WEDNESDAY
July 22 2015 Vol. 106 No. 57
NEWS 7
Fielding signatures OPINION 10
Sympathy for the developer SPORTS 16
Little Leaguers slug it out There’s more online at
vancourier.com MIDWEEK EDITION
THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS since 1908
Online dater takes ‘dudes’ to task Cheryl Rossi
crossi@vancourier.com
ON THE RIGHT TRACK Chris Young of the Vancouver Dirt Jump Coalition takes a spin on the new BMX pump track during the opening day of Empire Fields and Plateau Sports Park on Saturday. See story page 8. PHOTO REBECCA BLISSETT
VPD plans to buy 200 more Tasers Mike Howell
mhowell@vancourier.com
At a time when Vancouver police officers rarely fire a conductive energy weapon — commonly referred to by the brand name Taser — the department plans to buy 200 more of the stun guns and train almost the same number of officers to use the weapon. With 128 officers already trained, including members of emergency response teams, the department wants a total of 200 cops to know how to use the Taser before the end of this year. By the end of 2016, the goal is to have 300 officers trained and have one Taser available for every two patrol members on shift. “It doesn’t mean we’ll be using it a lot more, but we’ll have it more available,” Police Chief Adam Palmer told the Courier in an interview Thursday. “It’s a tool
that we don’t use on a regular basis, but when we do need it, it’s very important to have it. It’s like a firearm. We don’t use that very often either, but officers do have to have it. So in those most serious circumstances, it’s nice for officers to have another option.” The increase in training will mean purchasing more than 100 of the $2,000-apiece Tasers this year and another 100 next year to add to the 150 in stock. It will also mean equipping officers with a weapon made infamous by the RCMP in 2007 at the Vancouver International Airport, where Mounties fired it several times at Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died of a heart attack following the jolts from the gun. As the Courier revealed in a story published last month, the VPD’s use of the Taser dropped significantly after Dziekanski’s death. In 2006, VPD of-
ficers fired the weapon 93 times but have only fired it an average of nine times per year between 2010 and 2014. Palmer said it was “fair comment” that officers were probably “a little shy” to use the Taser back then and acknowledged “with any of these less-lethal options, there’s no guarantee that somebody will not die.” He added, though, “we’re reducing that chance” with the use of a Taser because “there’s less likelihood somebody’s going to die than if shot with a bullet.” The chief pointed out officers are trained in hand-to-hand combat, are equipped with pepper spray and a baton. Some officers are also trained on how to use a shotgun that fires beanbag rounds. That training is coupled with de-escalation techniques, which emphasizes the primary goal of an officer making an arrest is to not resort to any use of force. Continued on page 5
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The more she online dated, the more isolated and lonely Hannah Maté felt. Messages like these were messing with her head: Burnaby man, with whom OK Cupid said she was a 64 per cent match: “Girls, what’s my weakness??” he texted, quoting lyrics by female hiphop trio Salt-N-Pepa. Maté quoted lyrics back: “Men! OK then.” Him, straying from “Shoop” by SaltN-Pepa: “Entertain me sugar t**s.” Maté had received so many introductory message from men about her body, sex and ripping her apart for saying she was hoping to meet a man who identified as a feminist or a feminist ally, that she was losing interest in meeting someone. Then she shared some of the photos and absurd messages she received on Facebook, heard from girlfriends about their similar experiences and from guy friends who were shocked at how brutal it can be for women online. She started her blog, Hey Sup Girl?: Celebrating the Real S*** Dudes Say on Online Dating, a year ago, more recently moving it to the Tumblr platform and maintaining a related Facebook page. Maté has been amazed how often men who don’t receive an immediate reply to an initial text attack. She has awarded worst message to a doozy received by a friend. A man texted “Hey hows [sic] it going?” one evening. The friend hadn’t responded by the following afternoon. His reaction: “Wow such a shame how shallow you are. Try growing up and maybe a guy will want a relationship with you instead of just use you for a quick f***. I hope the next guy you f*** gives you HIV you fat slut and maybe if you don’t actually look like an armadillo guys would hit on you in person and you wouldnt [sic] have to use Tinder.” Continued on page 9
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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5
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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5
News
Undercover cop sees good and bad of DTES 12TH&CAMBIE Mike Howell
mhowell@vancourier.com
As an undercover cop, Staff Sgt. Mark Horsley has seen the good and the bad side of the Downtown Eastside. His latest project, in which he posed as a disabled man in a wheelchair, left him inspired by the compassion of residents. PHOTO COURTESY OF VPD
Ramble through rubble.
p: Robin O’Neill
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A story that kind of got buried in the breaking news of a city sanitation manager gunned down last week outside his house in Burnaby was the tale about Vancouver police Staff Sgt. Mark Horsley and his undercover operation in the Downtown Eastside. I never made it to the press conference. But I later watched the livestream and, like many, was surprised to learn it wasn’t another story about a bust and people going to jail. Instead, Horsley, who posed as a disabled man with a brain injury in a wheelchair, talked of the compassion of many neighbourhood residents, who could have easily ripped off the money hanging out of his fanny pack or assaulted him. He had an iPad and a camera on him, too. The purpose of Horsley’s deployment was to catch a violent criminal or two who were preying on people in wheelchairs. Since January 2014, police investigated 28 cases where criminals robbed, assaulted and, in one case, sexually assaulted people in wheelchairs. About 60 per cent of the crimes occurred in the Downtown Eastside. “I didn’t know what to expect,” Horsley told reporters. “My boss tied a porkchop around my neck, threw me into a shark tank.” But after 300 interactions with people, including known criminals, a shark never attacked. Instead, Horsley was given money, food and had someone pray for him. In the end, it was — as they say in the media and police business — a good news story.
