play and took the nets down. Kong said the other two courts weren’t much better, so in 2001 the group successfully petitioned the park board to replace them. Those renovations took place in 2003, which is when the players decided to create a semi-formal group and collect a $10 membership fee annually to help pay for incidental maintenance of the courts. The group purchased brooms, garbage cans and rakes to keep the courts clean and two regulation nets to replace ones supplied by the park board. The next year the group added another $10 annual fee and now provides tennis balls between April and September. New members are always welcome. Wah said Kong’s enthusiasm for the game is contagious. In turn, Kong adds Wah’s love for tennis is inspiring. The group threw Wah a combination Chinese New Year/birthday party last week where he was presented with a cake decorated with tennis rackets and a red envelope ﬁlled with cash for good luck. Kong said the group did have one other player who continued playing at age 90, but unfortunately the man passed away several years ago. And that’s just one more reason for Wah to continue playing. “I’m going to play for another four years,” said Wah. “I’m going to break his record.” sthomas@vancourier.com twitter.com/sthomas10

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14-0022

A20

seniors

To save or spend, that is always the question RETIREES FEAR OUTLIVING THEIR MONEY TOM CARNEY Contributing writer

hat causes you to lose sleep? The Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) recently polled their members and found that their biggest fear was outliving their money. I’m not surprised. The message from the financial service industry is that if we don’t save and invest a lot more we’ll all be homeless and hungry when we’re 95. How long we will live and how much we will need to save for retirement is a bit of a moving target. The good news is that most of us are going to live longer, but just how much longer is anybody’s guess. Thirty years ago we thought that once we retired, we would live for another 15 or 20 years. Now that number has inched up to 25 or 30 years, and even that may not be long enough. A television spot from an American financial firm tells the fictional story of the fastidious librarian Emily Skinner who, at the age of 187, still enjoys life to the fullest thanks to her careful planning with her financial adviser. What about the rest of us? The latest mortality tables published by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries tell us that for every 10 women who are now 60, five of them will live until age 90. For men, the comparable figure is approximately four in 10. It gets better. The tables suggest that about one in four women and one in six men will live until age 95. Now, the actuaries are a lot better at math than I am, but I think their projections about lifespan statistics are optimistic. Mortality estimates are useful but they are not perfect. The last United Kingdom census found far fewer people in their 90s than expected and the same thing happened in the United

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Life span statistics give the “ perception we will live until a fixed age and then die when, in fact, the vast majority of us will die earlier or later and we don’t know which it will be. — Fred Vettesse

”

States with people over 100. Although the number of centenarians (100 plus) in Canada is increasing, there aren’t a great many more centenarians per capita of older people now than in previous eras. I think it is possible that gains in life expectancy made in recent decades will not be repeated in the future. And really, I’m much more interested in statistics around how long people live in good health than I am about how many candles are on their birthday cake. But let’s not quibble, we are living longer and mortality rates are declining even faster than the actuaries had previously projected. Still, the mortality tables let us down just when we need them the most. Those

tables can tell us how long we might live but they can’t tell us how long each of us is going to live. Fred Vettesse, an actuary with a Canadian money management firm, puts it best: “Life span statistics give the perception we will live until a fixed age and then die when, in fact, the vast majority of us will die earlier or later and we don’t know which it will be.” Given that, my advice is to relax. Enjoy your life. Be prudent with your finances, take care of your health and stop worrying about outliving your money. After all, except for Emily Skinner, we only go around once. Tom Carney is the former executive director of the Lionsview Seniors’ Planning Society. Ideas for future columns are welcome. tomcarney@telus.net.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4

One is never too old to realize the many physical, mental and spiritual beneﬁts of yoga. To underscore that fact, Legacy Senior Living will host a complimentary “Yoga With Chair” class for older adults on Wednesday, Feb. 19 from 11 a.m. to noon at the Oakridge Centre Auditorium, located at 650 West 41st Avenue. The class, which will be led by certiﬁed yoga instructor Annette Wertman, will form one of the pillars of Legacy’s Wellness Program when the boutique independent-living seniors’ residence opens its doors in the heart of the Oakridge community in July.

Beyond strength and balance, Wertman’s class also promotes socialization, which can help seniors overcome a sense of loneliness and isolation. “This program is a natural fit with our vision to provide an environment that promotes overall wellness and empowers each resident to live their best life in a more creative, fulfilled and meaningful way,” says Omstead. “It really is a comprehensive, common-sense fitness program that encourages people to get moving.” Seating for the event — which will also feature a light lunch served afterwards — is limited, and interested participants are asked to pre-register by calling Legacy Senior Living at 604-240-8550 before Feb. 13.

