Jericho Beach Park and the field of dreams - Part 1

View from the marsh

This week AccessEcoBC is doing a two part blog on Vancouver's west side Jericho Beach Park. Part 1 concerns Jericho as it is 362 days a year, and Part 2 provides an inside look at Jericho for three days in July during the Vancouver Folk Festival.

Originally the Coast Salish Nation village of Ee'yullmough, Jericho Beach was renamed Jerry's Cove in the 1860s after it was settled as a logging camp run by Jeremiah Rogers. Over time, the vernacular was shortened to Jericho. The area was used as a seaplane base during WW2 and was turned over to the Vancouver parks department in the 1970s. This 47 hectare park is kept fairly natural; however, it offers many amenities, including some fantastic accessible features and other areas which are very inaccessible.

The oldest building in Vancouver in neighboring Hastings Mill Park

This West Point Grey neighbourhood needs to catch up to the downtown core as far as curb cuts, accessible crossways and sidewalks.are concerned. What's worse is that this area is home to Steeves Manor, a large comunity of seniors and people with disabiliites. The residents deserve better and safer community access. A Translink supervisor pointed out that the stops on the south side of West 4th Ave near the park entrance are not technically marked as accessible stops. This puts stopping and loading or unloading with use of the ramp up to driver discretion. The stops on the north side of West 4th Ave closest to the park entrance are designated accessible, so you are not left to the whims of a driver until you want to go the other way towards downtown Vancouver. If  you take transit, use the trip planner at http://www.translink.ca/  On the site you can learn how to register for the HandyDart/Taxi Saver Program.  HandyDarts are not handy and they don't dart, so taxi your way. Paid accessible parking can be found at the northeast side of the park along West Point Grey Road and the far west side accessed off Discovery Street. 

The pier on Jericho Beach Park's west side is fairly accessible

Bunnies and squatters

The beach is accessible thanks to one of two city beach wheelchairs

If you want to birdwatch and commune with nature, check out the marsh area. It is best accessed from the park entrance along West 4th Ave. At the park's south entrance follow the hard gravel-packed road west to the bridge. The park needs improvements to way finding and trail information. The basic trail around the marsh is passable for mobility purposes but expect the need for power to traverse trails of dirt, grass, and cement. If you choose to skip the marsh tour, keep following the road after the bridge and commune with squatters and bunnies on your way towards the wharf. The wharf area is a section of Jericho that is technically part of the seawall system, although it is more road than wall.  It follows the beach and runs east to west. The wharf section at the west end of the park has been condemned but a redesign is in the works. The City of Vancouver's Disability Advisory Committee has requested water acccess to the high tide marks and will continue to lobby for better access throughout Jericho Beach Park and the West Point Grey area.

The west side of the park is where you will find the Jericho Community Sailing Centre, home of the Disability Sailing Association. This is a great way to get out on English Bay. Some craft even have sip and puff navigation and sail adjusting capabilities. For details go to http://www.disabledsailingbc.org/.  The west side is also where you will find the Jericho Youth Hostel, which is definitely not wheelchair accessible. If you can handle stairs it's a cheap, clean place to stay.  For information go to www.hihostels.ca/westerncanada/168/HI-Vancouver_Jericho_Beach.hostel.

Also on the west side are playing fields and a new multi-purpose field  featuring artificial turf which is very accessible. The older ball diamonds are not as accommodating. One of the two park washrooms located in front of the hotel is accessible.

On the northeast side of the park you will find the other accessible washroom along with a food concesion, lifeguard station, change area and outdoor shower. You can also ask the lifegaurd to use one of two of the City of Vancouver's beach wheelchairs.  (See post "The pieces are in place so check it out mate.")

I have left a huge gap in my report: the large field surrounded by all the perimeter paths described above.  The field is all grassy and hilly with dips, valleys and bumps galore. Once a year hundreds of people requirng mobility aids visit this field to attend the Vancouver International Folk Festival. Making this accessible field of dreams possible is the folk fest's Universal Access Committee.  The committee is part of the festival's large group of over 1500 volunteers who help make the festival a fantastic must-do event. More on that next time.

