2020 Temporary Civic Shut Down - Check In / Support / Venting / Conversations
 

Hi Community, I thought I would create this thread since the temporary measures affecting our region, and lives, means we may soon not have a lot to talk about when it comes to our region's urban growth.

That said, we are a tight-knit community, and we need something to fill our time. So I thought I would create this thread where we can lean on each other, and complain about something other than view cones, the amount of seafoam spandrel, or for one member, the lack of shopping malls. ;)

Whether you just want to talk about life in this new situation, or are feeling under the weather and need some help, I hope this is a place where we can all visit and feel a little bit better.

Times are tough right now, but together we'll get through this, and one day soon our biggest problems will once again be over-opinionated open houses, Urban Design Panel meetings, and public hearings that drag on forever. :)

Stay healthy everyone, and we'll all go out for drinks (coffee/tea/etc) once this has passed.
Feathered Friend

Thank you for starting this thread. Sometimes reaching out or admitting that you need to check in is tough. I, myself, have been in the middle of a move during this crazy time so I have been apocalypse-shopping while trying to shop for other necessities that I need in my new place.

I know it has only been a few trying days but I hope that the "dens of sins" (yeah, Imma use that one for a while) will open up soon.

In the mean time I think that now is the perfect opportunity for all of us to discuss the future that we want to live in when it comes to Vancouver. I plan on posting more images to stipulate what I want to see in our future moving forward.

I guess the scary thing is as good of a job locking things down it literally just takes one more infected person to be out in the community to restart the cycle.

A link to some of my recent pics of a deserted downtown Vancouver...

At 7:00 PM make some noise. Maybe we can get this going through the whole city.

......

So the lock down in Ontario is fake news. With huge exclusions including any construction activities.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/what-s-co...open-1.4865668

This is good news! I never thought it made sense to close Vandusen while Stanley Park remained open.

Two Vancouver golf courses, VanDusen Botanical Garden to reopen May 1
BY HANA MAE NASSAR
Posted Apr 27, 2020

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Two Vancouver golf courses and the VanDusen Botanical Garden will reopen to the public this Friday, the Vancouver Park Board has announced.

The Fraserview and McCleery courses and the garden will operate with new “physical distancing procedures” so people can still enjoy activities while staying safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Park Board says in a release.

These sites were closed in mid-March because of the health crisis to encourage people to stay home. However, the Park Board said on Monday that “after careful planning and preparation,” as well as consultation with partners and the Vancouver Coastal Health authority, it was determined it would be able to reopen the two courses and the 55-acre outdoor garden, “to provide safe outdoor recreation opportunities.”...

https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/04...en-reopen-may/

I would let everyone else be the guinea pigs for two weeks and then see if there's any increase in new cases.

City of Vancouver going back to enforcing metered parking. Not sure why they ever stopped, it seemed a bit counterintuitive if you're crying poverty:

Vancouver is expected to end free parking in metered spaces across Vancouver within a few days.

Councillors voted Monday night to reinstate pay parking and the decision is expected to be implemented later this week.

It comes a month after enforcement stopped when traffic volume and parking demand fell as residents complied with stay-at-home orders.

Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung says “the honour system didn’t work,” as property and business owners have reported some drivers have been parking in prime spots all day.

However, the city is considering ways to ensure pay-parking exemptions continue for health-care and other essential workers....

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-...-32d7a3d6ebce/

There was no one driving and I maybe they thought bylaw officers would be better off staying home or helping with other city tasks.

Yeah but... they didn't need to say outright they weren't enforcing it... People would still be paying and there would be a small chunk of revenue from April even with unspoken zero enforcement

I saw them enforcing a week or two near Cambie and Broadway, writing a parking ticket. When do they claim to have stopped?

WTF, why is the mayor and council cutting $8 million out of policing behind closed door without consulting the Police Chief? Maybe keep libraries closed one day a week?!

....Vancouver Police Chief Const. Adam Palmer said he’s surprised the city has asked for a reduction to frontline response during the pandemic.

“Since the pandemic began, police officers have been working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Patrol officers have been on the frontline, putting themselves at risk, to keep the city safe,” he says in a release.

“Police cannot reduce or defer frontline work, as in-progress emergencies have continued throughout the city.”

