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Cambie's Big Ditch Prompts Legal Action

'Remarkable' neighbourhood's activists promise injunction to fight transit construction plans.

Luanne Armstrong 17 Feb 2005TheTyee.ca
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My grown kids and I affectionately refer to it as "the hood." We all live within a few blocks of each other, in an area bordered by 25th Avenue and Broadway just west of Cambie Street. It's a remarkable neighbourhood for a lot of reasons. It's friendly, quiet, safe and full of beautiful old houses with gardens that reflect a great deal of care and pride.

But lately a lot of conversations are turning to the darker matter of what will happen when the RAV line comes calling. On Wednesday, talk was of the prospective legal action, which area merchants and residents have been considering since they learned, just weeks ago, that a three-storey-deep ditch will soon cut through the commercial heart of our neighbourhood.

RAVCo, which is overseeing the construction of the rapid transit line to Richmond, recently revealed plans for a "cut and cover" construction method on Cambie Street. They did so quietly in December, and the community didn't find out about the plans until the end of January. We were expecting a far less disruptive bored tunnel, based on numerous public statements and news stories.

Now the ad-hoc group that opposes cut-and-cover construction has declared it intends to file an injunction against RAVCo, alleging "negligent misrepresentation before a public hearing and municipal vote, in violation inter alia of Section 956 of the Municipal Act."

Impossible to tell

RAVCo has said they couldn't reveal the plans of SNC-Lavalin, the company now contracted to build the line, because of its proprietary nature in a private sector bidding process. As Charlie Smith revealed in last week's Georgia Straight, however, that secret may predate the 2002 Vancouver civic election. Cambie Heritage Boulevard Society president Maurizio Grande alleges that documents show RAVCo officials were seriously considering an SNC-Lavalin cut-and-cover tunnel along Cambie in the summer of 2002.

The community is angry. And not just because there will be a lot of noise from jackhammers, pile drivers and heavy machinery, and a lot of (possibly polluted) dust. People feel misled.

There are four schools along the corridor. And there is a remarkable community of street-friendly businesses that may be seriously damaged by the disruption.

This is a family neighbourhood, kid-friendly and dog-friendly. On sunny weekends, many folks congregate at Douglas Park. They play cricket, soccer or Frisbee; they read, or just lie in the sun. At the Douglas Park playground, many languages are spoken but the kids are only interested in showing off their skills.

My daughter and I have spent a lot of time on the stone bench under the huge maple tree, watching Louis, now three and a half, discover his new territory. Now he goes to pre-school and music lessons at the Douglas Park community centre; in the evenings, his mother and his auntie go to Pilates and the gym. This is the neighbourhood in which Louis will grow up and which he will know as home, unless, as now appears possible, it changes - a lot.

Businesses on the edge

One of the biggest worries is the fate of Cambie's friendly small businesses. I rarely leave my neighbourhood except to work or go to school. For everything else, there is a store with congenial staff between 12th Avenue and 25th. I can watch a movie, get my hair cut, choose from an amazing variety of restaurants, do my photocopying, buy organic food, run across the street to get a couple of excellent used paperbacks or go have a beer and listen to great music.

Over the last six years, many of the store people have become friends. And I always count on a cheerful hello from Bob, the guy who sells The Street newspaper outside Choices.

The 'hood is remarkably self-sufficient, or at least it was until stores started closing. I used to have two grocery stores to choose from but the venerable Produce City is gone. I used to be able to buy a bottle of wine to serve with dinner, but now the liquor store has closed.

Sometimes, neighbours are able to respond to a business in crisis. Last fall, a fire above Black Dog video forced it to close for renovations. Locals organized a silent auction and barbecue one afternoon at Choices. The staff volunteered to cook hamburgers and hotdogs. In a couple of hours, enough money was raised that the Black Dog staff could eat and pay the rent for the next month.

