Notes From January Meeting

Last Thursday we had the first GHG meeting of the year, and we had a very large attendance with several new faces; great to see everyone. As usual the discussions were wide-ranging.

• We first discussed the demolition of the General Paints building on Venables. This was originally the site of Ayers Paint.  Although this is just outside our usual geographic boundaries, it led to a good discussion about lead and other contaminants on older industrial sites;
• We briefly discussed a flyer aimed at foreign buyers in the Grandview area and how that may affect the neighbourhood;
• Eric then presented his monthly Neighbourhood Update where we looked at and discussed changes to (mostly) heritage buildings in Grandview.  This included, amongst many other items, a review of the demolition of 1637 Victoria, the use of polystyrene forms at a new laneway house on Odlum, toxic cleanup from a former dry cleaning shop at 1155 Victoria, the closure of the Dairy Queen at Hastings & Lakewood, the rare shared driveway on Grant by Victoria, and the current state of the Brookhouse rebuilding.
• Eric then led us through a detailed discussion on the use and construction of dry wells in Grandview;
• Finally, we touched on the need for fundraising at Vancouver City Archives, especially in regard to the newly acquired photo library from the Province and Sun newspapers.