Dunbar Residents Association News and Events

Blenheim Street Bazaar on Saturday, May 26, 2012

DRA Webmaster — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:54:28 +0000

Once again Blenheim Street is proud and pleased to host

The 9th Annual Blenheim Street Bazaar

Saturday, May 26, 2012
10 AM to 2 PM

As part of Salmonberry Days in Dunbar, Blenheim Street households between West 16th & SW Marine will be holding yard sales along the street.

This is local one-stop shopping at its best, with a huge variety of goods offered by 30+ households on Blenheim Street. Visit the bazaar for great finds at great prices, and enjoy the many street gardens that Blenheim residents have been busy tending.

2012 Bazaar promo flyer

Announcing the Salmonberry Days 2012 Calendar

DRA Webmaster — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:58:59 +0000

What’s a better way to pass our seemingly endless damp Spring days than by browsing the 2012 Salmonberry Days Calendar.

Download it right now so you can get ready for another exciting month of Salmonberry Day Events in Dunbar and some surrounding environs!

Note the Jane Binkert Walk descriptions are also available from our website at http://dunbar-vancouver.org/archives/154. Please send any corrections to Webmaster@dunbar-Vancouver.org.

Note the following Change of Time.

Event Time Change

SATURDAY, MAY 19
Healing and edible herbs

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Musqueam elder and healer Rose
Point will share her experience with
healing plants used by Musqueam
and other First Nations.

Addendum to the Dunbar Salmonberry Days Flyer

Inadvertently, one event which was scheduled during Salmonberry Days did not get included in the Calendar. Hence this update:

On Saturday May 12th from 11AM to 4PM Southlands Heritage Farm will have its first market of the season. Fresh veggies, preserves, cheese, eggs, and baking will be temptingly laid out before you! At this time you will be able to watch professionals (the “mud girls”) build a cob oven, an old fashioned skill which is being revived by an enthusiastic younger generation.

Calendar: Updated on April 25, 2012.
Calendar: Updated on April 27, 2012.
Calendar: Updated on April 30, 2012

Buzzsaw Jimmy and the James Domville Terrys Dunbar environ, letter for April

Terry — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 05:11:21 +0000

I was researching two Wooded Stern Wheelers built in False Creek for the Yukon River in 1898 . One was the “James Domville” and the other was the “Honest Citizen” .

Now my old boss at the “1941 Forest Service Shipyard on the North Arm of the Fraser River” was Thomas Edwards. Yes it was his dad James Edwards who skippered the coal fired sternwheeler the James Domville from False Creek to the town of St. Michaels near the mouth of the Yukon River !Tom told me the story of his dads trip up the coast of B. C., across the panhandle , to the town of St Michaels . Yes it was a hair raising story!

What happened to the James Domville on the Yukon River was a mystery to me , untill this evening , when I Googled the two False Creek wooden built Sternwheelers ! I slipped into a site called the” Yukoner Magazine Stories ” Buzzsaw Jimmy 1998 by Darrell Hookey ” Ah I fooled you that time you Son of a Bitch ” it was great piece of writing and opened the door to what finally happened to the J. D. on the Yukon ! And guess what , the Buzzsaw Jimmy was a wood cutter and deck hand on the James Domville , that False Creek sternwheeler had a short but interesting life on the Yukon River! What the Buzzsaw did with one leg and numerous body injuries in his life was unbelievable !

Tom Edwards my old wooden Boat building boss just died recently and I am so glad he told me the stories of the trip of the Stern Wheeler James Domville, from False Creek ,north to the gold fields of Dawson City ! Its a great story and at last it has a ending for me ! Terry

Also…

Hi All

A little history: Thought you would like this , quite a few of the Alaska Gold Rush Yukon River Wooden Stern Wheelers were built around Vancouver and in New WestMinister and after all the easy gold was gone , they were used as Lumber Barge Stake Boats on the Fraser River!

The” Senator Janson ” Stern Wheeler, Stake boat worked out of Frasers Mills side towing lumber barges for a few years ! The Greenwood, Alice, Sampson and Bonacord were Marpole Cannery sternwheelers moving canned salmon and goods on the North Arm of the Fraser River in the early days . Snag Pullers , navigation bouy tenders and floating museums are other uses for old and rotting retired Sternwheelers !

The False Creek built Sternwheeler “James Domville” on her first trip during the 1899 ice breakup season on the Yukon , was heading back to Dawson City and was wrecked in the 30 mile river, just 24 hours into her trip ! As a jesture of good faith and appreciation , Captain Ferris paid off the crew in full, including Buzz Saw and they all departed in different ways ! It is thought the stern wheelers bones and boiler are still located on the shore of Lower Lake Laberge ! Born in False Creek , the James Domville ended its life on the icy shores of Lake Laberge !

