With the cold weather comes growing concerns for the safety and well-being of those who must spend the night (or even the daytime) on the streets.
Aside from campaigns like Sox in the City, Kate from ChangeEverything is taking initiative again this year by doing a Sub Zero Clothing Drive.
A couple of years ago when Vancouver had a cold snap, we as a community used ChangeEverything to organize ourselves to do a clothing drive. The results were significant. In 48 hours we had collected over 4000 items of warmth for local shelters. Given that temperatures are so low (and plummeting more this week) I thought it was a perfect time to awaken the “Got Hats?” concept. [Change Everything]
To donate simply take stock in your house – find jackets, blankets, housecoats, and anything that can be used to keep someone warm. Gather up the items you would like to donate, add a comment to the official blog post on ChangeEverything, then wait for Kate to contact you and she’ll come to collect.
Over the last few years of my life, while I’ve been living downtown, I’ve come to enjoy Stanley Park on a weekly if not monthly basis. In the summer, it’s home to one of our favourite beaches and in the spring, fall and winter it’s the scene of many treks, hikes, strolls and photo walks for John and me (and yes, we’ve even named our favourite tree).
One thing I’ve been watching closely for years has been the progress of the restoration of the park since the big storm of 2006 when thousands of trees were toppled by 120km/h winds and the Seawall was closed for months. John and I were out there within days and even did a video podcast a few weeks after that. As he frequently runs in the park he also did week-by-week updates on his site after that storm as well.
Today, I attended the unveiling of the Stanley Park Restoration Donor Monument, a tribute to those who helped rebuild the park with millions of dollars in donations, time, rentals, press, planting, and support.
The event took place at the newly-renovated Prospect Point lookout where the parking lot has been moved back from the edge of the cliff and there are now wide walkways and paths to get you to your ideal lookout location.
About the monument: 8 monolithic-like basalt rocks quarried in Squamish
About the restoration: $10.8 million has gone into replanting, securing, reshaping, and restoring the park and Seawall. Susan Mudick, General Manager of Vancouver Parks and Recreation also noted that 150 truckloads of trees were hauled off the Seawall during the clean up effort and 16,000 new trees have been planted in the park.
I met Raj Hunal, the Park Board Chair and saw Mayor Gregor Robertson speak. After the event he had a mini press conference where everyone was pretty much asking about how the city’s homeless are being supported during these very cold conditions that are upon us (and the freezes that are yet to come).
On my way home I walked along the Seawall to find *my* spot – if you’ve been reading this site for the last two years you may remember that I have been rather critical of the clean-up efforts, in particular this one spot on the Seawall that remained damaged for almost two years.
I am very pleased to report it has now been patched.
I spent three hours trudging around the park this afternoon and I had a really great time enjoying the nature that’s within walking distance of my home (I even took some time to stop by and see Pauline).
The Park will always be susceptible to mother nature however it’s up to us and the stewardship of the Parks Board to ensure money is spent wisely, trails and pathways are safe, and that the natural state of the forest and its wildlife is a priority.
Ever since I signed up for Twitter in March of 2006, I’ve been trying out the latest application, tools, and online tricks to stay on top of development and the never-ending conversation that the microblogging service provides.
The latest offering is BrightKit, an all-in-one manager from the good folks at Vancouver-based Invoke Media.
BrightKit is the ultimate Twitter® toolbox. With BrightKit, you can manage multiple Twitter profiles, pre-schedule tweets, and measure your success. BrightKit lets you manage your entire Twitter experience from one easy-to-use interface. Creating an account is easy. Enter your Twitter username and password, and add a profile for each Twitter account you wish to manage. Then get tweeting! Check stats and analytics right from your dashboard.
Having more than one Twitter account (one personal, one business) this is extremely convenient and it allows everyone in the company to update the Twitter account (that being John and I). You can also schedule Tweets.
I recommend giving it a try and be on the lookout for updates and feel free to send along feedback as they’re dedicated to making this the best tool possible.
Update December 17th, 2008: Just got back from TL Night at GM Place and the Canucks pulled out a win vs the Oilers. To celebrate the good vibes this evening I’m promoting this post to the top of my site until tomorrow and including some photos of the banner ceremony.
Update December 21, 2008: I’ve promoted this post to the front page of my site in honor of the 20cms of snow we’ve received over the last 24 hours.
When I was younger we would get some real snow days – the kind where you’d spend all day in your one-piece snow suit and only come in periodically to fill up on hot chocolate before heading back out to guard your fort from the icey snowball onslaught of your big brother.
However, it seemed as though our snowy days melted away in the 90s and we’d have Pineapple Express, El Nino and every other type of dreary rainy tropic-influenced weather under the cloud cover.
Over the last few years snow has returned to the streets of Vancouver in small doses yet 1cm is about enough to send people scurrying indoors and abandoning their cars on the sides of highways.
With all of this in mind I’ve decided to look up a few frosty stats from the halls of Vancouver History.
October 12, 1894: A small party of hikers including idney Williams, a surveyor, G.W. Edwards, a photographer, and Ernest Cleveland, later to become chief commissioner of the Greater Vancouver water district (and the man for whom Cleveland Dam is named) trudged through the snow of what they named “Grouse Mountain” on the north shore of Burrard Inlet.
January 21, 1935: Vancouver got 43 centimetres (17 inches) of snow, still the 24-hour record for snowfall. One result: the roof of the Hastings Park Forum collapsed. There were no injuries.
November 14, 1982: The roof of BC Place was inflated. Fact: There are two layers of fabric with a four-foot space between them. When it snows, hot air is pumped between these layers to melt six inches of snow per hour.
In 1900 the Canadian Pacific Railway financed a film to promote Canadian immigration to the west. It took two years to film because the film-makers weren’t allowed to show snow.
Nobel Prize-winning writer Rudyard Kipling used to own land in Vancouver. “In one poem, he called Canada “Our Lady of the Snows,†a description that’s said to have had a great damping effect on immigration to the country.”
December 13, 2008. The Jamaican boblsed team arrives in Vancouver and will head up to Pemberton to train over the next few months for the 2010 Olympic games. [CBC]
Growing up, some of the best snow days were those spent playing with friends (even if we were fighting over the toboggan or the super saucers). Today they’re either spent snuggled up on the couch, traversing the slushy city streets, trekking through the muffled silence of the park under dusted evergreens or carving up the mountain. Come to think of it, when it wants to be, Vancouver can be quite the winter wonderland.
