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How can we reach our 2020
Greenest City Targets?

GC 2020

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42 results found

  1. Treat our land and resources as sacred

    Include First Nations and/or elders on ways to respect our land and resources that make them sacred. Defining a culture that connects our past to the present.

    15 votes
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  2. Remove more Grass in Public Parks and Plant More Shrubs and Trees

    Our community parks are covered with grass fields. Some are used as playing fields for playing soccer, baseball, cricket etc. Others just exist for picnics, impromptu ball games and for their own sake.

    These grassy fields take too much work! Large machines mow the grass every few weeks, spread earth, sand, seed and lime and aerate the soil. Around the fields there is another large machine that gathers up and mashes leaves in the fall. Then there are countless smaller machines working the perimeter of the fields and on the boulevard. They are manned by Parks Board employees who are…

    15 votes
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  3. Community-led, City-funded Neighbourhood Beautification!

    Dedicate a City fund to neighbourhood beautification led by citizens. The city becomes more beautiful and residents have ownership over spaces in their neighbourhoods. A win-win approach with resilient outcomes.

    Projects could include: developing park spaces, recreation spaces, depaving, constructing community gardens, building simple community space infrastructure, creating public art, etc.

    Citizens would approach the City department with requests for beautification projects in their neighbourhoods providing project details and numbers of volunteers available. The City would assess the project for cost and effectiveness. If approved, the City would provide skilled supervisors, tools, a project schedule and infrastructure funding. The citizens…

    14 votes
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  4. Restore nature in Stanley Park by banning cars

    Ban private vehicles altogether - a public streetcar circling the park is all that's necessary. Work towards removal of Stanley Park Causeway altogether, providing an alternate crossing of the inlet. Every major remaining urban forest in BC has a highway running through it (e.g. Goldstream, Cathedral Grove). What message does that send out, I wonder?

    13 votes
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  5. Promote & encourage the use of publically-owned properties with green space for recreation & leisure

    Promote and encourage the use of publically-owned green space for recreation and leisure. For example, the RCMP Fairmont Academy at 4949 Heather. Encourage tree planting, landscaping and installation of benches, etc. to improve the aesthetics and experience of these sites.

    11 votes
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  6. Cleanup and Steward the Local Beaches and Riverfront

    Before 1850 the shores of Vancouver were pristine filled with plant and animal life. Streams ran easily into the ocean and the estuaries and deltas were a rich in a mix of fresh and seawater which encouraged even more rich ecosystems.

    Today the shoreline of Vancouver is a shadow of its former self. While we cannot bring back the richness of what was 150 years ago, we can cleanup more of the shoreline to make it more habitable for fish and sealife. Guaranteed if this happened the life would return in greater numbers.

    Neighbourhoods could “adopt a shoreline” and keep…

    11 votes
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  7. Ban New paving

    Stop paving green space! There is a new unneeded and ugly sidewalk (8th ave example) and the US style electric lit AstroTurf rec complex at Jericho that has taken ridiculous amounts of green space away - leave well enough alone!

    10 votes
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  8. Ensure Park Board had adequate funding for programs and maintenance of facilities.

    Building more parks is great, but they are far more valuable if there are community oriented programs available and the park infrastructure is maintained and attractive.

    10 votes
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  9. redesign the "islands" under the cambie bridge

    The current granite rubble covering the piers of the cambie bridge is both ugly and sterile. This area could be easily redesigned into a viable habitat that would provide a sheltered/inaccessible piece of false creek to encourage both terrestrial and marine wildlife.

    9 votes
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  10. Grow Indigenous Trees on Empty Lots

    In the denser areas of our city where there are lots of building more than 4 stories, we should plant some pocket forests of indigenous conifers such as cedar, douglas fir and hemlock. These trees grow quickly. They would add oxygen, wildlife and calm to congested areas.

    This sounds like a far-out idea, but it is totally possible. It is especially possible in the Downtown Eastside. Our inner cities need more trees and fewer highrises to contribute to the health of the residents and the earth.

    http://www.treepeople.org

    9 votes
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  11. Encourage a Moratorium on Surf Smelt fishing on Vancouver’s Beaches

    Forage fish such as surf smelts, oolichans and herring are essential parts of the food chain. They are “forage” for the larger fish such as salmon. Our salmon runs are collapsing in part because the same negative influences on the bigger fish such as pollution, climate change and overfishing are also affecting the smaller forage fish.

