[SpongeG]

If its where I think it is - I have to agree leave the space as is

Garden will be 'eyesore for 9 months of the year'

West End resident says plan would be waste of rare green space

BY FRANK LUBA, THE PROVINCE SEPTEMBER 30, 2010


Erich Timm likes community gardens -- but not when proposed for one of the few flat patches of grass above Sunset Beach in Vancouver's West End.

"I think it's outrageous," said Timm.

"My taxpayer money is going to be spent on something that is taking a beautiful green space for everybody to a restricted space that is going to be an eyesore for about nine months of the year and is usable by a limited number of people," he said.

The 64-year-old resident of one of the most densely populated areas of the region also objects to how public input on the proposal was solicited -- a single sign in the middle of the grass.

The community garden is only a proposal at this stage because the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation is still collecting public input.

The board's contribution to the project is the land itself, a patch of ground that is 30 metres by 30 metres.

Funding of about $30,000 for the project is coming from the YMCA, which got the money from Welcome B.C. -- a joint program of the federal and provincial governments to aid newcomers to the country.

The proposed Sunset Beach community garden is intended to be an "inter-cultural" garden made up of the same demographic as the downtown peninsula -- 60 per cent residents and 40 per cent newcomers to Canada.

Linda Rubuliak of the YMCA said "the idea was to use the garden as a vehicle to build good community relations."

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http://www.theprovince.com/travel/Garden+will+eyesore+months+year/3601563/story.html