I’m working my way through, line by line, and came across one on page 31 that said five neighbourhoods would be identified for more homeless services in the first phase of the plan. My story here explains that that one line meant.

This time, it will be open 24 hours, which is intended to prevent the line-ups and crowd mayhem that nearby condo residents objected to last time. Presumably there will be more monitoring of problems. They’re also saying it will only be open during the winter, not the warmer months when more problems with dealers and others hovering around the building started to emerge. But I’m wondering, given how warm it is out now, whether that might not make even the winter months more challenging.

Anyway, here’s the news release from the city on the opening.

Second emergency winter shelter to open in Vancouver

A second new emergency shelter for the homeless will open on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1435 Granville Street with 40 sleeping spaces available.

The temporary shelter is the second low-barrier facility to open this year as part of the City’s 2010 Winter Response Program.

The Granville Street shelter will be operated by RainCity Housing, who have operated housing and shelter for people throughout the Lower Mainland since 1982. The low-barrier shelter will allow shelter users to bring shopping carts and pets with them. The shelter will have rules posted such as no violence tolerated in the shelter.

An emergency shelter was operated at the same location in 2009. A community open house will be held on January 20, 2010 to provide information on shelter operations and agency contacts for neighbours. A bed reservation system will reduce line-ups and access to adequate washroom facilities will be ensured. The shelter will remain open 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. The shelter will close by April 30, 2010.

Emergency winter shelters are funded in 2010 through a $1.2 million contribution from the Government of British Columbia and $500,000 from the City. Shelter locations are chosen based on need and the number of homeless in the area.

A temporary shelter operating 24-hours-a-day at 677 East Broadway with the same fixed closing date opened on December 22, 2009, providing 40 homeless people with a place to stay and two meals a day.

It’s got room for 300 carts in the unused basement, a wholesale-food facility at one time, as Housing Minister Rich Coleman was told when he specifically asked about that during the tour of the building.

A pretty nice space with a big open reception area at the front and then individual bedrooms along a hallway behind, with two beds per room.

The St. James Community Society is going to be running it for, they say, up to two years.

Lots of compliments all around, especially between, as we’re becoming accustomed, the housing minister and the mayor.

I had that thought frequently in Bologna, where I recently spent part of a week. It was my first time in Italy and my partner and I were enthralled by the public street life at night. There was a giant movie screen (and I mean giant — at least two stories high) set up in the main piazza all week that showed black and white movies every night, which included a live band playing for the King Vidor silent movie one night.  Close to a thousand people watched, either sitting in the chairs that had been set up, parking themselves in cafes at the edge of the square, or sprawling on the cobblestones to watch until midnight.

In another piazza, San Stefano, a couple hundred kids would gather every dusk in front of the church and just hang out, playing music and talking. (It obviously wasn’t completely idyllic there, since we would see the caribinieri line up just prior to dusk with their vans to monitor the situation — shades of the Granville Entertainment District.)  Behind a church in one sector, the city put on free public concerts some of the nights we were there. The one we went to, with a group that felt like an Italian version of a Vancouver Folk Festival act, drew another 1,000 or so people to a little triangle behind San Domenico church.

And on one pedestrian-only street, the roadway was simply filled up with restaurant tables so that the whole street was like a (less cheesy) version of Mamma Mia, with tables packed with couples, families, and big groups having dinner outdoors.

Of course, it doesn’t take a huge IQ to realize that part of Bologna’s street culture is a product of the weather. It’s so warm in the summer that the most comfortable time for people to be out and about is late evening. And, while I loved Bologna’s blocks and blocks of elegant porticos and for a day thought they’d make a great addition to Vancouver for keeping out the rain, I realized later that they also work because of the sun. The overhang and shadows are appealing when it’s bright outside — in a rainier climate, they’d probably feel oppressive.

But there are features I’ve seen of European cities here where I’ve thought, yes, that would work in Vancouver and why can’t we have that. I won’t bother suggesting bike-sharing or trams, as there’s been a lot of discussion of that already here. My very brief list (and I know some of my well-informed readers like gmgw and Bill Lee will probably have copious information on more) would be:

1. A permanent building for a farmer’s market. Many French cities we’ve been to have a building set aside for small food sellers to work out of, usually called Les Halles. I saw a lovely modern one in Montpellier that looked just the right size for a Vancouver market — not overwhelming, just enough for maybe 20-30 stalls.

I realize we have Granville Island, but it’s perceived by many as difficult to get to and touristy. It would be nice if there were a purpose-built building elsewhere in a more “regular” part of the city and I am nominating for the site the new development that goes in around Little Mountain. There’s already a farmer’s market that operates there on Wednesdays. Imagine that new community with a nice little market building (with perhaps a provision to allow more casual sellers along some of the narrow streets surrounding it once a week) in some part that makes it accessible both to people in the development and outside.

2. Outdoor movies. Okay, I realize Bologna doesn’t get quite as much rain as Vancouver, but it does rain there, great tympanic thunderstorms. If they can figure out how to put up a movie screen that can survive a prairie storm, surely we can. The trick is where. I’d suggest the front of the art gallery, but the noise from Georgia would be annoying. In Bologna, the main piazza is relatively protected from interfering traffic noise. So perhaps the new development along Northeast False Creek, the new plaza in Southeast False Creek or ???

3. A couple of streets closed down permanently to traffic, where restaurants could extend their outdoor tables right into the street. Gastown (a portion of Alexander maybe?), off Broadway in Kits, the little road alongside Stella’s off Commercial Drive or ???  I’m sure there are some places outside of central Vancouver that would be good candidates as well.

