Vancouver Courier June 3 2015

WEDNESDAY

June 3 2015 Vol. 106 No. 43

OPINION 10

Leaving Vancouver?

HEALTH 15

Plaid for Dad SPORTS PROSPECTS 20

Getting a grip on life

There’s more online at

vancourier.com MIDWEEK EDITION

THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS since 1908

Transit vote count begins

Results later this month Mike Howell

mhowell@vancourier.com

SQUARE DANCE Sunday’s ninth annual Fair in the Square at Victory Square featured musical theatre from Project Limelight. The celebration, hosted

by Central City Foundation in partnership with Vancouver Community College, also featured a free barbecue lunch and arts and crafts.

See story on page 8. PHOTO REBECCA BLISSETT

Burrard Bridge losing vehicle lane City calls for $30-million fix Mike Howell

mhowell@vancourier.com

The City of Vancouver unveiled a $30-million plan Monday to upgrade the aging Burrard Bridge that involves removing a traffic lane, adding new sidewalks to the outside of the span and widening portions of the bridge as it descends into downtown.

Though two-thirds of the cost will be spent on the bridge, the project includes an $8 million reconfiguration of the intersection at Pacific Avenue and Burrard — the second highest vehicle-to-vehicle collision spot in the city — and demolishing the former Kettle of Fish Building at Hornby and Pacific.

“To be really clear, the capacity of this

bridge is not determined by the number of lanes on the bridge,” said Lon LaClaire, the city’s acting director of transportation, when asked by reporters what effect removing a vehicle lane would have on traffic.

“If you drive over it today, you’ll know that where you experience congestion is at the intersection of Burrard and Pacific. So the changes we’re making to Burrard and Pacific will address all the traffic demand needs on the corridor.”

Standing on a sidewalk at the intersection, LaClaire pointed out the downtown side of the bridge will be widened to accommodate traffic coming into downtown. So a motorist travelling from Kitsilano in one of two lanes will see those two lanes widen into two right-turn lanes, with signals, that will join Pacific, while two other northbound lanes will continue

up Burrard into downtown.

To widen the bridge, the former Kettle of Fish building, which is owned by the city, will be demolished.

The existing two southbound lanes on the west side of the bridge will remain.

But the approach from the downtown side along Pacific, out of the West End, will see two right-turn lanes, with signals, replace the current free-flowing single lane.

In June 2009, when the city removed a traffic lane to create a barrier-protected bike lane running from downtown to Kitsilano, pedestrians were restricted to the west side of bridge. The plan calls for pedestrians to be allowed to use both sides of the bridge, which involves building cantilevered sidewalks on portions of the span.

Continued on page 3

PARADE • PARK • CARNIVAL

Elections B.C. begins the task this week of processing more than 698,000 ballot packages received from Metro Vancouver voters who participated in the $5.7-million transportation and transit plebiscite, which closed for voting last Friday.

But Don Main, a spokesperson for Elections B.C., said results will probably not be announced until later this month. That’s because staff has to first sort through the “certification” and “secrecy” envelopes in each ballot package to verify each voter correctly filled out the information, including providing a proper birth date.

“We’re not going to be counting anything this week,” said Main, when asked when the Yes or No votes will be tabulated. “We don’t do any counting along the way, no counting is done until the close of voting.”

The process of tabulating the final votes involves a combination of machines tearing open envelopes and staff manually removing envelopes. Ballots received from each of the 23 municipalities, including the Tsawwassen First Nation and Metro Vancouver Electoral Area A, are then fed into an electronic counting machine.

Elections B.C. reported May 27 it had screened 698,900 ballot packages, or 44.7 per cent, of more than 1.56 million mailed to registered voters in Metro Vancouver since March 16. The turnout was expected to climb in the final days, as evidenced Friday by a steady stream of voters dropping off ballots at an Elections B.C. depot near Vancouver city hall.

Over two hours Friday morning, the Courier observed more than two dozen people hand in their packages at a plebiscite service centre inside the City Square shopping centre at 12th and Cambie.

Main said he wasn’t surprised people waited until the last day or week to drop off their ballots, noting the same thing happened with the HST referendum in 2011.

Continued on page 9

June 19 ~ 20 ~ 21

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5

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W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

News

The city wants to spend $30 million to upgrade the Burrard Bridge and reconfigure the intersection at Pacific and Burrard to improve safety and mobility for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Construction could take 20 months

Consultation begins Saturday Continued from page 1 Up to 3,000 people per day walk across the bridge.

Cycling trips averaged 7,000 per day during the summer of 2014, while up to 65,000 vehicles travel across the span. The goal of the project, LaClaire said, is to improve access, safety and maneuverability for all modes of transportation.

But with the city offering only a month of public consultation on the project, with council expected to approve the design sometime in July, Burrard street business owner Jack Larbi said he believes the city has already made up its mind and citizens’ voices will be drowned out.

Larbi, who has operated Swan Laundry at 1352 Burrard for 10 years, said he’s worried parking spots will be lost outside his business, which is near the intersection of Pacific and Burrard.

He pointed out there is no alley behind his building and his customers rely on parking out front.

The city’s plan includes adding a protected bike lane from the bridge, up Burrard and connecting it with an existing protected bike lane on Drake Street. Larbi brought his concerns to Monday’s news conference, frequently interrupting LaClaire as he spoke.

“I love the bikes — don’t get me wrong, but you’ve got to think about the small business,” Larbi told the Courier after the news conference. “I’m not satisfied,

at all. They’re going to do what they’re going to do.”

The plan published on the city’s website says “parking will generally be maintained.” Vision Coun.

Heather Deal said she checked with LaClaire and confirmed Larbi won’t lose parking. However, the plan says construction could take up to 20 months, meaning disruption and delays for businesses and motorists.

Deal said the plan is a result of consultation with staff, business associations and the city’s active transportation committee, noting Charles Gauthier of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association took to Twitter Monday to announce his support for the project.

“We’re confident with the pattern that’s being suggested here that we’ll be able to keep traffic flowing well in and out of downtown,” Deal told the Courier by telephone.

The city is hosting two open houses on the project, the first this Saturday (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and the second June 16 (7 p.m. to 9 p.m.). Both will be held at the Roundhouse Community Centre.

NPA Coun. George Affleck listened to LaClaire as he spoke Monday, telling reporters after the news conference that he wanted to hear more from staff on justifying the removal of a traffic lane from the bridge.

“It’s going to be very

hard to believe — and I’ll be skeptical — that this isn’t going to create a bottleneck in the middle of the bridge,” said Affleck, who also took issue with the short period of public consultation before a council vote. “So I’ll be interested to see staff provide the analysis that that won’t happen.”

Affleck acknowledged the intersection at Pacific and Burrard has to be upgraded because of the dangers to cyclists, pedestrians and motorists. Collisions totalled 716, between 2009 and 2013, for all modes of transportation reported at Pacific and Burrard.

The Burrard Bridge opened in 1932 and the city has gradually been upgrading the iconic structure, taking on a project last year to replace aging bearings and joints. The intersection at Burrard and Cornwall also went a significant reconfiguration, costing about $6 million. The plan announced Monday also includes upgrades to the railings and maintaining the heritage of the bridge.

In 2012, city council approved in principle improvements to the bridge when it adopted the 2040 Transportation Plan. Money for the work was approved in the recent capital plan. When council votes, it will decide on design and how best to proceed with the project.

Construction could begin in early 2016. @Howellings

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5

News

VSB borrows money to build school CLASS NOTES

Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

The Vancouver School Board is borrowing $1.6 million so construction of a new elementary school at International Village can proceed. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

The Vancouver School Board doesn’t anticipate making any changes to its provisional budget for 2015-2016 as a result of a review conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers

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that will be discussed at a VSB committee meeting June 3.

“Significant benefits have been accumulated since 2012, consisting of $9.23 [million] costs savings, $2.02 [million] cost avoidance and $7.69 [million] in additional revenue generated,” states the draft report, dated May 14.