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on that marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee

Robert Service

The Fraser River Sockeye Salmon Gold Rush Terrys April 2012 Dunbar Environ. newsletter

Terry — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:15:00 +0000

I just happened to spot this historical book at a political gathering in Dunbar and I thought it looked interesting, so I purchased it for 1$ . The book was was called GOLD DIGGERS by Charlotte Gray , its a great book !

I have spent over 60 years gillnet fishing for salmon, on the coast of B. C. . My fishing friends on shore now call me ” The Old Man of the Fraser River Sockeye Salmon Gold Rush ” and on the river , some thing else ! The salmon fishing on the Fraser River in the old days was a Klondike Gold Rush, of a salmon kind !

At 08.00 Monday morning the salmon gold rush gillnetters , over 500 of them , lined up bow to stern on both sides of the Fraser River , to set their nets usually on large schools of Jumping Sockeye ! The river was electric with revving engines and the constant shouting of foul language coming from the stern of many of the boats ! A last boat from the dock , would try to fit itself in to the shore lineup , squeezing all the boats closer together ! Fast running Dept. of Fisheries patrol boats would try to hold back the boats until exactly 8.00 a m , by yelling and screaming at certain boats trying to set their nets a few minutes early ! At 7.56 the salmon were still jumping and most of the fleet were getting very very nervous , dropping the net end marker bouys , to indicate the begining of the setting of the net ! Its 08 .57 and a big boat just up river lets his net go off the drum full blast and the whole fleet follows , engines screaming, nets flying and fisherpeople and patrol people shouting ! Fishboats trying to avoid other fish boats and just narrowly just missing each other, my gosh I gulp down a quart of milk cream to settle down my stomach ! Fish boats running into each others nets and huge corkline ball ups , with salmon gilled through two different nets , thats a big problem who ownes the salmon ,most of the time this can only be solved with a fight on deck ! Boats yelling at each other, as nets fill and sink with Sockeye , yes the Fraser River Salmon Gold Rush is just beginning for another year !

Terry

The Dunbar Lawn Bowling has changed the date of their Open House to May 5, instead of May 12.

DRA Webmaster — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 09:27:23 +0000

Everyone is welcome. The Open House starts at 1:30PM.

The Clubhouse is at 31st and Highbury in Dunbar’s Memorial West Park.

Musqueam Elder Rose Point will be leading ‘Nettle’ walks on March 14th and March 19th

DRA Webmaster — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:30:48 +0000

Musqueam Elder Rose Point will be leading two ‘Nettle’ walks in order to acquaint people with this extraordinary healing plant and to teach them how to use it to advantage. Her walks are scheduled for Wednesday March 14th at 10.00am and on Saturday March 19th at 1pm.

Meeting point: The second parking lot on Crown Street south of Marine Drive. Please wear boots and appropriate clothing.

Cooking with nettles will also be the topic at one of the upcoming Salmon Berry Days events in May when on Thursday May 3rd in the kitchen of St. Philip’s Church Hanno Pinder will demonstrate how to make a delicious nettle soup from nettles picked in the neighbourhood

Spring 2012 DRA Newsletter

DRA Webmaster — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:32:34 +0000

Spring is still a couple of weeks away but here’s Spring in Dunbar NOW: the Spring 2012 DRA Newsletter PLUS an Emergency and Earthquake Preparedness insert!

Open House invitation Dunbar Apartments

DRA Webmaster — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:02:03 +0000

Hello Neighbours,

Many of you have been following the Supportive Housing development on Dunbar & 16th and may have noticed the construction of this site.

The building is now finished and fully occupied. There are 51 tenants from different paths of life who found a new home at the 3595 W. 17th Avenue location. They are supported by Coast Mental Health as the project sponsor with multiple programs like help on medication, a meal program and other support to be able to lead an independent life.

If you are interested in this project please visit the Open House which will be held on Sunday February 26th from 1pm to 3pm.

Best Regards

Robert Westendorp

The start of a song found found under a old notice board at Wadhams Salmon Cannery” Terrys Feb. Dunbar news letter

Terry — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:00:09 +0000

Wadham’s Salmon Cannery Rivers Inlet B.C. 1940 , it was a place where Ravens Watched salmon fishermen and lady fisher people mending their gillnets on the huge net floats ! This gathering place was a place to work and get ready for next weeks fishing and to be happy or very sad , while talking about about this week catch .

One of the net repair floats was located near a huge floating out door bath room , with logs and old loose planks near its edges , you could not miss it ! it had low ars level railings all around it and some joker put “Mens and Womens Only” at each of the ends ! On the big flood tides the Inlet current ran through the marine pit toilet and cleaned every thing out !

