Volume 7, Issue 2 FEBRUARY 15, 2016

Published by the University Neighbourhoods Association

Directors of the University Neigh-bourhods Association will approve a $3.44 million operating budget for the coming fiscal year April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017. This budget represents a 4.8% reduc-tion from the one last year. To balance its budget for the coming year, the UNA will withdraw funds from two reserves: the Rate Stabilization Re-serve and the Access Reserve. The reduction comes as UBC projects a decreased Neighbours Levy for the third year in a row. The UNA reports this reduction in the budget will continue to create financial challenges, and in order to offset this re-duction in income and to control expens-es, the UNA Board of Directors has done the following: • All departments, including the services managed by UBC Properties Trust, were asked to defer increases. • All departments, including the services managed by UBC Properties Trust, were asked to defer capital or other projects that were not critical to the operations of the UNA. • Management was asked to review all expenses to find additional savings. This results in reductions in the majori-ty of budget items in all UNA operations. Changes to expenses include: • Landscaping expenses have been held to a 1% increase after an 11% reduction in 2015-16, despite having additional property added to the UNA for mainte-nance. • The cost of Victim Services & Com-munity Policing was transferred to the RCMP. • Special Projects will again be deferred until revenues return to normal. • Labour expenses overall will increase marginally by 5% despite the addition of the new 30,000 sq ft Wesbrook Commu-nity Centre and the approved salary band adjustments. • General Meeting expense will increase 6% to account for changes to the election process. • Culture, Recreation and Leisure ex-pense have been reduced by 11%. Meanwhile, UNA reports that legal expense has increased to account for ne-gotiations of the Neighbours’ Agreement schedules, leases and compliance to the new BC Society Act.

UNA Board to Approve

Reduced Budget

Neighbours Levy projected to decline for third year in row; funds will be withdrawn from

two reserves

Celebrating Excellence and Innovation: Wesbrook Wins

Gold at Nationals Awards

CAPS4ART Brings Neighbours Together

UBC Properties Trust CEO Al Poettcker and Director of Strategy and Marketing for UBC Properties Trust Ashley Willard Bauman receive the Gold Award for Wesbrook at the Nationals 2016 for Best Landscape in a Master Planned Com-munity. Please see story on Page 3.

Top collectors in a community art project that raises awareness of recycling: (left to right) Yi Xiao (Wesbrook), Rose Wang (Hawthorn) and Donghong Liu (Hawthorn). Please see stories on Pages 6-7.

The public will have its chance to weigh in on the thorny issue of what to do about the University Neighbourhoods Associa-tion playground in Chancellor Place at a meeting on March 10 at Carey Centre Lecture Hall (see ad on Page 2). The UNA has called this meeting to hear from residents about whether ex-isting play equipment should be left in place in Iona Green, thereby maintaining the status-quo, or whether this equipment should be removed entirely from Iona Green. The UNA will engage an independent moderator to facilitate the meeting, the results of which will be brought forward to UNA directors for consideration and decision.

What’s in Future for Iona Green

Playground?Public meeting in Chancellor Place will be held in March; independent moderator will

facilitate the meeting

PLAYGROUND continued on Page 2

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT FEBRUARY 15, 2016page 2

Dear Chancellor Residents, this event is an opportunity to share your thoughts on Iona Green Playground Equipment. Public commentary will be provided to the UNA Board of Directors as part of the summary

of the public consultation. This event will be facilitated by an independent moderator. Representatives from the UNA office will be

available to provide information and responds to inquiries.

For more information about please check out www.myuna.ca or email reception@myuna.ca

Iona Green Playground Equipment Public Consultation

Date: Thursday March 10, 2016Time: 6:30pm-8:00pm

Location: Carey Centre Lecture Hall(5920 Iona Drive, Vancouver, BC V6T 2E8)

Online UNA Car Sharing Public Consultation

Dates: February 22 – March 04, 2016The UNA has committed to promote sustainable transportation option to reduce automobile dependency within our community. The UNA will use a balanced approach to improve sustainability while minimizing im-pact on local on-street parking space. We want to know what you think. This online public consultation will include maps of proposed car sharing parking spaces in Hawthorn Place, Hampton Place and Wesbrook Place.

For more information about this Online Car Sharing Public Consultation, please visit www.myuna.ca

or email reception@myuna.ca.

Iona Green play station became an issue as long ago as 2010 when residents then living adjacent to the recently installed amenity complained to the UNA about the noise coming from the play station and the adverse impact this noise was having on their lives. A year ago, Chancellor Place resident John Bourne proposed the play equip-ment be re-located to the lawn immedi-ately north of the Iona Building on Iona Drive. Subsequently, UNA staff received emails from some residents in support of the Bourne proposal as well as a petition from other residents opposed to the pro-posed re-location site. Residents not in support of the proposal expressed a range of concerns from the safety of the proposed site to the inappro-priateness of the site as well as concerns for the impact it might have on their own buildings. UNA staff reviewed the pro-posal to re-locate the play equipment, and it was deemed both operationally and financially unacceptable.

PLAYGROUND continued from Page 1

The UNA community garden movement has undergone substantial growth since its start in 2008 with Hampton Place resi-dent Heather Friesen at the heart of it. Under supervision of the all-volunteer UNA Community Gardens Committee led by Ms. Friesen, 181 garden plots have

In August 2015, UNA staff identified an alternative site adjacent to the St. An-drew’s playground beside Iona Drive. While UBC Campus and Commu-nity Planning opposed re-location of the playground to the St. Andrew’s site for numerous reasons, they did not oppose either removing the play equipment from Iona Green or keeping it there, maintain-ing the status quo. After considerable discussion at the February 9 meeting of the UNA Board, directors decided the best course of ac-tion in trying to resolve what to do with the playground at this stage was to call a public meeting. UNA Chair Richard Alexander said, “Let’s hear the voice of residents. Then we’ll decide what to do.” Speaking to the UNA Board at its Feb-ruary meeting, Mr. Bourne argued that ‘green space and quiet’ are as much ame-nities in a community as a play station, and he called on directors to acknowl-edge this. “They are the reasons many people bought into Chancellor Place,” he said.

Heather Friesen Praised for Leading Community

Garden Movementcome into fruition. During the year-end meeting of this committee, Ms. Friesen advised she will no longer be able to serve as chair. At their February 9 meeting, the UNA Board expressed its sincerest gratitude to Ms. Friesen for the outstanding leader-ship she has provided to the development and management of the UNA community gardens since 2008. At the same meeting, the UNA Board appointed Wendy Rigby, of Wesbrook Place, as the Chair of the UNA Commu-nity Gardens Committee for the 2016-2017 season.

The proposal to install a community gar-den in the Chancellor Place neighbour-hood met mostly opposition at a public event February 2. Several dozen residents turned out at an information session hosted by the University Neighbourhoods Association at St. Andrew’s Hall on Iona Drive, and barely a resident spoke in favour of the project. The main argument against installing a community garden seemed to be lack of the green space which might be con-verted into a garden. Community gardens have proved wild-ly popular in two other parts of campus, Hawthorn Place and Wesbrook Place, and the UNA has waiting lists of people there seeking small plots on which to grow fruit and vegetables. However, these neighbourhoods would appear to have more green space for conversion into gardens than Chancellor Place where residential and UBC institutional build-ings are more densely situated. The UNA went to considerable length to make plans for the proposed Chancel-lor Place garden attractive to residents, presenting display boards at the informa-tion session showing three ‘preferred’ sites, one (and only one) of which might be the potential site of this garden. The preferred sites were (1) behind the Corus building, which site could accom-modate 32 raised-bed garden plots; (2) next to Iona Green playground, which site could accommodate 25 raised-bed garden plots; (3) behind the Chapel of the Epiphany, which site could accommodate 16 raised-bed garden plots. The display board for preferred site (1) indicated, “The number of plots may be reduced if existing smaller conifers can-not be removed or relocated. The garden path will be covered with mulch for easy maintenance. A tool shed to store garden-ers’ tools would be located in the south end.”

There are now 181 plots under cultivation; Wendy Rigby, of Wesbrook Place is new chair

of gardening committee

Community Garden in Chancellor Place Shows

No PromiseInformation session is held; turnout of residents is solid

The display board for preferred site (2) indicated such features as “light colour powder-coat aluminum picket garden fence….mulch surface… new garden tool shed for storage and bench.” The display board for preferred site (3) indicated features similar to (2). Paradoxically, this overwhelming lack of support at the February 2 Open House for a community garden in Chancellor Place followed strong support at an Oc-tober 7 Community Conversations event at which the UNA Community Garden Space Expansion Proposal was discussed publicly for the first time. UBC Campus and Community Plan-ning and the UNA jointly organized this earlier event and reported, “Overall, we heard that people are interested in com-munity gardens, and that they are happy to see a proposal to expand community garden space.” The organizers of the Community Con-versations event received 15 responses to the question: What location do you feel best supports new community garden spaces? The responses (with number of re-sponses in brackets) were: Nobel Park Community Garden in Wesbrook Place (3); Iona Green Community Garden in Chancellor Place behind the Corus build-ing (8); Iona Drive Community Garden in Chancellor Place behind the Chapel of the Epiphany (1); None of the above (3). However, concerns were expressed even then about the inappropriateness of a garden in Chancellor Place. For exam-ple, five concerns relating specifically to one of the sites were: • The community garden would reduce what little amount of green space there is in the Chancellor Place neighbourhood. • The green space that it is currently well used by residents, students and the church congregation as a gathering space or ‘outdoor living room’ would be lost with the addition of the community gar-den. • There is concern—if a garden is in-stalled—that children will no longer be able to play in front of the Chapel of the Epiphany.

• There is a lack of sun at this location to support plant growth in the garden. • Current landscaping doesn’t fit well with a community garden. A detailed report on the February 2 in-

formation session will be presented to the UNA Board of Directors, likely at its March meeting, and the directors will then decide whether to proceed with this project or—as seems likely—drop it.

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT FEBRUARY 15, 2016

Published monthly by the University Neighbourhoods Association #202-5923 Berton Avenue, Vancouver BC, V6S 0B3

page 3

Editor & Business ManagerJohn Tompkinsphone: 604.827.3502 email: jtompkins@myuna.ca

Design ProductionRebecca Indphone: 604.822.9675 email: rind@myuna.ca

Advertising enquiriesemail: advertising@myuna.ca

The purpose of the Advisory Planning Committee (APC) is to provide public in-put in the planning process for amending the Wesbrook Place Neighbourhood Plan. The committee is responsible for provid-ing comments to UBC Planning staff on the neighbourhood planning process, the proposed amendments to the Wesbrook Place Neighbourhood Plan and any other matters referred to it by the UBC Direc-tor of Planning. Members receive update on the process to elaborate the design vi-sion and any possible amendments to the Neighbourhood Plan.

Report from Wesbrook Place Advisory Planning Committee: Share Your Ideas

Ying ZhouUNA Board Resident Director

and Treasurer

At the first meeting, Michael White, As-sociate Vice-President of UBC Campus and Community Planning (C+CP), noted the important role the committee has in assuring the UBC Board of Governors that neighbourhood plans and amend-ments to plans have been thoroughly reviewed by residents and neighbouring stakeholders. The second meeting received a brief overview of the draft Wesbrook Place Design Vision Process from UBC staff. Also, a draft of the companion Design Guidelines publication to the Wesbrook Place Neighbourhood Plan was prepared by RWA Architects and was circulated on table. This document will conclude the process to elaborate the design vision for the neighbourhood. A Powerpoint pre-sentation was used to take the APC mem-bers through the draft document.

At the third meeting, the APC worked with the 3-D model and the nature of actual amendments to the neighbour-hood plan. The special meeting involved a proposal from UBC staff to revise the neighbourhood plan based on input and feedback from members. UBC C+CP staff also gave a presentation to the UNA Operations and Sustainability Standing Committee. The committee is reviewing different options for building on the remaining 18 building lots. We have looked at the sites of the buildings and the opportunity for a wider choice for housing types. The ex-isting plan would see these sites occupied by apartment units. Through discussions with the campus community, including neighbourhood residents, we learned there is a desire to allow more townhous-es to be built in the future. We are con-

tinuing to review different options. The committee will review the proposal to en-sure that there is enough opportunity to increase townhouses in Wesbrook Place. We enjoyed the input from a variety of stakeholders. In addition to the UNA and other residents, we have representatives from UBC Farm, TRIUMF, Pacific Spirit Park Society, Musqueam First Nation and the Alma Mater Society. We have other meetings scheduled in the months ahead, and when the proposal to amend the neighbourhood plan is fi-nalized, Campus and Community Plan-ning will hold an Open House, so that everyone can learn about the change to the neighbourhood plan. On-line public consultation will be held from February 4 to February 19. We do encourage more residents to get involved in this process and share your ideas!

Wesbrook Place is awarded Gold for Best Landscape in Master Planned Community at Builders’ Show

Representatives of UBC Properties Trust enjoyed a treasured moment at the 2016 International Builders’ Show (IBS) in Las Vegas on January 19. Their Wesbrook Place development won Gold Award for Best Landscape in a Master Planned Community at the Na-tionals Awards, a contest—held during the IBS—pitting over a thousand home builders and their sales and marketing de-partments in North America against each other. The Nationals Awards are presented annually by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), one of the most recognized homebuilding associations in the US and Canada. Ashley Willard Bauman, Director of Strategy and Marketing for UBC Proper-ties Trust, said, “It is very exciting to be recognized for the best public spaces in all of North America. The high design and maintenance standard of the parks, public spaces, roads (and other landscape features) were all analyzed as part of our submission process.” In addition to its Gold Award for Best Landscape, Wesbrook Place won Silver Award in two other categories of compe-tition: Master Planned Community of the Year and Best Sales/Welcome Centre.Ms. Bauman said, “The Silver recogni-tion for Master Planned Community very much signals the lifecycle stage of the community. “With the opening of the Wesbrook Community Centre, the completion of five parks, a growing number of retailers and continuous residential development, we have achieved great critical mass

that positioned Wesbrook well for this achievement.” For 36 years, The Nationals Awards has recognized superior sales and marketing achievements by individual profession-als, home builders and associates, and sales and marketing councils. The Nationals gala celebration draws a sold-out crowd of attendees who gather for a black-tie, multimedia gala annu-ally at the International Builders’ Show. Highlights include striking Academy Award-style statuettes for Gold winners, handsome plaques for Silver winners and feature displays of all finalists. Meanwhile, upcoming on March 11, Wesbrook Place is a finalist in seven cat-egories at the Georgie Awards, owned and produced by the Canadian Home Builders Association of British Columbia (CHBA BC). The categories are: • Residential Community of the Year – Wesbrook • Marketing Campaign of the Year – Wesbrook Village • Best Outdoor Living Space Multi-fam-ily – Nobel House • Best Advertising Campaign – Wes-brook Village • Best Website – Wesbrook Village • Best Environmental Initiative – Nobel Park • Best Multi-family Mid/High Rise – Nobel House. Georgie Awards is recognized both provincially and nationally as a premier housing awards program that highlights and celebrates excellence in home build-ing in British Columbia, and it has be-come an industry stamp of quality.

Ms. Bauman said, “We have a really good shot at winning many of the above. This is a fantastic accomplishment for all

involved. It is great to see Wesbrook rec-ognized as a world-class community.”

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT FEBRUARY 15, 2016page 4

UNA Volunteer Awards

2015–2016 UNA Volunteer Awards NominationsEach year the University Neighbourhoods Association recognizes the great contributions of individuals and groups who volunteer their time and skills to provide services and programs

in UNA community. Nomination starts February 22 and closes March 28.

• Adult or youth volunteers, who meet the following criteria, are eligible for a UNA Volunteer Award: - Makes an outstanding contribution in building a caring, connected and sustain-able community through volunteer service; - Demonstrates exceptional commit-ment, service, cooperation, or leadership; - Inspires others to engage in volunteer service and serves as a role model for others in the community; - Improves the overall quality of life of residents and the community as a whole. • Length of volunteering, time com-

Nomination Criteriamitment and contribution in the year of 2015-2016, the number of people who have benefited from their work and im-pact they have created within the com-munity are important factors in the award selection. • Use examples and stories to make a stronger and more complete application. • Nominees must be someone who pro-vides volunteer service to UNA commu-nity. • Youth nominees must be aged between 13 and 18. • Nominators may nominate one person only.

Awards CategoriesCommunity Development and LeadershipLead, advise and enhance civic and com-munity engagement through strategic planning, policy development, and/or program delivery that helps shape the fu-ture of the UNA community.

Sustainability and EnvironmentLead and support initiatives that lead to the achievement of the UNA’s sustain-ability goal and of further the develop-ment of a green UNA community.

Education, Arts and CultureLead, support and engage community members to foster a welcoming and in-clusive UNA community through educa-tion, art, dance, music and the sharing of cultures.

Recreation and HealthLead and support programs and activi-ties that enhance the physical, social and mental health of members in the UNA community.

Supporting Children, Youth or Se-niorsLead and support initiatives that improve the physical and social wellbeing of chil-dren, youth or seniors in the UNA com-munity.

Outstanding Youth Volunteers (aged 13-18)Lead, support and participate in programs and activities that enhance youth leader-ship, communication and participation in the UNA community.

• A UNA Volunteer Recognition Com-mittee will create to review all nomina-tions and decide on the award recipients. The Committee will consist of staff mem-bers of UNA and the community centres, as well as three UNA residents. Anyone who is interested in joining in the Com-mittee, please contact Qiuning Wang be-fore March 20, 2016.

Award Selection Process • The Volunteer Award Reception will be held at the Wesbrook Community Centre. • As the nominator, you will receive a letter in mid-April, informing you if your nominee is an award recipient or not. Alternatively, please contact Qiun-ing Wang at qiuning.wang@myuna.ca or 604.822.3799 any time after April 15th, 2016 to inquire.

I had the great pleasure of leading a group of UTown @ UBC Youth Lead-ership Program participants to the UBC Student Leadership Conference (SLC) January 9. There were five of us in total that spent the morning together attending presentations and lectures before we split up in the afternoon to attend programs of our choice. I asked a few of the participants to write contributions to this month’s Campus Resident. Here are some excerpts from their experiences, which I hope you will find as interesting and important to the continual development of youth within our community as I do.

Diana Marinescu, Grade 11 student, Kitsilano Secondary School The UBC Student Leadership Confer-ence is best known for its interactive atmosphere that provides delegates with useful leadership skills and valuable learning experiences. Through a series of inspiring speakers and engaging workshops, participants are given the resources to develop as leaders and thrive within their community. This year’s theme was Make History. This means not only recognizing our indi-viduality and our potential to create real change in the world around us, but also celebrating our past accomplishments in order to create a better future.

Reflections on Recent UBC Student Leadership ConferenceAndrew Clements

Youth Program Coordinator, Wesbrook Community Centre

As a high school student with many years of studies ahead, the UBC SLC 2016 was a wonderful opportunity for me to catch a glimpse of people in the workplace. In-corporating passion with work has been shown the most effective combination for enjoying a pleasant and fulfilling career experience. This motif was consistently demonstrated throughout the whole day of presentations. However, the most in-spirational speaker was Rick Hansen, who at the age of 15 had a serious ac-cident and who has been destined to live the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He spoke vividly about the importance of overcoming obstacles and accepting whatever life chooses to deliver, by hav-ing the will power to take the best stance possible when perceiving any given situ-ation.

Felix Mann, Grade 8 student, Norma Rose Point Elementary SchoolOne of the people who left me thinking was Rebecca Foley, a recent graduate of UBC, specializing in International Rela-tions and Economics. Ms. Foley told us her story of working with Seva Canada, a non-profit organization whose mission is to stop preventable blindness. She also gave some interesting pointers on what to think about when applying for a job or just generally good things to remember and go back on when making decisions. I liked her presentation and will remember what she said on university, “Don’t freak out if you don’t know what to do”.

Sophia P., Grade 9 studentThe set up in the beginning was nicely

done. You walk into the Chan Centre, find your nametag then walk to the spectacu-lar auditorium. Here you will get a nice warm welcome. Personally, my favorite talk was with Adit Abit from the South Sudan International Youth Ambassadors (SSIYA). Her story about how she got a bullet in her arm just because she wanted to get an education was mind boggling.

Here, in Vancouver, we feel like educa-tion is just an ordinary everyday thing, but when you venture out to places that have limited education, you feel so spe-cial. She inspired me to work as hard as I can and to learn as much as my brain can hold, because you don’t know when your next learning opportunity might be.

UTown @ UBC Youth Leadership Program participants (left to right) Roxanne Huang, Lian Lo, Felix Mann, Sophia Proksa, Diana Marinescu at the UBC Stu-dent Leadership Conference, with coordinator Andrew Clements (front).

Nomination period:February 22 - March 28, 2016

visit www.myuna.ca

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT FEBRUARY 15, 2016 page 5

The funding impasse for transit and transportation improvements throughout the region may soon be resolved. There are promising signs that the federal gov-ernment will provide more funding than originally anticipated. However, we won’t know for sure until the federal budget is brought down, expected in late March. The improvements are set out in a 10-Year Plan developed by the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation and released in 2014. Among the improve-

Broadway Line: Any Progress on Funding?Maria Harris

Member, Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation and

Electoral Area A Director, Metro Vancouver

ments are the extension of SkyTrain west along Broadway to Arbutus and enhanced bus service for UBC. The Plan has met with widespread approval throughout Metro Vancouver. Funding has been the Plan’s sticking point. After taking into account antici-pated senior government contributions, increased ridership revenue, and tolls on a new Pattullo Bridge, a substantial fund-ing gap remained, amounting to approxi-mately $250 million per year (2015 dol-lars). The provincial government required that the additional money be generated within the Metro Vancouver region. After much deliberation, the Mayors’ Council proposed a 0.5% regional sales tax as the new revenue source. As mandated by the province, this was put to a vote in a pleb-iscite last spring. 62% percent of Metro Vancouver voters said No. When the Plan was developed, it was

UBC Centennial Session

100 Years WISE: Women in Science and EngineeringBRIDGING THE PAST AND THE FUTURE

Join us to inspire and raise awareness about leadership, diversity and community with university presidents, health and industry leaders, a special participation by

a former Canadian Prime Minister, and more!

7:00 PM - 9:00 pm, Wednesday, March 9Chan Shun Hall, The Chan Centre for Performing Arts,

6265 Crescent Road

The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required for admission.

For tickets and information, please visit:http://ubc100.ca/100wise

expected that the federal and provincial governments would contribute approxi-mately one-third each towards the capital costs of the major infrastructure projects, leaving the remaining third to be funded by the region. In addition, the region was expected to fund most other capital costs as well as increased operating, mainte-nance and replacement costs resulting from the expansion of the transit system. Recently, this funding formula has been questioned. Requiring the region to fund one-third of the capital costs of major infrastructure projects is out of line with what is happening in other major urban centres, such as Toronto and Montreal, where the region bears a much smaller portion of such costs. Furthermore, it does not recognize the limited revenue-raising capacity of local governments as compared to the federal and provincial governments. While the proposed funding has been portrayed as a one-third federal-provin-cial-municipal split, in fact it would re-sult in the region funding substantially more than one-third of the total costs. A true one-third cost sharing would take into account all costs to be funded by the region and hence would have the region fund considerably less than one-third of capital costs. The Chair of the Mayors’ Council has been pushing for a reduction in the local government share to 10% of the cost of capital projects that have fed-eral and provincial funding. The federal government has shown sympathy for the financial constraints faced by local governments. Accord-ing to the Globe & Mail, Minister Sohi, the Minister of Infrastructure and Com-munities, noted that he has been hearing from provincial and local officials about

“capacity gaps” that hinder making proj-ects a reality. He is quoted as saying that the government will decide “whether we continue to be one-third partners, or we come up with different way of increasing that support”. An article in Maclean’s magazine states: “Sohi said again the government is willing to pick up a bigger slice of project costs, rather than the rigid three-way split of costs among the fed-eral, provincial and local government.” As part of its election platform, the Liberals pledged an additional $60 bil-lion over 10 years for three categories of infrastructure investment, $20 billion of which is for public transit. The govern-ment has stated that it is anxious to start the flow of money as soon as possible. This is a further basis for optimism that the funding shortfall for the Mayors’ Council Plan could be resolved soon. If the federal funds are not enough to close the funding gap—which won’t be known until the federal budget is released—there will be considerable pressure on the province to increase its financial contribution to the projects in the Mayors’ Council Plan. It is hard to imagine that the province would not be willing to do so if the consequence were that the region could not obtain its share of federal funding for public transit. Even with increased federal funding (and possibly provincial funding), the region will still have to come up with ad-ditional revenue to fund its share of the costs of the Mayors’ Council Plan. How-ever, this should be easier to achieve if the amount required from the region is reduced. The Mayors’ Council will need to resolve the regional funding issue promptly if adequate federal and provin-cial money become available soon.

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT FEBRUARY 15, 2016page 6

CAPS4ART Project Brings Neighbours Together while Raising Awareness of Recycling 20,000 used plastic caps have been collected by UNA residents, volunteers and supporters to create innovative artwork; a mural

called Convergence will be hung at Wesbrook Community Centre“A neighbour—I don’t even know who—even put a bag of 80 blue caps in the box: this moved me very much and made me feel warm and grateful. Neighbours started to recognize me, and we had con-versations like, “How are the caps go-ing?” - UNA Volunteer

When I see the amount of cardboard, pa-per, bottles, containers, plastic bags and food scraps we generate every day, I re-alize how important it is to the environ-ment to recycle, reuse and reduce.” - UNA Volunteer “One never needs to be shy to do a good thing. You’ll get support and thus begin conversation and fellowship with your new friends and neighbours.” - UNA Vol-unteer

The UNA CAPS4ART project has reached its goal of collecting 20,000 caps to create a giant and colourful mural made entirely out of used plastic caps. With the help of 30 enthusiastic vol-unteers, the group working on the

CAPS4ART project cleaned and sorted the caps in 15 colors at two workshops in November and January. The project is intended to raise awareness of the exces-sive use of plastics in modern daily life and its impact on the environment. Wegland Sit, UNA Sustainability Man-ager, says the CAPS4ART project helps to connect members of the residential community within the UNA neighbour-hoods. The CAPS4ART volunteers—grateful for all support they received from the residents while collecting the caps—not only enjoyed the sense of con-tributing to the art project by recycling plastics, they also enjoyed meeting their neighbours, friendly conversations and newly-developed friendships. Two professional artists—visual artist Mary Cutbill and graphic designer Nidhi Raina—work on the Convergence proj-ect: they collaborate to design abstract images for translation into a 3-dimen-tional mural made from plastic bottle caps and lids. Nidhi has lived and worked in India, Egypt, South Africa and now calls Can-

ada her home. Her interaction with com-munities in different cultures has shaped how she sees and presents the world. In her art, she likes to use recycled materials in unexpected and quirky ways. She as-pires to live by the motto of Xhosa (eth-nic group of South Africa): “I am because of who we all are”, and has a particular interest in community art collaborations. Mary has an avid interest in public art and its potential to exert a positive influ-ence upon daily habitation, to enhance a sense of civic pride and to create a unique visual identity within a community. She appreciates opportunities to contribute her creative skills both independently or in a collaborative environment as part of a dedicated team. The artists say these recycled plastics provide both palette and medium, sug-gesting various elements that contribute to the unique identity of UNA neigh-bourhoods. Using a sequential approach, Convergence workshops will be included in many UNA events until all of the pan-els in the artwork are completed. The finished work is scheduled for in-stallation on two walls on the main level of the Wesbrook Community Centre. Mr. Sit says the CAPS4ART project feels truly grateful for the generous sup-port it has received from numerous or-ganizations, including: Save-On Foods Supermarket (Wesbrook Place), Blenz Coffee (Wesbrook Place), Norma Rose Point School, University Hill Secondary School, UBC Chemistry Store, Starbucks (UBC Market Place) and Pane E Fomag-gio (West Point Grey). He also expressed gratitude to United We Can (UWC), a charitable organiza-tion established to support environmen-tal, social and employment opportunities in the inner city of Vancouver. “UWC has gone the extra mile—to re-move and collect plastic bottle caps in the recycling depot, one bottle at a time—to support our CAPS4ART program.” UBC residents can support United We Can in creating more job opportunities by signing up their building for the UNA Beverage Container Recycling Program. It is a free program for a good cause, learn more at the UNA’s website, http://www.myuna.ca/services/recycling/encorp-uwc-partnership/ The UNA invites campus residents to join future Convergence workshops at which the giant mural made entirely of used plastic caps is being created. The UBC Centennial Initiative Fund provided the UNA a $5,000 grant for this Centennial Community Celebration and Art Project.

© Convergence, Mary M. Cutbill and Nidhi Raina, 2015

Wegland Sit (centre) with UNA residents and U Hill students during the CAPS4ART workshop, Janu-ary 2016.

Left to right: Visual artist Mary Cutbill, Grade 3 student Tracy Liu, Grade 3 teacher Ms. Sharon Sahota and graphic designer Nidhi Raina. The photo was taken following a CAPS4ART presentation to the Grade 3 students at Norma Rose Point School on Wednesday, December 9, 2015.

United We Can executives Gerry Martin and Jack O’Halloran hand UNA Sus-tainability Manager Wegland Sit donations of plastic caps in November 2015.

Collection of donated bottle caps.

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT FEBRUARY 15, 2016 page 7

CAPS4ART Project Brings Neighbours Together while Raising Awareness of Recycling

Donghong Liu, Hawthorn PlaceTracy and I gathered about 1,200 caps in total. Some of them came from Tra-cy’s classmates and friends. Most of them came from our building’s garbage room. We placed a collection box and the CAPS4ART poster near the recycling bins. Some people dropped caps in the box. We also dug out caps from the bins every day—at least half of the caps came this way. Rose Wang, Hawthorn PlaceI collected about 1,200 caps from late Oc-tober to mid January. I began by putting a CAPS4ART poster and a collection box in the recycling area of my building and then asked every neighbour I met, as well as my friends, for their support. I wasn’t that successful at the begin-ning, so I decided to dig out caps from the recycling bins by myself. Once people in my building saw my commitment to the project, they started to save caps and then drop them off in the collection box. My mom, who was visiting me from China, also got involved by washing some of the collected caps. What sur-prised me was that each day in my build-ing of 77 units, I was able to collect up to 30 plastic caps. When I see the amount of cardboard, paper, bottles, containers, plastic bags and food scraps we generate every day, I realize how important it is to the environ-ment to recycle, reuse and reduce. To me, this is as important as the art created as part of the CAPS4ART project.

Volunteers talk about their experiences collecting plastic caps for the project

Yi Xiao, Wesbrook Place I think I probably collected 1,200 to 1,500 caps. I started by talking to the strata managers in two houses: Dahlia House, where I live, and Nobel House, where my husband’s colleague lives. In the garbage rooms, I placed collec-tion boxes and CAPS4ART posters I got from the UNA. My husband helped me by collecting caps in his laboratory. A visiting doctor I know helped me with the collection in Regent College. Also, friends from the church helped me a lot, and I talked to neighbors about the proj-ect when we met in the elevator. Since then, more and more caps landed in the collection boxes. A neighbor—I don’t even know who—even put a bag of 80 blue caps in the box: this moved me very much and made me feel warm and grateful. Neighbours started to recognize me, and we had conversations like, “How are the caps going?” I talked to new friends I met in the English Corner (conversation group) of the UNA community. People from Ja-pan, France, Columbia and Korea helped me. They collected caps in their homes and brought them to me. Although the amount is not large, I do feel warm. And I know now there is a French lady living in the same building as me! Both of us feel so happy about that. The lesson I get from the collection is: One never needs to be shy to do a good thing. You’ll get support and thus begin conversation and fellowship with your new friends and neighbours.

Wegland Sit (centre) with UNA residents and U Hill students during the CAPS4ART workshop, Janu-ary 2016.

Left to right: Visual artist Mary Cutbill, Grade 3 student Tracy Liu, Grade 3 teacher Ms. Sharon Sahota and graphic designer Nidhi Raina. The photo was taken following a CAPS4ART presentation to the Grade 3 students at Norma Rose Point School on Wednesday, December 9, 2015.

Wegland Sit sorts out donated bottle caps with UNA residents and U Hill students.

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT FEBRUARY 15, 2016page 8

On January 26, UBC Recreation teamed up with the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at UBC to promote wellbeing through both physical activity and en-lightenment about the world of art. A free, guided ‘Step It Up’ walking tour—called the Art Lovers’ Walk—fo-cused on introducing UBC residents, stu-dents and faculty/staff to outdoor works of art on campus. Naomi Sawanda, Man-ager of Public Programs and Publicity at the Belkin Gallery, provided expert commentary on public art sites around campus in the area of the Belkin Gallery during a 50-minute walk. An enthusiastic group of campus resi-dents and UBC staff members skipped lunch for the day and instead listened to the commentary of Ms. Sawanda while walking between five sites: Museum as a School, a large billboard by Luis Camnitzer attached to the outside of the Belkin Art Gallery building; Wood for the People, a work by My-fanwy MacLeod featuring 230 identical, cast concrete logs stacked in the form of a woodpile; Native Hosts, a road sign by Hock E Aye VI Edgar Heap of Birds addressing the relationship between First Nations and British Columbia (with ‘British Co-lumbia’ spelled backwards on the sign); Three Forms, a piece by Robert Cloth-ier consisting of three concrete forms, each resembling a slightly squared C, stacked and turned to present a configura-tion that appears to change, depending on

Step It Up: Belkin Gallery Hosts Art Lovers’ WalkArt Lovers’ Walk was organized by UBC Recreation and Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery

the angle at which it is approached; and Millennial Time Machine, 2003, a large work by Rodney Graham of a four-wheel carriage converted to a mobile camera obscura. Ms. Sawanda explained that since the late 1950s, works of outdoor art have been collected by The University of Brit-ish Columbia to enrich the campus en-vironment. “These artworks tell stories about the history of UBC and Vancouver and are part of an ongoing narrative of the history of art,” she said. The Provost’s Committee on Univer-sity Art, a diverse body of faculty and students, provides leadership on the ac-quisition, installation and maintenance of artwork on campus. With support from the staff at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, the Committee develops the curatorial vision for the outdoor collec-tion and works to ensure a place for art at UBC in the future. Suzanne Jolly, Physical Activity Man-ager at UBC Recreation, explained that Step It Up guided walks—such as the Art Lovers’ Walk—are all free and open to anyone who wishes to join: residents, UBC faculty and staff and students alike. “Walking is one of the most accessible ways for all ages to build an overall sense of wellbeing, reduce stress, lose weight, make new friends and reduce risks of cancer or cardiovascular disease,” Ms. Jolly said. For more information and updates on the Step It Up campaign, check the UBC Recreation website www.recreation.ubc.ca/stepitup. For more information about walking tours of 26 sites at UBC where outdoor works of public art are on permanent dis-play, visit the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery website www.belkin.ubc.ca.

Rodney Graham, Millennial Time Machine: A Landau Carriage Converted to a Mobile Camera Obscura, 2003. Photo credit Martin Tessler. Collection of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia.

Edgar Heap of Birds, Native Hosts, 1991-2007. Photo credit Michael R. Barrick.Collection of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia.

Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. Luis Camnitzer, The Museum is a School, 2010/2011. Photo credit Owen Sopotiuk.

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT FEBRUARY 15, 2016 page 9

Save-On-Foods at UBC Will Soon Have Sister-Store in Dunbar

Grocery shoppers in the University/West Point Grey/Dunbar area will have a sec-ond Save-On-Foods store to visit shortly. On January 13, Overwaitea Food Group (OFG)—which owns Save-On-Foods—announced it had acquired three IGA stores with plans to convert them to Save-On-Foods stores and operate them under the Save-On-Foods contract. One of the IGA stores is located at 41st Street and Dunbar. The other two IGA stores are located elsewhere in the Lower Mainland—one at Main and 13th, Vancouver, and the oth-er at Willingdon and Kingsway, Burnaby. The three IGAs are staffed by members of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. OFG said it will assume control of the three IGA stores on March 31. The com-pany also said the union will work with the IGA Bargaining Committee to care-fully develop the terms of transition from the IGA Corporate contract to the Save-On-Foods contract. The existing UBC Save-On-Foods is located in Wesbrook Place at 16th Ave-nue and Wesbrook Mall. It was officially opened in September 2009—the first grocery store of its kind to operate on a Canadian university campus.

IGA store at 41st and Dunbar will be converted to Save-On-Foods

store; BC Business Magazine and market research firm Ipsos named

Save-On-Foods ‘BC’s Most Loved Brand’

“We’re proud to present this new store to our customers at UBC,” said OFG President Steve van der Leest at the open-ing ceremony. “More and more consum-ers are looking to retailers for sustainable options— from where they shop, to what they buy and how they carry their goods home. We’re making some great strides in our stores offering these choices.” UBC Save-on-Foods—the 36,000 sq ft store—offers an industry-leading selec-tion of food and health solutions, includ-ing more than 2,300 natural and organic products. Other unique new features include a host of leading-edge energy-saving technologies and earth-friendly design features such as sensor-operated high-efficiency lighting in production and freezer areas, a new type of linoleum tile flooring made from natural cork and linseed oil, and energy reduced refrig-eration systems certified through BC Hydro’s Power Smart High Performance Building Program. For a second consecutive year, BC Business Magazine, together with market research firm Ipsos, has named Save-On-Foods ‘BC’s Most Loved Brand’. According to BC Business Magazine, brand ‘love’ includes consumers’ percep-tion about the brand including• a brand consumers identify with• a brand they trust• a brand that they see as unique, innova-tive and socially responsible• a brand they see everywhere• a brand that makes a positive contribu-tion to BC and• a brand they are most likely to interact with. “I am so proud of our more than 15,000 UBC welcomed Save-on-Foods in September 2009.

Wesbrook Community Centre played host to UNA’s Lunar New Year celebration on Saturday February 6, 2016. The event saw its largest turnout of 400+ attendees take part in activities, which included the traditional Lion Dance, Korean dancers, Chinese dancers, UNA CRAZI dance crew, as well as crafts, interactive games and tea sampling. Other Lunar New Year events on UBC campus included UBC Centennial Lunar New Year celebration on Friday February 5, and Wesbrook Village’s celebra-tion on February 13.

world-class team members who continue to work very hard to always put the cus-tomer first, and to lead the way in the in-dustry with a focus on always innovating and delivering our unique service, and providing our customers with the prod-ucts and services they want, how they want them, and when they want them”, says Save-On-Foods President Darrell Jones. In addition to being named ‘BC’s Most Loved Brand’, Save-On-Foods has also been named #3 Most Influential Brand

which, as defined by BC Business Mag-azine, means that the Save-On-Foods brand had a fundamental impact on con-sumers’ lives. Consumers view Save-On-Foods as trustworthy, leading edge, en-gaging and that the company is a good corporate citizen. Known for its unique approach in cus-tomizing each store to best suit the needs of the neighbourhood and sourcing local products wherever possible, the company has been innovating and putting custom-ers first for over 100 years.

UNA Lunar New Year Celebration a Huge Success

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT FEBRUARY 15, 2016page 10

Archytas Quartet (left to right): Dale Barltrop (violin), David Gilliam (violin), David Harding (viola) and Ariel Barnes (cello).

Local Musicians Make Classical Debut

The Archytas Quartet—three of whose four members are UNA residents—per-formed in a debut concert in Barnett Hall on campus January 29. The quartet consists of Vancouver Sym-phony (VSO) concertmaster Dale Barl-trop, VSO principal cello Ariel Barnes, and UBC faculty members David Gill-ham, violin, and David Harding, viola.Mr. Barltrop, Mr. Gillham and Mr. Hard-ing are all UTown residents. The quartet is named after Archytas, a Greek philosopher, mathematician, as-tronomer, statesman and strategist. “I’m no mathematician and couldn’t explain or understand (at this point) the depth of this man’s brilliance, however, it certainly resonated with me,” said Mr.

Debut concert of Archytas Quartet was held January 29 at Barnett Hall, UBC; three of the

four musicians are UNA residents

Barnes who came across the story of Ar-chytas while reading Plato’s Republic. Violinist Barltrop commented: “There’s nothing more thrilling than bringing a new combination of musicians together for the first time. We hope it will be an enlightening process full of discovery

and good fun.” The Archytas Quartet has only two con-certs planned this season, as Mr. Barltrop will be moving back to Australia in the summer. Their second concert will be May 17 on the Music on Main series at The Fox Cabaret on Main Street.

The January Archytas Quartet concert was the third of this season’s Music on the Point: Concerts with Personality se-ries presented by the UBC School of Mu-sic in partnership with UTown@UBC.

TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics and a famous neighbour to residents living at Wesbrook Place, celebrated four decades of discovery and innovation February 9.The laboratory held a brief ceremony to mark this success with a few hundred of its scientists—past, present and future—in attendance. Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan joined in the 40th anniversary celebration and highlighted how the national labora-tory continues to advance world-class science and engineering for the benefit of Canada. Ms. Duncan said, “TRIUMF is truly a Mecca for Canadian and international researchers in the fields of particle and nuclear physics, molecular and materi-als science and nuclear medicine. Thanks to TRIUMF’s ambitious international partnerships, Canadian researchers have been at the centre of some of the most im-portant global research projects.” Forty years ago on February 9, 1976, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau officially commissioned TRIUMF’s cyclotron, a particle accelerator which is the heart

TRIUMF Celebrates Four Decades of Scientific DiscoveryProtons are accelerated to ¾

speed of light; cancer cells are attacked with high precision

of Canada’s national laboratory. “I don’t know what a cyclotron is, but I am cer-tainly very happy Canada has one,” said Mr. Trudeau on the occasion.

The main cyclotron—the largest in the world—accelerates protons up to three quarters of the speed of light. The cy-clotron infrastructure has enabled TRI-

UMF’s proton therapy cancer treatment centre, the only one of its kind in Canada. Cancerous tumors are irradiated with high precision.

MP Terry Beech (left) and Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan (third from left) with young scientists at TRIUMF’s 40th an-niversary celebration. Photo credit Kim Stallknecht.

Residents of the University Endowment Lands who live near Norma Rose Point School will take comfort in knowing that the Vancouver School Board (VSB) is at

Apologetic School Board Officials Promise Less Noise from School Pump

Meeting with three VSB representatives is held January 18; UEL noise problem could

be resolved in month

last taking their complaints about noise from a heat pump atop the school seri-ously. Three senior members of school board staff attended a meeting of the Commu-nity Advisory Council (CAC) January 18, and after the meeting, CAC President Dave Forsyth said, “Hopefully, we will get a resolution to this (noise problem) shortly.” Mr. Forsyth said the VSB representa-

tives apologized for the ongoing noise, which one resident had likened to the roar of an engine. “They had hoped that simply turning the heat pump off during the evening was sufficient, but that has turned out not to be adequate. They promised to take ac-tion to reduce the daytime noise and hope to have implemented the solution within a month.” Mr. Forsyth leads a seven-member

council which pressed for a meeting with the VSB to discuss the noise problem at Norma Rose Point School—opened only 18 months ago—for the best part of 2015. By November, CAC members had even agreed to consider legal action if the school board did not meet with them. Eventually, however, CAC persistence paid off, and the long awaited meeting was held.

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT FEBRUARY 15, 2016 page 11

Biodiversity in your backyard

Under the Sea

What’s the largest creature to have ever lived on earth? Hint: it’s not a dinosaur. You might have guessed from the title that this creature lives in the ocean. It’s a blue whale! These whales are much heavier than the biggest dinosaurs we know about. Blue whales are the length of two school busses, with arteries so large that babies could crawl through them. So what do they eat to keep their bulk up? A tiny

Mairin KerrMarketing, Communications

and Events Coordinator Beaty Biodiversity Museum

crustacean called krill. These shrimplike creatures are only about 2 cm long. So how can they fill up a blue whale? They swarm in hundreds of square kilome-ters of the ocean making it easy for blue whales to get a nice big mouthful. To get these big mouthfuls, blue whales have stretchy throats that go from their chin to their navel. Their throats can ex-pand to four times their original widths, fitting a huge amount of water and krill into mouth and throat! To separate out the krill, the blue whales push the water back out through their baleen, which acts like a giant sieve – keeping the krill in while sending the water back into the ocean. Not only are blue whales the biggest animals, they are also the loudest! Their call is louder than a jet plane engine. They sing loudly at a very low frequency, which means their calls can travel thou-sands of kilometers. This might let them communicate with each other from very far away. Blue whales can’t have a solid night’s sleep like we do because they have to come to the surface to get air every 20 minutes. So at night, they go close to the surface and put half their brain to sleep, then switch to the other half until they feel rested. Birds do the same thing, which lets them travel far distances with-out having to stop and sleep. Historically, blue whales were hunted for their blubber and baleen. Their popu-lation went from about 350,000 to only 1,000-2,000. Blue whales are listed as Endangered under the Canadian Species-at-Risk Act. Hunting blue whales was

banned in 1966. Though they are still endangered today, their population has begun to increase. See a blue whale skeleton in your own backyard – at the Beaty Biodiversity Mu-seum. This is one of only 21 blue whale skeletons on display worldwide. This whale washed up on the shore of Prince Edward Island in 1987. An amazing team cleaned her up, articulated the skeleton and put her on display, so we can all learn about these cool creatures and work to-gether to protect them. In the Collection Join us at the Beaty Biodiversity Muse-um for Nature Club on Saturday, Febru-ary 27th to learn what you can find in the sea. Drop-in from 10:30 am – 1:30 pm for this FREE program for UNA mem-bers. At UBC Botanical Garden we are cel-ebrating our 100th anniversary in 2016 and have a number of special events

planned. Stay tuned for more details! We’ve also just launched a new website botanicalgarden.ubc.ca.

Blue Whale at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Photo by Derek Tan.

Krill. Photo by Beaty Biodiversity Museum.

Dear President Piper,

On behalf of the residents of Acadia Park, I would like to express our concern regarding the recent loss of our ability to pay for our housing and tuition with our credit cards. We have been in conversa-tion with VP Finance Andrew Simpson regarding this matter, and he has ad-dressed some of our questions. Still, we feel that there are some problems that derive from the university’s decision to stop accepting credit card payments that the university has not sufficiently solved, and we would appreciate any help you can offer. We understand that UBC is under finan-cial pressure, and we appreciate the uni-versity’s need to make efficient use of its funds. Similarly, we want you to under-stand that we students are under financial pressure and we hope that you appreci-ate our need to make efficient use of our funds. The recent change in your credit card policy has made it more difficult for some of us to do this. Mr. Simpson has provided some very helpful insight into the university’s ra-tionale for discontinuing its relationship

Open Letter to UBC President Martha Piper

Re: Student Credit Card Policy Change

UBC has removed credit card payments for student housing,

mandatory meal plans, and international tuition installments.

UBC student Eric Douglas, President of Acadia Park

Residents’ Association, expresses his concerns to UBC President

Martha Piper.

with the credit card companies. What remains lacking, unfortunately, are miti-gating solutions to alleviate the financial burden that this has shifted onto the stu-dents. Mr. Simpson recommends that students facing hardship in making time-ly payments approach Enrolment Servic-es for help. We have done this and found that Enrolment Services will charge sub-stantial penalties to any student who is unable to pay fees on time from his bank account. Mr. Simpson also recommend-ed that incoming foreign students use no-fee wire transfer services to make their required payments. We have been unable to find such services. In fact, some of us have had to personally provide financial services to incoming foreign students who could not make payments by credit card. This strikes us as an unprofessional environment. Ultimately, the university’s decision to save money by severing its relationship with the credit card agencies has had a fi-nancially punitive effect on students. We feel this is unfair, and we would like your help in remedying this hardship. Finally, those of us who signed con-tracts for this academic year did so in good faith that our fees and methods of payment would be honoured. We are dis-appointed, and somewhat alarmed, that they have not been. It is a privilege to attend the Univer-sity of British Columbia and a delight to live in Acadia Park. We are proud of our school, and we hope the university will continue to make decisions that maintain its excellent standing and attract top tal-ent from around the world.

Kind regards,Eric Douglas, President, Acadia Park Residents’ Association

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT FEBRUARY 15, 2016page 12

Wesbrook Community Centre and The Old Barn Community Centre!

PARKS AND RECREATION

www.myuna.ca

REGISTER STARTING: March 7 - Online,

March 8 - In Person

LOOK FOR THE PROGRAM GUIDE IN YOUR MAILBOX MARCH 2!

Program Guide