PwC reports the VSB has fully implemented or is in the process of implementing most of the 29 recommendations the firm made in a similar report in 2012.

PwC identified eight areas where the school board could save money.

PwC believes the VSB could save between $154,000 and $769,500 as a result of completing a benefits compliance report, and another $87,500 to $175,000 deploying and managing maintenance workers using mobile technology.

VSB staff will consider these recommendations in a report to trustees.

The special adviser’s report from EY, appointed by the Minister of Education, is expected to be released June 8.

The VSB’s budget, which

addressed a shortfall of $8.52 million, is to be finalized June 29.

International Village

The Vancouver School Board announced Friday afternoon it will borrow $1.6 million from BMO to make up a budget shortfall of $1.8 million for a new elementary school at International Village.

The money will be repaid to the school board’s operating fund over 15 years.

NPA board chairperson Christopher Richardson says the VSB plans to negotiate modifications to the school’s design to make up the difference of $200,000.

All of the construction bids received in March were at least $1.4 million over budget. The VSB stated the increased costs were “due to a variety of factors, including the rapidly rising U.S. dollar, which has had significant impact on construction costs.”

Richardson said the VSB approached the Ministry of Education with a plan and a request for the province to jointly fund $1.8 million in additional costs.

Continued next page

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W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

News

Kathleen Saylors

A Vancouver School Board trustee introduced a motion at Tuesday’s board meeting that would see trustees charged for parking in response to a recent proposal to charge teachers for parking during school hours.

Vision Vancouver trustee Joy Alexander put forward the notice of motion to charge trustees for parking on school board property. The motion will be debated at the next meeting on June 14.

Alexander said she has not heard anything from trustees about the motion so far, but expects it will be passed.

“We shouldn’t get freebies just because we are trustees,” Alexander said to the Courier after the meeting.

Vision Vancouver trustee Mike Lombardi also put forward a notice of motion to repeal pay parking, citing his experiences talking to teachers and administrators at the schools for which he is a board liaison.

“I’ve had a chance to visit

nine of my liaison schools over the last couple of weeks, and I’ve heard some pretty clear messages from those schools,” Lombardi said.

Lombardi proposed compensating for the lost revenue by adding 25 more International Education students.

“I also heard about the fact that this would make us the only school district in B.C. and perhaps in Canada with pay parking, which is not something exactly that we want to be known for,” he said. “It would become a highly symbolic decision and be a daily irritant for many of our employees.”

The motion will be voted on at the board meeting June 29.

The board also collected questions from the audience, which were read for the record but will not be answered until the next meeting. One of the questions was, “What will it take for the board to repeal this motion?”

A VSB memo released May 15 said staff would be

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charged $15 per month for non-assigned parking, and $35 for an assigned spot.

The motion was approved in September 2014, but has yet to be implemented.

Questions from the planning and facilities meeting on May 20 were answered in three-page document handed out at the meeting.

It outlines business hours as “6 a.m. – 4 p.m., Monday to Friday.”

It also states that teachers working after hours for extra curricular activities would not be required to pay for metered parking outside of business hours, since “most school parking lots have little to no demand after 4 p.m.”

The board estimates that it costs about $400,000 to maintain the parking lots every year, with snow removal, salting, and line repainting factoring into these costs.

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School to open in 2017 Continued from page 4 “Unfortunately, the province indicated that it is unable to support the proposed plan for additional funding at this time,” the VSB’s press release reads.

Richardson said the VSB needed to get the money in place because the bids were about to expire and the board wants to see the school constructed as soon as possible. The VSB awarded the construction contract to ITC Construction Group.

The board made the borrowing decision at an in camera meeting May 26.

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Former Vision Vancouver VSB chairperson Patti Bacchus believes the board should have publicly pushed for the money from the province.

But Richardson said his press release Friday “was a soft advocacy message to those that the board is not pleased that the provincial government [didn’t provide more money.]

“There was some discussion [that] I could have stood on the site of the building and waved a shovel,” he continued. “I’m not sure you or anyone else would have come or cared.”

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The board fully covered this increase, pushing its local capital reserve into deficit.

The school is targeted to open in early 2017. @Cheryl_Rossi

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5

Correction notice:

Pages 2 and 4 of the Shoppers Drug Mart Flyer, in effect from Thursday, May 28th to Friday, June 5th, 2015 inadvertently feature a Canada Post !4/#%, +5%/-% 31*% *"/* *"%.% !- 31 &/3/'/ +1-* 1$2)% /* *"% ("100%.Drug Mart located at 3020 West Broadway, Vancouver.

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The Care Group wants the city to rezone Casa Mia from single-family residential to comprehensive development so it can build a care facility on the property. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Casa Mia project still on hold

Naoibh O’Connor

noconnor@vancourier.com

City of Vancouver staff plan to bring the proposal to transform Casa Mia into a care facility back to city council for re-referral to public hearing once it’s ready to go due to the long delay in rescheduling it for public hearing.

The proposal was supposed to go to public hearing March 13 in 2013, but the city postponed it the night before because staff and the applicant — the Care Group — hadn’t settled negotiations associated with the Heritage Restoration Agreement allowing public access to the main floor of the Spanish Revival-style house, which is located at 1920 Southwest Marine Dr. Brian Jackson, the city’s head planner, told the Courier that the agreement is now ready to be signed.

It would be put in place once the zoning bylaw was enacted should the council approve the application.

“The Heritage Easement Agreement negotiations have concluded. But the applicant for Casa Mia put the application on hold.

The applicant was going to speak to Vancouver Coastal

Health about its interest in securing affordable beds as part of the application before coming back to us,” Jackson explained. “As a result of the delay, we will be recommending that the project be re-referred at city council before proceeding to public hearing.”

Gavin McIntosh, a spokesperson for the Care Group, would not answer questions about the project. He said in an email that the Care Group is not in a position to add comments at the moment.

The Care Group wants the city to rezone the site from single-family residential to comprehensive development so it can build a care facility on the property.

The 20,700-square-foot Casa Mia mansion features a ballroom where Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Count Basie performed.

The development proposal envisions saving the house, designating the exterior and adding an addition. The facility would house 62 beds — 30 fewer than initially proposed.

The building height for the addition is also lower than initially proposed.

The mansion is not protected from demolition, so

the city is willing to consider a proposal in order to conserve it. The city has also said it sees a need for health care facilities that allow seniors to age in place.

The Southlands Community Association has been critical of the project and had asked for a public hearing to be postponed until a review of the Southwest Marine Drive area took place in order to create comprehensive plan that also takes into account other heritage estates.

Joe McDermid, a spokesman for the association, said Wednesday that the group’s position hasn’t changed.

“But we write letters to the city. We ask for updates. We are met with silence. We ask for the opportunity to be involved in the planning of the neighbourhood and we’re met with silence,” he said.

“I’ve lost count of the number of letters we’ve sent at this point — not just correspondence saying don’t do X with Casa Mia. As we’ve said all along, there’s a great number of things going on in the neighbourhood and as a community all the neighbours would like to be involved. And nothing. Just silence from the city.” @naoibh

W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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Home features rock solid heritage Wong Residence would be preserved as part of development DEVELOPING STORY Naoibh O’Connor

noconnor@vancourier.com

Head north along Cambie from West 41st. Not far past 35th Avenue, on the east side of the street, you’ll see an outcropping of volcanic rock that partly obscures the home built atop it.

The home at 5010 Cambie St., which was completed in 1956, is the Wong Residence. It’s important for its West Coast Modern architectural style and design by local architect Duncan McNab and landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, according to a statement of significance produced by Donald Luxton and Associates. The statement notes that the volcanic rock was retained because Oberlander recognized its importance to the site’s aesthetics and its functional use in providing

noise and visual protection from the street.