“Inspiring” is the term Horsley used. Two other stories came to mind when I heard about Horsley’s operation — and they didn’t exactly involve Downtown Eastside residents of the compassionate kind. The first one goes back to 2005 when then-Const. Al Arsenault, in heavy makeup, posed as an injured old man with a mental illness in the Downtown Eastside. It took less than 45 minutes to be robbed on both nights that he pretended to be asleep in alley alcoves. Thieves used knives, razor blades and scissors to cut Arsenault’s bag from around his neck. “One guy was so close to me, I could smell the crack [cocaine] on his breath,” he told me back then. “I was thinking, ‘What if the guy decides to slit my throat?’ My heart was pumping pretty fast.” Five men and one woman, all in their 20s, were charged with robbery. The other story was this one: Back in March 2003, I posed as Horsley’s “halfbrother” as he and I strolled East Hastings in an attempt to buy crack cocaine. We were, of course, dressed a little differently than our normal attire, as were other members of a VPD drug squad. That night, Horsley and his crew did “buy-andbusts,” rounding up drug dealers who sold to undercover cops, including one who sold in front of marked police car. It was a surreal experience and gave me a ground-level look at the intricate drug network that exists in the Downtown Eastside. It still exists. So do compassionate people. Both stories, it seems, will continue to be told for years to come. Some, unfortunately, more than others. @Howellings
W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER
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News Tasers provide ‘another option,’ says VPD chief
Continued from page 1 “After the baton, many officers go right to a firearm because there’s no other intermediate options,” the chief added. “Having a Taser there, gives another option.” The VPD has tied the training and need for more Tasers to a series of initiatives the department’s executive adopted as it sets out to create a public policy document that de-
tails the police’s approach to dealing with a person in a mental health crisis. The initiatives were adopted after a VPD superintendent conducted a review of two Ontario reports that made recommendations related to police cases involving use of force against mentally ill people. Lawyer Douglas King of Pivot Legal Society said he believes the VPD’s move to add more Tasers and
increase its mental health training is a response to reducing the number of times police shoot and kill a person suffering from a mental illness. King represented the family of Michael Vann Hubbard, who suffered from schizophrenia and was shot and killed by a Vancouver police officer in 2009. An inquest into Hubbard’s death found the 58-year-old man
threatened police with a utility knife. King noted police didn’t have a Taser, a weapon that could have been used on Hubbard and saved his life. “I think the department recognizes that the number one way it’s going to be scrutinized, and prob-
ably the worst publicity it can get, is if one of its officers shoots and kills somebody,” King said. “But the Taser can’t be seen as a substitute for de-escalation. It can be, possibly, a positive substitute for a firearm. But the last thing we want is
officers turning to a Taser instead of adequately addressing the situation, especially when dealing with someone with mental health issues.” (The full version of this story can be viewed at vancourier.com.) @Howellings
The Vancouver Police Department wants to have 300 officers trained on how to use a conductive energy weapon, or Taser, by the end of 2016. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET
Once a week, twice the read. July 30 sees a new-look Vancouver Courier move to a single edition per week. Every Thursday you’ll be able to enjoy a bigger, brighter, neighbourhood newspaper with unrivalled reporting from our award-winning news team and more in-depth, local coverage from community correspondents across the city. Local news, local matters, only in the Vancouver Courier.
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W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER
News
Closed field no dream
Elizabeth Lu
betty_lu2@hotmail.com
The field at Templeton secondary is one of 28 school fields across the city that closes down each summer. A fence is put up to keep people off the field while workers replenish the grass. At least that’s the intention. Kat Cortes, who lives across the street with her husband and two dogs, says the field at Templeton was poorly cared for last year with no work being done most days, resulting in unkempt, overgrown grass. In response, she created an online petition to convince the school board to re-open the field during the summer. “Very few things happened during the whole summer where there was like three to four days they were working on it,” said Cortes of last year’s closure. “The rest of the days, nothing was being done. So that’s why it had overgrown. That’s my fear again this year because the people in the school are not here to see it. The people that they have hired are probably
Cat Kortes started a petition asking the school board to keep the field at Templeton secondary open during the summer months. The field is popular among dog owners. PHOTO JENNIFER GAUTHIER
not doing a great job and they don’t know about it.” The school board’s director of facilities James Meschino says closing the field is necessary in preparation for September. “If we kept the field open, then we wouldn’t be able to get contractors on site and our own people on site to do the aeration and to do the seeding and the top dressing,” said Meschino, adding that in the past putting up signage did not deter people from staying off the field during maintenance.
