Lock location looked at for lovers
City fears padlocks added to bridges could present hazards
If all goes according to plan, Vancouver’s engineering department may soon be rid of the disagreeable task of summarily severing the symbols of unbreakable and everlasting love that sweethearts have taken to affixing to structures about town in recent years.
Park board commissioners are set to consider next week hiring an artist to sculpt a structure hefty enough to safely bear the weight and import of a city’s worth of love locks. The proposed plan comes amid fear the accumulation of love locks on structures like the Burrard Bridge could put people in danger, according to a report prepared by board staff.
“While the weight of a single lock is insignificant, the accumulation of thousands of locks creates a substantive weight that can damage infrastructure,” according to the report.
Staff pointed in their report to Paris’ Pont des Arts, where a railing recently collapsed under the weight of the locks lovers had attached to it. The bridge is burdened by about one million love locks that collectively weigh 45 metric tonnes, according to the report. Officials there have resorted to cutting away and replacing sections of railing to lighten the load.
While Vancouver’s love lock woes are nothing approaching that of the city of love, staff did find a safety concern that the plan is in part meant to alleviate. After lovers secure their locks — typically on the Burrard Bridge in this city — they tend to cast the keys from the deck, putting people below at risk, according to the report.
City Councillor George Affleck said he has visited Paris and has seen the love lock problem its officials are dealing with first hand. Affleck won’t have a vote on Monday when park board commissioners consider the plan. But it is an issue he’s well acquainted with. Affleck, a non-Partisan Association member, raised a motion before the council last year to try to deal with the locks. The motion was then amended to state that Affleck — with no help from staff or a budget — would find an alternative location.
“So basically saying I had to go do it as opposed to saying, ‘Staff: do this.’ It was quite ridiculous, to be honest,” said Affleck, who took the cheeky amendment on the chin and decided to make the best of the situation. “I’m like, ‘Awesome, great. I can do that.’”
Soon after, park board commissioners directed staff to look into possible locations for a love lock structure. Affleck said that with his fellow NPA members in control of the park board, the motion he got rolling now has a chance to find some resolution.
“I’m really excited that this is moving forward,” he said.
Vancouver is not the first city to consider erecting sanctioned sculptures to battle the proliferation of love locks. Toronto, Seoul and Moscow have already put up their own structures to seeming success.
Key to Vancouver’s plan is finding a location for a sculpture that is attractive enough to lure lovers away from structures like the Burrard Bridge. To that end, staff recommended commissioners seek help from residents to pinpoint an appropriate piece of park land in the city. Shortlisted for public feedback were English Bay Beach, Kitsilano Beach and Queen Elizabeth Park Plaza.
Should commissioners approve on Monday a plan to install a similar sculpture in Vancouver, city residents will be asked to speak up on their preferred spot in an online survey.
When asked which location he would like to see selected, Affleck said it was hard to choose, but Queen Elizabeth Park “would be pretty cool, given the amount of marriages that happen up there.”
Affleck said he and his partner opted not to affix a love lock to Paris’ bridge when he visited the city.
But if Vancouver puts up a love lock structure, “I will get the biggest lock in town that I can find and put it up for Amanda,” he said.