Just yesterday we bused from Seattle to Vancouver. The moment we got out of the bus terminal, we were welcomed by Michelle, a trans link official, who passed to everyone these beautiful fare passes. Thank you Michelle!
I noticed the sky train station loosened their security as all gates are open and the only enforcement are live-cameras and signs saying the station expects people entering to have bus fares. The first day at Vancouver and we're riding the Sky Train which almost crushed my feet because I tried to stop it from leaving us behind. That's when I learned I made a terrible mistake and got separated from the rest of the gang who didn't race for the bus. Geez, I felt like an idiot but everybody didn't look at me as if they understood me as a struggling tardy traveler. Within a couple of seconds we made it to the next stop and got off to wait for the others. Then a train heading back to where we came from arrived so we went back to the others who stayed behind. I realized that these trains come very fast and aren't kind enough to pick up late goers. They leave every exact minute and they're actually artificial intelligence so no wonder they wouldn't consider circumstances for late passengers. Fourth day morning, we quickly got up and set out for an adventure in this new city! We walked out through the peaceful and sunny Richmond district to the Brighouse Station. I saw many business people and students coming in and out of the station, everyone is on a rush. We left on time thanks to the sky train's accurate arrival time. We met up with the magnificent Michelle again with her friend Nat for their tour of trans link, Vancouver and gentrification prevention. We started out with the tour of trans link by riding the sky train many times and I noticed, after the third time riding the sky train, that we stopped at a mall every stop. This system is very convenient for shoppers as the station is connected directly to each mall. When we stopped at Olympic Village, Michelle pointed out that this station was specifically where they wanted the Expo Line to be made at to fit the Olympics demand. Fourth day morning, we quickly got up and set out for an adventure in this new city! We walked out through the peaceful and sunny Richmond district to the Brighouse Station. I saw many business people and students coming in and out of the station, everyone is on a rush. We left on time thanks to the sky train's accurate arrival time. We met up with the magnificent Michelle again with her friend Nat for their tour of trans link, Vancouver and gentrification prevention. We started out with the tour of trans link by riding the sky train many times and I noticed, after the third time riding the sky train, that we stopped at a mall every stop. This system is very convenient for shoppers as the station is connected directly to each mall. When we stopped at Olympic Village, Michelle pointed out that this station was specifically where they wanted the Expo Line to be made at to fit the Olympics demand. Nat gave us some brief history of Chinatown and information about a freeway being built by the waterfront to allow drivers to go from Downtown to Chinatown district easily. He said everybody from Chinatown were against it but the city government tore down buildings within the district and made a highway (In the picture of above. Nat is on the left and Michelle is on the right. The highway is behind them.). Then that concluded the tour and we went back home for the days to come. I really liked the brief history Nat told us about Japanese Canadians being incarcerated by the government and selling their property for military funds because I was once a tour guide for SF Japantown. Trivia: Vancouver get their waters from rain water reservoirs, making the tap water slight cleaner then ours. Trivia: Vancouver dumped land into the Pacific Ocean to make itself bigger. -Andrew(Liang Fu) Wu
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On June 10, I went on a tour that was about the transit designs and Asian American community. During the tour, I learned about the history of Asian civilians in Vancouver. In the 1970s, many Chinese railroad workers and shipmen immigrated to Vancouver. New immigrants had to pay fifty dollars as an admission to enter Vancouver. As the number of Chinese immigrating to Vancouver increased, the admission payment went up to one hundred dollars and then five hundred dollars. Once the Chinese settled in Vancouver, they faced many Anti-Asian right and relocation. Around that time, many white locals disliked Asian people. They wanted to show their anger towards the Asians. One day, a large crowd of white civilians ran to Chinatown and Japantown and attacked the people who lived in Chinatown and Japantown. After that incident, white civilians displaced many Chinese people and incarcerated Japanese Canadians. Thus, Japanese Canadians never got back their properties that were taken away from white Canadians.
After the tour, I rode on different transportation like the Skyline trains, Translink trains and SeaBuses in Vancouver. I felt that Vancouver has many transits that were available to Canadians living in Vancouver which reminded me of San Francisco since San Francisco has transits like Muni buses, underground trains, cable cars and BARTs. However, what made me differentiate the difference between the transportation in San Francisco and Vancouver was the passenger transit system. In Vancouver, I had to line up whenever I waited for the train or bus to arrive. In contrast, I rode on the bus and train without lining up in San Francisco. This indicated the dissimilarity between San Francisco and Vancouver transits. Despite how Vancouver and San Francisco has contrasting ways for passengers to wait for transits, the transit systems distinguished their similarity. -SC Today we went back to Greyhound Station to meet up with Michelle and Nat.They talked about their transit system and i just compared it with our bart.