“The house is also valued for its association with the Wong family and Milton Wong in particular, a successful Vancouver-based financier and philanthropist and one of nine children who lived in the Wong Residence and later raised his own family in the home,” the statement of significance explains. “The house also has value for its association with the postwar settlement and development of Vancouver, particularly along the Cambie Street corridor.”

The property and two lots beside it are the subjects of a June 8 pre-application open house. Pennyfarthing Homes is hosting the event to introduce a preliminary development concept for 4976 to 5010 Cambie St., which envisions preserving the Wong Residence through heritage designation and building a sevenstory condominium on the other two lots.

The Wong Residence at 5010 Cambie St. is said to combine “the best assets of living on the West Coast — proximity to nature and abundance of natural materials,” according to Kathryn Morrow of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Michael Brown of Trillium Project Management, speaking on behalf of Pennyfarthing Homes, said the house doesn’t have heritage designation, but it’s been recognized as one that has heritage potential due to its architecture,

landscaping and association with the Wong family.

“Right now we’ve got three lots under contract and we’re looking at an interpretation of the Cambie Corridor guidelines that allows for the development to occur over two of the lots and retention of

the Wong house in its current state,” he said, noting if the project is approved, it would be sold with heritage designation. “It has been very, very well maintained.”

Brown said a zoning application has not been submitted to the city.

“So this [open house] is the developer going out to the public and showing them here’s what we’re proposing as a way to have this house recognized and preserved as a heritage asset for the community.

Is this a trade-off that’s worthwhile?” he said.

“I’ve started to approach community groups and whatnot, but I need to understand that there’s community support for this type of proposal and that retaining the heritage house in this [way] is something that is desirable, which I believe it is.

And then knowing that that support is in the community, then that proposal could go forward.”

The Wong Residence was one of the homes on the 2014 Vancouver Heritage Foundation mid-century modern house tour.

“Both the house and the landscaping were designed to work with the natural environment and are a wonderful example of West Coast Modernism and its connection to nature. West Coast Modern is one of the more threatened architectural styles in Vancouver as the homes are often on larger pieces of land while the buildings themselves are considered modest by many,” explained Kathryn Morrow, the VHF’s communication manager. “However the style is beautiful in its simplicity and made use of the best assets of living on the West Coast — proximity to nature and abundance of natural materials.”

Pennyfarthing’s open house runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Hillcrest Community Centre, June 8. @naoibh

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5

Community

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1. Thee Wildflower Women of Turtle Island Drum Group perform at the ninth annual Fair in the Square. The celebration also featured a free barbecue lunch, arts and crafts and was hosted by Central City Foundation in partnership with Vancouver Community College all in the name of being a good neighbour. 2. Poet and musician Ngwatilo Mawiyoo was one of the many who volunteered their time and talents to perform at the event. 3. Central City Foundation president and CEO Jennifer Johnstone, along with an army of volunteers, was responsible for the success of Fair in the Square in addition to keeping an eye on her nephew, Tor. 4. Enjoying Sunday’s festivities were Manuel, left, and Suliman. 5. Vancouver Community College’s Mimi Chau hands out free cupcakes to those attending Sunday’s celebrations.

See photo gallery online at vancourier.com. PHOTOS REBECCA BLISSETT

Central City shares the wealth

Non-profit’s annual event means a party in Victory Square CITY LIVING Rebecca Blissett

rvblissett@gmail.com

More than 100 years ago, Victory Square was the location of Vancouver’s provincial courthouse until the building was ripped down in 1912. Years after the new courthouse settled into the building now known as the Vancouver Art Gallery, a 30-foot-high cenotaph was built at the foot of the park’s slope near Hastings Street in 1924, serving as a memorial to Vancouverites who lost their lives in the First World War.

The park was once the centre of the city which is where Central City Foundation derives its name, and why the non-profit organization holds its annual Fair in the Square celebration at Victory Square, under the shade of the city’s oldest maple trees.

“Central City has been here in Vancouver’s inner city since 1907,” said the organization’s president and CEO Jennifer Johnstone while Sunday’s festivities began. “We’re named Central City because when we first started, central city was Abbott and Water Street.

It wasn’t in Surrey — Surrey was just trees then,”

she added, referring to Surrey’s adoption of the name in recent years.

The group was started by people who wanted to help their neighbours and, despite growing into a $36 million foundation, it hasn’t strayed from the founders’ original intentions. The group builds homes and funds many non-profit organizations that help improve the lives of inner city residents (some of its many projects include the Abbott Mansion and the Cosmopolitan Hotel on the Downtown Eastside).

Johnstone had the idea to have a neighbourhood party nine years ago, to

celebrate the organization’s 100th birthday. While some details have since changed — the Central City staff do not spend two days in the nearby Vancouver Community College gymnasium packing snack-bags to hand out, for instance — the spirit of the event has grown with each passing year.

“The first year was funny. We had no idea what we were doing. We decided we really wanted to let people go home with something so we set up an assembly line all through the gymnasium, packing granola bars, chips, and all sorts of snacks for people to eat with their burgers,”

Johnstone said. “People asked, ‘So are you going to do this again?’ and I said, ‘In another hundred years!’ We were exhausted before the fair even started. We’ve learned a lot since then. It’s pretty fantastic.”

VCC is an important partner in the celebration as students in its culinary arts program baked cupcakes and barbecued enough burgers to feed the two thousand people who visited the park until the party’s mid-afternoon end.

In addition to free food, they were also treated to a range of performances that ranged from musical theatre from Project

Limelight and poetry from Rachel Rose to music from Coldwater Road and Christine Magee, the latter who has performed at all nine Fair in the Square celebrations.

“In this 21st century, as neighbours, we’re often a little more connected online than we are in person.

And this is an opportunity for us to really bring neighbours together,” said Johnstone while surveying the many tables of different organizations that lined the square’s walking paths.

“This is about people coming down to give something to people. This is a sharing event.” @rebeccablissett

W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

News

Rush of voters on final day

Continued from page 1 Though the transportation and transit plebiscite was designed as mail-in only, Elections B.C. opened nine depots in Metro Vancouver to sign up voters, answer questions and collect ballots.

William Yung drove from his home in southwest Vancouver to drop off his wife’s ballot package. Yung returned his ballot by mail in early April. He said he and his wife voted No largely because of concerns related to TransLink’s record of financial mismanagement.

Yung, an accountant, pointed to delays with the $194-million Compass Card system and TransLink continuing to pay two chief executive officers. SkyTrain shutdowns, the latest occurring two weeks ago, also concerned Yung.

He acknowledged investments have to be made to tackle traffic congestion in Metro Vancouver. But, he said, TransLink should have cleaned up its financial mess before the government decided to hold a plebiscite, which asks voters whether they want to pay an extra 0.5 per cent of provincial sales tax to help pay for a $7.5-billion plan devised by the region’s mayors to ease congestion.

“I think we pay enough taxes,” Yung said. “But it’s not really the 0.5 per cent I’m voting against, it’s the principle of asking for more money when we’re already in this mess.”

Yung works in Richmond and he said it takes him about 15 minutes to get to his office. Taking transit from where he lives would mean a trip of more than an hour, he said, noting a vehicle is the only option for many Metro Vancouverites.

Taxes were also on George Porteous’s mind as he dropped off ballots signed

The Yes and No campaigns in the transportation and transit plebiscite wrapped up Friday after Elections B.C. closed the voting period, which ran since mid-March. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

by him and his wife. Holding his motorcycle helmet in one hand, Porteous said he gets around the city by motorcycle and understands the need to ease congestion, especially since one million more people are expected to move to Metro Vancouver over the next 30 years.

“It’s a compelling argument [for transit and transportation upgrades] and it’s going to be a challenge,” said the Dunbar resident, who declined to say how he voted but noted neither the Yes or No campaigns swayed his vote. “I just feel that we pay enough taxes already and people who manage our taxes should get their act together.”

