NO housing on Garden City Lands!

This is a follow-up to the previous post, “Affordable housing on the Garden City lands?” (with the question mark at the end), which the Richmond News published in its Nov. 25 issue as “Garden City key to affordable housing.” It was prompted by a Nov. 20 News article, “Free land offered: Society,” and Malcolm Brodie, [...]

Affordable housing on the Garden City Lands?

Re “Free land offered: Society” (Richmond News, Nov. 20).
We’re told that Richmond’s mayor offered land to a Surrey society for affordable housing and “identified the Garden City lands as a possible location.”
The federal government is disposing of that property, and the city wants to buy it. As farmland in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), it is [...]

California drought and us

“Food aid grows in California’s agricultural heart,” says the heading of a Wall Street Journal article. The caption for a video clip in the article summarizes like this:
California’s Central Valley normally serves as the nation’s food basket. But amid a severe drought in the region, so many farmers have lost their jobs, they are being forced [...]

Terra Nova – an inspiring saga

Prologue: For those who envision a community-changing future for the Garden City Lands, there is much to learn from Terra Nova, especially since Richmond recently received an award for Terra Nova Rural Park. It is located at the west end of Westminster Highway near Sturgeon Bank and shown on this Garden City Lands Coalition website [...]

True food security?

I kept laughing out loud when reading “Protecting the ALR isn’t about food security,” an op-ed column in the October 20 Vancouver Sun. It read like a parody of absurd arguments against local food security and the Agricultural Land Reserve, complete with a photo of the Garden City Lands. Then I googled and found that the writer, [...]

Southgate re Peschisolido

A letter under the headline “Peschisolido is wrong about Wong and the Garden City lands” appeared in the September 25 issue of the Richmond Review. The writer is Carol Southgate, a director of the Garden City Lands Coaliton Society. Carol is also a local grower with a small farm, and she is a member of the Richmond [...]

Time limits on public hearings

It seems that Richmond council is considering time limits on public hearings. Whether that’s a good idea or not, the Garden City Lands Public Hearing in March 2008 should not be used to support the idea. If that hearing is any indication, the current system is helping democracy just fine. The Richmond Review has published [...]

Springboard for action ASAP

Renegotiations about the future of the Garden City Lands in Richmond, B.C., are close to completion. This is a crucial period. We have urged supporters to act by contacting Canada Lands Company and other parties. The following 943 words are the best we can do to provide thorough current background. Please take five minutes to [...]

Renegotiation within the “MOU”

Renegotiation within the basic Garden City Lands agreement has begun. As far as we can learn, it was held up by some of the usual sabre-rattling from the lawyer for the Musqueam Indian Band. In any case, reliable sources say the process began in earnest in a meeting at Richmond City Hall on Thursday, June 18.
The intent appears to [...]

The Lands and the Green Zone

“Garden City lands not in green zone,” Alan Campbell’s well-written article in the Richmond News, has brought light to a topic that needed it. Allow me to add three candles.
First, strengthening Metro Vancouver’s Green/Agricultural Zone will be good for Richmond. With agricultural-zone solidarity at the city, metro, and provincial (ALR) levels, Richmond may even stand [...]

No. 4 Road and double standards

Bulletin added on May 20: This matter has been deferred to the next Planning Committee meeting (in June).
On Wednesday, May 20, at 4 p.m., Richmond Council’s Planning Committee is considering whether to pass on to the Agricultural Land Commission some applications to exclude No. 4 Road properties from the ALR. There’s also an application to [...]

Reflections about the May 11 meeting

The three posts below this one describe a May 11, 2009, Richmond council meeting about Richmond’s input to Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy. Four Garden City Lands Coalition members made short presentations. My mind is now back on the topic because there’s a Regional Growth Strategy public consultation tonight. (It’s at the Richmond Cultural Centre, [...]

Surprise council meeting, Mon., May 11, 4 p.m.

A surprise meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Richmond Council has just been called for 4 p.m. on Monday, May 11, in the Anderson Room at Richmond City Hall, 6911 No. 3 Road (2nd floor).
The mayor and city staff will try to get their ideas about Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) past council [...]

Danger signal from Canada Lands Company

Mark Laroche, president of Canada Lands Company, has written to Richmond citizen Carol Southgate. Mr. Laroche essentially agrees with Carol’s statements to him about the company’s mandate, which emphasizes community benefit. However, his letter goes on to suggest that the Garden City Lands’ protection by the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) prevents the company from having [...]

A quick Upton visit

We continue to monitor Upton Farm, the Prince Edward Island issue that has much in common with the Garden City Lands issue in British Columbia.
The Upton Farm Consultation Process has moved Charlottetown’s version of the Garden City Lands further ahead than ours, although their process moves slowly too.
Updates on the Upton Farm Preservation Network blog [...]

“Coffin hotel”—Sing Tao version

Local Traditional Chinese newspaper Sing Tao picked up the Richmond News’s “Coffin hotel to be built on Garden City lands” April Fool’s joke and published it as news in this article in Sunday’s issue. The following is from a free online automatic translation program, which no doubt does not do justice to the Sing Tao original.
Very [...]

Learning from Detroit—“Motor City” of all places!

We were copied on a brief message to city council today bringing attention to “World’s largest urban farm planned for Detroit.” It’s food for thought.
In some ways, the Detroit plan seems parallel to the urban agriculture proposals for the Garden City Lands. Evidently “Hantz Farms is working directly with Michigan State University to add its expertise on [...]

“Coffin hotel”

The April 1 Richmond News devoted the front page to an “affordable housing” article, “Coffin hotel to be built on Garden City lands.” The content about bodies was dicey, but the story was clever, funny, and appropriate for the occasion, April Fools’ Day.
Judging from outraged reactions that reached me, many citizens took the article seriously, though, [...]

Keeping the Holm fires burning

There is a good news about Wendy Holm of Bowen Island, who has been a strong Save-Garden-City supporter. Wendy, a professional agrologist with an impressive resume as a leader, writer, and humanitarian, has fearlessly stood up for agrologists who dare to give second opinions.
In dealing with the Garden City Lands issue, we have seen [...]

Save-Garden-City MLA candidates

Update: An updated version of this post is dated April 22, 2009.
The Garden City Lands issue has had a big effect on two elections in Richmond, first at the federal level and then at the city level. On May 12, 2009, it could well influence the provincial election.
Unlike the federal and city governments, the provincial [...]

New lessons from Upton Farm

As we have mentioned in earlier posts, there’s a situation that’s much like ours in Prince Edward Island. Their Garden City Lands is called Upton Farm.
For some readers, this post will be an update. Let’s begin with some background as a review for them and an introduction for others.
Upton Farm is on the edge [...]

MPs’ growing role

A Richmond News article and editorial have provided insightful coverage of the Agricultural Land Commission decision to keep Richmond’s Garden City Lands in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). As I read, I realized it might be useful to explain why our members of parliament have a larger role now. Like so much of this issue, [...]