Their train come a lot more often and the estimated time is always correct.Unlike ours,bart doesn't come that often and the estimated time is always wrong.In order for the train to get to the next stop on time,they have to colse the door in 1 minute.Even when someone is walking in the doorway,they forcefully colse it.I feel like their train is more safe than our bart.When i was taking the train there is seats avalible,while the bart’s seat it always taken. Overall I enjoy riding the skytrain because it is never crowded and I can have a seat every time i get on.Another feature Is that,the train is traveling in the sky.I can tell where I am and sleep while knowing where I am.She also talked about why the station on Metrotown is getting a redesign.It was because is was very inefficent for people with disability.Since there is only one elevator, you get down and cross the streets.In order to go to the other side.Wish our transit was as nice as Vancouver…. Today, Like for the past few days of our trip, woke up at 7 and did our daily morning routine. Today’s agenda was to receive a tour from Michelle, the person we met yesterday and her partner Nat. Nat recently moved to Vancouver form LA and Is in the same profession as Michelle and because he came from America, the youths were able to easily relate and communicate with him. The tour focused on the Skytrain stations and the development that happens on the station and the area around it such as the condos we saw rising everywhere even on the outermost suburban areas of Vancouver. During Michelle’s and Nat’s tour I really enjoyed the intervals we had on the skytrain. While on the skytrain you are legitimately on the sky cutting its winds with speed. It realy differs from the lightrails and buses in SF. And because we have week long passes for Vancouver’s Translink Transportation we are usually traveling by skytrain so this trip’s traveling would be a lot better in scenic terms. After the tour we went to a mall to have food court food for lunch and after that we went to Lonsdale Quay’s market.
To get to Lonsdale Quay we had to travel by seabus, a contractor’s service for Translink. In the market there these huge chess and checker pieces that caught my interest so we played a game. But during our game we were noticed by passerby seniors and they gave us tips on how to beat each other. An interesting way between interactions with youth and seniors. We didn’t spend long at the market and later returned to Richmond to get dinner and went home. That concludes my report on today’s activities. -Aaron On June 9, I rode on a Bolt Bus to travel from Seattle to Vancouver. When I got on the bus, I was shocked that there was internet on the bus. Also, I was astounded to see a outlet that was behind the seats in front of me I never knew that buses with internet access and outlets existed. While the bus was moving, I worked on my blog. A few hours later, the driver told everyone to fill out a form before the bus arrives at the border of Canada. Once the bus arrived at the custom station, I got off the bus and went through the custom. Afterwards, I returned to the bus and continued my bus adventure to Vancouver. A while later, I got off the bus and walked to the Pacific Central Station to meet up with Michelle, a planner at Translink. After the meet up, I dropped off my belonging at the place I stayed at and ate dinner at the food court in Richmond Centre.
-SC We have seen several examples of public parks and open spaces ranging from International Children's Park to the green sidewalks and alleys of Chinatown and learned about some of the planning processes behind them.
What did you observe about how these spaces were being used? How did these projects/spaces engage the community in the planning process? What lessons or inspiration would you bring back to SF for open space advocacy/improvements? Today, we went to visit the international district and its recently formed nonprofit organization as well as other organizations such as WILD, wilderness international leadership program. Walking the streets of Seattle, International District made me realized that sometimes there are people with less advantages than we do, but advocacy is nothing to belittle. Just like your teachers and professors at school and your advisors. The people in charge wouldn't know about your problems or your communities' problem until people address their issue. In the international district, the wild group and scidpda demonstrated this by working with seniors from SROS to protect their parks and public spaces. They gathered seniors to help create successful community meeting as well as holding an alleyway feast. Although the Hing Hay park and Dragon park of the International district in Seattle are quite small and less attractive compared to the Portsmouth Square and Wille Woo Woo park of the San Francisco Chinatown, groups like Ideal and WILD have been implementing resources to improve their park and community. Urban design and planning helped bettered their community through new park designs, scheduled events, and many opportunities. Today our destination is Vancouver, British Colombia by using the highway as our desired way of getting to our destination. Bolt Bus 8065 was our bus serial number and our driver was fairly nice. The ride duration was about 3-4 hours but many of us fell asleep the moment we sat down and buckled up. We had access to the internet but with all the passengers using it, it wasn’t worth trying to do anything but type up blogs or doing the observation tool kit given to us by Deland. When we were a few miles or kilometers away from the border of Canada, we were woken up to fill out paperwork. After inspection and crossing the border, we arrived at the terminal at Vancouver, British Columbia where we met our first person named Michelle. Michelle is a designer and planner for Vancouver’s main service transportation: Translink. She was also kind enough to give us week long passes and guide us to the nearest station. We arrive at our new home around 4 and later had food court dinner at the nearby centre or mall. That basically concludes today’s day. Thanks for reading!
-Aaron Dong We went to Chinatown and was told that we were getting a tour. The one who gave us the tour was a non-profit organization call Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority or SCIDpda for short.They serve food to seniors at a very low price and after they finish they can walk around the community park.
