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A thousand car-free days in Vancouver not about to bloom

February 25th, 2009 · 7 Comments

The staff report is just in on neighbourhood response to holding car-free days every Sunday for three months during the summer. The new Vision council had been hoping to encourage that kind of activity in three or four districts this summer, following on the wild popularity of the one-day car-free festivals that have been taking place on Commercial Drive the past few years. This summer, planning is in the works for one-day events in five places, including Main, Kits, the West End and Dunbar.

However, staff say their survey of business associations show that only one is interested in shutting down the street every Sunday for 12 weeks. Six others are interested in putting on a one-day event, but no more. Partly they’re worried about losing business. There’s also a problem, they say, with finding enough volunteers to help staff barricades and help out in general.

It’ll be interesting to see what the car-free enthusiasts on council will do with this, um, roadblock.

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