Don’t you love a city where people care so passionately about public improvements.
That’s the polite way of putting it. Once again the culture/political war is being waged on Point Grey Road – as demonstrated over at The Tyee, where the comments to Patrick Condon’s column on a “Lighter Shade of Green” for PGR are closing in on 200. Mostly unpleasant.
But has Ken Ohrn noted in previous posts, there is a charming little construction that says something nicer about this neighbourhood. If you’re not careful, you might cycle by it without noticing:
It’s the ‘bricks and mortar’ version of an online ‘gifting, sharing and trading’ platform – afeatherway.com.
Leave a gift, take a gift – just nothing broken, dangerous or illegal.
The book titles alone tell you that you’re in Kitsilano:
So do the sticky-post sentiments:
Once the PGR is completed, people will, as usual, wonder what all the yelling was about, and why a few in this spoiled place could be so short-sighted about something that makes it so much better.
We can only hope as that as we deal with the problems of our own success, and the inequity that has resulted, we won’t lose the qualities that made a community free store possible.
Comment Bingo – who’ll be the first to complain that it is just this type of idyllic little neighbourhood amenity that PGR will forever destroy?
If it had been on the north side of the street it would be gone already!!!
Just kidding!!!!
The city will probably shut it down because there’s no permit.
A few years ago I saw an similar box in Crescent Beach.
Cute little box –
but the fact of the matter is that most of those homes probably have far far more in the way of extraneous items than just the few that could fit in that box.
In a way, it’s a means of pedestrianizing (pun intended) the high end community that surrounds it (not a bad thing, but could be a political thing)..
Even as a long-time supporter of removing the car-dominance of PGR, I have to agree with Patrick that the remake seems extravagant and heavy-handed. And the expense makes me wince.
But I can’t agree that one-way through traffic, which I once championed, is a better solution.
Better to have made PGR one way for local traffic in the tight few blocks between Waterloo and Alma, as happens on Collingwood and other narrow north-south streets with no problem: parking on both sides, cars figure out a way down the middle.
All that being said, construction never looks pretty. Let’s make a final judgement when it’s all finished.
Let’s make a final decision when it’s all finished.
Agreed!
Let’s wait even a bit longer until the boulevard planting has matured to an extent and the 3m sidewalk has obtained a patina similar to the patina the residents paving had before. And by all means let’s see how the non-vehicular users of this public amenity respond too over time.
I’m sure Gregor will proudly show it off and use it for launching at a press conference announcing the start of the next campaign.
It warms my heart that you are taking notice of the freestore! My partner Nicolas and I built it recently outside the house we are renting. We wanted to help create a bit more sense of community here and it seems to be working 🙂 We would love to connect with others who want to have something similar in their yard. Nicolas and I started afeatherway.com to promote the sharing economy here in Vancouver. Check it out we would love your feedback!
I’m so excited about the positive energy that has come out of this simple addition to the neighborhood. Afeatherway.com is helping us re-purpose our once loved belongings while connecting us with new friends. WIN WIN 🙂