Inside this park, they have a ping pong table and on some days during summer. For example they host movie night and performers. But the park is currently under redevelopment and they were kind enough to show us the finish design.But, they have a very low budget because of they have to remove the contaminated soil and break down the old building. when you add both cost together, it cost about 3millon dollars. So they only have about 1.5millon dollar to build the second part of the park.Before this, there was another park that was redesigned and the park was called The International Children Park. Also known as The Dragon Statue, use to very unsafe place to hang out.The trees made it very made a very good place for the drug dealers to hide undetected, which is why the park is unsafe.This was the first time the community went up to them and ask them to recreate the park.They didn't know what to do, since it is their fisrt time. But, in the end they still manage to do a good job re creating the park.Now that the park is more visible, the drug dealers stopped and the community started using the playground. I would like the San Franciscos community park to get a recreation like the parks here. Even though our park is safe, the park is losing the amount of people using it. This would attract more people to come and kids will enjoy the equipment more than before -Andy He After our morning routine of waking up and prepping up in 30 minutes, we were scheduled for a tour by SCIDpda. SCIDpda is an organization that is similar to San Francisco’s Chinatown Community Development Center. Just like CCDC; they provide senior services like the afternoon lunch and/or brunch, develop and/or redevelop the affordable housings and SROs located around Seattle’s International District / Chinatown, and they have services that support the local shops and stores of the International District. During our tour we had learned about the new development of the future park that replaces the old USPS post office just right next door to Hing Hay Park. Further on our tour we also learned about the backgrounds of community planning and the risks of it. One street for example had many stores that flourished until construction for the road in front had to close down all those shops because the whole entire street was closed down for 2 years. On last few moments of the tour we visited the children’s park of the Seattle’s international district to get a glimpse of it and that we later on learned more about it during the powerpoint presentation. During the particular part of the Children’s Park, the park originally had a Ying and Yang symbol on the middle but was not put back in despite the community’s voices rebutting against it. This shows me that overall it’s the community that is the one power that could possibly decide how the outcome of the development or redevelopment turns out. You see, the park, despite being targeted to kids, had incidents of drug use and illicit activities that deterred its desired visitors from going anywhere near the park all because you can’t see in and out of the park because of its foliage. The development plan included professional architects and planners that went door to door asking the inhabitants of the international district about the children’s park. And the final design just so removed the Ying and Yang symbol. Despite the community’s effort to help themselves out, they are met by hate from a bigger fraction of the community.
The next stop was the Seattle’s central public library at downtown. Its massive floors were like a huge maze and the architecture of the building was more impressive than SF’s. The 10 floors that dedicated to a single use like the reading room, writers room, meeting room and even a massive living room. Of course with 10 floors there is also a wide, huge, every other words and synonyms that relates to GIGANTIC! The next and final stop was back at the international district just across the street from the Hing Hay Park. We had another interactive tour with a youth group called WILD (Wilderness Inner-City Leadership Development) they were a pretty fun group to be with and to relate with. WILD does similar things to what CCDC’s Adopt-An-Alleyway does such as interacting with seniors. But while AAA does arts and crafts with the seniors, WILD of course takes the seniors bird watching in the wilderness and they also have individual retreats for the youths of the program. Although our time was indeed short, the connections we made together …I have a feeling it might last longer than expected. The bonds that have been forged today on 6/9/15 should last a bit longer. “Why?” You might ask or “How?” well the reason is fairly simple. We youth, although from different programs and organizations, experience the same feelings while we are at our programs. We attend to see our friends, to do service with them, they care enough for the community to take action. They had taken part of the planning for the new park development that I had spoken of earlier. We do/did the same things and we enjoy the same things making us compatible to become more than acquaintances and business buddies. I mean take a look at one of this trip’s participants, David Trang. It looks like he got along well with the members of WILD. Well that is it for Day 2 of our Seattle/Vancouver Observation Trip. Stay tuned and ready for my report on Day 3. -Aaron Dong The first open space in Chinatown we saw was Hing Hay park where it usually serves as a resting area for the seniors of the Chinatown because of it's big plaza. There was a ping pong table that stood out in particular for attracting any pedestrians to play. Hang Hay park is currently being redevelopment where they youth convinced seniors to come out to meet about the designing of the new looks/use of the park space. The design of the facade reminded me of a traditional Chinese tea room.
The next open space we saw was the "Dragon Park". Dragon park had been redevelopment before and very recent. During the planning phase, IDEA invited residents to their meetings and designed a more special and safer park. Kids were the main group targeted but the park was then redesigned to allow their guardians which were usually their grandparents to take part in activities such as tai chi while watching them. Then we stopped by the green sidewalks which were sidewalks with extending bulb-outs and designated greenery planted within the sidewalk and extended area. They were made because of a request by the community to make streets faster to cross but also made use of the frequent rain. Comparing Seattle Chinatown to San Francisco Chinatown, there are less noise, energy and residents. 3,000 residents live in the Chinatown and 40% are elderly but I rarely saw any residents out in the open spaces. Not really my perception of a Chinatown but you can find dim sum! Although it's not as loud as San Francisco Chinatown, the dragons within Seattle rest quietly through out the day. Taking the ideas of what I saw today, I feel that we should have brown sidewalks rather then green sidewalks back in San Francisco instead because of the drought. Rather then plants, we could just have solar panel benches for light energy and rest. Today was full of sights and knowledge. Overall, it was cool to see another Chinatown with a wonderful community. -Andrew(Liang Fu) Wu |
AuthorYouth experience from their experiential learning trips. Archives
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