November 2024 Newsletter

Community Asset Bank

One of the most effective ways to address local issues is to be able to rely on the talents and expertise of the people who live here. You can be part of the solution by adding your name to our Community Asset Bank. We sometimes need help in areas like social media, graphic design, website management, grant writing, event organizing, press releases, government relations, research, letter writing, door knocking, putting up posters, face painting, cupcake making, telling jokes… pretty much any talent, skill, or expertise you might be willing to share.

Just fill in this Asset Bank Form. We will not share any of your information with anyone. Requests will be made on an as-needed basis, and you can always say no.

Air Quality Results: Year One

A report on the first-year results from the Strathcona Area Air Quality Study has just been released - and some of it is concerning. All nine monitors measuring Nitrogen Dioxide exceeded the annual average Metro Vancouver Ambient Air Quality Objective of 17 ppb. On a few days, the monitor beside the Burrard Inlet Rail Line even exceeded the daily one-hour maximum of 60 ppb. What does all this mean?

On the evening of Thursday, November 28, from 7-8:30 PM, the SRA will be hosting a public forum to discuss these results with a panel of experts from the Port, Metro Vancouver, UBC and Vancouver Coastal Health. Should you be concerned? Where’s the pollution coming from? Is there anything we can do about it?

It’s important we get a good turnout to show that residents care about this issue. It will be held in the upstairs room at The Garden Strathcona café at 868 E. Hastings. The room alone is worth attending – plus there will be free refreshments.

Here’s a link for a summary of the report.

 

Traffic Improvements

City transportation staff gave a presentation on traffic calming measures coming in the next year, including:

• Pender at Dunlevy – raised intersection and curb bump-outs
• Campbell at Keefer –painted chicane
• Glen at Georgia – new pinch point, with bulges and curb ramps
• Prior at New St. Paul’s – turn lanes and a bike lane from Gore to Dunlevy
  Hawks at Prior – pilot closure
• Venables at Vernon – install a pedestrian crossing light

For more details and visuals, here’s a link to the presentation

Updates

PEOPLE’S PARK

Both the Park Board and City Council unanimously approved making the site at Gore and Union into an official park. It’s now up to city staff to recommend how best to do that – and then consult the community about a name and re-design.

EAST VILLAGE TOWERS

The SRA submitted this letter on behalf of concerned residents to the various powers that be. It’s now up to the developers to decide if it’s worth moving forward. If so, then it goes through another round of public consultation and ultimately to City Council for a vote on the re-zoning request. The petition is still open.

NEW ST. PAUL’S MOCK-ROOM TOUR

Interested in checking out the full-sized mock-up rooms that have been set-up to finalize the designs for the new hospital? Here’s a link with more details. If you’d like to be part of a guided tour, contact Justine Ma at jma16@providencehealth.bc.ca

 

President’s 2024 Report

2024 has been a productive year for the SRA.

Instead of holding a Celebrate Strathcona Day, we were able to provide financial support for many resident-led events, including MacLean Park Music, Union St. Block Party, Kiwassa Days, the Labyrinth Celebration, and the wonderful 90’s Dance Party at the Ukrainian Hall. All of these funds came from location fees paid by film companies for shooting in the neighbourhood.

We supported residents concerned about turning the park at Union and Gore into a Fire Hall Annex and the proposal to build two giant towers (38 & 39 storeys) on Hastings St.

We continued working with the Port on the two-year Strathcona Area air Quality Study, which ends this year. We’ll host a forum on Nov. 28 to discuss the first year’s results. Details are above.

We continued our ongoing efforts to calm traffic on Prior. We also continued to publish a monthly newsletter, held bi-monthly resident meetings, and maintained our website and membership mailing list.

This year, we also started a Strathcona Community Asset Bank to tap into the local talent pool and began collecting Strathcona Stories on our website. We encourage you to contribute to both.

Thanks to Richard, Andrea, Trefor, Mike and Jason for continuing on the board and welcome Dana.

And thanks to everyone who showed up.

Dan

If you have comments/questions or anything to add to our next issue, you can reach us at sra@strathcona-residents.org.