the changing face of china creek park
Vancouver bloggers, Beyond Robson have a post about the upcoming Vancouver Parks Planning Committee meeting to determine the fate of the skatepark at China Creek. I've watched this topic with a bit of interest, as before there was a funky bowl or two for riding boards and bikes, there was a much bigger (and funkier) structure that lived there for 26 years made of boards for riding bikes.
China Creek Velodrome: 1954-1980, RIP
The link on Beyond Robson's site to the Parks planning page brought me to this great photo of China Creek in 1962, when the Empire Games (1954) velodrome was alive and well on the same chunk of land.
photo: City of Vancouver
The velodrome was torn down in 1980 to make way for the Vancouver Community College campus.
I wonder how participatory the hearings were when it came to demolishing the track? I do know that it had taken a beating over 26 summers and winters and was in rough shape when it was demolished.
As recent past-President of the Burnaby Velodrome, I have in my possession a few bits and pieces of communication from the City to the then Bicycling Association of BC (now: Cycling BC), promising funds to rebuild the track elsewhere, but don't have much in the way of Parks hearings and council decisions from those days when it was decided to bulldoze it.
Ultimately for the skate park people, it sounds like the upcoming meeting is going to be action packed. I hope for their sake, the bulldozers don't come out again.
China Creek Velodrome: 1954-1980, RIP
The link on Beyond Robson's site to the Parks planning page brought me to this great photo of China Creek in 1962, when the Empire Games (1954) velodrome was alive and well on the same chunk of land.
photo: City of Vancouver
The velodrome was torn down in 1980 to make way for the Vancouver Community College campus.
I wonder how participatory the hearings were when it came to demolishing the track? I do know that it had taken a beating over 26 summers and winters and was in rough shape when it was demolished.
As recent past-President of the Burnaby Velodrome, I have in my possession a few bits and pieces of communication from the City to the then Bicycling Association of BC (now: Cycling BC), promising funds to rebuild the track elsewhere, but don't have much in the way of Parks hearings and council decisions from those days when it was decided to bulldoze it.
Ultimately for the skate park people, it sounds like the upcoming meeting is going to be action packed. I hope for their sake, the bulldozers don't come out again.
2 Comments:
It wasn't in rough shape at all, having been rebuilt just a few years before. All new boards laid at considerable expense with money and labour raised by the cycling community and donated to the Parks Board. The city's promise of funds to rebuild the track elsewhere was originally compensation for that money. For that matter, the land was originally donated to the city for the express purpose of being a cycle track in perpetuity. Seems the city doesn't know how to keep a promise.
- Patrick Borden, BABC Racing Commission 1984-87
By
Anonymous, at 4:31 pm
I was lucky enough to ride the track when i was a teen....boy the wood was smooth...and old rider named ???? set me up on a track bike....i used to see him ridin all over vancouver...sigh the good old days....campagnolo super record only!!!!
By
Anonymous, at 9:02 pm
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