So this is the neighbourhood where SNC-Lavalin proposes to dig its massive ditch. Each segment will be open from three to six months. The whole process will take about two years, so for much of that time, Cambie Street, which now carries 80,000 vehicles a day, will be reduced to two lanes in parts of its length. People are unsure what will happen to the trees on the heritage boulevard.

Community gathering steam

Nearly 100 of us met for a polite protest and information meeting in front of the Park Theatre on February 8. Another protest takes place at city hall today. It may be larger. People are just finding out about the plans, just beginning to assess how it will affect our lives and the businesses we depend on and are friends with.

Despite promises of public consultation on the RAVCo web site, information on the cut-and-cover plan came to public attention as a series of open houses in January were concluding. The community subsequently met with RAVCo and city hall staff, and has only has until February 23 to respond. More information is available on the new community website, www.doRAVright.ca.

Rand Chatterjee is helping to organize a coalition of business people and residents. So far, he says his group has canvassed about 60 merchants. "Many are in shock," he says. "They have about a year to prepare but they don't really know what to expect."

He says there are two main issues. One is the length of disruption. Another issue is the possibility of such pollutants as perchloroethylene, hydrocarbons, heavy metals and solvents and resins being released into the air. There are those nearby elementary schools. Four buried streams also run under the Cambie Street area.

"Neither commercial disruption, traffic gridlock, nor toxic waste handling and disposal would even come up if they were using tunnel boring as a means of construction, which is what they originally announced," says Chatterjee.

He points out that apart from the direct impacts of building and traffic disruption, there will also be up to 15 months of preparation, moving utilities and tearing up pavement, to be ready for the digging itself. According to Chatterjee, soil testing will be done by SNC Lavalin in labs selected by them and he fears they won't be required to share any of this information with the public.

Compensation not possible

Chatterjee says there is no chance of compensation for area businesses because the RAV line is considered a public works project.

Jane Clayton, a former owner of Cambie's Oh Baby store, has lived in the area for 12 years. "I've seen it change from a temporary place to a real neighbourhood," she says. "Nobody used to walk on Cambie Street, and now it is a pedestrian neighbourhood." She feels the disruption will be hard on the small businesses. "The dust and noise will just grind people down. Most businesses just get by day by day."

Susan Heyes of the women's and maternity wear shop, Hazel and Co., describes the current plan as "devastating." Heyes recently signed a five-year lease on her building. "Do you think I would have done that if I'd known? We were lulled into a false sense of security. We all supported the idea of better transit. We all heard bore tunnel. It was such a lie."

Heyes has been in business for 22 years and points out that her store supports 11 other families. "It's not just me. There will be thousands of me's. Small business runs this town. But our small businesses will die. What are we supposed to do? We're up against this big media machine and we're all so busy."

Heyes believes that although the project appears to be a done deal, the business owners still have to organize. "We're sending out a challenge to city hall and also to any one who can help us. Please speak up. This project is socially irresponsible. How dare they take my life and just trash it like that."

Christian Gaudreault of the Tomato Fresh Food Cafe is a little more resigned. He believes with mitigation, no work on weekends, no work after 4:30 p.m., and arrangements for parking, the merchants might survive. But he is worried about the process. "We want some clarity on the schedule," he adds. "Just tell us the truth."

Now, however, some of the merchants have declared that they want more than that. "RAVco is on notice," says Rand Chatterjee. "We want them to go back to the original plan of a bored tunnel."

It's the small things that make a neighbourhood - the smiles, the hellos, and the visits. It's Louis coming over after preschool and going to the NewTown Bakery for a gingerbread man. It's the store clerks I know by name, the sense of connection and belonging. These are some of the strongest and most meaningful things in the world. Now it appears that, in the face of giant corporate machinery, they may also be the most fragile and least important.

Luanne Armstrong writes children's books, novels and non-fiction. She lives in the Kootenays but camps out in Vancouver. Her last book was The Bone House (New Star).  [Tyee]

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