The City of Vancouver maintains a list of community gardens.
vancouver
got walkability?
If any of you actually lived in the Cityview building, which I am glad to say none of you do, you would have a great walkability score. Cityview, at 4370 Sophia St., has a walkability score of 90! Check out your own score at www.walkscore.com. Cityview is both a community and a regional congregation. Our people walk, bike, transit, and drive to go to and from our gatherings. I am so glad that the Main Street corridor is thriving!
the drift, 2009
Attention local artists and friends of art: The Drift Society has announced the next dates for the 2009 Arts on Main St. adventure! Saturday October 3 and Sunday October 4. Discover more details and how to be involved in the latest newsletter. Last year I really enjoyed the venues and the art on Main St. We turned it into a family outing and had a wonderful time.
grounds for violence–welcome to the wild wild west
Yesterday violence erupted again in my neighbourhood and someone lay dead on the ground for the second time in as many weeks. For the most part I live my life from the space in between Main and Fraser in Vancouver. I enjoy these two streets and the different stories they are telling about the City. However my heart broke yesterday in hearing the account my neighbour told of taking children home and having to walk past the body of a young man absorbed in the darkness of lawlessness.
This morning I sat a few blocks from the corner where he died and reflected on what grounds for violence he and others in his realm have. The Lower Mainland is seemingly awash with those who would turn this western edge of the continent into their own wild playground. What has consumed their conscience and heart? Why have they abandoned the delight of life? Have they been deceived by the attraction of power? What vision of strength have they enshrined? What honour has been constructed that must be preserved? Do they truly want a life built on the survival of the strongest? What lies has the Evil One weaved into the fabric of their hearts?
Law is the tutor that highlights reality for the deadened conscience to recognize that something is wrong. But what’s next? Changed hearts and restored relationships are possible from a Christian worldview through the grace of God in Christ Jesus His Son. Into the grounds of violence God has planted a cross and empty tomb; He is shouting “you matter to me.”
This morning I prayed for our City in the tradition of Jesus a prayer that seeks to take back the ground and the lives of those sullied and sickened by violence, apathy, greed, denial, revenge, selfishness, bravado, and pain. Perhaps you will join me in voicing again the prayer of all Jesus’ disciples:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliever us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:9-13
Options housing strategy good for Vancouver?
I really enjoyed an article in the Tyee series A Home for All, on affordable housing. Toronto developer, Michael Labbe, declares
“Housing is the one area of social need that creates wealth,” he explained. “All the housing solutions we have created to date have tended to bury that wealth. This system makes that wealth available to many, because every purchaser helps expand a permanent solution to housing,” he said.
“I’m absolutely convinced that, either quickly or slowly, we are going to eliminate housing as a problem in Canada.”
I believe the Tyee article, Homes that Cost Less than Rental is a great contribution to the conversation on the home ownership in Vancouver. What do you think about this concept?
urbanfoot 