[news] On An Eagle Feather, A Prayer... And An Axe!

[Steve Kisby]

http://www.alternatives.com/skisby/towers/wbps0519.pdf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ON AN EAGLE FEATHER, A PRAYER... and AN AXE!
MAY 19, 2004

In the face of strong public opposition, a letter from GVRD's Board of Directors, and the pledge of Vancouver City councilors to "ask a lot of questions" at the next GVRD Board meeting, UBC has already begun the massacre of heritage trees as they ram forward with Phase I of the Marine Residences towers! In all, although UBC only has a permit for Phase I of the Marine Residences, 68 trees including Sequoia, are slated for the axe.

The people who love the Point Grey cliffs and foreshore heritage Vancouver viewscapes of forested cliffs by the sea, do not accept the University of B.C.'s myopic interpretation of their own guiding principles as set forth in "A Promise and A Legacy!" Never mind their adopting the Cliff Erosion Management Plan (CEMP) which says that a full hydrogeological study must be done on the cliffs between Trails 6 and 7 before any cliff-top works can take place.

May 18, a group of 50 determined demonstrators gathered on Vancouver City Hall steps to take their concerns to Mayor and Council about the imminent destruction of their gateway to Vancouver and to the rest of Canada. If the UBC towers are allowed to go ahead, they will forever blight the beauty of one of Vancouver's last great viewscapes. Our Proclamation urged Mayor and Council "to remind UBC of its moral obligations," and for Council "to protect the Point Grey cliffs and foreshore
because it is the only morally-responsible action to take." (See full text of Proclamation attached).

Demonstrators as young as three years old and including renowned people's artist, Joe Average, waved placards, marched, and symbolically moved a model "tower" via people power as Judy Williams, Chair of the Wreck Beach Preservation Society (WBPS) and Co-Chair of the Fraser River Coalition read and presented a Proclamation along with one perfect eagle feather to Councilor Anne Roberts who received it on behalf of Mayor Campbell. 

Councilor Roberts vowed to have Vancouver's six councilors who sit on the GVRD Board of Directors, demand answers from UBC as to how and why they have chosen to build such heavy, high, and intrusive towers so cliff to fragile cliff edges of Pacific Spirit Regional Park. 

It is significant to note also, that UBC has resorted to partial truths to deflect media interest whenever possible. At this point, the VP of Student Housing may look at alternative sites for student housing as flagged by his own Urban Design staff, but doesn't know whether such a meeting between Wreck Beach representatives and himself would be "productive because the project is already quite far along."

If UBC is genuinely interested in being neighbourly to a park that has already altered its cliff and foreshore to help protect pre-existing buildings, they will call a moratorium on the present towers project until they can guarantee to their students, the public, the City of Vancouver and the GVRD that the adjacent cliffs have reached their angle of repose and will never require either beach armament or bioengineering to protect towers that should never have been constructed on that site in the first place!

CONTACTS: 
Judy Williams, 604-856-9598 or 604-308-6336, judyw at wreckbeach.org
James Loewen, 604-689-9697
Chris Rarinca, 604-420-4742

Towers Proclamation To Vancouver attached
 
--------------------------------

PROCLAMATION

To the Mayor of this fine City of Vancouver and All the Councilors Herein:

We, The Citizens of Vancouver and of the Lower Mainland who treasure the Point Grey forested cliffs by the sea, hereby present this Proclamation to the City of Vancouver SUPPORTED BY 5,161 SIGNATURES AND 156 LETTERS :

WHEREAS the City of Vancouver is the Gateway to Canada from the Pacific Rim;

WHEREAS the City of Vancouver  is named after Captain Vancouver who saw only forested cliffs by the sea when he first entered what is now English Bay;

WHEREAS the City of Vancouver is a city of natural wonders and guardian of cultural and aesthetic values of our Aboriginal peoples and mosaic of cultures from around the world;

WHEREAS the Point Grey promontory is a wilderness-like area and haven for bald eagles, where only 15 minutes from downtown Vancouver, people can reconnect with nature as nature intended; 

WHEREAS the City of Vancouver has a strong relationship between the University of British Columbia and the people of Vancouver, of British Columbia, and of all of Canada, and can remind UBC of its moral obligations to not site four 20-storey towers above the Point Grey cliffs too near adjacent parkland without proper environmental impact studies or proper hydrogeological studies:

WE, THE PEOPLE WHO VALUE POINT GREY'S FORESTED SLOPES BY THE SEA, HEREBY PROCLAIM THE CITY OF VANCOUVER AS KEEPER OF THE KEY TO VANCOUVER'S GATEWAY BETWEEN THE FRAGILITY OF THE POINT GREY CLIFFS AND ECOSYSTEMS, BIRTHRIGHT OF THE MUSQUEAM NATION, AND STANLEY PARK TO THE NORTH.  WE URGE VANCOUVER TO PROTECT THE POINT GREY CLIFFS AND FORESHORE FROM INTRUSIVE 20-STOREY TOWERS BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY MORALLY-RESPONSIBLE ACTION TO TAKE. 

THANK YOU.