Cortes argues the neighbourhood, as a whole, contributes to the field’s upkeep in other ways during the summer. “If anyone is disrespecting the area, whether they are destroying anything here, we call the police,” said Cortes. “Or we keep it clean when they’re not here, when they don’t have the funds to have someone here in the summer to clean the fields. It’s us doing that.” As of July 21, Cortes’s petition had 257 signatures. @bettylu_2
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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5
Community 1
Empire Field returns to its sporting ways Sports park includes turf fields, basketball courts, beach volleyball, ping pong, BMX track CITY LIVING Rebecca Blissett
rvblissett@gmail.com
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When Empire Stadium opened for the British Empire and Commonwealth Games July 30, 1954, it was the largest sports facility in the country. While the heyday of the stadium is nothing more than a hazy memory for most, it’s fitting that the site of the former venue at Hastings Park is now the place of the city’s newest and arguably best sports park. These days Empire Fields consists of two synthetic turf playing fields that sit in the bowl, looped by a rubber-surface running track. The Plateau Sports Park overlooks booth fields with its outdoor, actionpacked lineup of basketball courts, beach volleyball courts, Canada’s first parkour park, metal ping pong tables (complete with the cool design feature of a metal “net” with the outline of the words “Hastings Park”), an outdoor fitness area and a children’s play area with a steep metal slide cut into the hillside that gives a nod to modern European playgrounds. A side-by-side comparison of photographs taken from the same angle 61 years apart shows a portion of the 32,375-seat stadium before it was torn down in 1993 in the same location the Plateau Sports Park is now. The track is roughly in the same area where
Roger Bannister and John Landy famously broke the four-minute mile at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in the first televised sports event broadcast live to all of North America. The field is in the same place, tucked into the bowl, where early incarnations of the B.C. Lions and the Vancouver Whitecaps called it home. And on a pop culture side note, Elvis Presley played on those grounds in 1957, while Empire Stadium was the fourth stop on the Beatles’ 1964 North American tour. Across the bike path from the Miracle Mile statue (and, again, in a then-and-now comparison, somewhere near where the 165-foot high ski jump, built in 1958, once loomed) is a pump track for the BMX and mountain-bike crew. Chris Young of the Vancouver Dirt Jump Coalition stood in Saturday’s sweltering heat for the grand re-opening of Empire Fields and Plateau Sports Park and talked about the past and the present. “What we do is we work with the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Park Board to create these opportunities for youth,” he said, while a rider’s wheels kicked up dust from the parched track. “At the end of the day, it’s created for youth and you know we have youth like Neil over here.” Neil Tapley, hunched over his handlebars of his BMX, answered, “I
started riding at 40.” “He’s one of our elder youth!” interrupted Young. Tapley continued: “Because of my son. He started riding at five and I didn’t want to be one of those fathers that sat back on the sidelines and got fat, reading the newspaper. I wanted to participate and do something with my son. This was inexpensive, and a lot of fun, and exercise. Now he’s 19 and I’m 54 and I still do it.” The pump track, part of the $10.5-million park construction, is meant to complement the more advanced BMX park at Vanier. While nobody would have had a clue what a BMX was in the early days of Empire Stadium, Young felt the track is a long time in coming. “I’ve been riding for 37 years. We all saw E.T. — we’re the E.T. generation so we went out and got BMX bikes the next day,” he said. “It changed my life completely. I was a kid, I could’ve headed down the wrong path by meeting the wrong person on the wrong day. And I met the right person on the right day and I did this.” And it’s pretty special to be a part of a varied sport community such as this one in East Vancouver, Young added. “It’s great to be part of all the different things here,” he said. “There’s a little bit of everything for everybody.” @rebeccablissett
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1. Chris Young of the Vancouver Dirt Jump Coalition hung out at the new BMX pump track during the opening day of Empire Fields and Plateau Sports Park on Saturday. 2. CircusWest juggling coach Yuki Ueda was on hand to teach some of his tricks. 3. More than 7,000 scrap tires were used to make the slide area, running track and playground. 4. The metal table tennis set-up at Plateau Sports Park proved to be a popular stop for those who attended the opening. See photo gallery online at vancourier.com. PHOTOS REBECCA BLISSETT
W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER
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News Offensive online come-ons mined for humour
Continued from page 1 Then there was this nonstarter: “Hey cutie. You look like my step-sister… I’ve always had a crush on her ;).” Maté blurs men’s faces, includes submissions of inappropriate real life encounters and also posts the puns and come-ons that amuse her. On why she continues to date online, Maté says she’s met wonderful people. “Everybody wants connection and everybody
wants to meet somebody,” said the 26-year-old university student and resident of Commercial Drive. Maté isn’t the first local woman to use her awful online dating experiences to fuel community or creativity. Stephanie Henderson, co-founder and co-artistic director of Resounding Scream Theatre created a speed-dating style production called Listen To Me that ran last December, after re-
ceiving too many unwanted photos of erect penises from potential suitors. Sharing once-upsetting messages has diminished their power to bring Maté down. “It’s made my experience better because I know now that it has nothing to do with me… and that other people are experiencing it too, and also that it’s going to make good material for my blog, too, if I respond in a funny way,” she said.
