HenriRobideau.ca

HenriRobideau.com

Giant Sparrows & Olympic Village

False Creek Social Housing Goes Market Condo

Vancouver Canada

 

January 14, 2014.The Birds is an exquisite sculptural work by artist Myfanwy MacLeod created for the 2010 Winter Olympics Athletes Village. Two Giant English Sparrows, a male and a female, are posed like monumental china cabinet figurines on opposite sides of the open plaza in the heart of the village, symbolizing colonialism’s invasive species that  have dominated and displaced indigenous populations.

 

Canada House West, yours for $3,369,900.

 

The Promised Land

2004~ After winning the 2010 Winter Olympics, the number of homeless in Vancouver more than doubles.

2005~ The City promises two thirds of 1,100 Olympic Village units will go to affordable social housing after the 2010 event.

2006~ NPA City Council reduces the number of Olympic Village social housing units to 250.

2008~ Vision City Council further reduces Olympic Village social housing to 126 units .

2010~ After the athletes move out, the mixed retail/rental/social housing experiment  begins.

2012~ The last  5 social housing tenants are being forced out  by excessive fees not covered by their subsidies.