4. Tunnels. One of the striking features of driving in Italy, especially the coast that is so reminiscent of B.C., is the way they have opted to tunnel through mountains rather than constructing roads over and around them. It makes for slightly less spectacular driving, but it preserves much more of the natural landscape. Remember a tunnel was the option at one point for the Sea-to-Sky Highway and then was ditched? That would have been the Italian way.

5. More free outdoor concerts. Every town and city we’ve been to in France and Italy has had free music concerts on one or more nights of the week. It’s seen as part of the city’s duty to entertain its vacationless residents, as well as a nice thing for tourists too. I really do get the sense that it’s more aimed at the former because Paris’s Quartiers d’Ete, the series of concerts, dance performances and other events put on by the city in the summer, is very poorly advertised in the tourist sector, while Bologna does not see itself as a huge tourist city.

Again, I realize Vancouver does have outdoor music, but it’s often associated with privately organized festivals or paid concerts. Why not something free put on by the city, especially in neighbourhoods that don’t get served that well? Surrey did a great job last year and this of organizing free music concerts that are nothing more than a chance for their citizens to celebrate together. Surely others could do the same.

That’s all for now. I’m sure I’ll think of more.

The reductions recommended are up to 65 per cent in some cases. It’s not as drastic as it might seem on the face, since apparently the city has reduced parking requirements on many sites as part of the renegotiation over rezonings. But there is a general move to reduce the amount of parking for commuter employees. At the moment, the general standard is one space for every 2.5-3.5 workers, which engineering has maintained through a combination of private, street and public parking. Now it’s going to be geared more to one space for every 3.5 to 5 employees.

I don’t know if there will be howls of dismay over this or not. (Apparently EasyPark, the city’s parking arm, is not happy about this, as they see this meaning a gradual reduction of demand for their spaces.) I know that there are people who won’t come downtown already because they think it’s too hard to park.

Personally, I find Vancouver an incredibly easy city to park in downtown. In the last week, we got a parking space a block from the Hyatt on a Friday night when we went to partner’s daughter’s high-school grad dance. I can almost always get one in front of the Y when I go downtown. And so on. I acknowledge that I have a naive belief in my own “parking karma,” which has me convinced that, no matter how terrible the rest of my life may be going at that point, I can always find a parking spot.

Yes, even my karma doesn’t work sometimes and, yes, there are certain spots of the downtown and certain events that make parking impossible. But, generally, it’s still a snap compared to other cities I’ve parked in like London (horrifying), Amsterdam (not too bad, if you’re willing to walk a little from more obscure places), Paris (quite reasonable in August and surprisingly easy in non-touristed areas) and San Francisco (the absolute worst).

We’ll see the results of the city’s reduction in, oh, about five years, when the first signs begin to show. But I’d be interested to hear from others whether they think Vancouver is a parking nightmare or not.

Sean has a copy of an e-mail from former board member Mike Bruce, announcing he is quitting the party and urging others to do the same, because of the mayor’s silence on explaining to party members why he made comments during the campaign appearing to support Premier Gordon Campbell over a single issue, the carbon tax.

I’ve talked to Mike a few times over the past year. He doesn’t strike me as some hot-headed hardliner, though perhaps others will have different opinions to offer. You have to wonder what this means about the unease other NDPers within Vision are facing.

Mike Bruce’s full email is on Sean’s blog at Public Eye Online, here.

To provide some info amid the rumours, city manager Penny Ballem recently sent out a memo confirming the hiring freeze is in place for the rest of the year, in all likelihood, and letting staff know that there could be opportunities for unpaid leave coming up, if they want to take it.

You can read it here: ballem-hr-memo-may-2009

On Childhood

From The Good Life by Brad Cran.

First off, Gregor’s comments in full to me and other media.

In the scrum early Tuesday morning, he said this: “He’s provided good leadership at the city for the past few years, and he’ll be missed for sure. I don’t think it’s unusual to see a turnover with a change in government; we have a really ambitious agenda and people will decide a time to move on when it makes sense in their careers. James has got a great opportunity at UBC and he’ll be around through the end of May for a smooth transition and we’ve certainly appreciated his work for the city. He’s been a big asset and he’ll be missed.”

I’m told by the mayor’s office that the comments to Jeff Lee about why staff were leaving (pressures of the Olympics and the new demanding agenda) were made in response to Jeff’s questions about why there seemed to be a general exodus, not why James Ridge was leaving.

My interview later, where I was asking him at once about both the departure of James Ridge and the exodus of many other senior staffers. (He didn’t say this all in one go, I had intervening questions.)

“We have an ambitious agenda, we’re dealing with unprecedented challenges. It’s meant that people who are considering a change have all the more reason to leave. It’s not uncommon for there to be a turnover of a management team when there’s a big change and a new political direction I think it’s not uncommon. I have no doubt our city can still attract top-notch talent. It’s Penny’s decision on what we do now. She knows full well how much we want to get done. There’s certainly a new culture of high productivity and big expectations at city all. There’s great people filling the gaps. The talent at city hall is deep. Peter Judd stepping up to fill in for Dave Rudberg, it’s good to see him get that. I’m hopeful this is creating opportunities for good people to step up.”

And are you politicizing city hall? “If it was that, James wouldn’t be waiting over a month to go. He’s respectful of the situation. There’s no doubt the culture is shifting here.”

Are you concerned more people will be leaving? “I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s beyond the normal rate of attrition.”

A few more points from Suzanne that didn’t make it into print: “I’m very disappointed but I can’t say I’m surprised. When we stole [James] from North Vancouver, I’d been gloating about what a great theft it was. He’s masterful, pragmatic, even-tempered. I’m very very sorry he’s left the city. This is a failure of leadership from the mayor, a failure to keep his top people there.”

And finally, a very tactful (and funny) note from James himself in response to all the uproar: