Patio closing time extended
Approved patios will be able to say open until midnight this summer instead of just 11 p.m. Expanding from its 2013 pilot program, the city has already approved 53 locations for extended patio hours beginning now until October.
Currently, 316 large patios and 277 small patios are eligible for the one-hour extension. Interested businesses who haven’t received noise complaints on file in the past 12 months can apply online at vancouver.ca.
New SFU chancellor named
Simon Fraser University’s board of governors has announced that forestry executive, lawyer and writer Anne Giardini will become the university’s 11th chancellor. Giardini will be installed as chancellor June 13 when the term of the current chancellor, Carole Taylor, ends.
Since 2008, she has been president of Weyerhaeuser Company Limited, after previously serving as Weyerhaeuser’s Canadian general counsel. She holds a B.A. in Economics from SFU, an LL.B. from UBC, and an LL.M. from Cambridge University.
Adult Ed ends in West End
Adult education will no longer be offered at Lord Roberts elementary in the West End. A growing population of younger children downtown, particularly in Yaletown and the West End, means the space is needed for elementary students.
The Vancouver School Board decided April 7 to convert the adult education classrooms back to elementary school use for September.
Hundreds of students will be absorbed into the board’s other five adult education sites. Adult education students told the board Monday evening that having to travel to another location could pose a barrier to them continuing their education when they are balancing jobs and perhaps children.
“We do have to prioritize the young ones as opposed to the adults,” said Patti Bacchus, VSB chairperson. “As I said at the meeting, it would be ironic if we had a case where some of these [adult] students could attend school in their community but their own children had to travel further.”
Three schools to watch
The Fraser Institute reported April 8 the three fastest-improving secondary schools in Vancouver are Britannia, Vancouver Technical and Gladstone.
The institute’s Report Card on B.C.’s Secondary Schools 2014 ranks 293 public and independent secondary schools in B.C. based on seven indicators using data from the annual province-wide exams administered by the B.C. Ministry of Education.
The Fraser Institute notes Britannia secondary rated 3 out of 10 in 2009 and improved to 4.4 out of 10 for 2013, even though 25.3 per cent of its students have special needs, the highest proportion of special needs students of the 293 schools rated.
New public art displays unveiled
Two new art projects are debuting this month as part of the City’s Year of Reconciliation public art program. A new video by Vancouver artist Emilie Crewe, “Making Circles: The Chilkat Dancing Blanket,” will intervene in the ads on the dual screens at the corner of Granville and Robson streets.
The short film contrasts close-ups of the hands of master weaver Donna Cranmer with images of the 100-year-old Anislaga Chilkat Blanket that was recently returned to Alert Bay from Europe. Bus shelters will also feature posters by Toronto artist Alexa Hatanaka based on block prints she made from images she took while doing workshops in Nunavut and Nunavik. The City commissioned 10 new artist projects from an open call to Canadian artist and the first five debuted in last month.