Richmond resident Janice Johnson, who was in Vancouver to get her vehicle fixed, said she voted Yes because “it’s going to be a massive problem with congestion, if we don’t do anything about it.” Johnson said a “telephone town hall” meeting she participated in involving Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie helped

inform her vote. But even after she dropped off her ballot, Johnson said she wasn’t sure whether she made the right decision.

“I just feel it’s going to be a No decision because I’ve heard from people who are voting this way,” she said, noting some of that pushback is because the mayors’ 10-year plan doesn’t include major upgrades for all Metro Vancouver municipalities.

The plan promises more buses, increased HandyDart and SeaBus service, upgrades to roads and cycling infrastructure, rapid transit in Surrey, a new Pattullo Bridge and a subway along the Broadway corridor. The 0.5 per cent tax hike would translate to more than $200 million per year towards the plan, which can only be implemented if the provincial and federal governments contribute significantly to the upgrades.

Robertson told reporters last week that it was “a huge risk for the city, if we don’t see a Yes vote here,” saying Vancouver will only stand to

see more traffic congestion as people move to the region.

Jordan Bateman, who headed up the No side, said in an opinion piece published in last Friday’s Province newspaper that his team was proud of its campaign, which accused TransLink of mismanagement, wasteful spending and secrecy from the region’s mayors, who refused to reveal where it received its money to run a $6-million campaign. The No side said its budget is on target for $40,000, with about half of that from the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation and the rest from individuals.

“It’s time to count the ballots,” he wrote. “But, win or lose, the TransLink mayors owe the taxpayers of this region a full accounting of how much tax money — including staff and other municipal resources — they spent to try and buy this vote. Surely, the people paying the bills deserve at least that much respect.” @Howellings

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5

Opinion

Is it time to leave Vancouver?

Jessica Barrett Columnist

jessica.barrett@gmail.com

Coming back to Vancouver after some time away normally comes with a familiar thrill. As the plane ducks below the clouds on its descent toward YVR, I’m often struck by the beauty of this city, and the privilege I enjoy in calling it home.

That didn’t happen on my latest return after a week split between Cortes Island and Toronto. This time I found myself wondering: is it time to leave?

I’ve debated this from time to time, but a couple of things have me considering it more seriously than before. First off there’s the exodus. I didn’t need the recent Vancity study to tell me millennials are setting their sights on other locales. In my own life, the efforts of the Move To Toronto Lobby — a growing consortium of friends who have migrated from Vancouver in pursuit of greater professional opportunities — have picked up steam.

Every year, another friend seems to make the trek out east, and as skeptical as I am about the Big Smoke, they all seem to land on their feet. Despite the crummy climate and the housing costs similar to Vancouver they seem more than happy with the trade-offs: greater career choices and a big city buzz no one would ever call mind-numbingly boring.

Conversely, my social circle is also thinning out in favour of smaller communities. Not the burbs mind you, but places like Nelson or Squamish, where you can own a house.

And speaking of houses, the other thing that has me reconsidering my future here has been the pushback against the #donthave1million affordable housing campaign.

It’s one thing to have a robust public debate over how we might address the affordability crisis, but predictably, much of the discussion has devolved into generational mudslinging. Following last month’s rally, certain members of the older, more established cohort have felt it necessary to put the younger demographic in its place — apparently just for having the audacity to bring up our affordability concerns.

Cases in point: Bob Rennie and Shelley Fralic. While the condo king responded with condescending advice that Vancouverites give up on the idea of owning singlefamily homes and instead, one assumes, set sights on his signature shoeboxes, the Vancouver Sun columnist urged cash-poor millennials to get more education and — here’s a novel thought — a job. Their comments belie that they, like so many, completely missed the point of the campaign.

The #donthave1million hashtag isn’t an

argument that every 30-something should be entitled to a detached house. It’s a symbol of how bad things have become. An actual house? In Vancouver? Pfft. That ship sailed long, long ago. Nobody knows that better than those locked out of the housing market.

The point is, not only do most people not have a cool mil, many millennials, despite being more educated (and paying more for that education) than any generation in history, don’t have high enough salaries or stable-enough employment to finance a down payment for one of Mr. Rennie’s prized condos, either. Those who do, increasingly find a 600-square-foot unit doesn’t make much sense when you’re at a point in your life where you need room — even if it’s just one extra room — for a family. Because that’s where millennials are at. Although clearly our critics haven’t clued into the fact that we’re no longer children.

Take Rennie’s comments regarding #donthave1million founder Eveline Xia and her supporters. “We’re all paying attention to these girls, they’re holding up banners, and wanting affordability to be a party game,” he told the South China Morning Post. “And it’s a really serious issue.”

Girls? Xia is 29. I am 32. The oldest of our generation turn 35 this year, and, as anyone who’s walked down the streets in East Van’s more affordable (read: rental-oriented) neighbourhoods can attest, we’re in the middle of a baby boom. We are at an interesting point in history when traditional hallmarks of adulthood — higher education, careertrack jobs and homeownership — have been extended due to circumstances beyond our control. So I can see how from the outside it would appear as if we’re enjoying some kind of extended adolescence. But the reality is no party, and it’s certainly not a game.

Biology didn’t get the memo about the extra 10 years it now takes to get established, and so we’re having families while we’re still scrambling to put together the building blocks of basic adult life. You want a serious issue?

Try figuring out how you’re going to balance pricey mortgages or market rents with potential childcare costs and increasingly precarious employment that doesn’t include parental leave. That’s my reality. That’s what has me eyeing a Plan B. But of course, that’s just fine with the critics who think those who can’t afford this city should just pack up and leave.

I just wonder how much they’ll enjoy the husk of a city that’s left behind; the one devoid of young families and inhabited by only the old and the rich. Sounds mindnumbingly boring to me. @jm_barrett

Speculating on a speculation tax Michael Geller Columnist

michaelarthurgeller@gmail.com

One of my favourite cinematic scenes occurs in Woody Allen’s 1977 film Annie Hall. While standing in a movie lineup, Allen is upset by a pretentious academic pontificating about Marshall McLuhan’s work. After a brief exchange during which he tells the fellow he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Allen drags McLuhan into the scene who reconfirms the loudmouth is wrong, at which point Allen turns to the audience and says “Boy, if life were only like this.”

I was reminded of this scene by Mayor Gregor Robertson’s recent call for a speculation tax. If only we, like Allen, could drag someone into the discussion to tell us what really is required to address Vancouver’s lack of housing affordability.

They would probably paraphrase the proverb: “Complex problems do not have a simple solution.”

While I question whether taxes on speculators or empty houses are the answer, over the coming weeks I will look at some possible solutions. But first it may be helpful to better understand how we got to where we are today.

For decades, the primary housing choices in Canada were owning a single-family dwelling or renting an apartment or townhouse.

For those who could not afford market housing, there was government-funded public housing and subsequently, government funded non-profit rental and cooperative projects.

However, since the early 1990s, the federal government has withdrawn from funding new projects.

In the early 1970s, condominium ownership was introduced. Over the subsequent five decades, condominium apartments and townhouses have become increasingly popular for both first-time buyers and last-time buyers, especially those ready to downsize or “rightsize.”

In the beginning, condominium developments were financed and completed, a show suite was set up, and units were sold.

However, this changed in the mid-’80s when CBC’s The National featured a story on people lining up outside a Toronto marketing trailer on Bay Street.

They were hoping to buy at The Polo Club, the first Toronto condominium to offer much smaller, more affordable

suites. The project was sold by Priority Registration, a new marketing approach created by Stan Kates, a creative advertising executive, in which potential buyers had to “get on a list” to be eligible to buy.

People lined up because they were each given the same appointment time. When they became anxious and tried to get into the sales centre they could not, since there was no handle on the door. Kates discovered this idea by accident after a door handle fell off an earlier sales centre. He incorporated it into future projects since it too enhanced buyer anxiety.

