With an election less than two weeks away, The NPA-controlled City Council has passed a 'revitalization' plan for Northeast False Creek, including a retractable roof for B.C. Place, a new home for the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the obligatory condo towers. Particularly galling to this page is that the plan lets the developer (ie. the Province of British Columbia) off the hook for affordable housing commitments or any public space within the project. This is an example of why the City of Vancouver simply doesn't work. A magnificent waterfront stadium in Gastown, paid for with Vancouver Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot's money is tied up in red tape while Victoria opts to change the lids on the B.C. Place white elephant with Taxpayers' money. A destination art gallery in its historic courthouse setting that also serves as a social hub and civic rallying point gets bulldozed and relocated to the shadows of yuppie indifference in Yaletown.
This page agrees that something should be done to revitalize the Northeast False Creek, but having spent enough time at Seattle Center, the legacy site of the 1962 World's Fair, it becomes very much apparent as to how Vancouver blew it with the site of our 1986 Expo. Seattle Center has established a variety of community and cultural spaces with sporting venues under the iconic Space Needle. By contrast, Vancouver neglected to do anything around False Creek because the powers that be thought it would be better to leave it paved over for the high-octane alcohol-fuelled stupidity that was the Molson Indy. Converting the B.C. Pavilion to a second-rate casino was another less than brilliant idea. If the folks at 12th and Cambie and in Victoria have blown it this many times in getting it right on Northeast False Creek, why should anyone trust them now?
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