Hannah Maté started a blog to feel less isolated while online dating. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET
Development Permit Board Meeting: July 27 The Development Permit Board and Advisory Panel will meet: Monday, July 27, 2015 at 3 pm Vancouver City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue Town Hall Meeting Room, Ground Floor to consider the following development permit application: 1427 Haro Street To add to, rehabilitate, designate and convert the existing Heritage “B”-listed Lightfoot Residence to provide six rental dwelling units, and to develop the rear of the site with a new four-storey multiple dwelling infill building containing five rental units. Please contact City Hall Security (1st floor) if your vehicle may be parked at City Hall for more than two hours. TO SPEAK ON THIS ITEM: 604-873-7770 or lidia.mcleod@vancouver.ca Visit: vancouver.ca Phone: 3-1-1 TTY: 7-1-1
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Opinion Food hub streamlines City’s red tape adds farm-to-table movement excess costs to housing Trish Kelly Columnist
trishkellyc@gmail.com
More and more Vancouverites are asking for local food on their dinner plates. For diners and chefs, access to it is getting better, and everyday consumers can get their hands on local with greater ease, too. But it’s still a slog for local farmers to get their crops to market. A new local food hub initiative launched in May could make a difference for farmers. More than a decade ago, Granville Island Market ran a bus advertisement campaign featuring chef Vikram Vij. Alongside a shot of Vij in his chef jacket, the ad explained committed chefs such as him took time out of their busy days to make trips to the market for the freshest ingredients. At the time, I worked at Capers Markets on Fourth Avenue, where direct buying from local growers was done with reverence and deep care. I often saw Vij in the store’s produce department, so I knew the Granville Island campaign was legit; Vij really did care. But I also remember thinking, yikes, what a time-suck for this guy. One of the most legendary chefs in our city has to personally scour markets to find good ingredients for his fresh sheet. All these years later, virtually every grocery store, even Urban Fare, the store that infamously flew in $100 baguettes from Paris, touts its local offerings. Increased demand has supported the growth of farmers markets to the current nine weekly locations within the boundaries of Vancouver alone. Aside from claims that local is better quality, and that support for local farmers makes us feel connected to our food, there are economic benefits to buying local, which is why even the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society now works with local farmers, committing to volumes in advance of the growing season in exchange for lower prices. But demand isn’t the only issue that keeps our food supply less than local. For farmers, delivering door to door around the city isn’t practical. Fuel costs, time away from the farm and a low average order size make it hard for farmers to make a better living, even if they have more customers. Growing great food is a rare skill set in our society, and just because someone is a great farmer doesn’t mean
they’re also experts in logistics or marketing. It’s been clear for a long time that in order to have a stronger local food system, we need to make it easier for farmers to sell what they grow. Vancouver’s Farmers Markets, along with several local food advocates, have been sniffing around the problem for years. From 2007 until last year, the group, under the project name New City Market, ran focus groups and generated draft business plans for a bricks-and-mortar local food distribution centre that could connect locally farmed goods to restaurant and retail buyers. The proposal kept landing with a thud, especially when farmers were asked if the proposal would solve their difficulties. The built-to-suit facility promised to be “the jewel in the crown” of our local food system and would have been expensive, requiring ongoing cash to make it work. It appears that everyone went back to the drawing board. In May, Vancouver Farmers Market, in partnership with FarmFolk CityFolk, launched a pilot project for an online food hub. The Vancouver Local Food Hub (VLFH) online portal allows farmers to receive orders from registered customers — primarily restaurants and retailers. Farmers pick the orders and drop them at one location in Abbotsford. The VLFH then trucks the orders right to the customer’s door. No fancy new building like the earlier proposal, but this new model stops farmers from being delivery truck drivers. Farmers set their own price, and the markup charged to customers is fair, covering administration and transportation costs. So far, the pilot has six farms on board to provide a variety of restaurant staples such as berries, tomatoes and peppers. The service will not include meat or fish, which is probably disappointing for restaurateurs who often hang their menus on protein, but keeping to fruits and vegetables reduces risk and keeps things simple. More than 40 customers have signed on for twice-a-week deliveries, including Choices Markets, Rocky Mountain Flatbreads and, of course, Vij’s restaurants. I’ve got my fingers crossed for the Vancouver Local Food Hub. Our farmers could use a break. @trishkellyc
Michael Geller Columnist michaelarthurgeller@gmail.com It probably comes as no surprise that this week’s column addresses last week’s Fraser Institute report on the impact of unnecessary red tape on housing costs in Metro Vancouver. In case you missed it, the report entitled “New Homes and Red Tape: Residential Land-Use Regulation in B.C.’s Lower Mainland” is the Fraser Institute’s first survey of Metro Vancouver developers and homebuilders. It compares and ranks cities and municipalities around the region in five categories of red tape. These include the amount of time it takes to get planning approvals, the level of uncertainty in the approval process, regulatory costs and fees, the prevalence of having to rezone a property and the negative impact of municipal councils and community groups on the development approval process. The survey was completed by developers and homebuilders who are members of two key industry associations — the Canadian Homebuilders’ Association and the Urban Development Institute. While I am the first to acknowledge that many will question the validity of a survey carried out by the Fraser Institute, I must say the results generally correspond with my experience from working in many Metro municipalities. The survey — which is part of a broader national effort to understand the effects of land-use regulation on Canadian housing supply — finds that the District of North Vancouver and the City of Vancouver are the most regulated municipalities in the Lower Mainland and consequently the most difficult in which to build new housing. At the other end of the scale are Abbotsford and Burnaby. While many will applaud those municipalities that have a more complex and time consuming municipal approval process, assuming more time results in better development projects, this has not been my experience. On the contrary, I believe more complex and protracted approval procedures generally restrict much-needed housing supply and add unnecessary costs. These complex procedures not only impact developers and homebuilders. They also impact anyone who may want to build a laneway house, or carry out a renovation or addition to their home.
Some of the key study findings include the following: • Typical timelines for development approvals range from five months in Maple Ridge and 8.5 months in New Westminster to 16.1 months in the District of North Vancouver and 17 .7 months in West Vancouver. Vancouver came in third last at 15.1 months. • Regulatory costs and fees were at a low in Abbotsford at $14,357 and a high of $40,000 in the District of North Vancouver. Vancouver came in at $37,283. • One of the troubling statistics was how often it was necessary to rezone land in order to obtain development approvals. Rezoning was necessary for more than 80 per cent of the new development in eight of the 19 cities and municipalities surveyed. We need to change the planning approval process to address this finding. • While the amount of time required for a rezoning varied, from my first-hand experience, the need for rezoning can add considerably to the cost of housing. For one thing, not all rezonings are approved, and developers generally try to recover failed project losses from future projects. • Council and community opposition to residential development is perceived as strongest in those municipalities where the value of housing is highest. This prompted the researchers to observe that some neighbours may try to restrict housing supply to keep values up. This has not been my experience, but others believe it to be true. While many won’t lose sleep over these survey results since it is hard to feel sorry for developers and homebuilders who may have to wait an extra eight months for approvals, I believe we should pay attention to these survey results. A complex regulatory process unnecessarily adds to the cost of housing. Moreover, the survey revealed that many developers avoid building in the more difficult municipalities. Not only does this restrict supply, it restricts availability of the kind of housing many of us are seeking. This includes duplexes and townhouses in established neighbourhoods, and other more affordable forms of housing. While we may be content in our homes today, when the time comes to move, we may not find the housing choices we really want. I’ll have more to say about this in future columns. @michaelgeller
The week in num6ers...