The ravens were always watching for some one to leave his net and also leave behind his open net repair box unattended ! They would immediately swoop down and steal the net repair needles and balls of twine and fly off to their nest ! We kind of fooled the Raiding Ravens , we had a wooden ladder up to the nest and brought all our gear back and they took it from us again, it was a game that we all learned to play!

The cannery had notice boards that gave fisher people news from the big city to the south and lots of warnings about falling in to the monster outdoor toilet, especially after a night of drinking and card playing at the camp managers house ! The Rivers Inlet Sockeye over time kind of got fished to death and canneries like Good Hope , Goose Bay Wadhams and many others, closed and the old cannery places were left for the ravens to look after by themselves again !

The Wadhams fishermens notice boards and the glory hole toilet gave in to the tides and new returning forests ! The little white camp managers house crumbled down to the forest floor and behind one wall was a old glass covered notice board with the beginnings of a song written on it ! It went like this :

Now some of us think of the future
While others have things to forget
But most of us sit here and think of a school of sockeye salmon , just hitting and splashing in our net .

Terry” A Story From Rivers Inlet B. C. “

DRA 2011-2012 Board of Directors

DRA Webmaster — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:14:00 +0000

2011-2012 Board of Directors

President	Susan Chapman
Vice President	Robert Westendorp
Treasurer	Sonia Wicken
Secretary	Caroline Astell and Colleen McGuinness
Member at Large	Jonathan Baker
Member at Large	Nicole Gubbay
Member at Large	Peter Selnar
Member at Large	Jane Ingman-Baker
Member at Large	Akua Schatz
Member at Large	Linda MacAdam
Member at Large	George Pinch
Member at Large	Jonathan Weisman
Member at Large	Walter Wells

2011-2012 Board of Directors Biographies

JONATHAN BAKER

Jonathan Baker is a specialist in Municipal Law with the firm of Baker & Baker. In the early sixties he was a journalist with the Vancouver Province. From 1969 to 1975 he was a social planner with Vancouver’s Social Planning Department. He was a founding trustee and first program Director of the Vancouver Academy of Music. In 1976 he was appointed to the Granville Island Trust and was one of five Trustees who oversaw the development of Granville Island. Between 1978 and 1985 he was a Trustee of the Vancouver School Board and in 1986 he was elected to Vancouver City Council where he served for two terms. He was also a Trustee of the Library Board and the Pacific National Exhibition and a founding director of the Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery. When not practicing law he spends his time babysitting an ever increasing number of grandchildren.

SUSAN CHAPMAN

Susan Chapman has lived with her family in Dunbar for 25 years, except for a few intermittent time periods lived in Hong Kong, rural Nova Scotia, England, Ottawa and Denman Island. She is a former lawyer, whose community activities have included involvement in various youth sports organizations and four years as a director of the Learning Disabilities Association of Vancouver. She and her husband, Robin Elliot, have four children, Kirsten, Michael, Sophie and Victoria. She has served on the DRA board for six years and has a particular interest in preserving the community’s green space.

NICOLE GUBBAY

Nicole Gubbay and her husband, Nick, chose to move to the friendly, community-oriented area of Dunbar to raise their young son and it was not long after that she became involved in discussions with a few Board members regarding issues related to development in Dunbar and the impact on the community. A graduate from UBC (International Relations) and BCIT (Marketing Communications), Nicole’s career background is in Marketing and Human Resources and she has worked in various industry sectors such as property management, recruitment, high-tech and education. She is currently busy at home with her two year old son Alexander and is a Board member with the Vancouver Child Study Centre.

JANE INGMAN-BAKER

Jane is a lawyer, with a doctorate in Biochemistry, who presently works as Tutor with the UBC Faculty of Medicine. She and her husband, Paul Hildebrand, have three children. Jane has been involved in many community activities and is presently serving on the Children’s and Family Research Institute Board and as the Chair of the Dunbar Vision Implementation Committee.

LINDA MACADAM

Linda is passionate about Dunbar, so has just returned for a sixth (?) year as a board member. She is the chairperson and founding member of the Dunbar Community Patrol, a member of the Dunbar Vision Implementation Committee, a past member of the Salmonberry Days Committee and past president of the Dunbar Residents’ Association. Linda has lived in the same house in Dunbar for the first 25 years and the last 16 years of her life, which gives her a perspective of our neighbourhood over several decades. She remembers when doors were left unlocked during the day, when mothers had coffee together at one another’s houses, and the children all played outside in yards and in the park without supervision. Childhood in Dunbar in the 1950s was wonderful! Linda graduated from UBC majoring in mathematics and she works in Information Technology on a contract basis. Her interests include city politics, her dog MacKenzie, contra dancing, sailing and reading.