Inside the sales trailer potential buyers discovered there were limited floor layouts to choose from. This was to speed up decision making. To further enhance anxiety, each sale was announced over a loud speaker. When people asked for a brochure, they were often told they were all gone, but were offered paper and pen to copy floor plans off the wall.

Kates firmly believed pre-sale marketing was selling a dream, while post-completion marketing was selling reality. “And never try selling during construction,” he once told me, “Since you’re just selling a mess!”

While Kates never sold any projects in Vancouver, local marketing firms designed their own high performance pre-sale marketing strategies.

They had to, because financial institutions no longer relied on analysts’ reports and underwriting intelligence to determine whether a project would be viable; they insisted on presales.

With their elaborate presentation centres and extensive advertising, pre-sale programs can be very expensive and add to project costs. However, when done well, they can often achieve higher sales prices than the finished product might achieve, especially when there is limited competition.

When there is good supply and competition, prices do not always rise.

This was evident in some recent Real Estate Board statistics as reported in the June issue of Vancouver Magazine.

While single family house prices have been increasing significantly, condominium prices have not always kept up with inflation, and in many instances have dropped.

In Grandview they have dropped 5.8 per cent over the last five years.

Does this really warrant a speculation tax on condos? @michaelgeller

The week in num6ers...

30 5.8 23.6 60 21

Cost, in millions of dollars, for upgrades to the aging Burrard Bridge, which include removing a traffic lane , adding new sidewalks and widening portions of the bridge.

Percentage in which condo prices have dropped over the past five years in the GrandiewWoodland neighbourhood.

In thousands, estimated number of men in Canada diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014.

The age singer Mike Reno will be when he hits the stage with his band Loverboy to close out the PNE’s Summer Nights Concerts series Sept. 7.

Years Music Waste has held its annual music festival showcasing hundreds of local independent acts in venues across the city.

58

The weight class, in kilograms, that John Oliver wrestler Torrey Toribio won to become the Canadian juvenile champion in Fredericton, N.B. this April.

W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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Inbox LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Hurdles needed to hamstring foreign real estate investors

CO U R I E R A R C H I V E S T H I S D A Y I N H I S T O R Y

Cops clash with Rolling Stones fans

June 3, 1972: The Rolling Stones kick off their Exile on Main Street tour at the Pacific Coliseum, the first show in North America since the notorious Altamont concert three years earlier where four people died. Security was tight at the show, with police having been tipped off by an undercover agent that a gang known as the Clark Parkers, who’d been implicated in the in the Sea Festival riot in the summer of 1970, planned to disrupt the show, and two dozen cops in riot gear were standing by.

When the doors opened at 6 p.m., some 2,500 fans were left outside in part due to scalpers selling fake tickets. Once the show was underway and fans were still trying to get in, people hurled bottles, boulders and two-by-fours from broken fencing trying to break the doors down. Police trying to stop them were met with hurled rocks, and at least one Molotov cocktail was reportedly thrown. Mounted police eventually charged into the crowd to end the confrontation before the crowd emptied out. The clash left 31 police injured, 13 badly enough they were taken on stretchers to hospital, with an unknown number of civilians also hurt. A total of 22 people were arrested on various charges, including possession of an explosive and of a dangerous weapon, which turned out to be a four-foot logging chain with a hook on one end and a leather handle on the other.

Fittingly, the Stones played “Street Fighting Man” for the encore.

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Re: “Speculation tax a shot in the dark,” May 29.

What could be more ironic than Gregor Robertson and Bob Rennie proposing a speculation tax to help cool the housing market? During his tenure as mayor of Vancouver, Robertson has presided over some the largest increases in property prices ever recorded.

He has said little and done nothing as overseas buyers have safely parked money into West Side homes while at the same time East Side homes have become unaffordable for working families.

One of his financial backers, Bob Rennie, has made millions in real estate transactions. These are the last two people on earth that I would turn to for a solution to this problem.

The idea suggested by Rennie that if we taxed foreign investors in real estate, then foreign governments would fear further taxation against non-real estate investments is just plain silly and selfserving.

Residential real estate is for homeowners, it should never be an investment opportunity for overseas investors.

There is a need for the process for overseas buyers to purchase residential real estate, to be made difficult and rigorous.

Primarily, there is a need to connect employment income to property prices in that the overseas buyers must be able to demonstrate a minimum three years of employment income in Canada before being allowed to purchase residential real estate.

If overseas investors are entrepreneurs, review and audit their “good jobs” creation record in the previous three years. Impose a two year no-sell clause which would create further uncertainty for the overseas buyer.

Finally, impose any and all of the relevant restrictions currently being used in other countries that have the same problem.

In essence, there is a need to erect as many hurdles as possible to drive the overseas residential real estate investor away but please don’t look to Robertson and Rennie for the solution.

Bill Campbell, Vancouver

False Creek column rang true

Re: “Will False Creek planning fall flat?” May 27 Trish Kelly’s opinion piece on planning for False Creek Flats is the most insightful mainstream media coverage on a planning process I can remember.

And it’s funny to boot!

Anyone who can make a land use planning exercise this appealing without inciting NIMBYism ought to be given a medal.

Vickie Morris, Vancouver

#DontHaveSeveralMillion

Re: “Millennials shouldn’t lower expectations,” May 20.

I am afraid that the millennials will need to change the hashtag #donthave1million as it will soon be out of date.

Given the continual rise in real estate prices, several million would be more accurate.

John Clench, Vancouver

ONLINE COMMENTS TransLink clearly misunderstand transparency

Re: “TransLink’s communication breakdown,” May 27.

TransLink has taken its transparency policies directly from the B.C. Liberals’ playbook. What are they hiding? @crystalseahorse, via Twitter

•••

So what’s new? Just another reason to vote No. @Sonata01, via Twitter

Another government misfire

Re: “Botched B.C. Libs firings take another twist,” online only.

Truly a tragic event. I find it hard to believe that the individuals who thought that they had “identified” a breach, and initiated the termination process have not been identified and dealt with appropriately Average Joe, via Comments section

•••

It’s also pretty obvious that this government doesn’t care at all how this has affected those falsely accused employees or their families.

They only care about how it makes them look. And they look as horrible as they are. Uncaring, self serving politicians. leperman, via Comments section

Dolphin fail

Re: Editorial cartoon, May 27.

Please, Mr. Olson, get your facts straight. This cartoon is a simple-minded insult to the dedicated Vancouver Aquarium staff and volunteers who care for rescued animals like Hana.

Returning such a handicapped animal to the wild would have meant death by starvation or predation.

Instead, she was able to live a relatively long and apparently happy life at the aquarium.

LynneDQ, via Comments section

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5

Family

1. Fan favourite Loverboy is just one of the many headliners performing in the PNE’s Summer Night Concert series.

2. Bif Naked is one of the performers headlining the Mosaic Music Series at the PNE.

PNE promises entertainment

Music, dinosaurs and doughnuts Sandra Thomas

sthomas@vancourier.com

As if the Superdogs and PNE Prize home weren’t enough, the annual Fair at the PNE, which runs Aug.

22 to Sept. 7, is piling on the fun and entertainment this year with more music, a craft beer festival, dinosaur exhibit and super heroes.

The 2015 Summer Night Concert series includes Colin James, Clint Black, Sloan, the Beach Boys, Daughtry, New Pornographers, Tom Cochrane and Red Rider, Colbie Caillat and Christina, Lee Brice, Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo 35th Anniversary Tour, Boyz II Men, Hall and Oates, Brett Kissel, Mad Decent and Loverboy.

The shows are free with admission, but reserved seating is also available starting at $20.

Meanwhile, the Mosaic Music Series stage will feature a new act each night celebrating diversity including Bif Naked, Five Alarm Funk, the Zolas, Lee Aaron, Headpins, the Tourist Company and more.