Coal Harbour is no diamond in the rough

Lots of ways to travel 

I like to roll along this wide flat picturesque section of seawall

The Coal Harbour section of seawall actually serves as part of Trans Canada Trail. The 2.5 km trip connects Canada Place and Jack Poole Plaza (see post "The ups and downs of Jack Poole Plaza") and Stanley Park's Brockton Point travelling west along the large and extensive Burrard Inlet.  It's a 10 km trip to follow the seawall from Harbour Green Park all the way around Stanley Park to English Bay. Along the way there are float planes, celebrities, wildlife, weird life, art, ships of all kinds, shops of all kinds, eateries for every taste and budget, and a real mix of people that only a world class destination can combine. A step off the seawall into nearby accessible neighborhoods can save a lot of money eatery wise.

Children's water park

The parks along this path could use this statue titled the King and Queen

as an accessibility symbol

Sit along the floating dock and rock with the water

You can begin your trip at the foot of the stairs leading from Jack Poole Plaza to the entrance of Harbour Green Park. To get to the foot of the stairs take the elevator from the plaza, get out at the parking garage, travel past the motor scooter rental and training area, keep your head up and eyes open for those zooming vespas, go past Harbour Air terminal and take a left.It, a little dodgey but good news is on the way.  The new air terminal on the west side of the convention centre is almost complete and includes fantastic seawall access with new large elevators. No word yet on the audio features.

Tuck away into portal park just east of Coal Harbour Park situated above the Coal Harbour Community Centre

Say hi to the Buddhas

As you continue along Coal Harbour Park the seawall gets a little narrow for the amount of traffic it must accommodate because your are on your way to Vancouver's biggest attraction: Stanley Park. See post "Vancouver's crown jewel does not sparkle as brightly for PWDs". I was a little rough on Stanley Park in the macroscopic overview in that post, but over time we will visit different sections of the park, some of which will receive high marks. Because of the seawall foot and cycle traffic, it's better to enter the park off the seawall on the road less traveled, so  leave the seawall just after Devonian Harbour Park at the entrance to Stanley Park. The paths are well marked with maps, trail type and grade indicated. Head over the bridge at the old main road entrance moving north (towards the mountains). At the aquarium, turn east and the trail will take you to Brockton Point.  Although the trail turns from pavement to dirt, the surface is good even in the rain.

Dirt road trail

The reason Access Eco went to Brockton Point this time was to attend Vancouver's 125th birthday party (see post "The party's on, it's festival season). The city staff and the 125 committee did a fantastic job making this grassy field area more accessible. Lots of washrooms, raised marked viewing platforms, and mobi mats in areas to assist the trip over grass, and lots of willing volunteers made this three day bash a hoot.

Built in 1891, Brockton Oval was one of the original features in Stanley Park. Originally called the athletic field, it was home to ten different sporting groups. Today it's used for track and field, lawn bowling, and cricket. The field house has just undergone extensive renovations and is now very accessible.

Other attractions at the point/oval are the totem poles, a park attraction since 1920's, the Coast Salish gateway, installed in 2008, and the nine o'clock gun, installed in 1894.  The gun was an important piece of nautical equipment used by mariners to set their chronometers. Today the traditional firing of the cannon at 9:00 pm continues 365 days a year.  The point/oval features fantastic views of the Burrard Inlet, and the North Shore Mountains.  For more information on the parks and Coal Harbour Community Centre go to www.vancouver.ca/parks  If you want to know more about the Trans Canada Trail go to http://www.tctrail.ca/.

Hastings Park a different kind of wild

Opera and children's gardens with skateboard park in the background

Empire field

Hastings race course and casino

Pacific Coliseum

Playland's famous wooden roller coaster

The Italian gardens

As the above images show, Hastings Park, located at East Hastings and Boundary Road, doesn't really have a common theme. It's a little of everything. To some it's the home of the Pacific National Exhibition and Playland, to others it's a neighborhood green space and bird sanctuary, and to others it's a gambling and sporting destination. The result has often led to conflict between groups regarding the park's the future. AccessEco BC is rooting for the return of more green space, but as always, our prime concern is access.

This 15.5 hectare park is easy to reach and generally accessible. The province granted the park to the city in 1889. The racetrack and the PNE came along, and their success led to the building of Empire Stadium for the newly named Commonwealth Games (formerly the British Empire Games) in 1952.  Empire Stadium is long gone and is now revamped as Empire Field and the temporary stadium home of both the BC Lions and the Vancouver Whitecaps until the opening of the newly built, yet to be named downtown stadium. Currently at Empire Field disability access is a little rustic with porta johns and limited accessible seating.  But it's still a great place to catch either of these two teams. For ticket information go to http://www.bclions.com/ or http://www.whitecapsfc.com/   When the stadium moves to its new digs it will leave behind a state of the art artificial playing surface for soccer, softball and other community sports.

In the winter the Pacific Coliseum is home to the Vancouver Giants of the World Hockey League (WHL). This former home of the Vancouver Canucks hosted the Memorial Cup in 2009 and figure skating at the 2010 winter Olympics. The retrofit for the Olympics has greatly improved accessibilty. For event info http://www.vancouvergiants.com/

If you like paying "stupidity tax" perhaps the casino racetrack is for you. Mesmserizing clinging bells and chimes await to enchant you and separate you from your money. I had a real eye opening experience of just how slick this money prying operation is during my AccessEco BC visit. Needing some money I stopped to use the bank machine conveniently placed in the casino foyer. This particular machine would not release funds of less than $100. I accepted the bank charges and received one crisp $100 bill. The normal light beep to remind you to pick up your cash was replaced with the same chiming hypnotic music the slots play to alert you to a payout. 

I prefer to pay my stupidity tax a little more interactively than the stupefying slots and I do like the horses. The racetrack stadium offers lots of accessible seating options but the elevators to the upper reaches of the stadium need a retrofit to be as accommodating as the new casino elevator that takes you track side and the paddock area. For info go to http://www.hastingspark.com/

Want an even bigger adrenalin rush than the possibility of missing your mortgage payment? Playland and the PNE is for you. For event information and accessibility features and policies go to http://www.pne.ca/

Whatever your reason for heading to Hastings Park, you can count on safe crossways into the park, nearby accessible paid parking, and easy transit access. For transit info go to http://www.translink.bc.ca/ . The children's play area near the Italian gardens is not accessible, so for little ones it's better to head to the northeast section of Hastings Park where you will find the Hastings Community Centre with its featured water park. For park information go to www.vancouver.ca/parks

The Roundhouse/David Lam Park on the right track

This converted roundhouse serves as a community centre

Seawall entrance to David Lam Park

The first steam engine passenger train to enter Vancouver

Today Yale, BC  is a small community of 200 people approximately 240 km east of Vancouver. So how did this little unincorporated BC town become heir to the bustling, hip, ecodensity model neighborhood known as Yaletown? In the 1800's  Fort Yale, a Hudson's Bay trading post, was the gateway to the west. Access to the Fraser River made it an ideal steamship port and stage coach hub to connecting points throughout North America. While Canada was completing its National Dream of a coast to coast railroad, the Canadian Pacific Railway used Yale as a base camp to bring its new modern mode of transportation westward. As the railway progressed to Port Moody and on into Vancouver, the rail yard remained behind until the construction of the roundhouse in Vancouver. At this point the small village of rail yard workers left Yale and settled near the newly constructed rail yard. Thus their new digs were dubbed Yaletown. 