He added crime has not stopped, nor have calls from the public.

“I appreciate the hardship faced by employees of the city, the library, and the park board who have recently received lay-off notices. I do not want to minimize the impact the pandemic has had on these employees and their families,” Palmer said.

“However, it’s important to take into consideration that there was a corresponding reduction in their workload due to closures as a result of physical distancing rules. This has not been the case for police.”...

https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/05...t-8-5-million/

LOL what's the police chief going to say?

The cops can take a 1% reduction, all things considered.

Usually am supportive of the police but I agree here with Warren. Massive cuts are needed across Vancouver. There proposing a 7% increase in taxes and utilities this year. That needs to go down to 0. But they need to cut everywhere to do so.

I don't believe they should have made this cut because its tiny. But also I'm not against it.

That they did it without consultation doesn't surprise me. These past few decades, I could have sworn that Vancouver's official motto was changed to "F*ck the Police".

Crime makes Vancouver green..

I remember feeling so optimistic about this city in 2010. Then I remember the hard feeling of reality hitting me in the face when I refused to give money to a junkie in 2015. The police did nothing of course. 2020 now, and the junkies own the city and we are essentially no longer enforcing any law or order in the city proper. In fact, we are rewarding them with free drugs and phones!

What kind of stupid fuckery is this?! The Parks Board needs to be less concerned about matters out of their jurisdiction, like solving homelessness, and more concerned about managing their parks!

Large crowd, lack of physical distancing at Stanley Park drum circle draws criticism


VANCOUVER -- As B.C. grapples with an uptick in COVID-19 cases, video taken at a drum circle in Stanley Park Tuesday night is raising concern about whether people are heeding the advice of public health officials.

Videos taken by multiple people from several angles show a large crowd with well over 50 people gathered at Vancouver's Third Beach Tuesday evening for a weekly drumming event, with many dancing closely without masks on. ...

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/large-crowd-la...cism-1.5034179

Time for another lockdown folks?

Let's make that a firm HECK NO. :rolleyes:

I don't post this to turn this thread into a political bun fight, but it would seem that new policies-on-the-fly are meeting with, shall we say, concerned resistance.

From one of the more balanced news groups out there:

https://www.dw.com/en/covid-angela-m...oar/a-56969820

Meanwhile in Belgium they're closing schools and shops for several weeks. BC has managed to avoid the more extreme closures, and to still see relatively low levels of hospitalizations and Covid deaths, but the trends aren't looking good in the past five weeks.. It's a constantly evolving story of how best to fight a virus that's mutating, and making policy on the fly would seem to be a much more intelligent response than sticking your head in the sand and pretending it'll all just go away (as Brazil's president just repeated, while that country's hospitals are overwhelmed again).

My concern continues to be the overt reluctance for employers to limit the number of employees in a given space. 8:30-5PM Monday to Friday, in office work has clearly resumed across the region looking by traffic patterns and congested skytrains going into Downtown Vancouver.

I was contracted to one office on March 15th and completely blind sighted by the number of software engineers in the office. I had asked their employer why there was so many in and the response was something along the lines of "corporate needs" which seemed absolutely foolish given the pandemic. This work can be easily done outside of the office.

I think it is probably a generational matter since most directors and managers tend to be generation X'ers and boomers have long since been against remote work. Fortunately my manager is 39 years old and sees the positive benefit this can have for both the employer and employee. Thus far, this year, our team of 8 have missed 0 full days of work.

it's easy to knock policies-on-the-fly, but this is a fast moving global pandemic, i'd be willing to cut public health some slack and err on the side of caution.

Let's see what happens in 3 weeks

I'd say the problem is too many British Columbians have no idea how easy they've had it compared to other parts of Canada, let alone Europe.

So much for listening to science.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ex75j8JV...g&name=900x900

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/researchers-be...ated-1.5373168

Take it with a grain of salt. CTV and their reporters have been the most hysterical in their reporting, trying to conflate every story as near-Armageddon. For instance they breathlessly announced BC was recording more of the Brazilian variant than anywhere outside Brazil yet never mentioning BC is screening most tests for variants while the USA tests relatively few.

Not to minimize it, but they are playing for ratings.

