I call this shot "Riley Park Coming Down." Over the years, I spent many hours in this Vancouver community centre— shepherding my children to preschool classes; watching proudly as they learned to swim in the Percy Norman Pool (still standing to the left of the picture); learning to do Pilates in the multi-purpose room.
It was small and friendly, with a strong community feeling. My wife served on the board for many years and told me many tales of the frustrations of responding to people, every one of whom just knew exactly what was needed to solve the many problems (like the pool leaking into the surrounding soil; once, the whole thing needed to be drained a second time to try to figure that out . . .)
I feel sad to lose a community space. Once the buildings are gone, the community needs to figure out what to do with this space. We are already talking about it, online, over our email lists.
One thing I admire in our city is that ALL the trees are being preserved. Watching the heavy machinery (and feeling the rumble as a huge wrecking ball bashes into the building) I marvel how the workers manage to avoid damaging the vegetation.
To see a larger version of the photo, click on it.
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