Another go at becoming a National Historic site

Round 2 for Riverview on national heritage designation bid
The city of Coquitlam's Riverview Lands Advisory Committee will discuss the application on July 9.
 The usually meet from  3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. in the Council Committee Room, Coquitlam City Hall.
The public is welcome to attend, but are not allowed to contribute, unless asked. 

               BUT there is power in numbers; I encourage anybody interested to attend.
Cheers
 

July-August news

August 21, 2017:   Photos, poetry shines a light on Riverview Hospital
The exhibit is at Port Coquitlam city hall.  

 Tri-City artists Sherry Carroll, Bill Atfield, Fari Lotfali and Manfred Kraus  use their craft to show Riverview Hospital as a place of "hope, healing and inspiration" in an exhibit at Port Coquitlam city hall this month.

The display is on until Sept. 5.

Meanwhile, they are inviting poets to submit their words about the historic Coquitlam grounds as part of a contest that closes Sept. 30. Email entries to:    scartsandculture@live.com.

August 9, 2017  Could rail overpasses improve safety for cars?
Gateway Transportation forum mulls options for enhancing rail to ports, including four projects in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam

July 27, 2017   Saving what's left of Riverview Hospital
The city of Coquitlam has commissioned a Port Coquitlam curator and her photographer partner to inventory the Riverview Hospital artifacts that have been in storage for years.

Tree Fest 2017

Well the location has been moved this year, BC Housing has been exerting its new powers over the site, and this years Treefest has been located on the far edge of the property in a very wet, noisy site.


Treefest 2017 will be held on Sunday, September 10th from 11:00 am - 4:00 pm at the Riverview Hospital Grounds located at 2601 Lougheed Highway. Bring the entire family to this free annual celebration of trees.

Activities include: hourly guided tree tours, history bus tours, antique radio museum tours, a heritage building walking tour, community displays, live music, food truck, and a Blackberry Tea.

The festival site is located on the Riverview Hospital Grounds at 2601 Lougheed Highway at the baseball diamond at Pine Terrace and Holly Drive.  Access the site via the Colony Farm Road entrance off of Lougheed Highway.  There is free on-site parking.

For more information, visit the
     Riverview Horticultural Centre Society Treefest page.

Treefest is presented by the Riverview Horticultural Centre Society ( RHCS ) and supported by the BC Housing, Burke Mountain Naturalists ( BMN ), City of Coquitlam, Kwikwetlem First Nations( KFN ), and Maple Creek Streamkeepers( MCS ).

Media Contact:  Carole Edwards
Tel: 604-461-3864
Email: cedwards6@gmail.com

A poster for this event  is available for download here

So where is it you say?, click on this Google Earth file, to find out ( must have Google Earth installed )

 Location of Treefest is shown in red

Conflicting ideas

Ongoing saga of Coquitlam council having issues with the Provice.

Coquitlam, province at odds on Riverview Hospital
‘Break-even’ plan for Riverview work raises council’s ire

         No mention of the ongoing discussions with the local first nations; have not offered enough compensation yet, I guess.

        Meanwhile Valleyview300 has been levelled in preparation for  a new building. I have not seen any concept drawings for this building yet.  Certainly scarred up the grounds considerably with all the probing, new pipes, tree marking, flagging, spray paint marking for this venture.

UPDATE:   The first artcle above generated some letters to the editor:
     Appalled at province’s plan for Riverview site in Coquitlam

Protect Riverview video

Last January there was small gathering near Coquitlam City hall, rather quickly organized  by Jay Peachy and the weather was not friendly; I blogged about it before in this posting  (scroll down in article)

There was a loval community TV crew there, and they finally have released their video
entitled,   Rivervier Concerns (sic)

Local resident, Beverly Miller has her say at  the 3 minutes and six second mark

Roger Loubert, President of ArtsConnect speaks his mind at 5 minutes, 48 seconds

Nice comments by ex-MLA John Cashore  starts at  13 minutes and 14 seconds

And also comments from Burke Mountain Naturalist, Elaine Golds starting at  16 minutes and 42 seconds

 Enjoy

Two missing patients

No.1:  February 10, 2016 David Fomradas was reported on an unauthorized absence from a Forensic Psychiatric Services housing program located on the Riverview lands in Coquitlam, BC.
Mr. Fomradas is described as:

    Caucasian male
    38 years old
    5'11" tall
    156 lbs
    Blue eyes
    Long light brown hair
    Moustache and beard.