Besides the great lineup of performers, other music-themed exhibits and attractions at the PNE will feature the Duelling Pianos, Tooncity’s Mermaid Tales: A Musical Journey Under the Ocean and Magical History Tour: The Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition.

The Broadway show Peter Pan, starring Cathy Rigby,

is free for fans young and old, but reserved seating is available for $20.

The kids will enjoy Dinosaurs Alive! A Jurassic Experience, a new outdoor exhibit that promises visitors a spectacular snapshot of 13 species of dinosaurs that roamed the Earth during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Young fairgoers also won’t want to miss the Superhero Discovery Centre:

from the excitement of the midway with the largest variety of barn animals found in the city.

And make sure to mark your calendars for the inaugural Donut Dash, Aug. 23.

This five-kilometre run is described as the city’s tastiest and only race to offer up fair treats along the course, including mini doughnuts and cotton candy. The $30 registration fee includes

The PNE is piling on the fun and entertainment this year with more music, a craft beer festival, dinosaur exhibit and super heroes.

The Hall of Heroes Exhibit, which allows guests to explore, learn and test their skills at many interactive stations to find out what super hero power they excel in.

Adults, young and old, will want to drop by the Craft Beer Festival on Miller Drive, which will feature 20 local craft beer brewers Aug. 22 to 30. To keep things fresh, a new group of brewers takes their place Sept. 1 to 7.

Safeway Farm Country will be open once again, allowing fair-goers a break

admission to the fair, a PNE Donut Dash T-shirt, race bib and finisher’s medal.

Fair gate passes are $14, but children 13 and younger are free when accompanied by a paying adult 21 years or older — with a maximum of five children per adult. Pinwheel Deals coupon books, which offer more than $350 in savings at more than 65 food and beverage vendors, are available at on-site ticket booths for $2. For a complete schedule and more information, visit pne.ca. @thomas10

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David Walker, vice-president for Western Canada of Prostate Cancer Canada, is encouraging everyone from coast to coast to wear plaid June 19. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

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Kathleen Saylors

kathleen.saylors@gmail.com

Whether or not plaid is having a renaissance is a much-debated issue. While hipsters say yes, fashionistas give it a resounding no.

But what about wearing plaid for a cause?

On June 19, everyone is encouraged to do just that in support of dad. Wear Plaid for Dad is the latest fundraising initiative from Prostate Cancer Canada, which urges men, women and children to pledge to wear plaid and put their money where their mouth is.

The campaign is launching in the run-up to Father’s Day June 21.

Individuals and workplaces are encouraged to set a fundraising goal to meet before that date and celebrate their success by

“I’m worried about Mom.”

wearing plaid June 19.

David Walker, vicepresident for Western Canada of Prostate Cancer Canada, said the idea came out of a need to do something simple.

“Dads don’t do it for themselves. It’s their partner or loved one or even their kids, who will do something for dad,” Walker said. “It’s quite simple really. Wear plaid for dad.”

Donations are done through FundAid, a Glacier Media company.

Glacier Media also owns the Courier.

John Winter, president and CEO of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, was diagnosed with prostate cancer 11 years ago.

“I think the message is clear that you have to make sure, once you reach a certain stage in life at least,

the likelihood of contracting something like this is high,” said Winter, who also sits on the Prostate Cancer Canada B.C. Leadership Council. “You need to be prepared for it, and the best way is to find it early.”

According to the Prostate Cancer Canada website, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, representing 24 per cent of all new cases. In 2014, an estimated 23,600 men were diagnosed.

Winter got involved with Prostate Cancer Canada after his own diagnosis and now makes it a priority to increase awareness.

Several celebrities, including Hockey Night in Canada’s Don Cherry, have pledged to wear plaid in support of the fundraiser. Winter said this initiative is important because

it increases visibility for a disease that too often goes unnoticed.

“It’s the male version of breast cancer in its impact,” he said. “I think that too many men are adverse to check-ups with doctors, they are not as committed to regular visits as women are, and I think that’s part of the problem.”

Walker said they’re hoping participants come out in full force — and full plaid — in support of the men in their lives.

“It’s a community spirit there, or daughters and sons can do something for their dad,” he said.

“On June 19, we would like to empty Value Village of their plaid and have plaid from coast to coast to coast, everyone wearing plaid.”

For details, go to events. doitfordads.com. @KathleenSaylors

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5

The secret to breaking bad habits

Davidicus Wong, M.D.

davidicuswong.wordpress.com

Though accidents, genetics and many conditions are beyond your control, of the things in your life that are, the best predictors of your future health are the habits you practise today.

Knowing that smoking damages our lungs, causes cancer and leads to heart attacks, strokes and vascular disease, why is it so hard to quit?

Understanding that obesity wears down the joints of our knees and hips and increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes, why is it so hard for us to eat the right foods and get enough exercise?

Why do we keep making the same mistakes? Why do we keep getting into the same arguments?

We are creatures of habit, and that includes the habit of thought.

It is part of our human nature. More than 2,500 years ago, Buddha noted that which we habitually ponder upon will be our inclination.

Habits are functional.

Our tendency to fall into habits gave our brains an evolutionary advantage.

When we repeat a behaviour numerous times, it almost becomes hard-wired into our central nervous system. The connections

With commitment and practice, we can break out of maladaptive patterns of thought and create new and healthier habits of being.

between the neurons connected in the same pattern create efficiency and reduce the effort of thinking.

It makes it easy to find the path home, build a campfire, catch a fish and defend yourself from a rival.

In our everyday life, we

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easily fall into a pattern of relating to the people we know well without having to get to know our friends and family all over again.

Even lost in thought while driving home, we find it

without even trying.

Once our brains are set up with a longstanding routine, it can take Herculean effort to break out. Anyone who has tried to quit smoking, stick with a new

exercise routine or switch to a healthy diet will agree.

Bad habits stick because of the brain’s efficiency — even when the brain’s logic commands us to do otherwise. I call this neurorigidity.

But the opposite is neuroplasticity — the now well-documented ability for the brain to change itself.

We don’t have to remain stuck in the same patterns of behaviour and thought.

Meditation, cognitive therapy and hypnosis have been shown through functional MRI studies to change how our brains work.

With commitment and practice, we can break out of maladaptive patterns of thought and create new and healthier habits of being.

If you really want to kick a bad habit, visualize the new you having achieved the goal you want to achieve. Engage your imagination with a clear and compelling vision of the new future you who has broken out of old patterns of thought and instead is supported by positive self-talk. You will have created a new pattern of thinking about yourself.

Then practise and practise a new way of being with this new vision of self in mind.

Dr. Davidicus Wong is a family physician. His Healthwise column appears regularly in this paper. You can read more about achieving your positive potential in health at davidicuswong.wordpress.com.

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Vancouver firms pumped by fitness tech Technology companies profiting from growth in health and fitness industry Tyler Orton

torton@biv.com

Farid Dordar was flipping through a magazine at a hotel in Mexico in the 1990s when he came across a back-page ad for a company claiming it could teach him computer programming in 10 minutes.

“I inserted a CD right then and there into my laptop and started coding my first application,” recalled the former world kickboxing champ, who at the time was running his own martial arts school in North Vancouver.

He wanted software to help with the billing, booking and scheduling for his gym. Nothing existed, so he built his own after teaching himself to code.

“When I saw the potential, I started separating my office because I was coding in the back office of my school,” Dordar said. “I was [creating] a software business instead of running a gym.”

Fifteen years after PerfectMind started as a member-management tool specifically for martial arts schools, the company has expanded to offer platforms for recreational management, yoga studios, salons, gyms and music schools.

About 100 employees work out of its North Vancouver headquarters, and Dordar said PerfectMind has “grown tremendously” the past three years after signing on larger clients, including the Richmond Olympic Oval, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and U.S. health-care provider Sanford Health.

But the rapid expansion of Canada’s fitness industry has also pushed growth at other tech companies zeroing in on this niche market.