Fantastic city views

Busy False Creek

Large fields like David Lam Park are a great place for community gatherings

Yaletown is where you will find David Lam Park and The Roundhouse Community Centre. Long gone are the industrial work yards; they have given way to Vancouver's version of the French Rivera. Cool hip people shop and dine in cool hip stores and restaurants. And when they kick back, they do so in a fantastic accessible green space. This 4.3 hectare park is a real gem with lots of amenities. The washrooms are very accessible with lots of way finding, an accessible boat dock, and an excellent section of the seawall with separate wide paths for bikes and pedestrians. The children's play area is integrated but offers no specifically adapted equipment. Park entrances from the street have all the latest in crossways.

Accessible basketball and tennis courts

Just behind the park is the Roundhouse Community Centre. This artistic social hub is well used with programs and productions throughout the year. The park and the roundhouse are easy to reach. Just take the Canada Line skytrain to Yaletown/Roundhouse skytrain station. For a full slate of programs at the Roundhouse go to http://www.roundhouse.ca/

The Island that time forgot

Huge traffic volumes make a walk on the island akin to a stroll in a very busy parking lot

The railway tie boardwalk that surrounds the perimeter of Granville Island is not well suited for mobility devices

The children's market calls itself accessible but with no automatic doors, over stuffed aisles, crowds and washrooms that are not up to today's accessibility standards it isn't. The public market is only slightly more accessible.

Granville Island opened its doors in 1979. The federal government bought this large plot of what was once industrial wasteland just under the Granville Bridge with the dream of creating a mix of housing, business, art and parks for all people. Huge crowds flock to this mecca of music, markets, crafts, restaurants, arts and culture. The island is humming with activity from dawn to the wee hours all year long.  Unfortunately this CMHC operated social hub has not kept up with the enormous strides in accessibility made by the City of Vancouver. Very little has been done to make the market accessible in keeping with 2011 standards.

If the island psychics really knew I wanted a reading they should have come downstairs.

Pockets of accessibility include the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, The Arts Club Theatre, Bridges Restaurant, Granville Island Hotel, The Tap Room, the False Creek Community Centre and adjacent children's play areas . But getting from place to place is made difficult by heavy traffic and the lack of sidewalks and proper cross ways.

The community centre's water park and children's play area is not fully integrated but does have many accessible features

Come to the island using the accessible cyquabus system (see post "False Creek transportation truly innovative")

Most artist galleries and shops are not accessible

On Canada day this amplatheatre and the adjoining Arts Club will be grooving as the island plays host to the Vancouver Jazz Festival

On July 1 Granville Island will host its annual Canada Day celebration. We canucks celebrate our right to live in a safe and diverse culture and in 2010 the Canadian government ratified its agreement with the United Nations on The Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This convention builds on the Canadian values of equality, non discrimination and the duty to accommodate. It's time for CMHC and other branches of the federal government to prove Canada's support for people with disabilities. Granville Island generates millions in revenue annually for government coffers. Surely the federal government has a duty to put some of this revenue towards a long overdo accessibility retrofit. If you want more information on Granville Island check out the website http://www.granvilleisland.com/.

Queen Elizabeth Park wears a crown of accessiblity

If you think making a park that climbs from 200-500 ft and spans across 130 acres accessible would be a challenge you're right. And in truth if you have a mobility impairment not all sections of the park can be easily accessed. However, excellent trail maps and provisions to accommodate PWDs in the park's many attractions make this park a must see.

The view from the fountain plaza makes the city looks like a 1960's sci fi set

Bloedel Floral Conservatory as seen from the quarry garden

Getting to the park has never been easier since the area streets and crosswalks were significantly upgraded in 2009. As usual for me our accessible transit system is the preferred method of travel. Go to www.translink.ca  Because of the park's steep 300 ft grade, a car may be better for those who do not have use of a fairly powerful mobility device such as a scooter or electric wheelchair. There are several roads and paid parking areas for PWDs.

The highest levels of the park are best accessed off of Cambie and 33rd Avenue. There you will find stunning views of the city along with the Bloedel flower conservatory, Seasons in the Park restaurant, fountain plaza, painter's corner, the celebration pavilion and trail access to the quarry gardens.

