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You live in the area?

Yes, on Grace.

How have the barricades affected you personally?

My side street that I live on and my back alley have become speedways for cars that are frustrated. And I’ve got little ones in my back alley that cross the alley several times a day to get to their family vehicles. They live near the corner, and there’s cars tearing up that back alley now because they’re trying to avoid heavy traffic on First Ave.

So it sounds like it’s more unsafe than safe.

One hundred percent less safe than it used to be.

Especially for kids, then.

Of course, yes.

Do you know any other people it has affected? Have you talked to anyone in the neighbourhood, or more just at meetings?

Mostly at meetings, actually.

Any suggestions on what others watching or hearing this can do to help?

It would be great if people would join our Thursday evening meetings here at the park in East Van and get more information. Then they can decide for themselves how they would be able to help out, if it’s something they’re still interested in once they get some more information. We need people to distribute the flyers, spread the word.

Community.

Community.

Do you feel you’ve had proper notice from the City regarding the barricades coming up?

No, I did not — do not feel that I had proper notice at all. No.

How has this impacted your life in general, and the neighbourhood you’re in?

Well, I drive from First Avenue to Hastings Street. I do take my car, because after I’m done at the community centre on Hastings and Lillooet I do several errands and other things that I actually do need my car for. So instead of driving straight down Lillooet, I have to go down Rupert now and cut through. I’ve had to figure out where these barricades are so that I can get there, but it takes twice as long.

So it’s probably not only affecting you — it’s probably building traffic in other areas as well.

It’s displacing the traffic. It’s not solving a problem at all. It’s displacing traffic, and it’s frustrating drivers who are now going to that somewhere else. And they can’t get through the side street, so now they’re cutting through side streets and alleyways. It’s very bad. And they’re going fast.

Any suggestions to the City on what they can do?

I guess more just take the barricades down. Remove the barricades. They’re a big problem. They haven’t solved a problem. They’ve created new problems. They’ve displaced traffic. They’ve frustrated drivers. They’ve made it very unsafe for kids and residents on side streets and alleyways.

Do you have anything else to say?

Yes. One spot in particular is traffic heading west on First Avenue that might want to turn right onto Lillooet Street — the corner where the Croatian church is. There are these barricades along there that make Lillooet Street narrow. So if you’re heading west on First Avenue and you want to turn right onto Lillooet, and there are already cars on Lillooet trying to go straight through or turn right onto First Avenue, they can’t — and now they’ve got freeway traffic coming up right behind them. It’s quite stressful.

Feels like pressure when you’re driving.

Yes. People are unsure, they get nervous and anxious and make bad decisions. And it frustrates the drivers behind them.

You’ve been here for a long time. How have the barricades affected you and your family?

Well, they’ve made our quiet street on Leroy into a main street now, because they’ve got to come down our street to get around. And now we’ve got traffic, and it’s very dangerous when you’re out there. Electric cars you can’t hear, and they’re coming down that street like fifty miles an hour.

And people are probably going around things.

Yeah, because they can’t get around. They’re up and down our lane. In the mornings it’s like a freeway. Our lane T’s, and on the T they come, because they can’t get through on Charles. So they come up the lane at the T and around, and then back on Charles and over to Renfrew.

Do you know any other people it’s affected, other than the people at the meeting? Have you talked to your neighbours?

Oh yeah. There’s a few that aren’t here tonight that are neighbours.

Same page?

Yep. They’re all very upset with the whole thing.

Any suggestions on what others watching this can do to help — if someone comes upon this recording or the website, what would be a support to get things rolling?

Well, like I say, it’s like the lady was saying earlier. They’ve gone from main streets to back alleys now. And you try to get out of your garage or something, and these cars are racing up the lanes, which used to be quiet, which aren’t quiet anymore. They’re the street now. Because the streets are blocked, so the lanes have turned into the street. And it’s just crazy.

In terms of the City, the suggestion would be to remove them?

