2 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, FEB. 26, 2015 EDITOR MARY BEACH Cws ro | ae | DUSTIN GODFREY photo Marge Yarwood (left) and Xiomara Hurtado of Tivoli Gardens complain that the Vancouver Police Department responded poorly to the vandalism after tires were slashed on a number of cars in the parking lot over the Valentine’s Day weekend. The slasher strikes again Community self-patrols neighbourhood to deter future vandalism 66 By DUSTIN GODFREY esidents of Tivoli Gardens hous- Often the ing development in Champlain best way Heights have been patrolling their community at night after to prevent more than a dozen vehicles had their crime in tires slashed over the Valentine’s Day weekend. a commu- They are frustrated with what they nity is to say is a frequently occurring case of property crime in their neighbour- know your hood. There was a similar incident last neighbours December. Some of the residents are waiting to and keep take a course through the Vancouver an eye on Police Department in order to organize each other an official community patrol. BRIAN MONTAGUE VPD media spokesperson Marge Yarwood, however, is among a group that has already begun walk- ing through the premises at night. “We walk around late at night, and check to make sure there’s nothing done,” said Yarwood. Xiomara Hurtado said they also dis- cussed pooling money to implement better lighting and security cameras, but have yet to meet with management. The initiatives come after what some residents have described as a poor re- action from the VPD. “It took the media,” said Hurtado. “It went on the news, then they came.” Yarwood said she hadn’t noticed an increase in police patrols and ques- tioned their effectiveness. “They’ve been driving around here, but the thing is that they’re driving around during the day,” said Yarwood. Hurtado said a daytime patrol would not protect against property crime, which usually happens during the night. “We don’t need it during the day,” said Hurtado. “There are a lot of people outside during the daytime.” Const. Brian Montague, VPD media spokesperson, said they increase pa- trols for areas that see more crime, but did not specify whether Tivoli Gardens would get that increase. “We encourage people to join Block Watch,” said Montague. “Often the best way to prevent crime in a commu- nity is to know your neighbours and keep an eye on each other.” Although residents all want to see justice, some have doubts as to what the police can do for instances of prop- erty crime. Resident Norine Chubb said, “This sort of crime is hard to find account- ability.” She said this is especially true when more than 150 tires were slashed in North Vancouver on the same week- end. Melanie Nand uses crutches and re- lies on her vehicle. Her tires were slashed on the property in December. She said the best thing the police can do now is patrol. YMCA home now reality Now that the Pearson Dog- wood lands redevelopment is moving forward, so will the YMCA By ANNA DIMOFF have a new home about eight blocks away as part of the redevel- opment of the Pearson Dogwood lands at 57 Avenue and Cambie Street. Vancouver Coastal Health recently announced that it will be partnering with real estate developer Onni Group to develop the 25-acre property. Ac- cording to Gavin Wilson, the director of public affairs at VCH, they are work- ing together to produce a rezoning pro- posal to present to the city, which he predicts to be completed in a year. “Tt could be 2017 before we see any construction begin on the site,” he said. The new location won’t be as conve- nient for Langara College students, but the it will still be easily accessible. “There was [a Canada Line station] originally planned for that intersec- tion,” said Wilson. “That will be com- pleted as this development moves for- ward as well.” The students and faculty of Langa- ra’s athletic department do not appear concerned about losing the facility next door. Mike Evans, head coach of the wom- en’s basketball team, said he sees the convenience in having a space to lift weights and train for the athletes in their spare time, but says YMCA’s move won't affect the team’s schedule. “We do everything here. We practice and play here. We don’t really use the facility that much,” he said. “It doesn’t affect me too much, I can go to other gyms,” said Jaspreet Dhil- lon, a kinesiology student at Langara who doesn’t mind travelling farther to train. He cited Hillcrest and Sunset community centres, or the Steve Nash Fitness World & Sports Club near his house in Richmond, as other options. It is unclear when the facility on West 49 Avenue and Alberta Street will close to the public. Kelly Walker, man- ager of communications for the YMCA of Greater Vancouver, could not be reached for comment. Ti: Langara Family YMCA will Three Transit Centre plans presented Residents are skeptical about their role in the com- munity consultation pro- cess for site rezoning By KELVIN GAWLEY bourhood are being asked to con- tribute their thoughts on new de- velopment proposals for the Oakridge Transit Centre. The site is a bus maintenance lot sit- uated on 13.8 acres — nearly seven foot- ball fields —- located between 41 Avenue and 38 Avenue. Most of the centre’s op- erations have moved to new sites in re- cent years and TransLink plans to shut it down entirely in the near future. The city is in the process of develop- ing a policy statement which will pro- vide “a framework for a future rezon- Rees: of the Oakridge neigh- ing application,” according to Susan Haid, assistant director of planning and development services for Vancouver- South. The city has hosted a series of open houses at the VanDusen Botanical Gar- den visitor centre in June and February where members of the public saw dif- ferent development concepts for the site — various configurations of retail, housing and park space - and provided feedback by filling out comment cards. The final open house took place Feb. 16, although members of the public can still review the information and submit comments on the city’s website until March 14. “The community consultation and engagement process is really impor- tant in developing the policy state- ment,” Haid said. “We are listening very closely.” Tracey Moir, a member of the Oakridge Langara Area Residents — a group that vocally opposed residential towers planned for Oakridge Centre - said that it is too early to tell if resi- dents’ concerns will be heard. “Based on previous processes, it’s va- cant consultation,” she said, referring to the Oakridge Centre rezoning. The height discrepancy (nearly 20 storeys) between the 2007 policy statement and the one that was approved by council seven years later caused a neighbour- hood outcry. Moir said her chief concern is a lack of infrastructure to support an increase in population density. She said she is concerned that there will not be ade- quate bus service when new people move into the area. “We do traffic studies and we do as- sess the impact of potential develop- ments that would increase the potential ridership,” said Derrick Cheung, Trans- Link’s vice president of sourcing and real estate. JOIN the debate OAKRIDGE TRANSIT CENTRE Take part in the community consultation process SHARE YOUR COMMENTS Concerned residents can submit comments about the Transit Centre redevelopment at the city's website until March 14, 2015 vancouver.ca KELVIN GAWLEY photo Tracey Moir stands next to one of the development concepts proposed for the Transit Centre site.