Feral hops Langara feral hops project hopes to level playing field for Canadian producers. P2 Z PRODUCED BY LANGARA JOU = oh, (Ae UDENTS | WWW.LANGARAVOICE.CA 4 homestays go bad. P3 Homestay risk Some international students feel cornered, helpless when langaravoice.ca Lost letters Tune in to our podcast on the lost art of handwritten letters. pecial national coverage...P5-8 * Drink, if you can hold it Pilot at Langara Park permits drinking without toilets or bins By ANDREA DANTE s ABC Vancouver takes over Vancouver city hall and moves ahead with a promise to make drink- ing in public parks permanent, some Langara students wonder if nearby Langara Park is ready for that. From June 3 to Oct. 16, the Vancouver park board temporar- ily allowed alcohol consumption at Langara Park and in 21 other parks across the city. According to the City of Vancou- ver, each pilot park had to guaran- tee public amenities such as garbage cans and washrooms to maintain cleanliness. It was the first year Langara Park was included in the project, which also included a pilot in the summer of 2021. ABC Vancouver, which won a majority on the Vancouver park board in the October civic election, promised to make drinking a perma- nent feature in Vancouver parks. Langara social sciences and humanities students began a study in May on the pilot program to iden- tify its issues and strengths. The closest amenities for Langara Park are at the college and Langara Family YMCA, neither of which are designed to handle park users drink- ing alcohol. A public park board survey conducted after the first year of the pilot project showed one of the main concerns was littering, said Apsara Coeffic-Neou, a design formation student who worked on the study. “I can’t remember if they mentioned broken glasses, but that was something I certainly brought forward.”Colin Mills, an instructor in Langara’s geography department who guided the student study, would not comment on the suitability of the pilot project, but said it would take a long time to update drink- ing parks to acceptable standards of cleanliness and hygiene. He said the success of adapting the parks to public drinking will depend on how seriously the city takes the results of the project. “It will be many years before all of that gets rolled out and turned into things on the ground,” Mills said. NOV. 17, 2022 + VOL. 52 NO. 3 * VANCOUVER, B.C. Buy low now, buy far later Locals might be forced to travel for groceries if Fraser Street's Buy-Low Foods Is redeveloped By RIGO BACALTOS , | Vhe potential redevelop- ment of the Buy-Low Foods grocery store on Fraser Street could leave many locals without an all-purpose market. Locals have long relied on the only all-purpose grocery store on Fraser Street between 41st Avenue and Southeast Marine Drive and would be left spending more time and money traveling to further locations to buy food. Bridgette Cayabyab, a resi- dent who regularly purchases her groceries from Buy-Low Foods, is worried about the store’s closure. She said that the potential redevel- opment would put immense stress on her and her family. “I’m kind of scared because my family depends on it a lot, and it has all the stuff that we need,” said Cayabyab, who does not own a car and would now need to take the bus to grocery shop. Customer Mariam Tang said Buy-Low Foods has specialized selections for produce which she is unable to find in other markets. She said the redevelopment will be a challenge for her. “It would be a little hassle,” Tang said. She shopped at Buy-Low Foods after “hitting three grocery stores” that didn’t have what she needed to buy. “This store is a little more specialized.” The proposed development would allow for a seven-story mixed-use building. An application is in place for the 6095 Fraser St site with the City of Vancouver. Kenneth King, the rezoning applicant and architect for the redevelopment, said Buy-Low Foods owners supported the appli- cation and the store would even- tually move into the new building once construction is finished. “It’s been a successful grocery store,” he said of the Buy-Low, which has been at that location for the last 20 years. King said the application process needs to be reviewed by the City of Vancouver, but the public can still voice their concerns and provide feedback.