It’s been pretty quiet on the Viewpoint Vancouver front for a while. You may have noticed. A project that started as a blog around 2006 has come to … well, an indefinite pause. Viewpoint served us well for as long as it lasted, but writers, like ideas, will eventually look for new adventures and different ways of communicating. You have supported this venture in independent journalism through the years with your written contributions and your feisty comments and even, some of you, with straight-up cash. To say we couldn’t have done this without you seems a cliché, but we could never have shout ..read more

This is a revised version of a previous post By Dr. David Sadoway KPU Geography & the Environment | KPU Policy Studies Viewpoint Vancouver Writer in Residence International Human Rights Day is on December 10th every year. It is a time to take stock of where we are at and wish to be in Metro Vancouver. Declared by the United Nations (U.N.) as a day to recall “the inalienable rights which everyone is entitled to as a human being,” the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948. What do lofty rights declarations have to do with the complex day-to-day realities of citizens ..read more

Pedestrian Safety and Darkness Among the risk factors that can increase the likelihood and severity of crashes involving pedestrians is darkness. As noted in the US Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS), “visibility continues to be an issue for people walking and biking; 75 percent of all fatal pedestrian crashes occur in darkness.” During this webinar, panelists will share new research into the issue of darkness and its role as a contributing factor for pedestrian crashes, as well as guidance for improving lighting and visibility. Date:  December 20 ..read more

Here are three sought after thinkers about place and space all together in one webinar thanks to Island Press. They are just about to release the second  edition of their notable book, Making Healthy Places . MAKING HEALTHY PLACES: HOW TO DESIGN AND BUILD FOR WELL-BEING, EQUITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY Date:  THURS. DECEMBER 8, 2022 Time: 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time You can register at this link. Making Healthy Places, Second Edition: Designing and Building for Well-Being, Equity, and Sustainability Edited by Nisha D. Botchwey, Andrew Dannenberg, and Howard Frumkin | An Island Press bookCan ..read more

With thanks to Clean Energy Canada This is both an in-person and an online event. The emergence of catastrophic mega-fires over the past five years demands transformative action in BC. Unprecedented fires are burning huge tracts of culturally and ecologically important territory, threatening lives and livelihoods, blanketing the province in smoke, exacerbating systemic inequities, and releasing staggering amounts of emissions into the atmosphere. It’s a frequency, scale, and severity we’ve never seen before, fuelled by growing climate impacts, altered forest landscapes, and the forced remov ..read more

Viewpoint Vancouver has continually written about the need for public washrooms as a basic need for everyone. It is also an equity issue and one of universal comfort. Already some of the cracks are showing in transit facilities being  updated and designed which are not clearly showing that people will have a public place to go. It just makes sense for transit to have public washrooms and for commercial areas to have public washrooms. Forget about the fancy pony walls, the advertising, the double sided display walls: please just get some washrooms into the designs so people can relieve th ..read more

Prairie Paul on twitter is King’s Counsel  lawyer Paul Doroshenko. He has  posted a series of images on twitter as he waited to pick up his child at a west side Kitsilano primary school . The photo above is a  crossing that goes  from the school grounds and joins up with the existing sidewalk across the street. There is a stop sign, and lots of signage indicating that this is a school zone. Back to the stop sign. Mr. Doroshenko  who practices criminal defence and drunk driving law witnessed vehicles ignoring the stop sign and continuing at speed through the crossing ..read more

As part of the Women Food and Agriculture Network Conference in the first weekend of December, Erica Cirino will be talking about her new book, Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis. Erica Cirino is a writer, artist and researcher who works globally. While on assignments in places as far-off as the South Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Circle, she covers science stories that often meet at the intersection of human and wildlife health, and environmental conservation. In particular, Erica is highly focused on uncovering the depths and health effects of the global plast ..read more

CBC’s Man of Municipalities Justin McElroy attended the first meeting of the new board of Metro Vancouver, which is the regional government where all 21 municipalities, one Electoral Area and one Treaty First Nation can participate to discuss things of regional interest. This is important work as it discusses how we develop together as a region.  Metro Vancouver  “collaboratively plans for and delivers regional-scale services. Its core services are drinking water, wastewater treatment and solid waste management. Metro Vancouver also regulates air quality, plans for urban growth, ma ..read more

Nathan Davidowicz  has been an active travel advocate for over three decade.  He sends out to interested parties “BC Canada WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE BUZZER” which provides a news clipping service of all things related to transit in Metro Vancouver and beyond. Mr. Davidowicz provided this link to Vision Zero BC’s Road Safety Grant Program which is being administered by the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit (BCIRPU). This group will provide funding up to $20,000 for projects contributing to Vision Zero or the Safe Systems Approach, where no road deaths occur. There are two “streams” f ..read more