In the News

PROVINCE: Vancouver ranks fourth in world

Tourism Vancouver beams at latest survey but low green ranking irks city councillor

By Damian Inwood, The Province May 27, 2010

Despite hosting the 2010 Olympics, Vancouver failed to make the podium in an international survey ranking cities on their quality of life.

The city remained tied with Auckland, New Zealand, in fourth place, in Mercer's 2010 quality of living survey, with Vienna, Zurich and Geneva taking the top three spots.

"It's good finishing No. 4 in the world and we should be very pleased," said Tourism Vancouver's Walt Judas. "We're No. 1 in the Americas and No. 1 in Canada."

He said it's hard to say how the quality of living survey results would affect tourism.

"Combine the survey with the Olympics and it's just one more reason to visit Vancouver," he said.

Ottawa was in 14th spot with Toronto 16th, Montreal 21st and Calgary 28th.

However, despite its emphasis on fossil fuels, Cowtown topped the Mercer rankings when it came to "Eco-cities."

In the green category, Honolulu was second and Ottawa ranked third, while Vancouver was tied with Montreal at a distant 13th.

Vancouver Coun. Andrea Reimer, council's liaison to the Greenest City Action Team, said there are a lot of different ways of measuring green cities.

The survey by Mercer, a human-resources consulting firm, doesn't measure greenhouse-gas reduction, she said.

"That's where Vancouver has really shone historically," said Reimer.

"Without that, Vancouver is left with water, waste and sewage. Certainly, on sewage we're not doing well and we're not going to hide that and, on the question of waste, we do really poorly."

She said the city has recently brought in curbside composting and set a faster timeline for building a new sewage-treatment plant.

COURIER: Central Park: Full steam ahead

Sandra Thomas

Vancouver Courier

Friday, May 07, 2010

Last year I wrote a story about urban planner and former city councillor Alan Herbert's proposal to create pedestrian walking paths, similar to the bike routes already established, across the city.

Herbert has pushed the plan since 1999, and in 2001 the city launched his Silk Road Walking Route as a self-guided tour connecting Chinatown to Library Square.

Unfortunately, the second phase of that project never got off the ground--until now. Herbert created a 2.11-kilometre historic walk, The Steam Line, which starts at Marinaside Crescent at the east foot of Davie Street. The route takes participants past the steam train at the Roundhouse Community Centre, across Pacific Boulevard and down Mainland towards Gastown. Points of interest along the way include Victory Square, the Gastown steam clock and the Gassy Jack statue in Maple Tree Square.

The historic walk will be launched Monday to coincide with Move for Health Day, an international event sponsored locally by the park board and B.C. Recreation and Parks Association.

Last year, Herbert teamed with COPE park board commissioner Loretta Woodcock to plan similar walking projects, including one with a focus on seniors. Woodcock says Herbert's latest walk is a good fit for the park board's Step Out Walks program, which encourages the public to go for recreational walks to be more active. So far, the park board has mapped out almost 60 walks on a web page and added points of interest, a distance calculator and calorie burner. According to the website, if a 120-pound person spent 125 minutes walking 10 kilometres of the Stanley Park seawall, they'd burn 341 calories.

Woodcock and Vision Vancouver Coun. Andrea Reimer have assembled a draft motion they plan to take to the park board and city this month asking for benches and signs along the Steam Line.

The Steam Line Move for Health Day walk starts at 1 p.m., May 10, from the east end of Davie Street at Marinaside.

SUN: Vancouver scores a first with fair trade status

City commits to buying ethically made products

By Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun May 7, 2010

Vancouver has become the first major Canadian city to be certified for Fair Trade Town status.

That means it buys products such as coffee, tea, sugar and even soccer balls that have been made ethically and for which producers — largely low-income farmers and labourers — have been paid fairly.

In a largely symbolic gesture aimed at showing the city is leading by example, Vancouver council on Thursday voted to take the final step toward achieving Fair Trade Town status.

It did so by completing an application by Fair Trade Vancouver, a non-profit group, to have the city declared a fair-trade environment.

The city says it likely won't cost taxpayers any more to stock its meetings, cafeteria and offices "where possible and practicable" with fair trade items. That's because since 2005, Vancouver has had an ethical purchasing policy that does largely the same thing.

But council hopes the Fair Trade Town designation will give a solid boost to the growing consumer movement toward buying goods from cooperatives and countries that agree to pay living wages to those who produce them.

"It means you are committed to a path of progress on your purchasing decisions," said Coun. Andrea Reimer.

"I don't think I've ever had a taxpayer tell me they want me to use their taxes to drive down labour standards and environmental protection in other countries."

STRAIGHT: Vancouver council gives green light to $1.25 million for new bike plan, improvements

By Matthew Burrows

Publish Date: May 6, 2010

Vision Vancouver councillor Andrea Reimer pointed today (May 6) to the Burrard Bridge bike-lane trial in order to justify approving funding for more cycling infrastructure.

“To see it not only happen but succeed with flying colours tells me we’re ready to move to the next step,” Reimer said during a meeting of council’s city services and budgets committee.

Council voted unanimously to support spending $1.25 million on a list of items that includes $500,000 to develop a 10-year cycling master plan to replace the 1999 plan that is nearing its best-before date.

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” Mayor Gregor Robertson told council, echoing many of his colleagues’ statements. “This is a big step to approaching where we need to be.”

Vision councillor Tim Stevenson called the vote “historic”, while fellow Vision councillor and committee chair Raymond Louie termed it “a big step forward”.

“If we’re to realize the opportunity to have a generation of cyclists in this city, this type of infrastructure is absolutely necessary,” Louie said before casting his yes vote.

Alongside the new 10-year master plan, council approved spending up to $400,000 to develop a cycling monitoring program, $100,000 on additional bicycle parking, and $250,000 on “spot” improvements to existing bike routes.

Non-Partisan Association councillor Suzanne Anton said anything that encourages more cycling is a good thing. She mentioned that she has biked across the country and is planning to cycle the world with her husband, Olin, starting this year.

“This summer, we cycle from Paris to Prague,” Anton told the Straight outside council chambers.

Earlier on in the meeting, Anton noted that people forget that cycling is “fun”.

“It’s just so great to be on a bike,” Anton said.

STRAIGHT: Vancouver seeks recognition as fair trade-friendly city

By Stephen Thomson

Publish Date: April 30, 2010

Vancouver hopes to become one of the first major cities in Canada to earn special status for its commitment to fair-trade principles.

The city already has policies that guide ethical purchasing of goods, but two councillors want to apply for recognition from Ottawa-based TransFair Canada.

If successful, Vancouver would be labelled a Fair Trade Town, and join a growing list that includes the B.C. communities of Golden, Revelstoke and Nakusp. Montreal, St. John's and Quebec City are also seeking the status.

Coun. Andrea Reimer told the Straight by phone today (April 30) that the volunteer-run group Fair Trade Vancouver approached the city with the idea.

“Given that it didn’t involve new resources and potentially could give us new information and a better way to market ethical purchasing, it seemed like a good idea,” she said.