300 28 257 25 300 7 The number of interactions an undercover cop in a wheelchair had with Downtown Eastside residents during a sting attempt that didn’t result in any attempted crimes.
Since January 2014, the number of complaints Vancouver police investigated of people in wheelchairs being robbed or assaulted. Sixty per cent were in the DTES.
At the Courier’s press deadline, the number of people who had signed a petition at Change. org seeking to keep the field at Templeton secondary open this summer.
The anniversary marked this year by the Honda Celebration of Light fireworks competition, which relaunches this Saturday over English Bay with an entry from China.
The number of officers the Vancouver Police Department hope to have trained in how to use a Taser by the end of 2016.
In thousands, the approximate number of scrap tires used to make the slide area, running track and playground at the re-opened Empire Fields.
W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER
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Inbox LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Over the moon praise for Olson columns
Re: “When cows, bedding and furniture attack,” July 17. Thank you for Mr. Olson’s ongoing, fresh, humourous, important take on the human world, so flipped on its head. A resounding 10-cow salute (no guns, please) to the editor for letting some sanity prevail, where too many others fear to tread. D. Anderson, Vancouver
ONLINE COMMENTS Pope visit could give hope although some say nope
Re: “Mayor plans to renew call for papal visit to Downtown Eastside,” July 17. “If you build it, they will come” isn’t just a line from a movie. It is the bitter paradox of Vancouver trying to go it alone solving homelessness. Mark Faustman, via Comments section
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This is hilarious. Gregor, wake up. You are the mayor of Vancouver. The Pope is the Pope. This is not his job. Concerned citizen, via Comments section
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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
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Another silly endeavour. Won’t do a thing, not a thing. mbou9, via Comments section
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Can you imagine the opportunity for media power if this visit goes ahead? The federal and provincial governments have abandoned their responsibilities regarding housing, particularly affordable housing and homes for the “difficult to house.” Maybe a visit from the Pope would shame them into actually doing something. Vancouver does not have the finances to solve the problem on its own and you commenters are criticizing the CITY? If you care about homelessness, take it up with the government with the big bucks — the feds. Instead of billions in corporate subsidies to their oil industry buddies, the federal government could have easily funded stable, long-term housing for 1,700 homeless people. We have an election coming in October, which you are obviously all going to cast a vote in, right? Demand a coherent answer to the question of affordable housing, and hold them to it. Tara Sundberg, via Comments section
CLASSIFIED
Mother Canada statue is a bust
July 22, 1931: An estimated 20,000 people turned out on a sunny day for the grand opening of the Sea Island Airport and Seaplane Harbour. Premier Simon Fraser Tolmie cut the ribbon at the 10:30 a.m. ceremony for the new facility, built to replace a grass airstrip at Minoru Park that included two paved runways. The new facility included both seaplane and airplane hangars, as well as an administration building. The opening festivities included the display of 77 biplanes, as well as a new Opening day at what is now known as YVR. “autogyro,” and an aerial show put PHOTO CITY OF VANCOUVER ARCHIVES PAN N05A on by the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Sisken fighter planes similar to today’s Snowbirds demonstration team. Now known as Vancouver International Airport (YVR), it is the second busiest airport in Canada and moves nearly 20 million passengers a year. 604.738.1412 604.630.3300 DELIVERY
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Re: “Mother Canada the mother of all blunders,” July 10. There are already thousands of war memorials in Canada. In fact, at the
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Businesses shouldn’t court pet-owners with patios
Re: “Push for pets on patios,” July 10. Let the restaurant owners make their own decisions on public health matters? Let the servers pet Pookie (“he’s such a little cutie!”) and then handle your dishes of food? Oops — Pookie is a boy and he just marked his territory. Oh oh — it’s been two hours now and he couldn’t hold his calling card. Now he wants to make friends with the next table and he’s crawling up your leg. Now he’s barking at another male dog walking by. But he such a little cutie so all is forgiven! TrippingPoint, via Comments section
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top of French Mountain, within Cape Breton Highlands National Park, sits a moving plaque inscribed with these haunting words: “They will never know the beauty of this place, see the seasons change, enjoy nature’s chorus….” Parks Canada gave this [Never Forgotten National Memorial] Foundation $100,000 for a website that my kid would have been able to develop for less than $1,000? For a proposed project which will result in marring the Cape Breton Highlands National Park coastline? Yup, that’s my tax dollars hard at work. All this for the cost of two or three seasonal jobs in a giftshop, are you kidding me? Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site (formerly a reliable source of summer employment for many students), staffing and hours were reduced this year, as they were at many national parks and historic sites. As a former operator of an outdoor adventure company in this park, here is what seven years of experience taught me about tourism in Cape Breton: The majority of tourists to the park are from the USA. They come when the economy is good, the dollar exchange rate is favourable and the cost of gas reasonable. I, like many other tourism businesses, went out of business when the North American economy tanked in recent years and the tourists stopped coming. They will be back when and if economic conditions improve. But they will be back to see our beautiful coastline, moose, whales, camping and hiking trails. But not specifically to see some 25m monstrosity that need not be in a NATIONAL PARK. If the federal government and/or this foundation wants to support veterans, great. Start by reinstating services and programs that directly benefit veterans. Support them with something tangible — money — which would be wasted on this idiotic venture. caper2012, via Comments section
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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5
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Now Accepting New Patients No Referral Needed VICTORIA DRIVE DENTURE CLINIC 5477 Victoria Drive (at 39th) “EUROPEAN QUALITY AT CANADIAN PRICES” The Boundary Bay Airshow takes place July 25 with aerobatic performances and displays of vintage and modern aircraft.
