Chintaown lot to become community garden

Thanks to Vincent for this one....

timescolonist.com

 

As you know, I am a big fan of community gardens, particularly for unused urban spaces -- rooftops, lawns, under-utilized park space, and vacant lots.

Well, Victoria is the example this time around -- about time!

From the Times Colonist:

A neglected lot littered with trash and weeds in Chinatown could become the site of downtown Victoria's only community garden. 

Hidden behind a Chinese herbalist store on Fisgard Street, a 75-square-metre fenced-in lot with buildings on three sides and a parking lot to the east is sitting unused. With plenty of natural light shining through the parking lot, it is an ideal setting for a garden.

The space hasn't been used in years and is littered with an assortment of junk.

Amy Wilson and Joey MacDonald... want to convert the space into a garden. [L]andlords have given their permission to turn the lot into a garden.

"Being that there is nothing downtown [in terms of a community garden], and we have this space that is covered in oyster shells for some reason, there is no reason for this not to be a garden," MacDonald said.

Wilson and MacDonald have been looking for people in Victoria's well-networked gardening community who might be interested in helping develop the space.

If all goes well, the site will be cleaned up and garden plans will be developed over the winter, with garden boxes and soil going in next spring. Wilson and MacDonald hope to grow fruits, vegetables and ornamental vines, and have a picnic area where the community can gather.

There were eight community gardens in Victoria as of April 2009, according to the city's website. There were three in Fernwood, two in James Bay, two in Victoria West and one near Bay Street and Quadra Street -- but none downtown.

Those interested in getting involved with the planned garden can e-mail admin@oliocooperative.ca.

 I expect that this trend will continue, but one would hope that it would pick up momentum a little faster.

Any underutilized spaces that you would like to see used as a community garden, in Victoria?

Associations for the Preservation of Small Farming

 virtualfarmer.wordpress.com

I was reading about 'environmental' initiatives in Europe and came across the below. Seems like a great idea to me:

AMAPs

3,500 families in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region belonging to Associations for the Preservation of Small Farming (Associations pour le Maintien d’une Agriculture Paysanne, or AMAPs) have undertaken to buy fresh produce directly from local farmers for one season; they pay – in advance – a price set in conjunction with the producer. There are now 200 of these associations, first set up in Provence in 2001, and they are continuing to expand. Alliance Provence Paysans Ecologistes Consommateurs was set up in 2002 to federate the AMAPs and publicise the concept in the PACA region.

Local fair trade. “Consumers have a guarantee as to the traceability of the produce, all of which is grown according to organic principles,” says Daniel Vuillon, the founder of Alliance Provence. The (local) distribution system requires little transportation, a factor in pollution. The produce is sold without any packaging. By relocalising the economy and making small farms sustainable, “the AMAPs are, in a way, involved in local fair trade,” says Philippe Chesneau, vice-president of the PACA regional council with responsibility for employment and spatial policies.

Alliance Provence is supported by the regional council, which is contributing 50,000 euros in 2005, equating to 40% of its budget; the rest comes from département councils. This has helped preserve 60 farms. “Creating jobs by conventional means costs 10,000 euros per post. With the AMAPs, the cost is 800 euros per job,” says Philippe Chesneau.

Vancouver community garden built in one day

More news out of Vancouver and its goal to be the 'greenest' city. Excerpts from this Vancouver Observer article.

vancouverobserver.com

 

A private-public partnership involving 70 volunteers turned two vacant lots near Commercial Drive E. into a large community garden in one short day.

The garden will be a combination of edibles ­ fruits and vegetables ­ as well as decorative perennials like sage, daylilies, coreopsis, and flowering trees donated by Canadian Tire. All Fiskars-donated garden tools, with characteristic orange handles, are left behind for future gardeners.

Say what you want about the corporate involvement, but I doubt this would have happened, otherwise.

"This is a welcome new food producing garden in Vancouver,” said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. “It's great to see the private sector get involved in local food production. ­This is exactly the kind of creative partnership we want to be fostering. Vancouver is keen to reach our goal of becoming the world¹s greenest city by 2020, and new community gardens like this one are a great way to get us there.”

The garden will be left to the use of the community and local non-profits, including Mosaic:

Local residents and members of MOSAIC, a non-profit organization serving immigrants and refugees, will also be able to obtain individual plots in the new garden... The Mosaic community will use the garden as a way to introduce its volunteers, exchange students, new immigrants and refugees to the people and communities around them. “It is an opportunity for them to interact and mingle with other people in the neighbourhood and also to contribute new and different cultural traditions related to food and gardening.”

