Vancouver Metropolis Initiative

Canadian Mind · #1 Posted **Feb 21, 2007, 4:36 AM**

Why not do what them smart peggers did / are doing and set up a grassroots organization to attempt to make change to what we feel are stupid decisions or errors by city/translink planers of Metro Vancouver.

Such a list in my mind includes Evergreen Light rail transit; whcih while the alternative, skytrain, is more expensive, it would also be more effective in the long run. I picture trains heading from Coquitlam to Surrey and back, easing some congestion on the Port Mann and of course easing highway congestion slightly.

Another thing I would propose we lobby for is the removal of some view cones and hieght restrictions in downtown, increasing the 600 foot area to 700 feet for Condo's and 800 foot for offices, and similar other changes throughout the downtown peninsula. Perhaps including the removal of some alleyways in order to facilitate buildings with greater massing, or simply building buildings over top of the roads.

Another thing I had in my mind were satellite downtowns, each with their own high rises, malls, schools, etc. that minor transit, such as buses, would web out from to surrounding neighborhoods, but not connect to another satellite; with satellites being interconnected by skytrain and/or Canada/Olympic Line.

Ultimately there would be several of these, one by UBC, one 15 miles east of said UBC one, one on Burnaby-Vancouver border near Burrad inlet, etc... preferable already on established skytrain routes.

Anyways, I'm not the kinda guy that can organise such a thing... I'm really not "in the know" enough as far as city planning is concerned to know where to go and what to do. I just wanted to get the idea out in the hopes of it growing... as I am tired of the same old bickering in the Vancouver construction thread and related threads... this could be how we become organised to make a difference.

Sorry to the peggers if I stole your idea... it was just to golden a thoguht to pass up.

Boris2k7 · #2 Posted **Feb 21, 2007, 4:53 AM**

Just want to pop in and say that us Calgary forumers have already organized the Calgary Urban Initiative (see sig), the Victoria forumers have their own organization (see Vibrant Victoria), and the Edmontonians have PROMOTE Edmonton (which led to Connect2Edmonton).

Canadian Mind · #3 Posted **Feb 21, 2007, 5:35 AM**

My apologies... just that I regularly see the peggers have their own thread in bold print damn near every day I'm on.

fever · #4 Posted **Feb 21, 2007, 5:49 AM**

I wonder how hard it would be to get consensus on a broad range of topics from the Vancouver forumers. I think there are some controversial topics (or specifics of them) like Gateway, Evergreen, and view cones. For other things, like supporting ecodensity (whatever it means), a group like this might help.

It's been a long time since the last meet anyway. I'd be up for a beer sometime...

renthefinn · #5 Posted **Feb 21, 2007, 8:15 AM**

Count me in for the Vancouver meet! Something could happen to create a group that is pro-urban form/function, but it'll take some dedication and a lot of consultation.

Wooster · #6 Posted **Feb 21, 2007, 3:51 PM**

Good luck. Geez, this board is a fertile ground for activism apparently. Now almost everyone has organized a group.

What are the big issues?

Bert · #7 Posted **Mar 14, 2007, 4:05 PM**

I don't think this idea should die, so lets start figuring out how to do this.

Looking at the Calgary site, a good way to do it might be a collaborative blog (with many people having author privileges) on blogspot or something similar.

Then, sign up for a web polling account, so some blog posts could include polls. Positions could be debated in the comments section of the post. Any position with, say, 80%+ support in the poll gets the Initiative's focus. And, we might organize our strategy to support it in the comments section of a new post.

Others blog posts might be for special events, but there's no reason I see to move general discussion away from SSP.

Just some ideas, for now.

Canadian Mind · #8 Posted **Mar 14, 2007, 4:10 PM**

Thanks Bert, was wondering what happened to this.

A question I have would be about folks from way out of Vancouver, say Vid for instance, would he be allowed to be a part of it, or only folks from Vancouver and Area? I'd think not, but a consensus should be drawn upon that eh?

renthefinn · #9 Posted **Mar 15, 2007, 4:22 AM**

Check out http://www.vibrantvictoria.ca/ for info on what Victorians have started.

Bert · #10 Posted **Mar 15, 2007, 4:24 PM**

I was thinking, why not do the actual polling and debate on SSP? On the Initiative site, we could maintain an official voters list (whether this ends up being only Vancouver area residents or not). Then, make the SSP polls public so we can see whose votes to include or exclude based on the voters list.

Before the actual poll goes on SSP, maybe a proposed poll question could be posted on the Initiative site. That way people could comment on whether it's worded fairly and has the appropriate options.

As cool as it is, I'm not sure the Victoria model is the one to follow. I'd personally rather see the Initiative tightly integrated with SSP.

Could some of the more veteran Vancouver forumers please comment?

Only The Lonely.. · #11 Posted **Mar 15, 2007, 4:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canadian Mind

Sorry to the peggers if I stole your idea... it was just to golden a thoguht to pass up.

Actually we stole it from the Calgary Urban Initiative, so you can thank Josh White.

renthefinn · #12 Posted **Mar 17, 2007, 3:29 AM**

The good thing about the Victoria model is that it gets more people involved that wouldn't think about joining SSP. It's produced some great debate with members of the NIMBY group that has been educational to them, and probably changed some mines. Also the Victoria model has produced some good results, most of the denser buildings beeing built in Victoria now have had some support from the VV crew, but only if there was consensus that the project was architectually pleasing, and good for the city in the long run. Something like this in Vancouver could help organise people for council meetings, and help bring the discussion of pro's and con's from all aspects of society to the forfront, enabling a streamlined process for development.

Bert · #13 Posted **Mar 17, 2007, 5:02 PM**

Those are definitely good points. I think Vibrant Victoria was the perfect fit for the Victoria group.

But Vancouver's group does not seem to have the same nucleus, and consensus seems harder to come about. Notice the lack of interest in this thread. So I'm guessing an attempt to follow the more independent Victoria model would crash and burn, which is why I think Vancouver's Initiative may need to be closely integrated with SSP, at least to start.

renthefinn · #14 Posted **Mar 18, 2007, 12:11 PM**

I think I agree that it should be integrated with ssp, but the model from VV could work with that model. We could have a thread to organize council meetings, another for new projects and how to get our input on them considered, and maybe a couple of more for other topics. I think that there is a density (one of my favourite words and parameters) here to support a concerted effort to make Vancouver into the city we generally envision on this forum. We could have a really great impact on this city instead of just talking about it!

queetz@home · #15 Posted **Mar 18, 2007, 1:59 PM**

While the Calgary, Winnipeg and Victoria groups seem to have spurred from SSP, there are already many organizations in the Vancouver area that has the same idea as yours, Cdn Mind. Why not just team up with them? And that goes the same for others in the forum that would also want to join up a lobby group.

If you want to know what they are and you havent' caught their names in the newspapers, just go through the minutes of city council, GVRD and Translink meetings.

I believe the deal with the view cones or height limits has no group yet so maybe that can be started here and I think Vcr forumers will have major consensus on that one....