Hard News: On the Waterfront
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And the irony is that many Aucklanders would too, if anyone actually asked. Instead we get dithering then panic from our "leaders".
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'coulda been a contender' joke
'coulda been a container... wharf.
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And the irony is that many Aucklanders would too, if anyone actually asked. Instead we get dithering then panic from our "leaders".
So a mayor that put a nice bit of grass on the waterfront and a tree back on One tree hill would get re-elected?
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Too late to do either properly and inclusively, which is more the issue. We always get a trade-off presented as inevitable when it doesn't have to be.
Can't see Ngati Whatua agreeing to another tree until the matter of their place at the new regional table is resolved, either.
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Off-topic but Fran O'Sullivan reckons our government should be leaning on banks to bail out those poor dairy farmers.
How novel to suggest privatising the profits and socialising the losses. Original headline online was "Govt needs to assist dairy sector", since changed to "Govt needs to show leadership on dairy".
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i'm assuming you read F. O'Sullivan as a public-minded service for the rest of us (it's a dirty job but...etc.).
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We share the load. Some read whaleboy..
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Get the set designers for Outrageous Fortune to whip up something that showcases our quarter acre heritage
Well not exactly but there are set designers amongst us, so that could be arranged.
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And Harry Sinclair and Don McGlashan to croon from the deckchairs.
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And Harry Sinclair and Don McGlashan to croon from the deckchairs.
Let's say Chris Knox from deck or wheel chair.:)
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Ae. Not Given Lightly deserves a global audience.
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Ae
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Dyan C - the only city in the world (havent gone to many, mind) that I felt instantly at home in - aside from Dunedin (where I should feel at home in, given the considerable whanau connections!)- was Vancouver.
I'm glad you liked it, Islander - Vancouver is a very nice place to be (even the CBD) but mostly for things that are not the city at all - forest, beaches, mountain views (with snow the Lions really do look like Lions). Being able to watch sea otters play on rocks, eagles swooping around and raccoons ambling around is very appealing, especially right downtown in a big city.
Mind you, Vancouver is not without its horrors - the number of homeless people jumped (in 15 years) from under 100 to somewhere between 15 and 17,000 - which is a lot of people to be begging in the streets and sleeping rough.
This was maybe the most distressing change I found, after many years absence. Despite being on holiday there I spent a good chunk of my time at the Downtown Eastside Residents Association, trying to find some answer as to why there should be such a dramatic rise in homelessness - which in turn has caused a new callousness in Vancouverites that I found hugely disturbing.
I am told the main causes of homelessness is completely different now than they were when I lived there. 25 years ago the few people who lived on the streets were addicts or alcoholics, and were literally on a first name basis with the outreach workers who would care for them. These days the outreach workers tell me the addicts/winos comprise less than 15% of the homeless, who are now mostly mentally ill patients who are (apparently) able bodied, but unable to function. BC closed all facilities for mental patients a while ago, and this move coincided with a massive rise in real estate and rental prices - so all those marginal people who once had places to live now live out of dumpsters and in doorways. And even further to that, all the marginal people from colder provinces (i.e. the rest of Canada) flock to the west coast, as it is easier to live on the margins there than it is in elsewhere.
Uh, don't mean to rant, but it really disturbed me last couple of visits. But I do love the place myself - I was thrilled to read (NZ born WWII heroine) Nancy Wake's account of visiting and falling in love with Vancouver, so many years ago - in the early 1930s I think. She danced on the rooftop at the Hotel Vancouver exactly where I did some 50 years later.
Hey, Islander - how long have your whanau been there? I probably know some of them.
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Kia ora dyan c -yep, aside from CDB (which is couth and had some of the best sashimi I've ever eaten), being able to get very quickly out there to where the wild things are was an unexpected joy-
I was there in 1995, and probably the emptying out of mental hospitals and homes hadnt caused much impact then...one of my uncles* spent over a quarter of a century in Red Deer, working as a pyschiatric nurse, and was there when the emptying-out started. He was horrified to return home - and discover the same thing was starting here. With similar results-
I appreciate the rant: it was a social mistake and, while the old systems were imperfect (and some nasty things happened within them), the sudden change made a lot of vulnerable people even more vulnerable...
And, hey, I'm pretty sure the Hotel Vancouver was where we stayed for nearly 2 weeks! C'mon Lotto! My mother & self could renew our acquaintance with a good city - and this time Mary would definitely come asampling the sushi et al (she didnt like sushi having had an unfortunate encounter with wasabi a decade before in Hawaii, and has metaphorically kicked herself ever since - " Salmonskin makizushi with black cod? Moooaan. I really didnt know why you were raving-"
* the only whanau I had in Canada: in Dunedin, we've been around for over 3 centuries.
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Vancouver is a very nice place to be (even the CBD) but mostly for things that are not the city at all - forest, beaches, mountain views (with snow the Lions really do look like Lions).
That's great - but... any old small town could be near forest, beaches, mountain views etc. I agree with what Robyn said earlier: let's not pretend cities aren't cities.
My take on the whole waterfront development is that New Zealanders don't like to acknowledge there are cities in this country. The national image is an aerial shot of the Southern Alps or Milford Sound. We forget about urban areas (witness the resistence to the new Auckland city promos).
And when we do build new things, we try to evoke the "traditional" New Zealand things. Britomart has a Kauri grove, ponga, large illuminated photos of native bush and metal tree sculptures. It's as if it's totally embarassed to be a modern urban transport centre and is trying to disguise itself as a pre-European forest.