Clothing Description:

    Dark grey pants
    Brown sweater
    Black jacket
    Hat or toque (unknown colour).

Fomradas has the potential for violence when not on his medication.

David Fomradas

Not the first time this fellow has walked away:
Psych patient on the run from lawsuit
 A mentally-ill man who crashed a hijacked car and injured a Vancouver actress is being sued by his victims.

Blogged about these events before

Evidently a much tighter rein was needed with this fellow. They will be making movies about this fellow before we know it.

UPDATE:  This fellow has been found, and a long way from here. 

---30--

No. 2:    On February 12th, 2016, Violet Miharija was reported as an unauthorized absence from the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam. Violet Miharija is now wanted on a Canada wide warrant for being unlawfully at large.

Violet Miharija is described as:

    41 year-old female
    5’2’’ tall,
    178 lbs
    Dark brown shoulder length hair

Violet was last seen wearing a green sweatshirt, green sweatpants and white running shoes.

Violet Miharija

Appears that she has numerous charges laid upon her in the Surrey Court system

Renew or replace Riverview?

Last chance to comment on your views about the Riverview Hospital site.
    Commenting closes on February 12
You will need to register at the Placespeak site, then navigate to this posting:  A vision for renewing Riverview
Good luck with your quest to be heard; apparently the person who created the posting does nor know exactly where riverview is ! see picture below, somewhere up on top of Mary Hill

 And the Renewing Riverview website which appears to have been taken over by B.C. housing, and further crafted to their development at a loss to the public, apparent mandate.


And some more recent news from the papers:
LETTER: Riverview lands in Coquitlam can still heal
The Editor, In 1904, the provincial government purchased a thousand acres in rural Coquitlam for the future Riverview Hospital.

LETTER: Public property & mental health keys

LETTER: Refurbish Valleyview building
 [  I agree that this solidly built building should be repurposed, and NOT torn down.  ]

Development threatens Riverview

 LETTER: Majority has Spoken, province not listening (  top right  )

Kwikwetlem First Nation files Supreme Court challenge for traditional lands
 Parcel includes Riverview Hospital and Colony Farm Psychiatric Institute lands

[  Selling themselves far short here, since it is a well-known fact that the  Kwikwetlem peoples in the past utilized a very large portion of the Coquitlam watershed, and even had a summer camp at Coquitlam Lake.  Much like the last Provincial land sale where the Province handed over roughly 10% of the proceeds from the sales; 10% !!!  Why not 100% ? ]


Coquitlam council slams Riverview ‘sales job’ [ Where lone coun. Terry O’Neill defends the governments decisions to develop. Obviously a Lieberal Christie Clark, fan. ]

Protect Riverview

 Bad enough that I escorted a friend to the local hospital emergency, and spent the better part of the day there; only to come home to read the news; some good, and some bad.   Makes a person ponder who actually is the CEO of the Province? Christie Clark, or Rich Coleman, appears to be the later. 

Riverview real estate job is posted  MLA questions gov’t intentions.

I did find the BC BID Valleyview Hazmat Removal  open bidding contract; and the related documents:  BC BID for the Valleyview Pavilion; (PDF) and a Hazardous material and Deconstruction guide for Valleyview. (PDF)  converted and saved for eternity, away from the government servers.


And making the rounds is a press release:


For Immediate Release (January 28, 2016)

We are a collective of citizens in the province of British Columbia, in unceded Coast Salish Territories concerned about the provincial government's commercial housing plans for the Riverview hospital lands.

Under the banner of 'Protect Riverview' we stand in solidarity with members of the community, mental health advocates and healers from all walks of life.

We stand united and opposed to plans that include market housing and for-profit commercial development. We believe the land should retain it's initial purpose as a sanctuary for those with mental health challenges.

We envision a campus of care, of which many models around the world have been successful. We also see creative alternative and co-operative economic models as a way to provide social opportunities for community members who are easily excluded from mainstream economies. We believe in retro-fitting existing usable structures as a green approach to re-purposing buildings. We encourage those who share the same vision to unite with us.

Our first gathering with be at the City of Coquitlam, Spirit Square  ( Google Maps ) next to GlenPine Pavilion from Noon-2pm on January 31st. 2016. We invite others concerned about the future of Riverview to join the peaceful, family-friendly gathering in Spirit Square, See you there!

To find out more see us at:

Web:  Protectriverview
Email: Protectriverview@gmail.com
Twitter: @protectrview

--30--

A group that no one seems to know anything about; but for me the more the merrier.