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July 25
Celebrate Summer at Amica. Experience Amica’s fresh dining options at our 35 Flavours of Summer events! Change your view of retirement residences. Call today or visit our website for details.
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Celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War at the 2015 Boundary Bay Airshow this Saturday, July 25. This free family event includes exciting aerobatic performances and static displays of vintage and modern aircraft, food vendors, community booths and lots of activities for kids. Bring your family and lawn chair, but pets are not permitted so leave them at home. For a complete schedule, visit boundarybayairshow.com. ••• The Honda Celebration of Light presents China for a 25-minute fireworks display set to music and broadcast over LG104.3 FM. Check out live performances at Sunset Beach as part of Shorefest, the city’s largest free community concert series. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the international fireworks festival and competition. The fireworks continue July 29 and Aug. 1. For more information, visit HondaCelebrationofLight.com. ••• Auction registration is open for Paint Their Art Out, a live art showcase
during which 20 of the city’s best emerging and established artists will be given a blank canvas and four hours to create gallery quality art. Once each artist has completed their masterpiece, it will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Organized by Vancouver Art Attack, 50 per cent of the proceeds from the auction will benefit Coast Mental Health’s Art Therapy Room, a volunteer run arts program. The artists receive the other 50 per cent of the profits. The art auction takes place in the Queen Elizabeth Park Pavilion Sept. 19 at 3 p.m. To register for the auction, visit VancouverArtAttack.net.
July 27
The Vancouver Pride Society, in partnership with the City of Vancouver, celebrates the start of Pride Week with a proclamation and barbecue July 27 at 10:45 a.m. The event includes speakers in chambers, an opening prayer from a Coast Salish elder, a ceremonial flag raising and a barbecue courtesy of the city’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee. American Sign Language interpretation will be provided by the B.C. Rainbow Alliance for the Deaf.
Aug. 5 and beyond
Learn how to use a mouse and keyboard and other computer basics at the Central Branch of the Vancouver
Public Library Aug. 5 and 25 from 10:15 to 11:45 a.m. and Aug. 10 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Once you’ve mastered the basics, learn about files and how to move them from a computer to a portable storage device Aug. 6 from 10:15 to 11:45 a.m., Aug. 15 from 2 to 3:30 p.m., Aug. 17 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and Aug. 27 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library, 350 West Georgia St. The workshops are free but registration is required by calling 604-331-3603.
Aug. 6
A free screening of the Vancouver Film Critics’ pick Tu dors Nicole takes place at the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library Aug. 6 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The story follows Nicole, who enjoys a peaceful summer with her best friend Véronique until their plans take an unexpected turn. When Nicole’s older brother shows up with his band to record an album, the bond between the two best friends is put to the test. In French with English subtitles. The screening and following question and answer session will be hosted by film critic Josh Cabrita from 98.7 CKPM-FM, Tri-Cities Now and the Peak. For more information, visit 604-331-3603. @sthomas10
W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER
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Dry weather means this year’s garlic might be smaller than average. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET
Ask Anne: Garlic, lilies, pear trees and rust Try watering garlic as much as water restrictions allow
Anne Marrison
amarrison@shaw.ca
Q: When is the proper time to harvest Russian garlic? I have 600 bulbs planted in West Kelowna. The tops are drying out (green disappearing). In a single bulb the individual cloves are not well formed. In previous years I harvested at the end of the first week in August. John Kriss, Vancouver A: You’ve been harvesting your garlic at the right time. My garlic is also drying ahead of the normal schedule. Individual cloves in my garlic are also unusually small. The one thing that may help your garlic is to begin watering and see if that retards the drying process. I hope you have enough water available for this. If water is a problem in your situation, it would still be interesting to select a patch of garlic small enough for a steady watering program. I may try this for my own overly dry garlic patch. Hopefully there would be something to be
learned from the result. I am also considering whether there is any point in using weeds as a mulch once a patch of garden is watered. I’ve seen this done, apparently successfully, in a restaurant garden on Vancouver Island Q: I’ve been told my lilies are affected by a virus. The blossoms are distorted and don’t open fully. I have picked off all affected blossoms and destroyed them. What can I do to cure this? Emilie B., Chilliwack A: Sorry to tell you, but viruses on lilies can’t be cured. All you can do is pull up the distorted ones, bulbs and all. Then trash them. Don’t compost them. Viral infections live in the soil for about five years and during that time, it’s important not to grow any other lilies in the same area because they’ll get infected too. If you have any lilies growing elsewhere in your yard, you’ll need to check them often for aphids. Try to destroy any aphids on your lilies before they
get a chance to take hold. Generally, it’s aphids that spread viral infections. Q: I have an old “Doyenne du Comice” miniature pear tree, which has been plagued by rust spots for several years. Last year a friend helped me spray it with lime and sulphur and I have pruned off all the old infected growth. How can I help it regain its nutritional balance? Barbara, Vancouver A: Rust is a fungal disease, which overwinters on junipers. If your garden has any junipers, I’d recommend you remove them. If they’re in your neighbour’s garden, that’s very awkward. As long as junipers are within 150 metres, you’ll get some pear rust every year. The organic way to deal with it is remove all the junipers that you can, prune away any heavily infected twigs and pick off the other rust-coated leaves. If you can get rid of the infected leaves before August, the rust won’t be able to overwinter on the
junipers and infect your tree again next year. Once the picked leaves are dead, the fungus will be too. Lime sulphur is a general cleaner. It won’t do much to stop rust, but it will kill some pests. Unfortunately it kills beneficial insects too. Pear trees like rich balanced feeding such as compost or all-purpose fertilizer and watering in dry spells. Anne Marrison is happy to answer garden questions. Send them to her via amarrison@shaw.ca. It helps if you include your region or city.