By filling up the waterfront with exciting bars, cafes, restaurants, public art and seats, it's definitely acknowledging that this isn't one of those isolated windswept beaches with a craggy pohutukawa; it's an urban harbourside area with concrete and lots and lots of people.
Amen.
(None of which is to criticise Vancouver; I haven't been there. Just sayin' is all.)
PS. Loved Amsterdam when I was their recently. One of my favourite cities.
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What should they do to attract people on a sunday afternoon:
http://media.travstar.com.au/dbimg/rg_i_1212.jpg
What about a park and lagoon pool like the Cairns esplanade.
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Interesting to hear some stuff about Vancouver - a very nice city from my experience of it. One of the best things about it is the ability to walk along the harbour edge throughout almost the entire inner-city. This should be a long-term goal for Auckland in my opinion.
Interesting idea Logan. How would a lagoon work on a wharf though? Could be some tricky engineering there.
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WH,
@ Danielle
Sometimes when you bring the thunder you get lost in the storm
Heh. This could be the next big thing for me going forward.
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I was thrilled to read (NZ born WWII heroine) Nancy Wake's account of visiting and falling in love with Vancouver
Dyan - again, coincidentally, I've just been reading about 'the white mouse'.
Amazing woman.
Her French companions praised her fighting spirit; amply demonstrated when she killed an SS sentry with her bare hands to prevent him raising the alarm during a raid
Anyway. As you were.
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What about a park and lagoon pool like the Cairns esplanade
They had to build that though, coz a muddy creek full of things that want to eat you wasn't much of a tourist attraction.
I went to Cairns in '87 and it was way nicer than today.
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They had to build that though, coz a muddy creek full of things that want to eat you wasn't much of a tourist attraction.
I dunno, Steve Irwin did alright out of it.
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Mind you, Vancouver is not without its horrors - the number of homeless people jumped (in 15 years) from under 100 to somewhere between 15 and 17,000 - which is a lot of people to be begging in the streets and sleeping rough.
Interesting. I'm just back from a week in Victoria, BC, and the homeless problem is very visible there, too. The rumour I heard is that Vancouver's homeless are being given bus tickets out of the city in advance of the Winter Olympics next year, and that a lot of them are ending up in Victoria.
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That's great - but... any old small town could be near forest, beaches, mountain views etc. I agree with what Robyn said earlier: let's not pretend cities aren't cities.
Not near the city, in the city, in Vancouver anyway.
By filling up the waterfront with exciting bars, cafes, restaurants, public art and seats, it's definitely acknowledging that this isn't one of those isolated windswept beaches with a craggy pohutukawa; it's an urban harbourside area with concrete and lots and lots of people.
But those urban, harbourside bars, cafes and restaurants are hugely enhanced by green spaces - the public art and seats are best enjoyed if there is some provision made for parks and playgrounds. Keeping children happy in the CBD - plus keeping the inhabitants fit and active - should be two of the main objectives of any urban planner.
Jolisa and I have both linked to this already, but do have a look - something like this could work on Auckland's waterfront.
As seen in the picture of the fountain - set between two fields - in Vancouver's CBD - the art/fountain/playground serves several purposes, the main one being a pleasant thing to watch for adults in the bars/cafes and a pleasant thing to play in for the kids.It is essential in any functioning city to have an environment where different age groups with different interests can mix, but without encroaching on each other's space.
Dyan - again, coincidentally, I've just been reading about 'the white mouse'.
Amazing woman.What an astonishing woman she is! Nancy Wake is still alive (95 years old I think) and living at the Star and Garter rest home for war heroes in London. The book by (rugy player) Peter Fitsimmons is well worth reading as well.
The rumour I heard is that Vancouver's homeless are being given bus tickets out of the city in advance of the Winter Olympics next year, and that a lot of them are ending up in Victoria.
Yes, I heard this too. There is a callus attitude towards the poor and the marginal that didn't exist 15 - 20 years ago.
All the waterfront development in the world doesn't compensate for that humane, friendly feeling that has since been lost from both Vancouver and Victoria. That and both Chinatowns (each city has one) are now derelict and quite depressing - they used to be thriving, bustling places that really did feel, for a few streets, like another country.
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O dear. I remember the Vancouver Chinatown -& the eateries! - with great pleasure...would the faint stirring of hostility towards new Asian immigrants (which both Mary & self picked up on in 1995) have anything to do with the current dereliction?
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O dear. I remember the Vancouver Chinatown -& the eateries! - with great pleasure...would the faint stirring of hostility towards new Asian immigrants (which both Mary & self picked up on in 1995) have anything to do with the current dereliction?
Hostility towards Asian immigrants in Vancouver? Vancouver is Asian, my family would be typical of a Vancouver family in having a Chinese branch, and a Japanese branch (most named Campbell) and I can't imagine Asians being anything but at home in Canada, particularly Vancouver. What did you pick up on? There are racists everywhere, but in Canada they usually have the sense to hide themselves.
The dereliction of Chinatown is a result of the meteoric academic and economic rise of Chinese families. In Little Italy or Greek Town (in Vancouver) you will find the sons and daughters of restaurant owners and merchants who go into the family business. In Chinatown the sons and daughters of those people are now Canada's leading clinicians, engineers, architects, researchers, judges etc. And new Asian immigrants also tend to be highly educated (and rich) and don't tend to move into the restaurant/grocery business.
Most of the restaurant owners and merchants I saw in Chinatown these days are pretty elderly, and the streets have lost their energy. There are full of tourists, but no hawkers selling lychees, winter melons and snow pears, and there are hardly any Chinese bakeries anymore. My beloved Loong Foong Bakery is no more.
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