Bill MacEwen / Blog

Ottawa Architecture., originally uploaded by MacEwen.

I’m not going to lie…I had a hate on for this city for a long time. Maybe it was a high-school grudge more than anything. This past weekend I paid a visit to the crapital and I gotta tell ya I’ve developed an appreciation and even some respect for the city.

I wave the Vancouver flag wherever I go. “Yeah, you’re city is okay…but in Vancouver we’ve got mountains, so there!” There is something though that Ottawa’s got that we don’t. Obviously the War Museum, the National Art Gallery, Museum of Civilization come to mind.

The Market adds some cohesion to the rest of the city. It’s not a focal point, it’s the focal point. Vancouver has it’s neighborhoods spread out in all their glory…main, the drive, kits etc. But we lack that one area where one can go to just purely chill. To be a true “Flaneur.”

In Ottawa you can go downtown without any specific direction or purpose. The carts with trinkets everywhere, the buskers, the bars and restaurants, it all takes place in an area rather than in one row down the length of a street.

The Cultural centers are all within walking distance from the core. You can get to Parliament, and all the museums on foot. Lends itself well for cruising around smoking cigarettes wearing a striped shirt and a chapeaux.

For all the great things we do in urban planning, maybe this is something to look at. Looking beyond the strip…

Last week I was wondering what we could do to help the situation in the DTES.  BR just posted a list of locations where people at risk of going for a tumble get can help.

“The first thing EVERYONE in Vancouver should know is that there’s a four (4) legal-sized page list of outreach programs in the DTES, and it can be found at the Carnegie Centre (401 Main St., 604.665.2220).” – BR

Electra., originally uploaded by MacEwen.

Over There., originally uploaded by MacEwen.

I took a photo of Pigeon Park yesterday.  I’ve done this before and its been a bit awkward but manageable.  Yesterday it wasn’t.  Three dudes who were more likely on the supply end of things were pretty pissed.  “You better not get my face in that photo **** ” etc.  I walked away from it and one guy threw his lunch at my back.  Another guy comes up to me and tells me to delete the photo (i shoot film, he didn’t get it), starts tugging at my camera…

“I live here man” he says, and gives me a cracked out shove.

I leave, it’s only a block to my house from here.

WTF?

My business and more recently my home have been within a two block radius of that spot for over a year now.  I chose this neighborhood because I like it and the supposed sketchiness of it does a good job of filtering out the pretentiousness that exists in other parts of town.  Gnarly events have been going on here for a long time.  The only difference is that the real estate has become valuable enough to attract mainstream developers and buyers.  Until then there has been a fairly distinct boundary between where you go and where don’t. People tell the tourists to “stick to Water St. and don’t go past Carrall.  Don’t walk down Hastings past Cambie.  Pender’s okay though, that’s Chinatown.”  So fine.  We go to our movies at tinseltown, shake ass at Honey, but you do not chill out on park bench at Hastings and Carrall.  That boundary is being erased, and the tribes are butting heads.

The Woodwards District, Paris Block, Koret Lofts, Smart Gastown.  These developments are encroaching on turf that was previously out of bounds.  The mainstream is moving in.  Every other day I see moms in lululemons pushing baby strollers by crackhouses on E. Cordova.  The cops turn a blind eye in these areas.  The place governs itself.  What makes us think a Chip Wilson-Yoga-Mat-Karate-Chop is going to keep junky away from baby?

(Dave O.)

The Carrall St. Greenway and $120 000 for Pigeon Park will fix the aesthetics.  But broken window theory does not do much to help you kick that heroine addiction.  We are glossing over the real problems here.  They need to be addressed, not just moved east.

What about the next generation of users?  What are we doing to prevent people from getting in these situations in the first place?  What about the people down here with mental illness?  Why can’t we be providing them with proper care?

Where do we go from here?  Why not answering some of these questions and taking action.  If anyone has any suggestions please comment!

Sar., originally uploaded by MacEwen.

I finally got these rolls back from the lab…

Red Roses Hang Over Chaos., originally uploaded by MacEwen.