THEVOICE |

6

= By HOLLIE MCGOWAN

he food truck industry
has been seeing drastic
changes since the start of
the pandemic, with the
City of Vancouver introducing curb-
side electricity and business owners
choosing more flexible permits.

The city began a pilot project
offering curbside electricity to some
stationary locations almost three
years ago, but is now intending to
provide its high demand areas where
roaming food trucks park, by the
end of 2021. One of the reasons for
the decision was that residents had
started to complain about the noise
caused by food truck generators.

The city consulted multiple busi-
ness improvement associations and
assessed new data on the food truck
industry and customers’ needs.

Scott Edwards, manager of street
activities and engineering services
for the City of Vancouver, said the
city made the decision in order to
support food trucks.

“We're trying to provide opportu-
nities for them to shift towards green
operations,” Edwards said, adding
that some of the benefits to curbside
electrical supply include cutting
down on greenhouse gas emissions
and noise from the generators.

Kai Walker, an employee of
Boca'O Spain In a Bite food truck,
said this will help their truck in the

long run. The noise from the genera-

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2021 |

tor has been such a disturbance to
local residents that the employees
have tried to silence the noise using
a muffler.

“Sometimes we'd park in [the]
Olympic Village and so we would
get complaints,” Walker said. “If we
could go fully electric [and] not have
the generator, that would be wonder-
ful.”

Edwards added that feedback

from food truck owners has been

“Tf we could go fully
electric [and] not
have the generator,
that would be

wonderful.”

— KAI WALKER, BOCA'O SPAIN INA BITE
EMPLOYEE

overwhelmingly positive.

“You can actually enjoy the peace
and quiet, not drowned out by the
sound of a generator,” Edwards said.

Another shift in the food truck
landscape includes more food
truck owners switching to roam-
ing permits instead of stationary.
Roaming permits allow food trucks
to change locations, while stationary
permits restrict food truck operators
to one location.

Edwards said food truck vendors
want to be where customers gather.
Because of social distancing require-

EDITOR ALAINA SAINT AMOUR

ments and changes in spending
habits, many owners want the option
to move around, and be closer to
parks and beaches.

“There were some vendors that
actually had a stationary permit and
switched their business model to be
a roaming permit,” Edwards said.
“Because many individuals and resi-
dents in Vancouver began to enjoy
outdoor spaces scattered all over the
city.”

The pandemic has affected the
food truck industry in other ways,
too.

According to Jason Faria, owner of
the Greater Vancouver Food Truck
Festival, there are now more food
trucks than before the COVID-19
pandemic, because they're a safer
alternative to restaurants.

Many entrepreneurs bought
food trucks at a discount when the
industry was at a low, early on in the
pandemic. As public health restric-
tions lightened up, Faria noticed a 20
per cent increase in new trucks over
the past year.

“They are outside, they are low
contact as opposed to a restaurant
where you are seated indoors near
people,” Faria said.

Kelly Chau, who runs her mobile
truck The Brownie Bakers, said food
trucks provide her with freedom to
be her own boss.

“I enjoy working for myself and
building my own dreams instead of
helping someone else,” Chau said.

Businessnews

Food truck industry sizzlin hot

Businesses take advantage of roaming permits and new electrical plug-ins

eos
aA ahah

The Brownie Bakers food truck parked outside of Langara College where a

customer buys a brownie. 4011/6 MCGOWAN PHOTO

Sciencenews

Students research to aid

= By CHRISTOPHER
MACMILLAN

angara students are helping

bring back Still Creek’s indig-

enous wildlife, with hopes that
salmon will return.

Environmental studies students are
doing their field school at Vancou-
ver's Still Creek this year, instead of
at their usual location in Tofino, due
to travel restrictions. The students
will be collecting data and informa-
tion that will eventually be used as
a baseline for further studies of Still
Creek’s waterway, aimed at bringing
back the local salmon.

Still Creek, which runs behind the
Real Canadian Superstore in Renfrew
and winds around before entering into
Burnaby Lake, has sporadically had
salmon since 2012. But more than
100 years ago, salmon were plentiful.

Adrian Avendafio is the stew-
ardship programs manager for the
Still Creek Streamkeepers, a group

of volunteer neighbours and citizen
scientists who are helping bring back
the creek’s wildlife and ecosystem. He
explained that while the salmon have
been inconsistent in recent years, the
unpredictability is likely a result of
their erratic breeding and the irregu-
lar testing at Still Creek.

Regular testing creates a consis-
tency in the baseline. Without it,
determining what’s normal for the
creek is difficult.
By continuing to
monitor and care
for the creek, the
salmon should [§
return more }-

regularly.

__Accord- Emily Crowley
ing to the City — ENVIRONMENTAL
of Vancouver’s STUDIES STUDENT

2002 Still Creek

Rehabilitation and Enhancement
Study, although there are some open
areas in Still Creek, the majority of
the stream is still being funneled

through underground sewer pipes.
While these pipes allow the water to
travel under the city, high volumes of
rain can cause overflowing and flood-
ing, therefore polluting the stream.

Andrew Egan, a Langara environ-
mental instructor, says this urbaniza-
tion causes a condition called “urban
stream syndrome.”

“(The stream] no longer has the
ability for the vegetation to grow on
the side,” Egan said.

The environmental students moni-
tor the amount of water that passes
through Still Creek to estimate the
volume that the stream carries. This
information is collected to be used in
creating a baseline, which is a report
of the creek’s activity.

“There has been water sampling
done in previous years,” said Aven-
dafio. “But since [Langara] students
have been doing a super compre-
hensive and repeated scheduling,
it's a much more important base-
line, because they're doing weekly

salmon return

Langarans help with Still Creek analysis to create a health baseline for wildlife restoration

sampling.”

Environmental student Emily
Crowley has been testing at Still
Creek this semester.

“The baseline data set show[s]
that the stream is in good condi-
tion, [which] can provide grounds
for further protection, further resto-
ration, and also serve as a baseline if
there are troubling changes detected
later,” Crowley said.

The baseline is submitted to the
City of Vancouver, which will publish
a report in the spring. This is impor-
tant information that goes with the
city’s program designed to expand
Vancouver's waterways to the indig-
enous wildlife.

As Langara and the city collaborate
and make progress with the report,
Langara students will continue their
testing at Still Creek into 2022.

There are a few stretches of Still
Creek that still flow above ground
and are visible from the shore. Many
animals and birds visit those areas of

the creek, looking for fish and other
sources of food.

Emily Bendeck, a new resident
of Vancouver, goes to Still Creek for
photography opportunities and is
particularly attracted by the “birds of
prey circling around in the sky.”

STILL CREEK TIMELINE

CHANGES IN 20 YEARS

9° 2002 the City of Vancouver
released its Still Creek Rehabili-
tation and Enhancement Study
to help improve Still Creek.

2012 The first time salmon
returned to Still Creek in about
80 years.

y 2020 Langara's environmen-
tal studies class starts testing
at Still Creek.

SOURCE: LANGARA STAFF

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