January 4, 2010 - 10:59 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
This is what Sharon Urton's email to Suzanne Anton communicates loud and clear.
In spite of never signing up to receive her updates, I am a willing member of lone NPA Councillor Suzanne Anton’s mailing list, and thoroughly enjoy her gramatically creative opinions about “the country’s most greenest” community or her kind invites to exciting events like the NPA’s AGM, where my participation alone could have ensured a 2 per cent increase in attendance.
Not everyone, however, is as enamoured with these emails.
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December 4, 2009 - 4:35 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Mackinnon was baffled and baffling in front of Council last night.
Last night City Hall attracted quite a crowd – approximately 90 individuals by my sources’ count – with the majority obviously there to speak in front of Council about their opposition to the cuts being made as part of the budget process.
Mayor Robertson let children and seniors speak first, and some of these early presentations, including an adorable group of brothers and sisters between the ages of 5-11 talking about how they love reading and how they wanted libraries to stay intact, were very touching and I am sure difficult for Council to hear in light of the decisions they still have to make.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: All assertions use paraphrasing based on several first hand accounts, meaning that there was no tape recorder to confirm exact wording. Thus, this is only my interpretation of what has been communicated to me).
Park Board Commissioner Loretta Woodcock made a very quick presentation, talking about how the Bloedel Conservatory and the Stanley Park petting zoo have been “orphaned” and encouraging Council to consider modest tax increases to make up the shortfall. Woodcock was articulate, direct and to the point, as well as being reasonable in her requests.
Stuart Mackinnon, on the other hand, didn’t make out as well.
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December 3, 2009 - 12:31 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
A magnificent structure on the Vancouver landscape that has been badly neglected for many successive incarnations of the Park Board.
In observing the opposition to the Park Board’s decision to cut subsidies to the Stanley Park petting zoo and the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park, it seems as though the loss of the latter is a lot more painful for those interested parties.
And why not. The historic Bloedel Conservatory was constructed in 1969 as a result of Seattle-based lumber magnate and avid art collector Prentice Bloedel, who made a substantial contribution that transformed an abandoned basalt quarry into a magnificently sculpted public-use plaza with an intriguing, futuristic (at the time) centrepiece. The conservatory came together through a 1967 City of Vancouver Canadian Centennial project that evolved and took on a life of its own.
The plexiglass paneled geodesic dome is home to hundreds of varieties of tropical trees, shrubs and flowers as well as pathways, water features and animals, including over 100 species of birds who call the dome home.
But with a crack in the famed dome, this structure is not only in need of a new marketing plan as some have suggested.
On top of this dramatic structural damage, 80 plexiglass bubbles on the roof are also in desperate need of replacement.
A new roof for the heritage-protected building is expected to cost an astounding $1.5 to $2-million.
But if we look into the past, it is easy to understand how we have ended up with the conservatory’s current sorry state.
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December 2, 2009 - 9:33 am |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Jerry Maguire still has the key line for Suzanne Anton and Ian Robertson.
So, two comments took me to task yesterday for my post about the Anton/Robertson claims about donors who have stepped forward for the Stanley Park petting zoo and the Bloedel Conservatory, but have allegedly been refused.
The always vulgar and imbalanced John Hinckley (sound familiar, civic watchers?) won’t get any play on this website…maybe he should try the likes of other sites that emanate from crazy town (and provide a soundtrack about the journey to go along with it). But cw brought forth the name Josef Wosk of the philanthropic Wosk family, as one individual who has offered $100,000 over four years, a detail that I was aware of but failed to put in the post.
So, point taken.
But let’s take a second to go over the math and the timelines.
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