    Since the numbers of forage fish are now so low, we need to create a moratorium on their capture locally. The beaches and the waters that surround them are the federal jurisdiction of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. At present there is a…

    8 votes
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  12. Daylighting

    I've frequently suggested that fibre optics would be useful to daylight culverts in instances where it's impractical to open them up immediately. People are using this method to bring natural light into their living rooms, why not into culverts. Is there something that prevents this method, I've been suggesting it for years. For instance, there are thousands of yards of creekbed that are inaccessible to salmon in Pacific Spirit Park because of the length of the culverts crossing Marine Dr. and yet this method has never been employed.

    5 votes
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  13. Change zoning to maximizing landscaping of back yards by disallowing garages and laneway houses.

    Garages and laneway houses use up green space. Zoning should permit surface parking in rear yards provided the surface is grassy or otherwise landscaped.

    5 votes
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  14. wooden sidewalks

    Concrete production is one of the greatest greenhouse gas emitters The great expanses of solid surfaces in roads, parking lots, and sidewalks greatly increase rates of water run-off, impacting groundwater, streams, and near-shore ecosystems. Paving over nature also removed it, of course. A greener city includes more green, less grey concrete or black pavement. In BC, we already have several places where wooden walkways are in use in artistically pleasing and practical ways, placed with the intention of creating a lighter footprint. Is it absolutely essential that every sidewalk in Vancouver be made of concrete? As a start, I advocate…

    5 votes
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  15. Support locals to green under-served local parks

    I lived next to Tatlow Park for many years (2nd ave at Macdonald). It's a stunning little park, with a daylighted stream, but it's actually pretty bare and has so much more potential to be beautiful. The city could provide matching grants if a local community self-organized to plant more native plants to further naturalize the park, or it could provide these plants at cost from a city-run nursury, and provide technical support to how to green the park in a way that balanced the needs of all residents. Our parks are beautiful but some could use more love, and…

    5 votes
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  16. Put the Blue into Green: Encourage Abundant Groundwater flow:

    to have a credible green policy, Vancouver must include water in the planning. Sound water policy would include Encouragement of Abundant Groundwater flow: We must use less concrete and asphalt in our infrastructure in favour of ground water permeable aggregates. The city should prohibit asphalt use for parking lots and drive ways. There are many excellent alternative materials that are water permeable. All traffic calming barriers (i.e. traffic bulges and traffic circles) should have open, soil and indigenous plant filled centers. At the moment, the type and abundance of boulevard plantings is limited because our boulevards are essentially deserts. Surrounded…

    5 votes
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  17. natural heritage

    Encourage a reverence-for-nature mindset by designating specific trees / forests / creeks / natural zones (if any remain or are restored) with heritage designation signs and legal (possibly physical) protection as is done for old houses and buildings. Restore Gassy Jack's Bigleaf maple tree. Create a signed natural heritage walk in downtown Vancouver, highlighting important natural habitats or restoration projects and new protections.

    4 votes
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  18. Permeable pavements

    Use permeable paving in suitable areas with lower traffic volume (e.g. big block parking lots or smaller side streets)

    4 votes
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  19. Create tax incentives for businesses to add planted outdoor spaces for their patrons

    [Submitted via mail by Penny Perry]

    "usinesses should be rewarded with lower taxes if they supply a planted refuge for their patrons. I am thinking of the fabulous space provided by La Casa Gelato on Glen Drive."

    4 votes
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  20. Encourage public-led programs in parks and plazas

    Older cities around the globe are models for how to create dense, livable neighbourhoods. Creating smaller housing units in denser neighbourhoods is a great way to get people to live closer to the urban centre and preserve natural and agricultural areas in metropolitan area. Density alone will not create livable, dense cities. Parks and plazas become critical as they the space that was lost as the housing units and lot sizes get smaller. Many of the programs in public parks provide recreation opportunities, but there is also value in programs and events that enhance community. Some of these programs can…

    3 votes
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