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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5
Arts&Entertainment
GOT ARTS? 604.738.1411 or events@vancourier.com
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July 22 to 24, 2015 1. They don’t call it “that summer feeling” for nothing. The Cinematheque screens Alice Rohrwacher’s The Wonders July 23 to 29, billed as an “understated, observant coming-of-age tale set during a golden summer in rural central Italy.” The film won the Grand Prix at Cannes last year and was voted the best film of 2014 without U.S. distribution in a Film Comment poll. So it’s got that going for it. For show times and details, go to thecinematheque.ca.
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2. Ashland, Ore. folk revivalists Patchy Sanders kick out the porch-friendly jams July 22 at the Railway Club. In 2014, they released their debut album called The Wild Peach Forest, which sounds kind of lovely, don’t you think. Avant-garde art rockers the Unlevels open. Tickets $10 at the door. Details at therailwayclub.com. 3. When he’s not fulfilling his chilledout duties as a member of UK’s The xx, Jamie XX moonlights as an electronic music DJ and producer. He plays two shows at the Commodore, July 23, with guest Young Marco. 4. Grease up your chain and hold onto your handlebars as the Rio Theatre hosts Bike Smut, a two-wheeled, travelling festival of erotic bicycle movies. Apparently it’s a thing. This year’s edition features bicycle lap dances, Craigslist hookups, androgynous ice cave explorations, Chinese bondage pegging lessons, bike cops taken hostage and wheelchair porn. You’ve been warned. It all goes down July 23, 9 p.m. Surprise, it’s adults only. Details at riotheatre.ca.
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W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER
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Arts&Entertainment
Multi-media artist Elisa Ferrari travelled to China on a freighter ship and became fascinated with the daily duties of sailors. She plans to make a short video or a mixed-media installation with sound recordings about her trip. PORTRAIT PAOLO PENNUTI
Artists at sea for unique residency program Gallery sends artists from Vancouver to Shanghai on freighters STATE OF THE ARTS Cheryl Rossi
crossi@vancourier.com
Access Gallery, in partnership with the Burrard Arts Foundation and Contraste Art Agency, is providing a new twist on an artist in residency. They’re putting up artists on cargo ships for the Twenty-three Days at Sea: A Travelling Artist Residency. Providing a conventional artist in residency to emerging artists in Vancouver is cost prohibitive for Access Gallery, which was established as an artist-run centre in 1991, so it’s sending artists from Vancouver to Shanghai on freighters instead. The three-week voyage provides artists a unique experience of time and space on an uncommonly slow journey, plays on Vancouver’s position as a port city on the edge of the Pacific Rim and allows artists ac-
cess to a largely unseen world. “The ports and the global shipping industry are completely invisible to us, even though it’s unthinkable how we’d live our lives without global shipping,” said curator Kimberly Phillips. Organizers expected to receive 200 submissions for the opportunity but instead received nearly 900, “from the deeply political to the totally poetic,” Phillips said. The residency was only advertised on one international website, but word travelled far and wide, said Phillips, whose friends saw it in Paris and the Ukraine. “It seemed to clearly resonate with people, no matter where you were from, whether it was Brazil or Russia, this idea of what a cargo ship could represent — it seemed like a conduit, talking about our contemporary world and your place within it,” she said. Access Gallery was going to offer the opportunity to one artist, then two and then four. Now it’s poised
to launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to offer cargo ship residencies to four artists a year for three years. Access Gallery plans to host an exhibit of the first four artists’ works, and musings in the travel logs, they will all receive next May or June and each year thereafter, ideally with a large-scale publication that gathers all of the images with commissioned text written by emerging and established writers at the end of three years to accompany a touring exhibition. According to Phillips, securing space on cargo ships was simple. Ships often sell tickets to civilians for one or two cabins, so Access Gallery purchased tickets that cost around $3,000 for the oneway trip, flying artists back to Vancouver from Shanghai. The first artist to set sail, Elisa Ferrari, returned Thursday. Ferrari initially was concerned about having patchy access to the Internet aboard the ship, but she soon found it irrelevant.