Centennial Garden

The lower south section of the park is better accessed from Kerrisdale Avenue and 37th Avenue. There you will find the Centennial Garden, pitch and putt golf, tennis courts, basketball courts, and a roller rink.

The park is home to one of Vancouver's two disc golf courses

The centre east side of the park is best accessed off of 33rd Avenue and Ontario Street. There you will find duck ponds, arboretum, and disc golf. I plan to revisit disc golf in a near future blog, as I met a great group of guys who are real ambassadors of the sport.

The lower southeast side, a prime picnic spot, is better approached from 29th Avenue and Cambie Street. All areas of the park have accessible washrooms, places to sit, well marked trail ways and excellent access points with good crosswalks and bus access. To learn more about Vancouver's second most visited park go to  www.vancouver.ca/parks/parks/queenelizabeth/index.htm

Scotiabank Field runs a foul of Hillcrest Park's barrier free concept

The Nat: a view from the barrier free Hillcrest Centre

It's the first day of summer so I decided an afternoon of baseball complete with beer, hot dog, 50/50 draw and plenty of sunshine is just what the doctor ordered. Actually I'm pretty sure the doc would suggest I knock off the hot dog and beer but I am a baseball traditionalist. I try to take in a game at the "Nat" at least once a year.  I've seen many changes both on and off the field since I started attending 16 years ago. Built in 1951 it was first called Capilano Stadium. In 1956 the pro ball came to town and the stadium became home to the triple A Vancouver Mounties of the Pacific Coast League (PCL). There was a brief two year absence in 1963 and 64, but the team returned in 65 and stayed through 69.  The park did not host pro ball again until 1978 when the PCL returned  with the Vancouver Canadians. The stadium was also renamed Nat Bailey Stadium. Nat Bailey, founder of the White Spot restaurant chain, got his start as a peanut vendor at the iconic Empire Stadium. The triple A Canadians team lasted until the end of the 2000 season. Since 2001 a new version of the Canadians hits the field as a single A team in the Northwest League on the retitled Scotiabank Field.

The disability seating in this ball park was an afterthought. Main gates into the stadium building can be accessed by wheelchair, but stairs to every section of the stands make it necessary for PWDs to sit in a segregated area literally in left field. It even has a separate entrance. Apart from this problem, the new team owners have made upgrades and improvements. The disability area feels more a part of the stadium as a new beer garden and children's play area have been added nearby. Washrooms have been upgraded and are accessible and the disability entrance is now a proper gate. Sadly, however, all but a few of the disability seats are crap. The historically poor view been made worse this year (2011) with the addition of a new third base suite for groups of 25 where often-standing patrons can limit the view in the disablity area even more than previously. The team does not honour the Access 2 entertainment program (see post "Van Dusen Gardens growing more accessible"), making the current price for many PWDs requiring attendants a relatively steep $20 when compared with much superior views in the reserved grandstand seating at $12.50. The most expensive single seat tickets are $22, so the value for money for PWDs requiring attendants is very poor.

The third base luxury suite features some of the best seats

Right next to the luxury box are the worst of seats -- in the disability section 

You can't see home plate from the middle section of the disability area

Sit as far back as possible for the best of a limited view

This type of accommodation is utterly at odds with its neighbour and landlord (the City of Vancouver) in Hillcrest Park. The city has adopted the very latest and highest standard of accessibility: barrier free. The former 2010 Olympic curling venue, now the Hillcrest Community Centre, has a gym, ice hockey rink, indoor /outdoor aquatic centre, public library, curling club and more. Time for the Vancouver Canadians and their landlord, the City of Vancouver, to create better access at Scotiabank Field.

Former Olympic and Paralympic curling venue

If you want more info on the Scotiabank Field and Vancouver Canadians email them at  staff@canadiansbaseball.com or google Vancouver Canadians Baseball to find their official site. It is impossible to post the link.

If you want information on the rest of Hillcrest Park and Community Centre go to http://www.vancouver.ca/ and follow the links.