Letters to the Sun: Friday, April 26, 2024

Article content

Re: Nothing lasts forever, including my East Vancouver neighborhood. Here are the memories.

I enjoyed Lora Grindlay’s article about the change in East Vancouver, and especially on her street. I delivered mail in 1975 and walked that street for a month while covering for the regular postman, who was of Italian descent, while he was on vacation. All the neighbors were friendly and came from “the four corners of the world.” I remember the warm Japanese neighbors who still had the scars of the internments fresh in their memories, and the recent Italian and British arrivals. It really was a melting pot and it seemed like every house had 10 kids.

Article content

Article content

I left Vancouver in 1982 and moved to Ottawa to attend university. Now I am older and retired. However, I return to Vancouver to ski quite often and drive around the city to check out my previous routes, go to a White Spot for a cheeseburger and drive to Chinatown. I also delivered the mail there.

Yes, the city is changing, but it still has a uniqueness that can never be torn down.

Craig Bruce, Ottawa

Lora Grindlay has written a thoughtful, moving and substantial article about the changing tides of life, focusing on her Vancouver neighborhood. Her focus on people, their interactions and connections, both big and small, reminds readers that an integral element of housing is humanity.

Every day I read about new housing proposals and wonder about the schools, parks, community centers, trees and green spaces necessary and essential to accompany such housing. Your article inspires me to add people to my previous list of essentials: families, children, gardeners, neighbors, friends… the list has many human descriptors.

James Harcott, Vancouver

I’m sure Lora Grindlay’s candid article about the scythe of change sweeping the East Side will generate many responses, but as a recent “neighbor” (we lived on Nootka Street until December) and former Pacific Press reporter, I felt that it had than join the crowd.

Article content

Article content

In 1986 I had a “dream job” as editor of the Expo supplement for The Province. It was an incredible few months, but we had no idea that by “inviting the world” the world could actually appear. We now find ourselves in a situation where the population of what we now call “Metro Vancouver” has exploded by approximately 400 per cent in my lifetime.

I have despaired about the changes and how smarter government policies could have made them more manageable for the good of all.

Instead, Greater Vancouver is becoming a densely populated quagmire without sufficient health, education and transit services, and where our children must move elsewhere if they want to own a home.

Walter Melnyk, Vancouver

Thank you for this wonderfully evocative and gently nostalgic piece. I also live in a single-family house, my home for 37 years. Near one of the SkyTrain hubs, the area is changing rapidly as homes are replaced by multi-family apartments.

When I sit on my deck and listen to the birds in the cherry tree or watch the flickers for ants, I wonder where they will go too when my house is level and the yard covered in concrete. I greet my neighbors and gratefully accept their help when I have a job that is too much for me to handle. Many houses have had three or four owners, but I knew them all by sight and with a smile when we passed by. And when it happens, everything will be gone.

Article content

Donalda Reid, Vancouver

It’s hard to say I enjoyed reading this article about a disappearing old neighborhood, because it was sad. But Grindlay described his wonderful neighbors so sweetly that it was a pleasure to read them.

Ebba Grey, North Vancouver

Don’t you have enough money for the Prime Minister’s official residence?

Letters to the editor should be sent to [email protected]. Click here to report a typo.

Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email [email protected].

Article content