Book Launch: Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century

Sunday, November 23
5:30 PM

Come celebrate, explore and debate the newly published book, "Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century," with editor Chris Spannos and members of the Vancouver Participatory Economics Collective.

With many co-authors, including Noam Chomsky, Michael Albert and Barbara Ehrenreich, Real Utopia envisions life after capitalism and how we can get there.

Music by DJ Lalu.

Free!

For more information:
(604) 872-3166
Rhizome Cafe
317 East Broadway

Mount Pleasant Community Planning Workshop

The Community Plan will address four residential sub-areas ( see Map ). North Mount Pleasant and Central Mount Pleasant are apartment zones; and South Mount Pleasant and West Mount Pleasant are duplex/infill zones. Residential Areas Workshops will be conducted in the fall of 2008 to discuss topics like character and heritage, greening opportunities, park and school ground designs, walking and biking routes, local traffic issues, safety and cleanliness, and housing issues including problem premises, affordability, and design.

Workshops are organized and hosted by City staff. They occur on weekends, and refreshments are provided. At each workshop participants will receive background information in an interesting way and then they work together in small groups to develop ideas and options.

If you are interested in attending a Residential Area Workshop, please download and fill out the RAW form (PDF, 45KB) or fill out the RAW form online.

Residential Areas Workshop
Sunday, November 16, 2008
12 noon - 5 pm
Native Education College
285 East 5th Avenue

For more information, call Rachel Harrison at 604.871.6608.

Call for proposals to save Mt Pleasant heritage homes

BC Hydro has purchased land on West 6th and Alberta to construct a new substation that will provide extra power for the growing Mount Pleasant and False Creek areas as well as act as a backup for Downtown.

The two Heritage homes at 304 and 316 West 6th are on the assembled land and were purchased last year. They are designated as Heritage C and can be demolished, however BC Hydro would prefer not to do that. Instead, Hydro is asking for proposals for anyone interested in buying the homes and moving them.

Interested parties can view and inspect the homes from 10 AM to Noon on November 12 and the deadline for offers is by Noon on Friday, November 28th.

Vancouver Sun

Mount Pleasant Cheese Specialty Store

I just discovered that Mount Pleasant has a new Cheese store that is already cornering the market after just a few short months of being open. Sporting Canadian flags, this cheese shop is offering the best of the best and is now home to 150 high quality Canadian cheeses. See what Martini Boys have to say about the Mount Pleasant Cheese specialty store at 3432 Cambie St.

Mt. Pleasant Community Projects Ongoing

Dear SCG Members and Working Group Leaders;

1) Social Coordinating Group

It time again for our monthly Social Coordinating Group meeting - Native Education College (285 5th East Ave).

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Regular SCG Meeting #4

The Agenda: basically we will be hearing back from the four working groups on what they have been doing since April 8th. As SCG members you will be asked to comment on possible ways that you can help the working groups overcome any outstanding issues and concerns so that they can continue to move forward to develop and implement the local action plans. We have some new community faces coming out this time!

Pizza and refreshments will be served again, so if you have any allergies please let me know that when you RSVP back so that I can better meet your needs. Thank you. (please include your phone number).

2. Neighbourhood Clean Up

May 10, Saturday, 9:00 am to 12:00 Noon

A small, but very dedicated, group (Carolina Group) is hosting their annual neighbourhood clean up (10 years plus), and we are all welcome. Please let me know if you need more information. Hope to see some of you out this Saturday. Dana's cell 318-7460 (604). We are meeting up at Carolina and 11th Ave E.

3. Community announcements - of the Social kind

If you have an announcement(s) about an event or program that relates to the work that the SCG is doing and you want to share it with others please let me know. I am posting events to the Mount Pleasant community site to better keep us all in touch (an earlier suggestion made at a SCG meeting). http://www.vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/cpp/mountpleasant/social/index.htm and look under "Spotlight"

That's it for now

====================

Dear Mount Pleasant CLG members,

Hi, everyone. We have scheduled our fifth meeting of the Mount Pleasant CLG for:

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Native Education College
285 East 5th Ave. (at Scotia St.)

Since our last meeting, we have completed Shopping Area Workshop (SAW) #1, with over 50 people in attendance. Participants divided themselves into groups according to the existing shopping area in Mount Pleasant they wished to discuss:

1. Uptown (Main: 7th to 16th; Broadway: Ontario to Guelph; Kingsway: 7th to 12th )
2. Broadway West (Ontario to Yukon)
3. Broadway/Fraser (Guelph to Prince Albert)

Following a site visit to the shopping areas, ‘creative sessions’ were held, facilitated by urban designers, to find out key concerns and aspirations held by workshop participants. Posters with potential options/directions and maps were used to encourage discussion and record people’s ideas. We are mailing you a draft transcript of the workshop (i.e., posters with comments, along with photographs of the maps produced by the groups).

