Downtown Eastside residents take up pens in Centerm fight
Petition signatories fear their objections to expansion plans won’t be considered
A group of Downtown Eastside residents will present a 13,000-signature petition on Thursday to the Port of Vancouver, opposing plans to expand the Centerm container terminal.
The expansion includes a 2.8-hectare infill in front of CRAB Park, which protesters contend would essentially eliminate the park as “healthy waterfront green space” for the neighbourhood.
Barb Daniel, spokeswoman for the Four Sisters Housing Co-op and a member of the opposition movement, said the port’s public consultation on the expansion is not in good faith, since the consultation session’s invitations state public input would only affect mitigation measures after the project has been built.
“People have been attending these consultations in good faith, thinking their input would make a difference to the port’s plans right in front of their treasured park,” Daniel said.
“But none of the people’s input will even be considered, despite all the information the port has been getting about what a disaster this expansion would be for this neighbourhood.”
In a statement, the port said officials “understand the community’s concern that their voices will not be heard,” and that two more rounds of consultations are being held, including one in mid2017. The statement added the project “will not go ahead unless it can be demonstrated it has no significant adverse impacts that cannot be mitigated.”
“It is to be expected that not everyone will be satisfied with our process or its outcome, but we are completely committed to a thorough, robust, science-based project and environmental review that incorporates community concerns,” the statement said.
On the port website, officials say the expansion is aimed “to help meet anticipated near-term demand for containers to be shipped through Vancouver,” adding the improvements would boost maximum container handling capacity by 67 per cent. The port is holding the first open house on the proposal Thursday at the Japanese Language School on 487 Alexander St. — where the petitioners will hold a small rally before the event.
City officials said the challenge on this issue comes from the fact that CRAB Park is built on port land and leased by the municipality, and the port’s governance structure is completely separate from the city and does not answer directly to local voters, but to federal regulators.
“They actually did their first (Centerm) expansion a few years ago without consulting the neighbourhood at all,” said Michael Wiebe, chairman of the Vancouver park board. “I’m glad the port has gone with a public consultation, and I do think they can continue to work so that it reaches more than just a couple blocks’ radius.”
Wiebe said the park board is already looking at adding new parks in the land currently occupied by the viaducts, as well as extending CRAB Park westward and improving the amenities for residents to have access to green space.
Daniel, however, said such moves would not undo the damage from a Centerm expansion for many residents.
“It’s completely unacceptable,” she said.
“How can they mitigate the destruction of our waterfront and the taking away of essentially our only usable green space in the Downtown Eastside? Even if they pretty up the parks that they are going to have once they take down the viaducts, it will have no effect whatsoever in mitigating the actual, permanent damage they will be doing to the waterfront.”
People have been attending these consultations in good faith, thinking their input would make a difference.