HELP NAME OUR NEW EAST END LIBRARY the MARY LEE CHAN BRANCH

Photo courtesy of Adrian Zator

More than two and a half years ago I wrote a post about a letter I wrote to Mayor and Council with a cc. to the Library Board in which I thanked them for their plans to go ahead with the long awaited East End Library Branch on the 700 block of East Hastings. The people in Strathcona have been lobbying and working for a new East End Branch for over 15 years. This full service neighbourhood branch is long overdue.

In that letter I suggested that the name of this new East End Branch should be called the Mary Lee Chan Branch Library in honour of the founder of the Strathcona Property Owners & Tenants Association (SPOTA). It is a result of the leadership, community building skills and tenacity of Mary Lee Chan and the people of all backgrounds living in the East End who worked with her that we even have our old historic East End neighbourhood today--not to mention large swaths of Chinatown. See Chuck Davis' overview of the story.

A while back I attended an Open House put on by the Library at the Strathcona Community Centre. The architectural plans for the new library and much heralded housing component for single moms and their kids in the upper floors was being introduced for feed back. I talked to the architect Bruce Haden who is a Strathcona neighbour about the layout. It is a bright, modern looking building with a white brick and glass façade. 

 

Though it does not necessarily give a nod to its heritage neighbourhood context (a cornice would have been nice) I can live with that. It looks like everyone has come up with a plan that will provide a long awaited and much needed amenity to my East End neighbourhood, both in the library and housing component. The Library's white bricks and glass, its books, programmes, and bright lights, and the healthy traffic they will generate, will be a welcome change on a section of East Hastings that has been missing its former glory days.

In these coming months while the plans for the library are being finalized I would like to again urge everyone to support the naming of our new East End library the Mary Lee Chan Branch in honour of the woman who spearheaded the movement to save Strathcona in the 60s.

Please, please, please take a moment from your time and use this link to support naming the new East End Library Branch to be built on the 700-block of East Hastings the Mary Lee Chan Branch Library. http://www.vpl.ca/survey/index.php?sid=19939 

Recognition of Mary Lee Chan and SPOTA's roll in saving and preserving Vancouver's oldest neighbourhood is long overdue. 


Thank you!

Honouring Mary Lee Chan and SPOTA Pioneers

On Saturday, November 3rd at 3:30pm I have the honour to be the emcee of an important neighbourhood and civic ceremony unveiling a memorial mosaic commemorating the pioneers of SPOTA, the Strathcona Property Owners & Tenants Association, the organization which came out of the work of East End/Strathcona neighbourhood organizer and activist Mary Lee Chan. 

Mary Lee Chan and the SPOTA pioneers spearheaded the grassroots Strathcona neighbourhood rebellion against the City's urban revitalization plan of the 1950s and 60s and the freeway plan that followed that would have totally obliterated Vancouver's oldest neighbourhood and large swaths of Chinatown and Gastown off the map. SPOTA's work not only saved large sections of the East End's unique built heritage for posterity, but also changed how things were done at Vancouver's City Hall and city halls all across Canada. 

The fact that there is a Social Planning aspect and community consultation involved in Canada's cities' Planning Departments is due to the vision, activism, bravery, tenacity, and organizing skills of Mary Lee Chan and the SPOTA pioneers. The event, which takes place at 658 Keefer Street (near Heatley) will also include the dedication of a memorial plaque for the Mary Lee Chan house at 658 Keefer street from the Heritage Vancouver Foundation's Places That Matter programme.

 

There are many people in the neighbourhood who feel that the long-awaited and hard fought for new East End neighbourhood library to be built on the 700 block of East Hastings should be named the Mary Lee Chan East End Branch in her honour.Like-minded people are encouraged to send letters supporting this position to the board of the Vancouver Public Library and to Mayor and Council.

Mary Lee Chan by Adrian R. Zabor