GC 2020
657 results found
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five services in five minutes
Every home should be within five minutes walk of five service--a litre of milk, a library kiosk, a post office, drugstore.... We need a micro-commercial zone to allow these small businesses into every neighbourhood.
24 votes -
Create an "energy playground" for kids
The City of Vancouver could create an energy playground where playground equipment such as swings, see-saws and merry-go-rounds could be modified to generate energy. The more the kids play, the more energy they create. The energy produced could be used to light the playground at night, making it a fully Carbon Neutral playground. All of this equipment exists and is being used in poor villages in Asia and Africa to generating lighting for schools.
27 votesIdea shared with Parks Board
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Smaller Transit options (mini-bus or micro-bus) for Off-Peak times
The use of smaller size buses during off peak hours will help reducing carbon emissions. Having a smaller full bus is more efficient than having large half empty buses during off peak times.
10 votes -
More car diverters on busy bike routes
Add more car diverters to busy bike routes: they work!
15 votesThe City implemented several new trial diverters on various bike routes in the summer of 2010. This is part of a program to reduce non-local traffic volumes on those bikeways and to make the bikeways more comfortable for cyclists for all ages and abilities. The pending active transportation plan will explore opportunities for further traffic calming on our bikeways.
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Bylaw that required planting flowering trees/shrubs
In all parks and for all buildings that incorporate plants, there should be a bylaw that limits plant choices to those that flower, this is an improtant step to keeping our native bee populations heathly, without bees out entire way of life is compromised, I know that many people here have suggested planting but what we plant is also important, plant bushes and trees that add to the entire ecology, fruiting trees or nut trees and natural bushes like salmon berry will help sustain our wild bees.
21 votes -
Attractive Sidewalks *
Beautify pedestrian ways to attract more walking, with:
- rainbow / sparkly sidewalks in high traffic areas
- sidewalk canopies: tree overhangs, resident-owned PV
- incentives for merchants to beautify their sidewalk area
- neighbourhood identity expressed by residents' design for sidewalks
- textured pavement to define pedestrian areas, or neighbourhoods
- "pedestrianscape" that allows the pedestrian to explore a delightful journey as the travel past varied points of interest along their walk
- sidewalk cafes, laneways pubs / cafes / restaurants
- separate lanes for pedestrian, wheeled traffic: rollerblading & skateboarding, bikes, cars
- buffers between separate lanes of…23 votesThe quality and attractiveness of the pedestrian experience is a primary consideration in public realm planning and design. However, there is an opportunity to be more creative in the design of specific elements, such as sidewalk materials, and incentives/requirements for pedestrian-oriented building design and facade improvements.
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Include rentable, inspected kitchens in the mandate of Parks Board's community/rec centres
Growing food is just part of the local food solution. We also need affordable, inspected kitchen spaces for canning workshops, hands-on cooking classes, community kitchens and small scale food processing.
As part of the move towards food precincts or neighbourhood food centres Vancouver needs kitchens.
The Kits and Mount Pleasant Community Centres do have kitchens, but they are not available for the public to rent. Trout Lake's new facility will have a rent-able kitchen but it is a rare case.
11 votes -
Switch building from natural gas to electricity
Burning fossil fuels to heat our homes and buildings is the single biggest source of climate damage coming from Vancouver. It is 50% of city GHGs and much more damaging than all vehicle emissions. Vancouver should levy a carbon tax on natural gas and use it to subsidize people who choose to switch to electric heating, especially heat pumps. Vancouver will never be able to meet its climate goals and responsibility until nearly all natural gas burning is stopped. No new technology is needed as many buildings already are fully electric and have been for decades. Today 41% of energy…
8 votes -
Create an interconnected urban ecosystem across the City
Imagine a continuous canopy and healthy forest ecosystem spanning across the entire City.
21 votes -
Create a free bus lottery for transit riders
Create a free lottery to randomly reward people who ride the bus. Fund the bus rider's jackpot by placing a small levy on Vancouver parking meters. If each meter contributed 50 cents per day on average, we'd have a daily prize pool of around $4000. This is enough to create some small but significant instant cash prizes. The media attention from this initiative would help to encourage ridership as much as the prizes themselves would.