UPDATE: So moi the intrepid reporter went to this event, the weather was wet and cold, but a good turnout for such a quickly convened gathering.  Some photos at Flickr 

Art meets Riverview

Our Riverview lands, painted
Port Coquitlam's Art Focus Artists Association will have three cube towers in a new ArtConnect exhibit in Vancouver that focuses on Riverview Hospital.

Riverview, Our Iconic Landscape
Pendulum Gallery, HSBC Building
885 West Georgia Street   Vancouver, B.C.
Exhibition from the 15th of February until the 5th of March, 2016


Some parking information

  A few links to ArtsConnect references to Riverview:
         About Riverview
             Riverview Slideshow

And a few preview Photos of some of the art from the ArtFocus group

I must say that more than a few of the artists captured the site feeling rather well, well done :)

Riverview comments needed

Last chance for commenting on this smoke and mirrors show, that has been named Renewing Riverview.
first you must sign away your life and join Placespeak    Then you need to find  A Vision For Renewing Riverview you have until January 29, 2016 February 12, 2016 to have your voice heard.

You tube video of  the bureacrats announcing the building in the distant future of some health care facilities on the site; which of course will still not come anywhere near to replacing what was lost when Riverview was closed.

UPDATE:  Deadline has been extended :   Riverview vision is linked to health announcement: BC Housing
The deadline to comment on the fifth and final report for the future of Riverview Hospital is February 12.

IMPORTANT MEETING:      Please come to this meeting to show your support
 Riverview Lands Advisory Committee meeting. ( hopefully they will update their page soon )

 Thursday14 January 2016, from 3-5pm, in the
Coquitlam Council meeting room, at Coquitlam City Hall.

     You are not allowed to say anything unless asked by the chair; but just having
bodies there shows the powers that be that there is strong interest in the site.

What will happen to riverviews trees?  ( page 3 ) Transcribed here for your perusal.
( The paper finally placed the article online )

The Future of Riverview
What will happen to Riverview's trees?
Locals worried about future of natural assets
Diane Strandberg, Tri-City News

A group of concerned Tri-City residents is worried the latest vision for the Riverview Hospital site could see dozens of spectacular 100 year-old trees bulldozed to make way for new market housing commercial properties and health care facilities.
And they say a decision to knock down Valleyview, a 50-year-old health care facility, to make way for mental health treatment buildings before master plan for the 244-acre property has been developed is a bad sign.
“This whole process lacks transparency,” said Don Gillespie, of the Riverview Horticultural Centre Society (RHCS).
Gillespie and others with the 23-year-old organization as well as the Burke Mountain Naturalists (BMN) are worried the Renewing Riverview vision released in December with the announcement of $175-million in new mental health facilities lacks commitment for the preservation of open space and trees. They point to a BC Housing document from 2013 that promised to maintain as much open space as “exists now” with the current document that only commits to maintain as much of the site’s existing open space “as possible”.
Elaine Golds, a BMN spokes-person who is also with the horticultural centre group, said the change in wording ignores public sentiment captured in online surveys and open houses that people want to see all the open space protected.
And she’s worried a map that breaks down tree preservation to a “focus area” and “areas of consideration” ignores the fact that important trees are located throughout the site, not just in a couple of identified locations.
Every time a new building went up, important trees were planted,” Gold said, noting that while the vision document promises identification, protection and maintenance of unique and important trees on the site, it’s vague on how and where this will be carried out.
“It’s a postage stamp is what it is,” added Gillespie.
. According to the document, Riverview’s core collection of trees will be preserved, with landscape architects hired to oversee land use planning and studies on tree viability.
 The vision also notes that any future improvements on the site will have to be paid for with market housing and the break even mandate is a core principal in the development of the Riverview lands.
But RHCS Says the vision doesn’t go far enough in preserving the 1,800 mature trees on the property, which have therapeutic as well as heritage value. They want to see the trees protected and the site named for John Davidson, the founder of the Vancouver Natural History Society, who planted many of them.
The society plans to send letters of concern to BC Housing and the provincial housing ministry, and the public is urged to comment on the vision before the Jan.29 deadline.
You can go to renewingriverview.ca to share your feedback
dstrandberg@tricitynews.com

photo by: Diane Strandberg / The Tri-City News 

Norma and Don Gillespie, Laura Dupont Teri Madasky, Mick Short and Elaine Golds of the Riverview horticultural Centre Society are concerned about the future of heritage frees on the Riverview Hospital grounds because of what they consider to be the government's reduced commitment to maintaining open space on the 244-acre former mental hospital site. Recently, they visited the site to view the trees, including this Japanese Cryptomeria japonica 

 --30--

EDITORIAL: Riverview a gem that will be fought for
As is common in environmental matters in the Tri-Cities, Elaine Golds says it best.