Victoria is overdue for some more community gardens. I would love to see some private-public partnerships to make this happen.

Your thoughts?

Vote on how to make Vancouver the 'Greenest' city

 talkgreentous.ca

As mentioned in the previous post, Vancouver's ambition is to be the 'greenest' city in the world by 2020. Good luck with that...

Nonetheless, the City just launched a large public-engagement campaign to solicit ideas on how do achieve its goal.

The idea-sharing system allows you to vote on good ideas.

So, have a quick look and vote up any ideas you like. Even if you are a Victorian, this could very well have provincial ramifications.

Click here to see and vote on ideas.

Please, do not vote for 'greener' cars, electric vehicles/transit, better appliances, or any other faux green initiatives.

New physically-separated bike lane in Vancouver

Vancouver is aiming to be the 'Greenest City in the World' by 2020. I don't think they have a hope in Heck of convincing anyone of this, without exponentially increasing their 'modal share' of cycling.

That said, the new two-way, physically-separated bike lane on Dunsmuir Street is a great start.

I hope Victoria can follow suit, soon -- perhaps on Shelbourne or the Johnson Street Bridge, to start.

A look at the Dunsmuir Street two-way bike lane separating cyclists and motorists. 

From Vancouver.ca:

The experience of other cities suggests that perception of safety is essential to attracting more people to cycling and that separated bike lanes are perceived to be safer and more satisfying to cyclists than cycling next to traffic. The City of Vancouver is moving forward with separated bike lanes on existing bike routes in the downtown to connect key destinations, such as the central business district.

Cross-section of the road diet:

Walking the walk. Well done, Vancouver.

Montreal Gazette on Helmet Legislation

Thanks to Ryan at The City Cyclist for sharing this link
----------

copenhagencyclechic.com

Well, we all missed talking about helmet legislation, so it's a good thing that the Montreal Gazette printed this article. Here are some excerpts:

More than half of the population of Quebec say they are avid cyclists, but a Statistics Canada survey reveals that the majority of those do not wear helmets when on a bike.

Helmet use, according to the survey, was highest in Nova Scotia (66 per cent), the province with the strictest helmet law. Despite this, Suzanne Lareau, president of Velo-Quebec, said that number is proof that helmet laws are ineffective.

"It's startling that in provinces that hand out fines for not wearing helmets, we're not seeing 80 or 90 per cent of people wearing helmets. It seems like the laws are not working," she said.

Lareau said wearing a helmet is a personal choice and that fining those who don't wear a one might dissuade people from using an environmentally friendly method of transportation.

"We're not against wearing helmets but we are against a law," Lareau said. "We're against the idea of penalizing people for riding their bikes, for doing physical activity. These are people who are using a transportation method that's good for the environment, that's good for their health."

Patrick Morency, a public health specialist in Montreal's health and social services department, said that while helmets can help prevent injury, a more comprehensive road safety strategy is necessary to reduce the number of injured cyclists.

"What's killing cyclists in Montreal or seriously injuring them is vehicles -and the bigger the vehicle, the worse the injury," Morency said. "Generally, cyclists that are killed are either hit at a high speed or by a large vehicle - and in those cases a helmet might not help much."

Lareau said that better cooperation between cyclists and motorists is the key to preventing accidents.

"What does wearing a helmet actually do? It might reduce the chance of injury in case of an accident, but it doesn't prevent accidents," Lareau said. "We need to work on strategies to improve bike safety, like lowering speed limits in the city and sharing the road. That would be more effective than implementing a helmet law and then saying, 'My job is done.' "

Related:

Bike Helmet Laws -- stoopid

Not for the Faint of Heart: Helmetless cycling images

City wanted $630,000 for a streetcar study: Student does it for $987

I love this:

(Summary taken from planetizen.com)

Daniel Jacobson, an undergrad at Stanford, developed a thorough study recommending everything the City of Oakland would need to build, run and finance a streetcar through its downtown.

The concept of a streetcar connecting Jack London Square with the newer infill development in the Upper Broadway area has been batted about for a few years, but never in this much detail. The city has already collected $300,000 for feasibility studies with little results, while Jacobson's study reportedly covers all the bases and more.

Chip Johnson reports that Jacobson spent only $987 on his study, which included travel expenses for research trips to Portland and Seattle:

"That's pretty cost-effective, especially when you consider that Oakland city officials paid $300,000 for a streetcar feasibility study in 2005 and applied for an additional $330,000 in feasibility funds this year.

"I could have done it cheaper, but I decided to treat myself to a couple of $12 meals," said Jacobson, almost apologetically."