Water main will create tree loss

Bad enough the oil companies wanted to trash portions of Colony Farm, see an older posting;

       This Water main project to Port Mann, in Surrey, was actually started before the oil pipeline project by Metro Vancouver, and being that it is a government project it grinds along like a glacier.

       I was sent a report today, created by:  Diamond Head Consulting Ltd., entitled:
  Arborist Report Portman Main No.2, North, Coquitlam, B.C. updated 19 January 2015 (2869K) PDF.  No idea where the name of Portman comes from, should read Port Mann I would think, because that is where this water main is going.

And also a map Portmann Main #2 tree retetnion and removal   19 January 2015  (PDF)

       I spelled it the way it was written, so we are getting a little closer to Port Mann, but fail in the spelling of "retention".  The last PDF is a map of the areas being impacted by the water main going through the Riverview Hospital property.

 Another nasty scar slashed through the landscape, from Riverview hospital up near Mariner Way, through Colony Farm, through its critical habitat treed wind-break to go under the Fraser River near the Port Mann bridge, and into Surrey and beyond.  

Port Mann is named after Sir Donald Mann and  most of the area that we now call, Port Mann was previously known as Bon Accord, prior to the railway yards being built there.  A salmon hatchery, and a salmon cannery were once in the area, both named Bon Accord.

 The project is part of  the Port Mann Water Supply Tunnel  read the PDF factsheet

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