LETTER: Riverview lands are for all the people of B.C., not developers
The Editor, Re. “Mental health facility, commercial district are in works for Riverview” (The Tri-City News, Dec. 18).

GREEN SCENE: The future (or the destruction) of Riverview?
The arborteum at Coquitlam's Riverview Hospital must be a priority, writes Golds.

\









Wide-angle view of Essondale's West Lawn with clear-cut grounds
Yes, that the area to the right would be todays Lougheed Highway; note the excellant soil, and the toe of a slide behind the fellow in the ditch to the left. Still noticeable today, if you know what to look for.

Willingdon to move to Riverview

 Apparently today December 17,2015 at Valleyview 300 an announcement was made.
The Renewing Riverview folks have put up a PDF outlining this Vision

Online open house from Thursday, December 17, 2015 – Friday, January 29, 2016 on  PlaceSpeak
Sadly the participants are required to sign up to this privately-owned forum; and the process to do so is convoluted and confusing :(  which has been pointed out to the people in charge before, but nothing has changed.

 Send the facilitators of the "visioning process" an email to share your thoughts.   questions@renewingriverview.com

So it appears that The Maples   the  Provincial Assessment Centre,PAC   and the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction, BCMHA  all at this time based in Burnaby, will be moved to Riverview.

A quick glance through the PDF finds numerous mistakes, half-truths, and outright wrong facts, strewn throughout the document.  I would expect much better and indeed the public should expect more accurate and truthful reporting in such a document. 

Sadly the bureaucrats and their paternalistic attitudes want to sell-off large portions of the property, using their break-even formulae; Which means really that the public will lose control off a large portion of this property, and we the public will have nothing to show for it, since any profits will be swallowed up paying off the various leeches, that make a living preying on the Public purse.

 Various news sources:

Mental health facility, commercial district are in works for Riverview
Six-week feedback period for Coquitlam lands vision; Kwikwetlem looks to receive benefits

 Riverview Lands revisioning to include new mental health buildings
The former psychiatry facility has been sitting mostly empty since it was shut down in 2012

 Three programs to move to new facilities on Riverview grounds

 New Riverview plans don't meet B.C.'s mental health needs, say UBC researchers
The province says the days of locking up people with mental health problems are over.
[Oh, really ! hopefully some bureaucrat can explain what is going on at Colony Farm, and Cypress lodge, which is on the site. Some patients have to be kept secure, for the staff and the public safety, and above all for the Patients safety ]

Missing patient

Must be some concern about this fellow Jason Kirkpatrick, a patient at Cypress Lodge. Missing since the 15 October.
       "Leave them alone and they will come home, wagging their tails behind them." We hope that this is the final outcome with this fellow.

UPDATE:  Well it appears that the RCMP have already removed their link to the story. So it would appear that this fellow is safe and sound.  I wish that the RCMP would get it together, and just revise the pages on their bulletins, very unprofessional :(.     Typically they just remove the page,and the public never knows the ending.    They ask for information from the public, but it is a one way street.

