WEDNESDAY
May 20 2015
Vol. 106 No. 39
CITY LIVING 8
Kids rock Heritage Fair ENTERTAINMENT 19
Theatrical Heights SPORTS 20
Fast trackers There’s more online aatt
vancourier.com om MIDWEEK EDITION
THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS since 1908
Cops nab 733 sidewalk cyclists Council gives VPD $500,000 for crackdown Mike Howell
mhowell@vancourier.com
The Vancouver Police Department continues to crack down on rogue cyclists and wrote 733 tickets over the last four years to cyclists for riding their bikes on a sidewalk, according to statistics provided to the Courier. The statistical evidence suggests some city councillors’ accusations at a council meeting Tuesday that police weren’t enforcing laws against cyclists for riding on a sidewalk are unwarranted. Councillors Tim Stevenson, Adriane Carr and George Affleck all raised concerns about police inaction on ticketing cyclists for riding on a sidewalk. “I’ve never seen police ever doing anything,” Stevenson told council after listening to presentations from city staff related to
cycling and transportation. “I don’t know if they have a program. It’s difficult to catch people, obviously, unless you have some sort of a system with police waiting at a certain place like radar traps. But I would really like this to be taken more seriously.” Affleck told reporters after the meeting that police weren’t “doing their job” enforcing laws for cyclists riding on a sidewalk, riding without a helmet or without a bell on their bikes, which he said would help reduce collisions with pedestrians. “Certainly, as councillors, the number one complaint we get is related to enforcement — that we are not enforcing the laws that exist,” said Affleck, whose concerns were echoed by Carr, who suggested staff work with the city’s active transportation advisory committee to identify “hot spots” where infractions are prominent. Continued on page 5
City paying for urban farm flop Jen St. Denis and Darryl Greer jstdenis@biv.com
A failed urban farm located in a downtown parkade continues to be a costly headache to the City of Vancouver. According to documents filed in a continuing lawsuit against the city, a greenhouse and equipment from the farm is still located in the parkade, over a year after the company operating the farm went bankrupt. In a counterclaim filed April 20, EasyPark, a non-profit authority that manages parkades owned or leased by the city, claims it has been unable to use the roof of the parkade or make any income from the space. EasyPark alleges the greenhouse is a safety risk because it could collapse in a heavy snowfall, and it continues to pay for security
and maintenance related to the greenhouse, according to court documents. EasyPark is asking for an injunction requiring the farm’s current owners to either remove the greenhouse from the roof of the parkade, or permit EasyPark to remove and dispose of the structure. The counterclaim follows an initial lawsuit filed by Clay Haeber and a numbered company on March 3. In that claim, Haeber alleges the City of Vancouver’s refusal to transfer a licence to operate the farm in the parkade to his company is breach of contract. Meanwhile, Donovan Woollard, one of the proponents of the high-profile vertical farm that went bankrupt in 2014, says he still believes in the concept and is now working with an Australian company on a new project. Continued on page 6
CATCHING ON Fisherman Shaun Strobel, director of the community-based fishery Skipper Otto’s, says fishing has improved with the rising demand for local and sustainable food: “It just feels good to provide food for people.” See story page 4. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET
BOOST YOUR CHILD’S SKILLS THIS SUMMER FRASERACADEMY.CA 604 736 5575
BOOST CAMP Session 1: July 6-17 Session 2: July 20-31 For students entering grades 3-8 1:1 ACADEMIC SKILLS DEVELOPMENT July & August Monday-Friday To improve math, language arts and/or study skills. For students entering grades 1-12