Another new Parklet emerges in front of the recently opened Eastwood Bar and Grill and Pizza Carano on Fraser Street. Interesting to note The Eastwood to my knowledge is the only watering hole on Fraser and in the surrounding community. While having a Pint at the bar, patrons expressed their gratitude there’s finally a pub in the neighbourhood, complete with Trivia night on Tuesdays to boot.
Before photo from Google Earth below:
In true City of Vancouver/Vision Vancouver policy/priority there’s no dedicated Handicapped Parking on the entire block, or the previous, or the next, etc, hardly an oversight.
I’ll keep spending my money where Persons with Disabilities are welcome, not a burden.
Vancouver City Councillors and their Traffic/Parking Engineering managers are cashing bigger paycheques than ever before yet in many areas of Vancouver Persons with Disabilities are being increasingly marginalized by Vancouver City Hall including but not limited to Access to transit, recreation and medical services.
Mind you if your connected to Vancouver City Hall the COV will supply, at taxpayers expense, a dedicated and meter free Handicapped parking zone like the one at Piggott Park on Point Grey Road.
As someone who has loved seeing these block evolve (in no small part due to the work of community volunteers) we are pleased at the arrival of our first parklet here. What continues to puzzle me, however, is the insistence of putting people out beside rushing traffic, instead of building a wide outdoor patio next to the business frontage, and have pedestrians navigate around (in the parking space). They do this with restaurants in downtown Penticton. It seems much safer and more pleasant for patrons. Having people sit out where buses fly by takes away from the experience, and adds a level of risk for patrons.
What puzzles me is people who can’t just enjoy something and backseat drive over everyone else’s efforts. What are you saying? Why doesn’t the city/property owner/anybody just encroach the sidewalk, build a private patio directly outside their own establishment and have everyone else going from A to B walk around it? That is pretty crappy to everyone else and it defeats the purpose of a temporary and relatively cheap amenity.
It’s not a year-round thing. It’s there for a few months when the weather is nice, comes down in the winter, and is back up (hopefully) again some sunny day. No need to spend tens of thousands of dollars building new curbs, moving catch basins, and moving trees and canopies.
Besides, nobody’s putting a gun to anybody’s head and forcing them to sit in these parklet patios. People choose to, with some enthusiasm. Don’t cry for them too hard.
This is the type of Penticton sidewalk patio he’s talking about
– it’s likely just as temporary and inexpensive as the Fraser St. version.
PS – this is a pic from PriceTags 2007.
https://pricetags.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/penticton-main-st-2.JPG
Really Ken , you deleted my comment? Please show me where it violated any guidelines and not just your personal beliefs.
You got Ohrned!
I’d like to thank Mr Klassen for his comments and Ron for posting the picture.
A smaller, fenced patio connected to the business keeps the public safe from navigating patrons and the public sidewalk open. If your going to move people out next to traffic then there should be a traffic speed reduction on that block.
And let’s not forget that parked vehicles provide a level of protection that varnished 4×4’s cannot.
What concerns me is the increasing commercialization of public space by the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Park Board.
While pocket parks/parklets/patios and such are nice ideas they do nothing to replace the kind of lost open space that allows a child to fly a kite or learn how to ride a bike.
Both the COV and VPB are desperate for revenue which is why we see public beaches/parks turned into private viewing areas for fireworks and theatre, impermeable plazas available for rent or lease and the COV/VPB’s push for more private patios and booze licences.
Any public spaces lost puts negative pressure on what remains and widens the gap between the haves and have-nots.
While they like to talk about new parkspace with the Georgia Viaduct’s removal they intend to commercialize much of the open space created that won’t be shadowed by towers yet Strathcona Park will be reduced in size and community gardens lost to accommodate the Malkin Street widening. (The much preferred COV option )
In cases like the parklet above where citizens are literally backing into a very busy roadway my question is this,
Who is paying for and carrying the liability insurance should something goes wrong.