Two buildings are being reopened

 Transcribed article from:  Page A6 Friday, September 12, 2014 Tri-City News

More Health help planned for Riverview

Hiring fair on Saturday for a program to help men, women

By Diane Strandberg, The Tri-City News

Riverview Hospital may have closed two years ago but discussion on the future of the 244- acre site is ongoing, with many suggesting it become a refuge for people with mental health and addiction issues.
It apparently is already, with a program about to launch on the Riverview grounds for people recovering from both mental illness and addiction.
The executive director of non-profit Coast Mental Health confirmed this week that three years of funding has been granted by the Provincial Health Services Authority for a program for 40 men and women to run out of the Hillside and Brookside buildings on the site.
Tomorrow (Saturday), a job fair is being held on the Riverview grounds to seek out people for more than 40 positions, including mental health practitioners, cooks, housekeepers and leisure therapists.
Darrell Burnham said the referrals will come from the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addictions, with Coast Mental Health providing up to a year or more of support through a variety of counselling and clinic al programs, including 24-hour nursing care.
Denise Bradshaw, program director with BC Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, said the money comes from a $5-million fund announced by the Ministry of Health this year to deal with people who have both mental health and addiction issues.”The goal is to allow people to have a longer stay in treatment and recovery before moving back to home communities, “she said.
Whatever the goals, members of the Riverview Horticultural Centre Society are welcoming the news as a sign that the former provincial mental health hosp ital is still regarded as a place to support people with mental illness.
“It’s such a place for healing,” said Norma Gillespie, who noted society volunteers will be cleaning up the creek next to the Hillside and Brookside buildings to make the area welcoming for the new residents.
The group has long championed Riverview as a centre for mental health excellence and Gillespie said the establishment of a new program, albeit relatively short-term, is a good sign.
“We are thrilled,” she said.
Burnham said the reuse of the two buildings was considered because they didn’t need much work except for some safety upgrades and paint, and could be open quickly. As for the longer term use of Riverview, Burnham said that would be decided through BC Housing’s ongoing vision and review.
Coast Mental Health also operates a cottage program at Riverview for approximately 41 men and women.
dstrundberg@tricitynews.com

NIALL WILLIAMS PHOTO

The Hillside building is one of two on the Riverview Hospital site that will be used for a new program aimed at helping people with mental health and addiction issues.

--- 30 ---

Here is more information for the job seekers who want to work for Coastal Mental Health on this project.
 There is actually more job fairs this Thursday and Saturday.   Good Luck !

In a side bar in the above article Diane Strandberg also mentions the Rally at Colony Farm, which has now happened, and you can find out more HERE
And secondly mention is also made of the Third Renewing Riverview open houses

The signs of something happening at Hillside and Brookside did not go unnoticed, I mentioned it before

Missing patient, Pancho Desperatus-Amator DeTanza

Headline reads:  Man goes missing from Coquitlam mental health facility on old Riverview grounds
Coquitlam RCMP page about the fellow

 Pancho Desperatus-Amator-DeTanza was last seen by staff around 9 a.m., Tuesday, July 29

He is described as a 37-year-old Hispanic man with short black hair. He is six feet, two inches tall, has brown eyes and last seen wearing a dark grey plaid shirt and blue jeans.

Police said he suffers from a mental disorder and should not be approached.

According to the Paraguayan newspaper, ABC Color, Desperatus-Amator-deTanza was arrested in 2004 for shooting Canadian diplomat Alvin Fehr in the shoulder.


[ Looks like two little tattoo's under his eyes ]

 UPDATE:  The RCMP is pleased to confirm that the 37-year-old male reported missing from Cypress Lodge has been located, and he is safe and sound.

April almost May

Tri-City News:  Survey says: There should be a wellness role for Riverview Hospital lands


Open houses for the Second round of Riverview consultations — with the theme “creating goals” — will be held Saturday, May 24 from 2 to 6 p.m. at Dogwood Pavilion in Coquitlam ( find Dogwood Pavilion using a Goole Earth kml file )
and
Wednesday, May 28 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Kyle Centre in Port Moody. ( find Kyle Centre using a Google Earth kml file )

 Further open houses are slated for September and December. For more information, visit renewingriverview


Letters to the editor:  Just reopen Riverview

Also somewhat related to Riverview, but in Colony Farm:  Keep pipe out of park


UPDATE:  The Renewingriverview folk finally posted the next Second round of dates and information gathering opportunities on their website HERE 

Also the First round of public consultation summary has finally been released, download the PDF of it.

And I transcribed this letter to the editor and place it here since it is pertinent. ( sadly all to frequently not all news, letters, etc makes it into the online electronic side of the news industry.)

The Editor,

Re. “Bailey bridge battle brewing” (The Tri-City News, April 9) and “Hallway medicine?” (April 11).

The old expression “beating your head against a brick wall” came to mind as I contemplated the ongoing dispute between Coquitlam and New Westminster over the Band-Aid Bailey bridge at Braid Street.

It seems the Royal City believes it has some royal prerogative to unilaterally frustrate regional transportation issues despite the fact that it lost out to Victoria when the provincial capital was moved there 150 years ago. Such quaint and parochial delusions of importance, or the converse claim that poor little New Westminster is bullied by its larger neighbours, just don’t cut it.

This delusion persists despite the royal tour by New West city councillors of neighbouring councils pleading the case for their version of a Pattullo Bridge opt ion. (This tour bypassed Coquitlam council, perhaps because New West rightly believed its reception here would be even worse than the negative reactions they received in Port Coquitlam, Burnaby and Surrey.)