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She expected to think and read during her three-week residency, but became fascinated with the daily duties of sailors instead. “It’s like a category of people that’s totally hidden, what they do,” she said. “There are lots of stories and romantic ideas about sailors and being at sea, but actually, it’s not that romantic.” The multi-media artist emulated the sailors’ regimented schedules, and connected with the German officers and Filipino crew. Ferrari was curious about cargo ships when she grew up, helping out at her family’s factory in a town near Milan, wondering where all the containers came from. She worked for her family’s business near Shanghai in 2008 and was interested in retracing her steps and expressing what she found and experienced once she arrived in Shanghai, with some detachment. The Vancouver-based artist says she typically works to uncover disparities between historical docu-
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mentation and experience in her practice. She works with archival fragments of text, image and videography. Ferrari expects she’ll create a short video or a mixed-media installation with sound recordings from the ship that “considers the contradictions between growing up in an industrial complex” and then spending most of her time thinking about art, the relationships between the two, and her privilege. Nour Bishouty will set sail Aug. 4. Phillips said the artist who was born in Jordan and is currently based in Beirut is more object based. She typically distills her ideas into things and often explores a lack of belonging. Christopher Boyne, who grew up around boats in Halifax and is an accomplished sailor, will board a cargo ship in September. Boyne uses photography and sculpture to consider
how fleeting experience can be distilled through recall into form. “The thing he’s most excited about is that moment where you see horizon on all sides,” Phillips said. “The land falls away and there’s literally nothing except for sea and sky.” Amaara Raheem, a Sri Lankan-born artist who lives between Melbourne and London, U.K. will sail east in April. “I hope this offers [the artists] an incredibly generative experience, a profoundly changing experience and one that allows them to look within and dig into a place that they haven’t before,” Phillips said. “I hope that this project offers all of the audiences that will view it a series of really beautiful nuanced and diverse responses to this strange experience that most of us will never have, but, in fact, that most of us are all implicated with.” @Cheryl_Rossi
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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5
Sports&Recreation
GOT GAME? Contact sports editor Megan Stewart at mstewart@vancourier.com or 604-630-3549
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1. Hastings second-baseman James Brock tags a White Rock runner in the U10 Little League B.C. championship semi-final at Carnarvon Park July 18. Hastings won 8-1, but the next day lost the final 12-1 to Highlands. 2. Hastings baserunner Ethan Lattimer is safe on third. 3. A Hastings player gets a supportive hug at the bottom of the fourth inning. PHOTOS REBECCA BLISSETT
Highlands pummels Hastings in U10 BC final Little Mountain bats come alive in U12 provincials LITTLE LEAGUE Megan Stewart
mstewart@vancourier.com
Hastings and Little Mountain both reached the semifinals of the Little League B.C. minors championships Saturday, and both were on different ends of lopsided scores. Highlands Little League
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The number of runs the Vancouver Canadians scored in the first inning in a 16-5 win over the Eugene Emeralds at Nat Bailey Stadium July 19. The C’s sent 14 hitters to the plate before Eugene managed to end the inning. Every batter in the C’s starting lineup managed at least one hit for a team total of 20.
from the North Shore cruised through the semis and won the final, outscoring two Vancouver teams 19-1. “Highlands proved to be too much for everybody,” said Little Mountain U10 manager Brent Black. In the July 18 semi-final, Little Mountain was shut out 11-0 by Highlands, a team that sailed through the six-game round robin without a loss. Little Mountain had three hits but stranded runners and despite a promising start, was grounded by a swift double
play in the first inning. “Highlands was playing well all week,” said Black. “Their bats were really alive. They were a good hitting team. We struggled a bit at the plate. Our bats went cold that game.” On the other side of the bracket, Hastings Little League dispatched White Rock to win the semi-final 8-1. In Sunday’s final, Hastings managed one run but couldn’t answer when Highlands scored run after run and ultimately won 12-1 to win the minors B.C. title.
At this age group, teams can go as far as the provincial championship. In the majors, for players aged 11 and 12, teams can qualify for nationals and then the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. Black said the host Jericho Little League put on an excellent tournament. “All week long there was a good crowd. Jericho put on a really good event that was well organized, and the visiting teams all had a great time. Every team won a game in the tournament.” @MHStewart
Road to Williamsport runs through South Van South Vancouver Little League hosts the majors B.C. championship this week at Memorial Park South with the championship game set for 2 p.m. Sunday, July 26. The winner will represent B.C. and travel to Ottawa where East Nepean Little League hosts the national championships Aug. 5 to 16. After three days of action
: Big bats, far throws and a FIFArific first
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The number of points earned by UBC rugby player and St. George’s alum, Phil Berna, when he scored B.C.’s lone try in an 11-8 victory over Ontario to win the U19 Canadian Rugby Championship in Regina July 19.
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The number of points defenceman Kaleb Bulych recorded in 31 games with the Yorkton UCT Terriers Bantam AA team last season. On Tuesday, the Vancouver Giants signed Bulych to a standard WHL player agreement.
“I wanted to stand atop the podium and hear our anthem.” — Liz Gleadle after winning gold in the javelin throw at the Pan American Games in Toronto July 21. The Kitsilano graduate who now trains in Lethbridge, Alta. threw 62.83 metres on her sixth and final attempt. She had been sitting in third place. U.S. thrower Kara Winger took silver, and Brazilian Jucilene De Lima the bronze.
at Memorial Park, Little Mountain and White Rock emerged with 2-0 records, each with 22 runs on the board. White Rock had allowed one run, Little Mountain five. The two teams meet 3 p.m. today, July 22. Host South Van is 1-2. The tournament continues all week with three games each day at 12, 3 and 6 p.m. The playoffs begin July 25.
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For first — Canadian soccer captain Christine Sinclair will be one of the first women on the cover of EA Sports’ immensely popular video game, FIFA. She will be on the Canadian cover of FIFA 16 while U.S. forward Alex Morgan will be on the cover in that country. Both will appear alongside Lionel Messi. The game will be released Sept. 22
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THE VANCOUVER COURIER W E DN E SDAY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 1 5