EDITOR ALEXANDRA GRANT ommunity THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012 7 SPRING IN FULL BLOOM AT SOUTH VANCOUVER PARK i A, ARUN «ot DANA BOWEN photo After a slightly delayed start, spring has finally come into full force at the Fraser River Trail, which is located at Hudson Street and South West Marine Drive in the Marpole neighbourhood. New complex in Marpole area raises concerns A proposed multi-tower complex has some Marpole residents worried By OMAR SHARIFF e community of Marpole is bracing itself for changes of gi- ant proportions. Construction on the Marine Gateway project, a new multi-highrise tower complex, will start this May at the south end of the Cambie Corridor. The project, which sold out in four hours, has proven popular among buy- ers; however, it is still unclear what ef- fects it will have on the South Vancou- ver neighbourhood. The proposed complex, which would be on the doorstep of the Marine Drive Canada Line station, would have two condominium towers - one 36 storeys and the other 28 storeys high. The project would also include a third 15-storey tower that would house a movie theatre, restaurants, cafes, of- fice space and small businesses. With 415 new condominium units and 46 rental housing units, the popula- tion of Marpole has the potential to in- crease by about 1,000 people, and this has residents concerned. “T think many people welcome rede- velopment in the Marine and Cambie area ... but are concerned about the ef- fect of the tall buildings, extra traffic and additional people on the existing community and amenities,” said Janet Fraser, an organizer of Marpole Mat- ters, a residents’ special interest group. A voluntary survey distributed by the Marpole Area Residents’ Alliance found that 63 per cent of residents sup- ported major development around the Marine and Cambie area. Another 82 per cent wanted the height of the towers to be reduced to around 29 storeys to be in keeping with the lower skyline of the area. In spite of these concerns, Rennie Marketing Systems, the marketing company behind the Marine Gateway project, believes the increase in resi- dents will be beneficial for the Marpole community. “With more residents, come more new businesses,” said Linda Chu, the director of marketing at Rennie Mar- keting Systems. “Marine Gateway will be the first and main retail hub for the south end of the Cambie Corridor. As development and urbanization increas- es, all the new residents will use Ma- rine Gateway’s retailers and services.” The project is a part of the larger Cambie Corridor plan that intends to increase urban development and den- sity around the Canada Line and Sky- Train routes. The plan aims to decrease the num- ber of vehicles on the road, and hopes to do so by placing more amenities such as shopping centres near transit hubs. South Van police officer works with community Const. Shayne Savage parlayed his long career with the police force into a community liaison position, which works with residents By LEV JACKSON Shayne Savage’s life when he didn’t want to be a policeman. Ever since taking his first steps, Savage knew he wanted to get into police work. “Policing is something I always wanted to do,” said Savage. “Whenever I played cops and robbers as a kid, I al- ways wanted to be the cop and catch the bad guys. Savage has been with the Vancouver Police Department for 15 years. He has been all over the city in his time with the force. Currently, he is the VPD liai- son officer to the community police of Vancouver’s west side. As such, he serves as the middleman between the police department and the volunteers in the community policing centre. His current jurisdiction ranges from UBC to Richmond, and the eastern boundary ends at King Edward and Fraser. Before beginning his community liai- son role, Savage spent 10 years as a pa- trol officer in the Downtown Eastside. From there he was moved to the Youth Squad, where his responsibility was child protective services. He held this position for six months before be- ing transferred to the Community Po- licing Office. Savage said the main job of commu- nity police is to be proactive instead of reactive. This means they focus on crime prevention education, rather Tes was hardly a time in Const. than reporting them once they happen. A simple example of this would be urg- ing residents to put a club on their steering wheels to help prevent car theft in the first place. “The main thing we do here is crime prevention, and keep people aware,” said Savage. “We don’t want to deal with break-ins or car thefts, we want to teach people how to prevent this from happening.” Instead of working with other offi- cers, Savage now leads a team of volun- teers. He delegates volunteers to com- munity policing tasks such as graffiti paint-outs, house patrols, parking is- sues and finding lost children. The vol- unteer team also provides the police with as much information as they can in regards to criminal activity. Currently the biggest initiative the community police are undertaking is the “Riot Roundup”. Thousands of posters are being handed out across the Lower Mainland with pictures of those who took part in the Stanley Cup riot in June. The hope is people can identify those rioters so authorities can bring them to justice. “An important part of this is handing out the posters strategically, we have to go to the places young people hang out.” Savage said those looking to get into police work should embody three im- portant qualities. “If you want to get into it, education, volunteer work and being a good per- son is the best place to start.” Kerrisdale Oa eee idge Marpole aries LEV JACKSON photo Const. Shayne Savage stands before a map of his jurisdiction, where he currently operates as a liaison for the community policing force.