There are other regional problems and initiatives that may find solutions in a rethink outside of the box in which New Westminster likes to reside. One deleterious consequence of its failure to think regionally is the very real threat of constricted access to Royal Columbian Hospital, the only regional piece of infrastructure that New Westminster embraces. But I don’t think that even Port Moody’s push for expansion of Eagle Ridge Hospital’s emergency room offer anything but a stop-gap measure to ensure health, safety and timely services outside of New Westminster.

Perhaps it is time to push for a larger regional hospital presence outside of the Kingdom of New Westminster. It seems to me the Riverview Hospital site may present an alternative to the transportation grid-locked Royal Columbian Hospital. The Riverview site is well-served by transportation corridors, the site is available and money designated for a Royal Columbian expansion could be diverted to the benefit of all.

E.C. Eddy Coquitlam

Riverview in the news

Global News:  What should be done with Riverview Hospital? Housing? More mental health services?

CBC Radio February 27, 2014. Podcast  move the slider ahead to the 31:05 minutes mark, where a short interview with  Shayne Ramsay, CEO of B.C. Housing, commences.

Globe & Mail:  Dark history may temper public input on former hospital at Riverview.
[ Dark history? from my researches a patient was much safer at Riverview, than being out in the general public. The level of care given was exemplary, considering the sometimes bizarre circumstances the staff would find themselves in.  ]

I went to the first public event that B.C. Housing has branded as Renewingriverview,with their website.
 You can sign your identity possibly away, and provide online commenting via the above website, which in turn steers you to another website:  Placespeak   which has a convoluted sign up process that also in turn links to Twilio in their phone number confirmation procedures, and communication via telephony.
   Frustrating experience I had with it all, Google, rightly informed me that email redirection was going on, and stopped an email that I sent to renewingriverview, and correctly placing any further attempted communications with these entities into my Spam folder.  By all means please comment though, just be vigilant

Download the Comment Form (PDF) that was provided  at the first meeting, which  I guess could be forwarded to the email address provided on the website:      questions@renewingriverview.com

     or mail it to:                Renewing Riverview Communications

                               BC Housing

                               1700 – 4555 Kingsway

                               Burnaby, BC   V5H 4V8

All comments are to be turned in by March 15, to be used for the first round of public commenting

questions@renewingriverview.com

questions@renewingriverview.com

Renewing Riverview Communications
BC Housing
1700 – 4555 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC   V5H 4V8 - See more at: http://renewingriverview.com/questions/#sthash.6JDJmLci.dpuf

       I was chatting with some of the staff, about the building condition assessments, since I was concerned that  a few of the buildings were not part of the assessment process, and was told that the building surveyor, was using a list generated by the Riverview Heritage Values 2012 report created last year.  Something, that I never saw in the report, well after chatting with a member of the public, I found out that actually there has been many reports generated that the general public has not been given access to, and the building condition assessment reports, were generated from one of these private reports.

    My question would be to B.C. Housing; "How is the public supposed to give relevant well-informed input into the public process, when we are not given access to the tools required?"

Buildings NOT assessed were:  Bakery,(1940,1946); Boiler house(1924/1971); Industrial Therapy,(1962); Distribution Centre,(1963); Laundry / Stores (1951); Auditorium / Chapel (1959); and  Valleyview (1959)


Tri-City News:  GREEN SCENE: What's the future of Riverview?  [ A picture of mine was used of the Crease Clinic at dusk in the printed edition of the newspaper, but not in the online version. ]
    The Coquitlam Now:  Big turnout for Riverview open house
        Concerns with R'view open houses     [ glad to see that others are also seeing through this type of micro-managing that is being foisted upon the public in this present round of "public consultation" ]

 

This Land is your land..... Doing our bit to publicize the events, Pete Seeger, would be proud

The fellow on the left is reponsible for B.C. Housing, the other fellow, well he could be his brother.
 

I will add to this post as more news becomes available, and now back to our regular programming, which may include having a look at some of  my images related to Riverview, organized into sets at Flickr.
 
Pennington Hall   —   Centre Lawn —  East Lawn  —   Henry Esson Young building
Cottages   —  North Lawn  —  Industrial Therapy —  Valleyview; Homes for the Aged
Boys Industrial School of Coquitlam   —   Crease Clinic
Fire Hall  —  Nurses Residences     a few more sets to create yet; Riverview is such a vast place.  ☺

Memorial Service at Riverview Cemetery

 "A Memorial Ceremony at the Riverview Cemetery"

Update:  photo from the event, nice sunny day.

