46 - North Skore News — Sunday, November 19, 2G00

sunrise Park returbl

North Vaneourer City’s
Engineering, — Parks and
Environment Deparrment
describe the work that has qoue
into the redevelopment of
Sunrise Park located at 1010 E.
teh Street.

Sunrise Park will officially
open on Sunday, Nov, 19, 1-4

pm.

SUNRISE Park, por-
tions of which were used
in the past as a transfer
and storage area for con-
struction and fill materi-
als, has been redevel-
oped over the last year.

Park construction has pro-
ceeded in two phases over the
past 14 months. The former
storage site has been converted
to a lit all-weather sports field
and includes a naturalized for-
est landscape with trails, board-
walks and wedand areas.

A new all-weather sports
field ‘was’ completed — in
November of 1999. Sports field
lighting was added in the sec-
and phase of the project in

2000" The lighting has been
designed for a recreational level
of play and is operational from
4-9 p.m. da
The remaining undev cloped
area around the sports field,
approximately 1.16 acres, has
been regrided and revegetated
using a naturalized landscape
approach. The land has been
shaped tw form swales and
bermed “islands,” providing a
variety of landforms and eleva-
_Gions These areas have been
extensively re-vegetated with a
~ diversity of native wetland and
forest plant species.

. The site had been used as a
storage area for boulders and
rocks that were uncovered dur-
ing excavation on various pro-

<Jeets in the. cig. These same

boulders and rocks have been

utilized ‘to construct retaining ©
~. Walls and ‘other landscape fea- .

tures throughout the park.”
. Pedestrian circulation in the
: park | has been upgraded to con-
‘ nect- existing pedestrian’ ‘and
‘ bicycle travel ways.

“$4875 doin oF equiv

A frequendy used staircase,
connecting East 4th Street up
the hill to Heywood Street is
being re-built as an above-
grade staircase, with evenly
spaced riser heights and land-
ings. A bicycle trough along
side the staircase will allow
evelists to) roll) their bievele
either up or down,

In the naturalized areas of

the park, a bark mulch trail has
been constructed for informal
walks and wildlite viewing. The
trail meanders through the
remediated natural areas of the
park. Boardwalks connect the
trail acrass wetland areas of the
park.

Perch pole — vertical logs
with branches for perching
birds have been installed in var-
ious locations throughout the
naturalized areas of the park.
These will encourage perching
birds to spend time in the
newly constructed areas of the
park

Park identity signage and
site furnishings (benches, trash
receptacles) complete the rede-
velopment . -

Two basic landforms and
corresponding plant communi-
ties form the naturalized land-
scape. These landscapes will
evolve over time and look very
different from season to season
as the park evolves from an
open to a closed canopy forest.

Bermed. areas form the
upland areas. These areas have
native trees and shrubs planted
in low growing, drought toler-
ant grass and wildflower mix-

- tures, In the short term this
‘approach will cover the soil

completely, discourage weed
growth and protect the soil
from erosion. Canopy trees and
larger shrubs will begin to

mature and fill out. Over dme

this open forest and grassland
will evolve into a closed canopy
with shade tolerant understorey
species displacing shade intoler-
ant species.

~ Lowland areas have been
created by excavating connect-

- ing swales. These swales have
_ been designed to slow and filter
* sunoff from the adjacent field
~ and - park surfaces. These

All new vehicles puichased ot ‘Mounties in the month of Naver, some Hentations tray ooply.

increasingly being made to

moister areas support riparian
plant communities, planes that
thrive in the wet and moist soil
adjacent to watercourses. A mix
of native mparian species of

*
Sa At

trees, shrubs and emergent
plants (rushes and sedges) have
been planted in low growing,
inundation-tolerant: grass and
wildflower mixtures. Ino the

short-term this approach will
cover the soil completely, dis-
couraging weed growth and
protecting the soi from ero-
sion. In the iong-ccrm these

Picture this

CANADIAN illustrator Brian Deines, who's created the pictures for many popular children’ S books, visited the .
Capilano branch of the North Vancouver District Library during Canadian Children’s Book Week, Nov. 4 to 1. .
Students from Capilano elementary school listened attentively a: as he spoke aboui his work.