COLLEEN MCGUINNESS

Colleen has been a resident of the neighbourhood since the early 1980s. She is self-employed and works with a variety of clients involved with international relations and small business. Colleen believes that it is important for Dunbar to provide the intimate community connection that residents need in a large impersonal city. Her special interests include seniors’ housing, accessibility and universal design and aging in place. Colleen is a keen gardener and reader and a big fan of the Dunbar Library and shopping locally.

GEORGE PINCH

George has been a Dunbar resident for over 40 years, having had the good sense to come here in 1966. He is a retired Professional Engineer (U of Sask. ’57), his last employment being with BC Hydro in their Power Smart program. George and his wife, Lorna, have 5 children, all of whom attended Queen Elizabeth School and Lord Byng High School, and 11 grandchildren. George is interested in preserving the quiet, law-abiding character of Dunbar, while seeing that population density is added in a reasonable manner compatible with the existing character of the neighbourhood while not excluding different housing styles. He is also interested in seeing that Dunbar acquires some suitable seniors housing, inasmuch, as he says, he himself may need it within the next 15 years. George is also a keen gardener.

HAREESH SARA

Hareesh was born and raised in Dunbar. His parents had settled in Dunbar in 1955. He attended Southlands Primary and Elementary Schools and Point Grey Secondary School. He completed an undergraduate degree in Business and Commerce and a Master’s Business Degree, both at UBC. By profession, Hareesh is a Chartered Accountant, having completed his articles with PriceWaterhouseCoopers (formerly Coopers & Lybrand). Since 1992 Hareesh has worked for the Intergulf Development Group. At present he is the company’s CFO and a director. Intergulf is active in real estate development in British Columbia, Alberta and California, and has completed numerous projects on Vancouver’s west side. Hareesh and his wife Andrea (who is a member of the Dunbar Seniors Committee) have two young children. Hareesh’s primary reason for joining the DRA board is to give back to a wonderful community and to help ensure that Dunbar’s charm and character is retained.

AKUA SCHATZ

Akua has recently completed a LWH in Dunbar, on the grounds of the home of her spouse’s parents. She has a long history of community involvement in other areas and is a Director of the David Suzuki Foundation. Her spouse is a photographer who also has long- established roots in this community. She is working on her Masters degree at SFU and one of her areas of interest is in how established communities respond to the need for densification. She is interested both professionally and personally in innovative developments that allow communities to continue to have depth, breadth and diversity. She is an avid cyclist and an advocate for new forms of affordable housing.

PETER SELNAR

After fleeing communist Hungary in the 1950’s with his parents, Peter grew up in Montreal. He obtained his Bachelor of Architecture from McGill University in 1971 and subsequently moved to the west coast where he practiced Architecture and Interior Design. He was a principal with a number of firms and in 1993 founded OfficeWorks, a company specializing in the planning, design and construction of corporate office interiors. After selling the company in 2005, Peter has been semi-retired and is pursuing his passion of playing in a Blues band as well as other interests including golf, hiking, skiing and reading.

JONATHAN WEISMAN

Jonathan and his wife moved to Vancouver from Ottawa a few years ago. He is a lawyer and his wife is a specialist at Children’s. They sought out a home in Dunbar as they were attracted to the residential quality of it and the unique opportunity it presented to live in a green urban environment. They have a home near Pacific Spirit Park which they recognize as a unique and very special place. Jonathan has been a member of DVIC for over a year and has taken a particular interest in the developments at UBC and the impact that they will have on Dunbar. He has a graduate degree in political science which he taught before entering the legal profession. He has proudly worked on many campaigns for politicians of different political bents and has an ongoing interest in all aspects of the democratic process.

WALTER WELLS

Walter is a long time Dunbar realtor. He lives just around the corner from Chaldecott Park with his wife Beryl and his two young children Colin and Caitie. Walter comes to the DRA with 15 years’ board experience. Most notably he is past president (and still board member) of the Three Links Society which operates a 90 bed seniors’ care facility, a 42 unit low rental housing facility, and 2 houses for sick children – all located in the Renfrew neighbourhood of East Vancouver. He is the Board liaison with the Dunbar Village Business Association.

ROBERT WESTENDORP

Robert immediately fell in love with this welcoming City when he came here from Germany with his family 10 years ago. Moving to Dunbar marked his decision to stay here. Over the years Robert has become interested in local political issues and neighborhood activities. Now he would like the chance to give back to the community. He feels that a young and evolving city like Vancouver needs strong community input. Robert has a PhD in electrical engineering and enjoys running, skiing, mountaineering, woodworking and most of all being with the family.

SONIA WICKEN

My husband Ken and I have lived in Dunbar for over 40 years and I have always enjoyed volunteering in the neighbourhood whether at school, baseball or soccer while our son and daughter were involved. The last 20 years I’ve been involved with the Residents Association. My interest is in building liaisons with other neighbourhood organizations so Dunbar will continue to be such a livable neighbourhood.