February 2025 Newsletter

February 2025 Newsletter

New Residency in the MacLean Park Fieldhouse

The Yarrow Society is beginning a three-year residency at the MacLean Park
Fieldhouse. The Yarrow Society’s focus is supporting youth and low-income
immigrant seniors in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside. They plan to use
the fieldhouse as a hub for all sorts of community activities, including arts,
traditional medicine, food, dance and music workshops.
Their vision is to create a space for the various subcultures and generations in
our neighbourhood to come together, share, educate and celebrate. They are
also planning to build a small community garden next to the fieldhouse. Once
they’re settled in, they want to kick things off with a welcoming party. Stay
tuned. For more information, contact Celyne Asnani at at
celyne@yarrowsociety.ca.

65 Unit SRO Proposed for 441 E. Pender

The City of Vancouver has received an application to rezone the now
vacant lot at 441 E. Pender St. from RT-3 (Residential) District to CD-1
(Comprehensive Development) District. The proposal is to allow for the
development of a six-storey rental building and includes 65 microdwelling,
social housing units.

VAN311 App

See a problem? We encourage you
to download and use the
VAN311app. It’s a quick and easy
way to report missed waste bins,
abandoned garbage or vehicles,
potholes, burnt out street lamps,
storm damage, graffiti, noise and a
host of other issues. If you see
something, don’t assume someone
else has already reported it. The
more people who report a problem,
the quicker it gets resolved.

Join or Die

There’s a terrific documentary on Netflix called Join or Die, about Bob Putnam and his
groundbreaking book, Bowling Alone. It’s about the steep decline in people joining
community groups since the 1960’s and the connection to the loneliness, anxiety,
lifespan and overall healthy functioning of society. Highly recommended.
One way you can dip you toe into our community is to add your name to our Community
Asset Bank. The idea is to have a list of local talent and expertise that we might
occasionally tap into when needed. So far we’ve had 12 people sign up. It’d be great to
have 100. Currently, we could use help from someone who is good at posting on social
media and someone with knows how to use Wordpress. But all talents and expertise are
welcome. You never know.