Article in the newspaper:  Remembering Riverview’s dead  
We even have a Jane Doe interred there, who knew?


Now is a timely opportunity to ensure that the religious/spiritual Life of Riverview is given proper recognition and attention.

In the midst of high profile debatable issues around Riverview, a pause needs to be taken in order to remember and to celebrate the sacred history of the Riverview "Estate" Lands.

As a significant part of this recognition, a Memorial Ceremony is being planned for Sunday afternoon, 17th November. It is to be held in the Cemetery, off Lougheed Highway, at the eastern side of Riverview garden.

The Ceremony will honor, not only the religious programs of the "Estate", but even more so, the people who are buried and resting in peace in the cemetery. Beneath the shadows of the ancient oak trees growing along Orchid Avenue, the promise of a new future is imagined and hoped for as individuals are remembered and their lives celebrated.

Over 1,000 headstones, flush even with the ground, mark their individual places. Their 'resting in peace' in the hallowed ground acknowledges who they are and to whom they belong as much as the sacred identity and integrity of Riverview itself.

The Ceremony will include prayer, song, readings, and the scattering of flower petals by different leaders in the community. The public is invited to attend and to participate in the event which begins at 2:00 p.m.

The Memorial Ceremony is intended to provide that opportunity to build community awareness and to express gratitude for the heritage of the Riverview "Estate" Lands.

Further details can be obtained from Rev. David Spence (604-469-1164).

October is upon us

 Recent news:
 Letters to the Editor:   Monday, Oct. 21: Readers call for more support for mental health

 Riverview not the answer
 [ more drivel from the misguided academic. Throw her into the trenches for a few years and see if she changes her mind.  ]
two letters to the editor:   Riverview’s future
 ----------------------------------

Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson ready to tackle mental health ‘crisis’

Reopening of Riverview Hospital not the answer
 Opinion: Truly compassionate solution would be an honest look at how we treat people with severe mental illness   [ When are the writers of this piece going to start to give an "Honest look at how we treat people with mental illness" ]

A letter replying to the above article:  Thursday, Oct. 3: Riverview healed my mother, saved my childhood

A letter in the local paper:   Riverview saved my life  Great to hear the voice of former patients.

More than 200 new beds for seniors, people with mental health issues announced.
[ Further hardening up of the privatization of the health care industry. The shit hits the fan though when these for-profit groups want more money from "OUR" government, and the patients are used as pawns ]

World is lighting up purple for mental health
Can you say Barney ?

 David Spence — Riverview Cemetery Memorial Service

     Gathering information on the names of the people interred in the cemetery and inviting their families to participate in the event. Sunday, November 17, 2013 as the potential date for the Memorial Service.
A project still in the planning stages.

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We are at the early stages of another planning process, apparently the present land management outfit: Shared Services, is transferring their control of Riverview to BC Housing, will be interesting to see how that works out, No idea who actually will be in total charge of the fort, as usual.
BC Housing will be starting a planning process to look at revenue creating ways to maintain the buildings and grounds, about time! It was very noticeable through the years how the site had empty space; that I know local groups would have loved to have, but were turned away  when they asked. Will be interesting to see if this attitude will change.
As a goodwill measure they have started to cut the lawns again, a good neighbor thing.
A few local news articles: 
 Not a 'surplus asset'

Cutting the grass, BC Housing says, shows it means business about Riverview's future
 Correction to the above article from Anna Tremere:  As a point of clarification re "bodies of thousands of patients lie in rest."   My comment was that "there are over one thousand patients interred in the cemetery."  The actual figure I was given by Shared Services in 2012 was one thousand and eighty five patients interred.

[ I am looking into getting the list of internments in the cemetery, and will ask if it is allowed to be made available to the web.]

 This closure was 'nuts'
 It's time to talk about Riverview

Another letter from a patients family:  Renew Riverview Hospital to support mental health

Found out on the side that they are making 500-800,000$ per year from the movie industry use of the site.
And that it is costing actually about 3.5-4 million per year to maintain the site.

The Greater Vancouver Water District is scheming away to run a large 2 metre diameter water pipeline to Surrey through the western end of Riverview and along the western edge of Colony Farm; one giant huge mess ahead. See map below the Yellow line was an early idea, that has now been changed to the blue line idea.