The health and fitness clubs industry generates revenue of about $3 billion annually in Canada and employs about 50,000 people across 4,000 businesses, according to a report released in January

by IBISWorld. “[The industry] is currently in the growth phase of its life cycle,” the report said. “Over the 10 years to 2020, industry value added, which measures an industry’s contribution to the overall economy, is expected to grow at an average annual rate of four per cent.

“Comparatively, Canada’s GDP is forecast to grow at an annualized rate of 2.2 per cent over the 10-year period. The industry is growing at a faster pace than the overall economy, which is indicative of an industry in the growth life cycle stage.”

The industry has always been competitive, according to InTouch Technology CEO Sandra Wear.

But the biggest difference over the past decade, she said, has been the rates of adoption of technology both by health clubs and their members.

Wear’s Vancouver-based company, which develops software that helps fitness clubs retain members and generate consumer interest, was founded 10 years ago, before sales force automation exploded during the smartphone revolution.

And just as clubs are now looking to technology to keep clients and

find new ones, those same clients are donning wearables like the Apple Watch or the Fitbit to constantly remind them of their activity levels.

“We talk about it like the gym that moves with you,” Wear said, adding it’s up to technology developed at InTouch to help clubs connect with members even when they’re not at the gym.

This means using the software to create textmessage marketing or social media campaigns that help members earn a free pass if they recommend a gym to a Facebook friend.

“This industry, although very competitive, also wants to help [members get fit],” Wear said.

Meanwhile, Vancouver’s Recon Instruments is zeroing in on athletes donning those wearables to track their own personal physical activity.

The company is the first to develop a heads-up display specifically for those who want to check performance metrics like heart rate or distance travelled through high-tech goggles instead of glancing at their wrists.

Its first product, the Recon Jet, launched in April about two years after the company began offering pre-sales on the device.

Co-founder and CEO Dan Eisenhardt said last year part of its success would rely on focusing very narrowly on a niche market.

“If we’re saying wearables [are] going to be driven through health and fitness, then there’s no better place on the planet than Vancouver.” @reporton

Farid Dordar’s PerfectMind business offering recreational management software originally grew out of a need for Dordar to manage his own gym. PHOTO CHUNG CHOW

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5

Arts&Entertainment

GOT ARTS? 604.738.1411 or events@vancourier.com

1 June 3 to 5, 2015 1. Is it that time of the year already?

Bard on the Beach kicks off its 26th season and the unofficial beginning of summer with The Comedy of Errors, which director Scott Bellis sets in a “whimsical Victorian steampunk world.”

Previews for the outdoor Shakespeare festival start June 4. Other plays include King Lear, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Shakespeare’s Rebel. Details at bardonthebeach.org.

2. Cat lover and marijuana connoisseur Beth Cosentino and her Los Angelesbased band Best Coast wash up on our shores for a show at the Imperial, June 3, in support of their latest fuzzed-out and beachy album, California Nights. Bully opens. Tickets at Red Cat, Zulu and ticketweb.ca.

3. After New York’s beloved band the Walkmen announced it was going on a “pretty extreme hiatus” in late 2013, frontman Hamilton Leithauser released an excellent solo album, Black Hours, featuring contributions from members of the Shins, Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend, Dirty Projectors and, wait for it, the Walkmen. Lush and spirited with a bit of old-timey charm, the results don’t veer too far from the Walkmen’s musical path, which isn’t a necessarily a bad thing. Hear for yourself when Leithauser performs at Venue June 4.

Jack and Eliza opens. Tickets at Red Cat, Zulu and bplive.electrostub.com.

2

4. Started as an antithesis to the corporate-minded and since departed Music West festival, Music Waste is still going strong after 21 years, showcasing hundreds of local independent acts in venues across the city. This year’s lineup is another doozy and runs June 4 to 7.

Bands include B-Lines, Peace, Garbage Mountain, Shawn Mrazek Lives!, Les Chaussettes, NEEDS, Supermoon, Energy Slime, Woolworm, JP Carter and OK Vancouver OK, among many others.

Details at facebook.com/musicwaste.

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W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

Arts&Entertainment

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Stibbards can’t help but compare his students to the young people in his book — two generations divided by a technological chasm.

“The Internet had just come out, but sending an email was very novel,” he says of the time in which his book is set. “In that way the novel’s quite removed, I think, from what’s going on nowadays.”

That said, many of the struggles his characters face, such as self-consciousness and isolation, are shared by today’s youth and likely exacerbated by the widespread use of smartphones and social media.

“I think the older I get, there’s more of a gulf opening up between my generation and the students nowadays, particularly, I think, because of the electronics, which really weren’t present during the time period when the story’s set.”

Looking ahead, Stibbards has another work in progress and plans to continue with his short stories. The hardest part about writing a novel, he says, is pushing through his own self-doubt and overcoming the need for instant gratification. It’s kind of like gardening, he explains.

“You plant something, but you don’t know right away if it’s going to grow.”

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It seems there isn’t a week that goes by without some sort of comparison or ranking of Vancouver’s merits or lack thereof, followed by local media lapping it up like Pavlov’s slobbering dog.

According to the latest increasingly arbitrary study, this time conducted by

that, that’s fictional.”

Stibbards first developed the character who would eventually become Trace in 2005. Also a rock musician and an artist, he was in the midst of working on a painting in the fall of that year.

While waiting for layers of paint to dry, he shifted his creative energy to writing a short story. “For the first time, I actually felt I actually had a character I could run with,” he says.

Not long after starting his novel, Stibbards enrolled in a creating writing program at UBC, despite some initial scepticism. “I thought writing was something you retreat into the woods with your bottle of bourbon and a typewriter and duke it out alone,” he says. “But then I realized that a lot of the writers I admired, they had gone to university programs for creative writing.”

Over the years, Stibbards found himself drawn to the sparse prose of the American minimalist authors of the 1980s — Raymond Carver, Ann Beattie, Amy Hempel.

“They kind of showed me a way to write about my environment,” he explains.

“When I was writing this, I was certainly influenced by the minimalists.”

As a high school teacher,

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Shawn Curtis Stibbards says he was influenced by American minimalist stylists such as Raymond Carver and Ann Beattie in writing his novel, The Video Watcher. PHOTO CINDY GOODMAN

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In his college years, aspiring novelist Shawn Curtis Stibbards devoured the Russian literary greats — Dostoevsky, Gogol, Tolstoy.

“When I first began writing, I wanted to write the War and Peace for North Vancouver,” he recalls with a laugh.

Fast forward to the present and Stibbards is celebrating the release of his debut novel The Video Watcher (Biblioasis). While the story may not centre on the Napoleonic Wars or the ranks of the Russian nobility, it does — as Stibbards had always intended — take place on the North Shore.

“You’re often used to picking up books and reading about people in New York or reading about people in London and I guess sometimes you feel kind of left out of it,” says the longtime North Vancouver resident and English teacher at Argyle secondary.

Set in the 1990s, protagonist Trace Patterson has finished his first year of university and is living with his drunken aunt. Described as “listless, bored, alienated and mistrustful,” Trace spends his nights watching horror movies and attending high school house parties. But his carefree routine is disrupted when two old friends, each with their own troubles, come back into his life.

Stibbards, now married with three children, would have been slightly older than Trace at the time his book takes place. And while he emphasizes The Video Watcher is 100 per cent fictional, he says writing the novel over the last 10 years gave him the chance to revisit some personal experiences. “The emotional atmosphere is kind of autobiographical,” he says, “but in terms of actual characters, the events and

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5

Arts&Entertainment All-female cast takes on Glengarry Glen Ross The leads are not weak in gender-swapping production STATE OF THE ARTS Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

The sad and sleazy real estate salesmen in Glengarry Glen Ross are being played by women in an upcoming production.

Classic Chic Productions will present David Mamet’s 1984 Pulitzer-Prize winning play with an all-female cast as the inaugural theatrical production at the new flexible performance space in Beaumont Studios, June 6 to 27.