Our CLG meeting will review SAW #1 results, and introduce the tasks for SAW #2 (taking place on May 25th; attached is a poster advertising the event). These tasks involve using criteria suggested by workshop participants, along with criteria contained in City policy, to begin evaluating the options which emerged from SAW #1. The CLG meeting will also touch on our preparation for the residential workshops beginning in the fall, the consultancy for a land use and urban design study of Main St. (2nd to 7th), and the work being done by the Social Coordinating Group.

If you are unable to attend this meeting, please call Angela Ko at 604.871.6598 and let her know. Thank you in advance for coming to the meeting.

Yours truly,

Peter Burch
Planner
Mount Pleasant Community Planning Program (MPCPP)

Mount Pleasant | The City of Vancouver | Planning Our Future

The City of Vancouver has launched a number of initiatives aimed toward creating a better future for everyone in Vancouver. Most likely it is the presence of City Hall in Mount Pleasant that has Mount Pleasant as the Vancouver guinea pig with these collaborative steps with the Mount Pleasant community.

The City of Vancouver Mount Pleasant Community Planning Group has established the Mount Pleasant Community Liaison Group which meets regularly to share information about the various working groups and the progress being made, as well as issues and concerns of the local community.

Other Working Groups include the Mount Pleasant Heritage Working Group, and the Social Coordinating Group. The Heritage Working Group is in active discussion with the City of Vancouver over what constitutes Heritage, and the Mount Pleasant community is the framework from which tangible conversation stems. Rather than focusing solely upon physical structures and architecture, the conversations expand to include history of culture, the evolution and heritage of the working class neighbourhood, and the gathering places both current and of old, to name a few.

Angelo Ko from the City of Vancouver's Mount Pleasant Community Planning Program informs us that Local Historian and Author, Bruce Macdonald is leading a Walking Tour of Mount Pleasant organized by Proximity Arts on Sunday, February 10 and Saturday, February 16 at 2 p.m. For details of the tour and registration, please visit www.proximityarts.com. If you have any questions, please send email to info(at)proximityarts.com.

The Social Coordinating Group is focusing their efforts on Social Action to address the issues of homelessness, drug addiction, the four pillars program, harm reduction, and involving community members and organizations in creating, developing, and implementing successful strategies.

While no system is perfect, and this effort may seem fraught with errors or seem in vain at times, it is the slow wheels of change that drive progress and always have. Our voices matter now more than ever as we reach forward to an uncertain future, in particular according to many experts, including Vancouver's own Dr. David Suzuki. These warning signals are the catalyst for the City of Vancouver's launch of EcoDensity: A strategy of significant proportion that a municipality can implement to reduce the municipal ecological footprint.

More can be found in the discussion forums related to these various topics, and a variety of links to various participating sources. Lend your voice here online, or at the meetings. It's time we got involved.

Valerie Arntzen, Assemblage Artist, Vancouver

Not many people in mainstream society would be familiar with the term Assemblage Art. A visit with Assemblage Artist, Valerie Arntzen, in Vancouver's Eastside Strathcona neighbourhood would astonish, astound, and amaze as found objects, odds and ends collected over the years, are assembled with a themed three-dimensional artistic composition. Arntzen's journey to this point in her career as an artist, and Executive Director of Vancouver's Eastside Culture Crawl for more than a decade, demonstrates how naturally this form of artistic expression is to her.

Arntzen's natural talents for pieces, objects, and creating found her pursuing an education and career behind the scenes in film and theatre productions. Attending school in Los Angeles in 1985 to study theatre, Valerie Arntzen was hired by the school upon completion. Working on everything from wigs, make-up, costumes, sets, and props, she also worked for other production companies as well. Growing tired of the LA life, and missing family and friends in (read more...)

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve and all through the city, the shoppers they bustle and hustle from mall to mall, with motorists tooting and hooting with fumes of ire.

It is a great season for fun, family, friends, and celebration. Preparation has been fun, catching up, sharing good cheer, buying gifts for those we love, and the rare moments in between when we get to sit down and relax, reflecting on the wonderful moments of the season. Time passes quickly, and the team here at StrataXL and LiveIn wish you a happy, safe, and joyous festive season.

Make the moments and memories count. Give and love easily, quickly, and freely. Soak up the Joy!

Happy Holidays Mount Pleasant Vancouver, Strathcona Vancouver, and Commercial Drive!

On a sad note, I know there are some adults and children alike who are fighting this nasty flu bug that is making its' rounds. Eat well, keep hydrated, and rest. We will celebrate together and wish everyone speedy recoveries and happy moments with loved ones.

Who are you going to call that may be spending Christmas alone?