Well, yes, to get back to normal. Like I say, I’ve lived in this area for seventy-eight years now — between Boundary and Georgia, and over here on Leroy Street. And we never had a problem. Nobody was complaining at all.

How long have they been up for?

Well, they’ve been coming slowly. They started with the roundabouts over here, and then they just keep coming. Then they put in the diverters, and now they started blocking. I mean, if they would’ve just put in stop signs and even speed bumps, that’s all you would’ve needed.

So the City doesn’t need to remove everything — it’s just those certain barricades?

Well, when they actually block a street off and you can’t get through on main streets… Like Lillooet here is a main street. Goes from First Avenue to Hastings. Well, you can’t do it anymore. Windermere was the same thing — you can’t do it anymore. So now you’ve got to go around through the lanes, through people’s yards, or alleys, to get where you want to go. Dangerous, because people get frustrated. There’s no calm street anymore, because everybody’s upset.

How have the barricades affected you personally?

Personally, it’s hard to get to my home some days. There’s a lot of construction in the area, and so there’s a lot of street closures that are not intended street closures. So I’m trying to get home, and sometimes I can’t even actually navigate to my own home.

The other issue that really upsets me is my alleyway has become very busy. It’s become a thoroughfare, because Georgia is no longer a thoroughfare, so people are using my back alley, which is really dangerous. I’m trying to back out to go to work, and some cars are zipping by some mornings.

Creating a little bit of chaos for you.

It’s scary. It’s actually scary.

Do you know other people it’s affected? Have you talked to your neighbours?

I haven’t, no. I’ve talked mostly with people here — they’re friends, people in the neighbourhood I feel comfortable talking to. I’m not opposed to speaking to my neighbours, and that’s why I’m actually distributing flyers. I’m trying to use it as an opportunity to talk to people, if they should want to.

How has this impacted your life and community?

I guess it would be more the backing out of your driveway. The other thing I think is ironic, and really makes me crazy — at the end of my street, I’m on Georgia, there’s a blockade right in front of a fire hydrant. So if there was a fire, and vehicles aren’t allowed to park there, why is there a permanent cement blockade there? It does not make any sense. If I could issue a ticket to the City of Vancouver, I would.

Any suggestions on what others watching or hearing this can do to help?

Just come out. Come out, listen to what people have to say. We’re a nice group of people. We seem like we’re like-minded. We listen to all opinions. It’s a movement.

Do you feel you ever had proper notice from the City regarding the barricades going up?

One hundred percent not. I complained the Monday after the barricades were implemented, and my complaint was, “What are you doing? I don’t want my tax dollars being spent this way.” There was no forewarning, and now my street’s a one-way street. And what’s really ironic is the other end of the street’s a one-way street going the opposite direction. So you can’t even go straight through on Georgia Street. There’s one way that goes west, and there’s one way that goes east.

This is an interview about what’s going on with the plaza.

So I’m a new homeowner, in a condo near Nanaimo, and I just came to understand — got the news — that they were going to do a plaza between the two condominiums there. And so none of us were notified. I was quite upset, so I contacted the City.

Now, the City wanted people to engage and to help them support the plaza. But I wanted information. So I contacted city planning, and two nice folks came out and talked to me, and I had my questions. Safety was one of them. Engagement. Who made the decision to put the plaza there. So many questions.

What they did tell me is that the decision actually came from some city workers who were putting in the lights, and they said they thought that would be a good area. This is what was told to me — which I don’t really believe. But nonetheless, they were nice. They responded to my questions. I have the letters, so I can send them to you.

My biggest thing was that they didn’t engage the neighbourhood. No one knew about it. I only heard about it through word of mouth. And I said, “Well, when were you going to put up the barriers, or tell people?” They said two weeks before the barriers would go up, they would notify the community.

Which is not enough time, right?