Director Rachel Peake, who directed the world premiere opera Stickboy by spoken word artist Shane Koyzcan, was surprised and fascinated when Classic Chic moved from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale to the modern American classic for its second production. She’d watched the movie, seen and studied the play.

“It’s not something I ever thought about directing because it’s such a male play,” Peake said. “So when they brought it to me and said that they wanted to do it with an all-female cast, I went oh, OK, I guess I’d better look at it then.

“I have a real interest in looking at the way men and women deal with the world,” she continued. “The idea of putting these words into women’s mouths but then have them perform them as men would allow us to really hear them in a new way.”

The men in Glengarry Glen Ross use expletives as the grease that gets them where they’re going, Peake said, paraphrasing others.

“The language is filthy,” she said. “It’s amazing, many of the actors have young children and they’re like, ‘It’s so hard to turn it off when you leave the rehearsal hall.’”

But audiences shouldn’t expect to see a woman performing Alec Baldwin’s iconic “always be closing speech” from the film adaptation of the play.

“The Alec Baldwin speech from the film is actually not in the play,” Peake said. “We contemplated bringing it in, but I feel like one of the beauties of the play is that the bosses are Murray and Mitch and they never appear and they never get their own voice, they’re just sort of this omnipotent presence that rules their lives and I was really fascinated by that.”

Peake expects themes of aging, feeling less relevant,

worrying about money and being left behind to resonate with Vancouver audiences, not to mention the fact the salesmen were selling land, hope and possibility at a time when the States was on the brink of a sales and loan crisis.

“So a lot of it feels very familiar to us with the more contemporary mortgage breakdown that happened,” she said.

Classic Chic is an all-female ensemble established in 2013, dedicated to providing opportunities for women to perform roles in which they traditionally wouldn’t have been cast. The ensemble seeks to mentor emerging female artists and strives to be mom-friendly, recognizing women often struggle to balance their artistic pursuits and families.

Speaking of women’s roles, Peake says the way the men in Glengarry Glen Ross talk about women is illuminating.

“The way that women fit into their society becomes clearer when it’s a woman saying it,” she said.

Glengarry Glen Ross starts at 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m.

Saturday matinees at 326 West Fifth Ave. Tickets are $25 at ticketstonight.ca. @Cheryl_Rossi

Classic Chic Productions take on David Mamet’s 1984 play Glengarry Glen Ross with an all-female cast, June 6 to 27 at Beaumont Studios.

W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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Sports&Recreation

GOT GAME? Contact sports editor Megan Stewart at mstewart@vancourier.com or 604-630-3549

1

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Stags beat Saints for B.C. crown

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St. George’s finished second, Lord Byng 10th at AAA championship ST. GEORGE’S SHAWNIGAN LAKE

05 35

Megan Stewart

mstewart@vancourier.com

The St. George’s Saints relinquished the B.C. senior boys AAA rugby championship in a close game with an uneven score.

Playing their Vancouver Island rivals at Abbotsford’s Rotary Stadium on May 30, the Saints lost 35-5 to the top-ranked Shawnigan Lake Stags.

“It was close. The score is not really indicative of the game,” said Saints head coach Mike Stiles. “We

came out in the first five minutes and played really, really well, we just couldn’t finish the scoring opportunities we had.”

St. George’s suffered untimely penalties against a large, muscled Shawnigan Lake side, but the score remained tight at 6-0. Just before the end of the half, the Stags went up 11-0.

“They did a really good job of keeping the ball,” Stiles said about the Stags.

“We played defence for almost the entire game — 35-5 is a pretty respectable score.”

Shawnigan Lake pushed forward time and again, using their forwards to gain field position. “They

were bigger than our guys, but our guys did not back down for anything,” said the coach. “I would say it was one of their best defensive efforts of the year.”

St. George’s scored their lone try on a driving lineout. Driving ahead with the forwards, vice-captain Ruairidh MacPhail placed the ball to earn the points.

The Stags won back the provincial title they lost last year to the Saints, who came out on top of a gripping 15-12 final. This year’s win marks the seventh championship in eight years for Shawnigan Lake, a streak broken only last year by St. George’s.

Earlier this year, the Saints knocked off the Stags to win the B.C. sevens championship, a style of rugby played with seven a side, and they also won their third consecutive New Zealand Shield, which is awarded to the AAA Lower Mainland victors.

Also at the AAA tournament, Lord Byng finished 10th overall after losing their opening game to lowerranked Lord Tweedsmuir.

In AA, the senior boys from Tupper finished 13th overall, ending the tournament with a 41-19 win over North Vancouver’s Sutherland. @MHStewart

1. and 2. Saints centre Jayden Bloom is wrapped up by tacklers as he advances the ball in a hard-fought 35-5 loss to the Shawnigan Lake Stags. 3. St. George’s Chock Lopez eludes Shawnigan Lake’s Simon Gray in the B.C. AAA senior boys rugby championship final at Abbotsford’s Rotary Stadium May 30. PHOTOS JEAN KONDA-WITTE

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5

The Courier presents Vancouver’s Elite Graduating Athletes of 2015

Torrey Toribio PAST PRESENT FUTURE

JOHN OLIVER JOKERS HUGH MARSHALL GYMNASIUM UNDECIDED

B

efore he won the national juvenile title in the boys’ 58-kilogram class and before he was recognized as the most outstanding male wrestler at the Canadian high school championships in April, Torrey Toribio fought off the socket-seeing fingers of an opponent who wanted his eyes out.

“He reached for my eye and started scratching, started gouging,” said Toribio, remembering the desperation of the soon-to-be silver-medallist. “He had his nails in there, on my eyeball. It felt squishy.”

Leading by eight in the championship bout at Fredericton’s Aitken University Centre, Toribio needed two more points to bury his opponent for the win. But Toribio was caught — and nearly pinned — on a quick throw. “It was pretty sloppy, and I’m upset I got caught up in it,” he said. “I was beating him, but if he’d pinned me all the way, that would have ended the match and my lead would have been nothing.”

Toribio resisted, escaped and countered. He’d already won.

“I broke him down mentally. I felt it, he knew it. Everyone knew it,” said the 18-year-old Joker who followed his uncle, Mark Ballon, into the sport at J.O. secondary.

Toribio was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment away from ending the match when he felt those desperate fingers digging into his face. He endured the pain to walk away with gold, leaving his opponent on the mat in embarrassment and defeat.

Ranked the province’s best wrestler in his weight class every year since his Grade 8 season, Toribio nonetheless lost year after year at the B.C. championships. For four years, he failed to achieve what he and countless others expected of him. This winter he met all those expectations and won his first gold at his last provincial meet.

Despite touring with the national junior team and receiving numerous university offers, Toribio will not likely wrestle at the CIS or NCAA level. He could go to SFU or the universities of Alberta, Winnipeg or Regina, but is turning down all scholarship offers because he wants to stay close to family and study to become a pediatric nurse — a two-pronged requirement that will keep him in Vancouver where there is no university with both a wrestling team and a nursing program.

His success will be carried forward, however, by giving time back to the Jokers wrestling program — and the seemingly limitless support of coach Chris Fuoco — that helped shape him.

“Everything it’s given me, all the doors it’s opened, I feel it’s only right to give back and help make the program here better,” said Toribio. “My coaches, they’ve sacrificed just as much as I have. When we’re practising, they’re there, too. They’re not paid coaches, it’s all volunteer and I want to thank them and my teammates because they’ve been along for the whole ride. We make each other better.”

— Megan Stewart

PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

VOICES OF THE STREET

SPECIAL LITERARY ISSUE

CELEBRATING 5 YEARS

GIVE A COMMUNITY ITS VOICE by purchasing a copy of the special literary issue, Voices of the Street, from Megaphone’s homeless and low-income vendors.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U N E 3 , 2 0 1 5