St. Paul's Hospital & Health Campus | U/C

[mcminsen]

And just for fun, here's the middle one third of those panoramas. Lee Building (?) on the extreme right horizon.


Aug. 9th, 1916

source: https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/view-of-false-creek-flats-east-of-main-street

March 10th, 1917

source: https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/view-of-false-creek-flats-east-of-main-street-2

[SpongeG]

I wonder what it would have been like today had they maintained the water as it was and built up around it.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I wonder what it would have been like today had they maintained the water as it was and built up around it.

Kind of tidal flats there, regardless of industry it probably would have smelled pretty bad.

Look at all of the horses involved in the construction activity. Crazy.

[s211]

I would have to think that some pretty rigourous geotechnical studies have been undertaken to guide development and ensure adequate earthquake resistance; what I've read about the kind of junk being considered adequate fill in the good old days. Something similar to what was done to render the Expo lands developable?

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Kind of tidal flats there, regardless of industry it probably would have smelled pretty bad.

Look at all of the horses involved in the construction activity. Crazy.

On the construction site there were some kind of steam (?) powered shovels/excavators. And they were also running some archaic looking dredgers in False Creek.

If the current East end of False Creek is already an E.coli cesspool, I imagine it would just be even more worse in that section.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

On the construction site there were some kind of steam (?) powered shovels/excavators. And they were also running some archaic looking dredgers in False Creek.

If the current East end of False Creek is already an E.coli cesspool, I imagine it would just be even more worse in that section.

I was walking along the seawall today musing about the water quality.

Dropping a few tons of clams in there might be a good idea, it has worked in other areas.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I was walking along the seawall today musing about the water quality.

Dropping a few tons of clams in there might be a good idea, it has worked in other areas.

They could start by kicking out everyone living on boats there.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Dropping a few tons of clams in there might be a good idea, it has worked in other areas.

Good thinking - might bring some otters into False Creek too. Though AFAIK only oysters and mussels filter bad water, most clams simply detect it.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

They could start by kicking out everyone living on boats there.

I saw both VPD and RCMP boats out there today, but I don't think they were inspecting those boats, maybe some kind of training.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Good thinking - might bring some otters into False Creek too. Though AFAIK only oysters and mussels filter bad water, most clams simply detect it.

Whichever one does the filtering for sure. I think there are mussels there now.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Of course, the best solution would be to finish the blueway and have the Fraser power-washing False Creek out 24/7, but that's at least fifteen years from now.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Of course, the best solution would be to finish the blueway and have the Fraser power-washing False Creek out 24/7, but that's at least fifteen years from now.

Flow into False Creek from that plan will start at Trout Lake. They definitely are not going to be reversing the flow of Still Creek and Brunette River.

[Migrant_Coconut]

I stand corrected. If Gilmore's at the top though, why does it keep flooding? Can't drain fast enough?

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I wonder what it would have been like today had they maintained the water as it was and built up around it.

I think it would be a nice little bay. Seawall would encircle it and they would have entrenched it to be deep enough for yacht marinas. Not sure where the rail yard would have ended going in that vision.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Klazu

I think it would be a nice little bay. Seawall would encircle it and they would have entrenched it to be deep enough for yacht marinas. Not sure where the rail yard would have ended going in that vision.

I think that part of False Creek was more like a mud flat, so you would really have to of dug deep. I liked the idea of a canal along Caral street that the city floated a while back. That would be an interesting addition to Gastown.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Would've been nice, but I'm pretty sure the City balked at the remediation costs. The last think False Creek needs is a whole lot of old industrial waste.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

They could start by kicking out everyone living on boats there.

Yes, I don't know why the Feds seem incapable of acting on this given their supposed focus on the environment. Marine squatters have no place on urban waterways.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Yes, I don't know why the Feds seem incapable of acting on this given their supposed focus on the environment. Marine squatters have no place on urban waterways.

The actual culprit why False Creek is a cesspool isn't really because of the anchored boats, but the City of Vancouver itself. The City's backward sewer system, as well as irresponsible flushing of DTES streets in the summer, are causing the waters around this place to be constantly dirty. Lots of Vancouver's household still has sewer entering combined sewer (sanitary and storm) pipes that end up in the waterways. As for the DTES street flushing, read this:

https://morganeoger.ca/2019/02/15/false-...al-sewage-culprit-the-city-of-vancouver/

City of Vancouver's sewer system:
https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2018/0...r-waters-saw-five-year-high-in-2017.html


Without widespread development throughout East Vancouver and Vancouver West (ie SFH) neighbourhoods, the City, unfortunately, is too poor to upgrade the existing combined sewers. Hence this problem will never go away if this City continues to have a bunch of backwater administrators, planners, NIMBYs, etc.


Sorry to burst your bubble about the boaters: they are just easy scapegoats to blame for a lackadaisical City. People here will believe anything, especially rumours, just like the sole blame of housing problem on Chinese property speculators.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Vin

The actual culprit why False Creek is a cesspool isn't really because of the anchored boats, but the City of Vancouver itself. The City's backward sewer system, as well as irresponsible flushing of DTES streets in the summer, are causing the waters around this place to be constantly dirty. Lots of Vancouver's household still has sewer entering combined sewer (sanitary and storm) pipes that end up in the waterways.

Hence this problem will never go away if this City continues to have a bunch of backwater administrators, planners, NIMBYs, etc.

for the street flushing, what do you propose the city do? not clean the streets? they need to do it more on more streets. they dont do it nearly enough.

well i am sure you'll be the first to pay more in taxes to pay the billions of dollars it'll cost to separate all the city sewers, right? right now, its planned to be done by 2050, because the amount of money it requires needs to be spread out over time. also, most of the homes do not drain into the water ways because the large majority of combined sewers drain into a MetroVancouver/GVS&DD sewer main.

the fact is, the illegal squatters do contribute to the water quality issues in False Creek, and removing them would remove part of the problem and would go a long way to helping.


so why don't you donate a few billion dollars to solve the problem? sounds like you really want to!

[WarrenC12]

I wonder how much it would cost just to reroute those outflows to Burrard Inlet or something. The circulation of the water there is much better and that "material" would just be absorbed into the flow easily.

The stagnancy of False Creek water is the main problem IMO.