Not enough time. I asked one of the individuals who lives in the area — one of them did — and I said, “How long have you lived there?” And she said, “A year.” And I said, there have been people who have lived in this area for decades. Ten, twenty, thirty years. These are family homes, and no one has engaged them. And they said, no, that’s not what they do, but they were going to think about it.

So after our conversation I did send a follow-up email of what was said, and then I came to understand — not from them — that there would be a delay, and so instead of putting up the barrier in August, it was delayed until the spring. It’s quite concerning that we don’t know what’s happening in our city, especially as residents, and especially residents who have been there a long time.

So if these go up, how do you feel they’ll affect you?

Well, for me, I’m young. I’m mobile, so I can get around. My concern was that the traffic is going to be deferred, but they will come through the alleys. And so there’s safety. In the alleys we have two commercial — a restaurant and a bakery. So they have deliveries all the time. So not only will we have delivery trucks stopped there, then there’s safety in terms of emergency vehicles. If we have people delivering, and then we have emergencies, then what’s going to happen?

People who are upset, who need to drive and get places, they’re going to be speeding down the alleys. And we have a lot of elderly people who access the alleys. They probably can’t go down their steps, so they access the alleys because it’s more flat. So you see them with their walkers walking. So then we have elderly people, with delivery trucks and potential emergency vehicles. So there’s a big safety hazard.

And people just trying to get around quickly, which causes a bit of frustration.

Frustration, right. And then we’ve lost parking — and the people who live there, how do they access parking in front of their house? That’s going to be a frustration to them.

My concern also was, with the plaza, who is going to maintain the plaza? Who’s going to ensure that it’s clean? Safe? We have a lot of individuals that might use the area just for a place to sit, a place to sleep. We don’t know where that goes. Not that we don’t want them to have these places, but we have to maintain safety and cleanliness in our environment. We already have a rat problem. So if we don’t keep it clean, who’s going to keep it clean? Is the City going to come every day and pick up the garbage and clean and power wash? What I understood was the power washing would be done a couple of times a year. That’s not good enough in an area that’s high traffic with food.

So there’s a lot of unanswered questions. They said they would engage us. They said they were going to have, like, a block party. So we’ll see if that happens.

So you had to drive them?

Yeah, I had to drive them. They’re both graduated now, but yeah, it was a pain for sure.

Have the barricades affected you at all, or do you know other people they have affected?

Yeah, it affected us, and all the people from the school didn’t like it. We spoke to the school about it. But now the kids are gone, so we’re not going to be dealing with it anymore.

Do you feel people had proper notice from the City regarding these going up?

Not people who live in other locations. I’m from Burnaby, which is probably about fifteen blocks, twenty blocks away from here. We didn’t get notice. They said they gave notice in this area. I don’t think there really was notice, and if it was, it was just like a pamphlet. It’s not like they really had a town hall meeting. They just kind of put these things in, and then they deal with it after the fact, which is how they kind of do things. They don’t actually specifically ask your permission.

They’re just like —

Yeah. “We’ll just put it in, we’ll see how that feels, and then maybe we’ll take it out if we have enough of a backlash.”

Do you have any suggestions on what others watching or listening to this can do to help?

Well, if they know that there are going to be new barricades going up, I don’t know if they can contact the City to find out when they’re doing it. You kind of have to start getting vocal, basically.

We’re all tired of the barricades.

Yes.

Do you feel you had proper notice about the barricades coming up in the city?

No. All of a sudden they just showed up. I would love to be informed. I would love to be asked. I’d like to know what’s going on.

How has this impacted your life and community in any way, if it has? Or if you feel it’s impacted others around you.

Just the issue of maybe having emergency response come to me.

So it’s almost adding fear, in terms of not getting access to where you are.

Exactly.

Any suggestions for someone watching this on what they can do to help?

Just take the time and come out and say what’s on your mind. Connect with other people.

Community.

Yeah.

Any suggestions to the City on what you think they can do?

Oh, that’s a good question. Get more feedback from the people. Inform, ask questions, and keep the residents up to date.