Wertman, who recently completed her Master’s degree in gerontology at Simon Fraser University, is the founder and owner of Vancouver’s Ageless Yoga, which specializes in yoga programs designed speciﬁcally for adults 40 years and older. “The issue of maintaining people’s independence has a lot to do with mobility, and the numberone concern is falls,” says Carol Omstead, managing director of Legacy Senior Living. “This Yoga With Chair event will not only help participants regain conﬁdence and mobility, but build strength and balance as well.”

Legacy Senior Living | Opening July 2014 | 611 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver BC, V5Z 2M8

Legacy Senior Living Proudly Presents: A Special Preview of Wellness Programs Available at Legacy.

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Pre-Registration Deadline: Thursday, February 13th Register Early as Seating is Limited

Call 604.240.8550 A SPECIAL PREVIEW

10:30 am – 11:00 am Check-in & Introductions 11:00 am – 12:00 pm “Yoga with Chair” 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Light Lunch, Tea, Talk & Tidbits of Wisdom Location: Oakridge Centre Auditorium Unit 507- 650 West 41st Avenue (West “Bay” Parking Lot, Green Awning Entrance next to Kin’s Market) Chair Yoga – Regular exercises are adapted and done while sitting or holding onto a chair.

The Leo Wertman Residence Legacy Senior Living | Opening July 2014 | 611 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver BC, V5Z 2M8

W E DN E SDAY, F E B RUA RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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Funny people descend upon Vancouver for the NORTHWEST COMEDY FESTIVAL Feb. 13 to 22. Performers include PEE-WEE HERMAN, Patton Oswalt, Bobby Lee, Natasha Leggero, Dave Foley, Kyle Kinane, Judah Friedlander, Paul F. Tompkins, Phil Hanley, Ivan Decker and Graham Clark, among others. For a list of events, including live podcasts, improv shows and cock ﬁghting, go to northwestcomedyfest.com. Internationally-renowned choreographers STACEY TOOKEY and Peter Chu share their sweet moves for the 30th edition of DANCES FOR A SMALL STAGE, where, as the name suggests, dancers perform on a tiny stage. It all goes down Feb. 13 to 15 at the Ukrainian Centre on East 10th and Main. Details at movent.ca.

Wrap your legs ‘round these velvet rims and strap your hands ‘cross my engines as Three Wolf Moon, Born to Run (featuring members of White Ash Falls, Yukon Blonde, the Zolas, James Younger, and the Gay Nineties), the Wild North and the Sumner Brothers, among others, sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream and perform THE SONGS OF BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Feb. 13 at the Biltmore. Details at biltmorecabaret.com. Innovative theatre company BOCA DEL LUPO presents TJ DAWE in its latest Micro Performance Series (MPS) THE FUGUE FUGUE. The multi-media one-man show weaves together the worlds of TV, literature, music, comic books and more Feb. 13 to 16 at the Anderson Street Space on Granville Island. For tickets and details, go to bocadellupo.com.

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This past Monday marked the second annual Family Day for British Columbians. As you’re probably aware, the province’s newest statutory holiday was ushered in by Premier Christy Clark to coincide with her “families first” agenda, which unfortunately also includes “first in child poverty” in Canada. But hey, at least it’s a day off to do some cross border shopping. Needless to say, we haven’t entirely gotten the hang of Family Day yet. Maybe that’s because we make the same mistake each year and find ourselves taking a pleasure cruise on B.C. Ferries’ Queen of Mucous with hundreds of haggard parents, their sniveling kids and an air of desperation akin to marines on shore leave. To make matters worse, we’re pretty certain the chest cold and fever we’re currently enjoying is due to one of those lovely families we were in close proximity to on Family Day. Probably that snotty kid named Ethan. Don’t get us wrong. We’re all for having sanctioned days off, but why does it have to be called

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Family Day. Let’s call it for it is: Vote Buying Day, or even Every Other Province Has A Holiday In February, So We Might As Well, Too. We’d even settle for Work Sucks Day or Days Off Rule Day. And what make families so special? Why not Childless Couples in Long-Term Relationship Day or Single People In Codependent Relationships With Their Cats Day. We can tell you right now, if we had travelling on either of those two holidays, our ferry ride would have been much more enjoyable and we probably wouldn’t be hacking up a lung right now. twitter.com/KudosKvetches

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