March 2014, Update:  some news about the water tunnel under construction; Metro Vancouver drilling $240m water tunnel under Fraser River (with video)
And the official Metro page devoted to the project;   Port Mann Water Supply Tunnel

December 2012

The Riverview Heritage Conservation Plan, has been completed, read the report and decide if it adequately describes the heritage values.
Man who broke out of Colony Farm back in care

But we cannot have a full house, so another patient goes missing:
Patient missing from PoCo psychiatric hospital
The Coquitlam RCMP websites information about this patient, Kurt Derksen, age 58. Note that he went missing in Richmond, on a visit with his family, and that he had a full beard, last time he was seen.
Missing Port Coquitlam psychiatric hospital patient found in Ontario.
    [ So Kurt Derksen is now back in custody.]

Patricia Donna Reed, rest in peace

Jury recommends better response measures after woman dies at Riverview

Coroners make recommendations after mentally-ill woman's death

Daniel Reed, Patricia Donna Reed's husband.  Picture: Carmine Marinelli, 24Hours

           Family calls for better monitoring of mental patients

                  Missing person search lacked leader: inquest

                        Riverview security wasn't informed of missing patient for 8 hours, inquest hears.
                                             [Sounds all to familiar too me!]

                                Inquest urges use of swipe cards, GPS
                                           Mental patient ‘died alone in a ditch’, jury told
                           Slip-ups and delays in locating patient outlined;
                                Lack of zone-by-zone grid search meant no one looked in ditch where body was found

[A little late! The inquest was conveniently called after the hospital was closed.

 Timeline: Missing February 9,2011, found five days later, inquest posted (PDF) on August 23,2012, to run from December 3-7, 2012,  this stinks of political interference, since the hospital was officially closed in July, 2012. Coroners Verdict, (PDF)

  I wonder if the present societies who are using the site, are going to read and enable the changes recommended in this report? The ultimate responsibility lies with the CEO, and no censure will occur, as usual.  In theory Leslie Arnold was the CEO, but I find that Leslie Arnold and Michael Marchbank are actually both the Co-chairs. Heads should roll, this type of  incident has occurred before and the lessons from it were not learned. Can you say "Peter Principle"?]

UPDATE:       Shane Yorke left a message  19 October 2015

Very sad. I was the officer that found Patricia Reed's body in Feb a few years ago. She was the elderly lady that went missing and past away on the RVH Grounds. The hospital staff only cared about covering their ass and they notified Security that she was missing, but when I asked if they wanted us to conduct a search, they replied, "No", just keep a lookout for her. Well keeping a lookout for a lady on 240 acres of land, and over 68 buildings, while dealing with alarm responses, aggressive patients along with our other duties was impossible. Finally a search was initiated after a few days, but staff said not to bring in extra staff to conduct a full search.Just search when we had time between calls. What people didn't read in the paper was that the RVH patients had their own patient support / security that transported and looked for patients. Other than driving around on the paved roadways, they did not do any searching.
This was a very sad story, but honestly, when you have a transit system running through a mental facility, and patients have outdoor privileges, they're going to leave the site.

Great Blog BTW, and yes I testified at her inquest. 

--30--

Sadly the story that Shane wrote is all to familar to me. From what I have been told in the past when the hospital had its own dedicted patient and grounds security; a search would be made of the grounds by vehicle and on foot, they would start at one end and sweep throught the property, and frequently it would also include some of the patients; this meant that  a thorough search was made, by people who were familiar with the property. Sadly this protocol was thrown away when the security was privatized. 

Thanks Shane for telling us what you witnessed, and I hope that this event is not haunting you in any way.

More links about Patricia Reeds disappearance: ( sadly some of the links above have been removed )
Simple security measures may have been enough to save Patricia Reeds life

Demand for answers into Riverview patients death

Coroner to hold inquest into Riverview patients death

She died alone in a ditch: Sis
 It took authorities five days to find a mental patient who went missing last year on the grounds at Riverview Hospital, by which time she was dead.

April 2011

We have a trend occurring here; another missing patient.
        Here is the RCMP initial report, and the latest with a picture

Linda Stephen 58-years, 5' 4" 108 lbs, last seen wearing a green fleece jacket

 There has been more than normal disappearances at Riverview the past few months, and the staff are being especially quiet about the potential reasons behind them.

The Hillside unit was shut down a few weeks ago now.  It has been totally cleaned out; it hopefully awaits a new use, since it is in good shape.  Finished in 1966, it was designed for patients who were being integrated back into the community.

Learn about Riverview Hospital heritage at May 1 walk.  I will be one of the leaders in this walk.

You can download a copy of the Heritage Walk booklet here (pdf)