26 Nov Not Your Father’s DVA
Earlier thais week, Gordon Price, the Director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University—and a former City of Vancouver councillor—wrote a post on our Roundtable Round-up. In it, he reviews his main takeaways from the roundtables and shares a few of his thoughts on the pending transportation referendum. But what caught our eye, was his comments regarding the revitalization of the DVA. Here are a few excerpts.
This is not your father’s Downtown Vancouver Association—assuming your father was an aging businessman who lived in a North Shore suburb and for whom Downtown Vancouver was only a place to work. And to park.
Founded in 1946, the DVA “dedicated itself to promoting the economic, social and cultural development of Downtown Vancouver.” Superseded by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, it lost its focus. Under a new generation of leadership it has tried to reinvent itself to reflect the reality of what is now more broadly known as the Metrocore, covering not just the Downtown Peninsula but also the business and residential districts on the south as well as north sides of False Creek.
[…]
This transformation of the DVA is the result of a decades-long policy shift and the inarguable benefits that have accrued to this city because it rejected the dominance of the moving vehicle over the creation of great public spaces and livable, dense neighbourhoods. The old paradigms, based largely on a single-use, suburban perspective, became irrelevant – and the DVA was in danger of the same irrelevance by association.
It seems to have found a new voice, the words to speak and a purpose to mobilize a new membership: to help win a referendum that is essential to a centre that is part of a bigger region—a metrocore. And that place, in the words with the biggest font and the most appeal, is efficient and joyful.
We encourage you to visit Gordon’s blog to read the entire post.