I lost all confidence with the governmemt and Bonnie Henry when the refused a mandatory mask mandate until last November and refused to order any lockdowns throughout the pandemic. We should have clamped it down before spring break. Always 1 step behind with this government.

Agreed but all this article is asking for is for a quicker testing method to be released as a data point. If the researchers are wrong, then I'm sure Henry or Dix can address why they disagree with that approach.

The next round of restrictions will happen at 1500 or 2000 daily case counts?

https://www.citynews1130.com/2021/04...s-record-high/

I think they'll hold out until we hit 1500 cases a day.

https://vancouversun.com/health/covi...spitalizations

Variants of concern aren't a problem when you let it get out of hand and everyone getting Covid has a variant.

I wonder if they'll start releasing PCR positive results or actually just hide the variants number since it is so widespread.

3 weeks later

Still don't understand the "let it get worse before you decide" strategy.

https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/t...rgan-1.5386175

The silly thing is they cannot impose any travel ban unless they station police roadblocks on multiple highways. It would be another one of their stupid recommendations that no one will listen to. It isn't going to happen.

https://www.timescolonist.com/britis...ses-1.24305028

This is funny because I heard from someone that their office was hit with several COVID cases in the past week and nothing has changed aside from a round of emails advising of safety protocols. It was due to the fact they were deemed "essential."

Seems odd that they won't change the PHO on the number of people allowed to meet outdoors. If you need to go outside to meet 10 people to remain sane then RIP the world.

https://twitter.com/LizaYuzda/status...19522189623296

I mean kudos to the government on the confusing messaging on the travel restrictions and requiring until the end of the week to announce the restrictions. At least they are consistent in their incompetence.

I'm incredibly grateful to say we got our second shots of Moderna today, and not just because the sore arms give us an excuse to take a break from writing. Frankly it's surreal to see Canada Place used for this purpose, and hopefully it's never needed again.

Hmm - so they're still out of Pfizer?

No they restarted shipments. If anything they seem more likely to be short on Moderna since they had two weeks of only 49,000 doses. 4 million Moderna is showing up for this weeks allocation.

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-heal...ollout.html#a4

They do their best to match people up to what they had for their first dose, AZ excluded obviously.

The Canada Place operation is indeed like an assembly line once you are in. With shot number three, four, etc in the horizon, I don't see them ceasing their operations anytime soon.

:???:

No plans for this according to health officials.

Immune reactions from the earliest vaccinated are remaining strong ~1 year in.

I had AZ first time around. Second time around, they put me in a sperate line up where I could only get Moderna

Many European countries are talking about annual booster shots. Also Quebec is now providing the chance for a third shot if you happened to get Astra-Zeneca in the beginning. It's quite a mess this whole thing and will continue to be for years to come.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8058856/q...accine-travel/

We got our Moderna hat-trick this week, and out of all of them, I think this one has knocked the stuffing out me the most, though it's only grogginess, general body aches, and a sore arm. Either way, it makes me glad we have avoided the actual active virus so far, though a couple of our friends, and most of our immediate family, haven't been so lucky.

For those curious, they're now pushing Moderna because it's a larger dose, and provides more protection as a result. On the day we went to Canada Place, they had anticipated 1,000 kids showing up for their second dose, but only a 100 came out. That said, apparently there were a lot bigger babies when the mandates were first announced, and I feel for these workers, considering the abuse that was directed at them.

Looks like Vancouver has to endure yet another Bridge & Tunnel Krazy Kanadian Konvoy today. Looking forward to all the tiny peen pickup drivers honking throughout the city.

Nice.

'Refrain from wearing scrubs': Vancouver healthcare workers warned ahead of convoy protest
By Sonia Aslam and Lisa Steacy
Posted Feb 4, 2022, 7:19PM PST.Last Updated Feb 4, 2022, 11:05PM PST.

Vancouver healthcare workers are being told to change out of their scrubs and hide their ID if they need to go outside Saturday, when a planned protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions is set to pass three hospitals.

Saturday’s protest will begin in Langley and end in downtown Vancouver. The route passes Mount Saint Joseph on Kingsway, Vancouver General on Broadway, and St. Paul’s on Burrard Street.

CityNews has obtained memos to staff from Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and Providence Healthcare (PHC) advising them that both private security and the Vancouver Police Department will be monitoring the situation....

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/0...est-hospitals/