12 votes -
Plant additional trees on wide boulevards
Additional trees could be planted on streets with wide boulevards such as Charles between Nanaimo and Renfrew.
48 votes -
Promote hotels that offer biodegradable guest amenities
Plastic is a problem in landfill because it takes over 450 years for plastic to break down (if it ever does break down). Hotels dispose of billions of hotel size shampoo bottles in landfill each year. Technology exists to produce plastic shampoo bottles that will biodegrade in landfill in less than 9 years. Vancouver can offer special recognition to the hotels that offer guests this new environmentally responsible product as the more hotels that contribute to this cause, landfill waste will be saved one inch at a time. Starting small can offer big rewards.
27 votes -
Neighbourhood "de-car-missioning"
Neighbourhood collaboration to completely reclaim streets from cars to maximize existing space in support of community initiatives and collective resources; composting, gardens, water storage, outdoor ovens, etc. Encourages depaving and city beautification. Supports and encourages active modes of transportation.
28 votesThis idea has been included in the draft Greenest City Action Plan; we encourage neighbours to get together and develop project ideas.
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bike elevator
Bike elevators are used in Norway to assist with steep hills - used much like a T-Bar on a ski hill. Place them in a few strategic areas to increase bike traffic (and reduce cars!).
See http://www.trampe.no/english/ for an example.19 votesBike escalators are an interesting idea that may make sense elsewhere in the region (e.g. urban bike routes with a very steep, extended incline). The City of North Vancouver has expressed interest in the past in this idea for Lonsdale Avenue.
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Conserve our Urban Biodiversity: Save Vancouver’s Last Wild Salmon Stream
At one time there were an estimated 100,000 salmon and sea-run trout spawning in the more than 50 creeks and streams that spread across Vancouver. As the city grew they were buried beneath pavement and landfill, or were crowded out by development so that salmon could no longer spawn within them. One by one our streams were lost.
Amazingly Musqueam Creek survived and today is Vancouver's only remaining wild salmon stream. What does that mean? It means the Musqueam Creek Coho salmon are wild having spent their entire lifecycle in the wild, originating from parents and grandparents and great grand…
26 votes -
High Speed Rail to Seattle
From waterfront station tunnel underground to YVR then the line would follow parallel to highway 99 and then follow the I-5. Traveling an average speed of 250 km/hr you could reach YVR in 3 min at 4.10$, the border in 14 min, Bellingham in 23 min at 29.00$, Everett in 46 min at 58.00$ and finally Seattle in 57 min at 71.63$..... Imagine the possibilities of being able to travel to from downtown Vancouver to Downtown Seattle in just under an hour. Not only would this create green jobs, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it would also…
626 votesThis idea is not included in the Draft Greenest City Action Plan, but it is supported in principle. Convened a high speed rail summit in July 2010 to discuss this proposal
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B.C. Place's exterior should be green!!!
B.C. Place's cement area (exterior) I think should be covered in plants and flowers. I think that would look nice and gives a fresh scent, plus it is good for Vancouver!
16 votes -
All Jobs Green
Greening ALL jobs through all organizations being required to meet minimum responsible practice standards set out by a government sponsored social enterprise which supports and builds day to day organizational capacity in lighter footprint futures and positive legacy.
22 votes -
School Compost and Recycling Programs
Install more Recycling and Compost areas inside Schools to decrease litter and keep school gardens healthy
18 votes -
Reduce/Stop Idling
Strengthen the anti-idling bylaws to stop idling of all vehicles beyond 20 seconds. Advertise widely that the idling fumes are a poison to our lungs. Get the police and all service vehicles included, the police to sport anti-idling decals on their vehicles. People just don't think about idling, sitting waiting for people to get in or out of their cars, when on their cell phones etc. Pay for the advertising by fines.
14 votesThe City of Vancouver Bylaw #9344 prohibits idling beyond 3 minutes. The 3 minute limit balances enforceability, operational practicalities and engine wear considerations.