Sn

nit By iste Oe wade

Poor getting poorer treatment

Phil Burpee
Contributing Writer

IS being poor a crimi-
nal offence?

Most people w “ould say,
“No, of course not.” It might

be tragic, unfortunate or
regrettable if you’re viewing
the world from the relative
safety of the well-to-do. But,
until fairly recently, to attach
criminality autematically to
poverty would seem ridicu-
jous. Sure, you might say,
poor people are annoying and
somewhat embarrassing for a
society that just wants to shop
til it drops. But, our govern-
ments assure us that the poor.
get fair treatment before the
law, the same as anyone else.

- But do they? Are the poor .

bear not only the burden of

; physical want through the... —

ick of adequate accommoda-
tion, food and other material
needs, but also the social stig-
ma of a society that more and
more shows disregard for
those who do not or cannot
“succeed?”

PNB
ttG) ae
1h 2

3]
2
g

. pity. From on

is our society and culture
attaching a dangerous percep-
tion of guilt to those who live
in poverty?

If aboriginal people were
asked those questions they
would likely answer, “Yes.
You've been doing it for five
hundred years in our case.”

We've all heard poor-bash-
ing, racist comments like:
“It's in their genes.” “They’re
culturally bankrupt.” “They
just can’t help themselves.”
“They simply don’t have what
it takes to stand up in the real
world.” :

These common phrases .
include 2 witch’s brew of
racism infesting poverty and
intolerance being passed off as
+ end of the
country to the other we see
the results of this ugly think-
ing and talking: dispropor-
tionately large numbers of
Aboriginal, people of colour, |

- and/or poor men, women
. and children sick, depressed,

living in poverty in poor .
neighbourhoods or reserves
and unable to figure out what _
this crazy culture of ours ~
wants them to do except

An arts and heritage millennium
project that commemorates and
links 12 historically significant sites

with interpretive prints

West Vancouver Museum & Archives
680 | 7th Street, West Vancouver

V7V 372
Ph. 925.7295
Fax. 925.5915

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»

maybe just fade away.
‘Business and political lead-
ers squeak and squawk like
broken records; cutting
sweetheart deals in back

-rooms to “ease the tax bur-

den” on banks and corpora-
tions whose cash registers just
keep going ka-ching, ka-ching
to the tune of billions in prof-
its.

How can they justify mak-.
ing rules that direct most of °
the big bucks toward the rich
and very few toward the ~
poor? In war, by demonizing -
and therefore making your
enemies seem less human, it
becomes easier to justify
killing them. Likewise, it’s -
more comfortable for a rela- -
tively affluent majority to
associate the poor with crime
and thereby reduce the need
for empathy or action.

So the better-off majority :
makes laws and procedures -
that criminalize the peor.

“ Panhandling, a formerly legal .

way of getting what you need,
has been virtually outiawed in’
many cities (even though the

- law may be illegal), as jobs, °

unemployment insurance and

open riparian areas will evolve
into a closed canopy with shade
tolerant understorey species
displecing shade intolerant
species.

. NEWS photo Mike Wakefield °

- welfare disappear. In the vU. Ss.

several cities have anti-slecp-”
ing bylaws. It’s illegal to sleep a
an sidewalks or in parks. :: ;

Politicians set welfare rates.‘
so low that people have to:
violate obscure rules in order.
to survive and feed. their chil
dren. ;

As the latest report’
the National Council o
Welfare points out, laws are =:
enforced more harsht against.
the poor than the well- to-do.
A poor woman arrested for:.

rostitution can teceive a. ©

longer sentence than’ a corpo:
rate executive whose health:
and safety practices s kill peo-:
pic.

Homeless people whs

_ Protest their situation are

ven into a confrontational sit:
uation with riot police and
arrested, while corporations
that protest their situation o
high taxes (in their view) are
simply granted tax reductio
— Phil Burpee volunteers at
the Nelson. Advocacy. Cen
End. Legislated Poverty is a
coalition of B.C.: groups. that

want governments 10: re
and end * poverty :

VANCOUVER
FOUNDATION :