So hard not to cry

[KnowItAll]

No one ever told me that getting older makes you more sentimental and emotional, sigh.

Watching the news showing us detail of damage to Stanley Park, I just kept getting choked up. Everytime I thought I was ok.....

I am sure that 20 yrs ago, I would have just shrugged and said, what a shame, but, thats life, etc.

I mean, the park was always important to me, I just took it forgranted. As a child I lived in the west end, at one point, just a block from the park on beach ave. It was my playground. It was just...there. Invincible, forever, or so I thought.

Does anyone else feel any emotional attachement to Stanley Park, or is just another of my idiocynrasies(sp?). I know one lady interviewed said she had to cry over it. Still, it seemed kind of dumb to me to get so choked up over it, sigh

Either way, what a damn shame all that damage is. No matter how much money they put into cleanup and restoration, I think it will take decades at least for it to be close to the same.

I cant help but wonder if it really was just Mother Natures fault.

[pinkfreud]

How bad is the damage? The place isn't destroyed is it?

[Rammer]

It looked bad on tonights news, real bad.

The estimated cost for clean up is currently at $2M. And for those that want to donate $50 will get you a tax receipt and better yet Jim Pattison is going to match what you dontate to the tune of $1M if BC can raise that amount. He sure knows when to step up to the plate.

[KnowItAll]

The estimated cost for clean up is currently at $2M

I thought I heard them talking $4M, just for starters??

[pinkfreud]

That's horrible. I thought maybe a couple of hundred trees in the whole park had blown down, but I just read on cbc.ca that it was in the thousands. I had no idea the damage was that extensive.

[Robbie]

Personally, the latest damage caused by the windstorm to Stanley Park is already way too overshadowed by the other changes that have happened in Stanley Park over the last 25 years. I used to visit Stanley Park very often as a child, and these are the nostalgic things that I miss about the park:

1. The Stanley Park Zoo. Shame on Vancouver residents for voting to close it down in 1994. That was the only zoo in the city limits.

2. The pony rides children used to enjoy.

3. While the aquarium has undergone massive upgrades, admission is very high and I miss the killer whale shows.

4. There was a time when visitors can walk right up to the totem poles, touch them, and have their picture taken right beside them. Now, they are separated by a moat.

5. The free parking in the park!

[Jedrock43]

Whenever we palyed in Vancouver I always made a point to get out to Stanley Park.. Back when I was still playing for the Eskimos I would always sneak off by myself after meetings were over and head to Stanley park and listen to music on a park bench over by the sea wall. A few times I even grabbed some bread and fed raccoons from a park bench until I realized that it was probably not a good idea as it was not conducive to the raccoons fending for themselves as creatures of the wild..

I always got a very peaceful feeling in Stanley Park- the news that the damage in the park is quite severe stirs some sad feelings within me..

The only other place I get that same feeling is out in Cathedral Grove on the Island. The first time I went out and walked among that ancient grove of trees I cried because I just couldn't believe how beautiful it was....

I agree that the older we get the more value we attach to places such as these because we come to realize the precious fragility of life.. Everything must go sometime- for some of us it just hurts to see it happen during our lifetimes....

[TheLionKing]

Personally, the latest damage caused by the windstorm to Stanley Park is already way too overshadowed by the other changes that have happened in Stanley Park over the last 25 years. I used to visit Stanley Park very often as a child, and these are the nostalgic things that I miss about the park:

1. The Stanley Park Zoo. Shame on Vancouver residents for voting to close it down in 1994. That was the only zoo in the city limits.

2. The pony rides children used to enjoy.

3. While the aquarium has undergone massive upgrades, admission is very high and I miss the killer whale shows.

4. There was a time when visitors can walk right up to the totem poles, touch them, and have their picture taken right beside them. Now, they are separated by a moat.

5. The free parking in the park!

I too am saddened by the destruction. It won't be the same in my lifetime.

[Robbie]

This is one of my favourite landmarks of Stanley Park. I hope it wasn't damaged in the storm.

[bbgirl]

There were thousands of trees down, mud slides, damage to the bridge over the Lost Lagoon, and huge sections of asphalt torn out of the seawall. Some nasty stuff.

[Robbie]

It is getting rather political too now as the federal government seems reluctant to pay for the $4 million in damages.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columb ... -park.html

[KnowItAll]

Oh crap, what the hell does this mean??

the lease is up for renewal next year

sounds ominus to me

Wouldnt put it past the feds to lease or sell the land to some foreign business interest.

[KnowItAll]

interesting history that I didnt know about. (from wikipedia)

In addition to logging in the nineteenth century, large swathes of the park were deforested by natural causes on three occasions in the city?s history. The first was a combination of an October windstorm in 1934 and a subsequent snowstorm in the following January that felled thousands of trees, primarily between Beaver Lake and Prospect Point.[18] Another storm in October 1962, the remnants of Typhoon Freda, cleared a six acre virgin tract behind the children's zoo, which opened an area for a new miniature railway that replaced a smaller version built in the 1940s. In total, 3,000 trees were lost in that storm.[19] An extratropical cyclone on 15 December 2006 again ravaged the park with 115 kilometre (71.5 mile) per hour winds. Over 60% of the western edge was damaged. The worst was in the area by Prospect Point, although many other pockets were hit and 1,000 or more trees may be lost.[20] Since 1992, the tallest trees have been topped and otherwise pruned by park staff for safety reasons.

a case of turing lemon into lemonade I guess. Can we do it again I wonder.

[Lionut]

It is getting rather political too now as the federal government seems reluctant to pay for the $4 million in damages.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columb ... -park.html

Ah yes, another one of those tiresome games where the different levels of government argue over which one of them gets to pick up the tab. As someone who has spent a lifetime in and around government, I can tell you this is the most disingenuous little dance going.

Everyone likes to spend money, and nothing spends nicer than someone else's. Therefore, the game in politics if you are the provincial government is to get the feds to pay the bill, while you get to make the announcement and look like a hero. That way, you get the credit for the project, without the political price of raising taxes. If you are a city politician, the game is to get the province to pay the bill, while you get the political credit. The reason why this is so dumb? There is only one taxpayer, you and I, so regardless of which level of government pays, in the end we pay anyway.

As for this windstorm, living in cities we forget that Mother Nature is often a cruel mistress. A heavy windstorm like this is simply nature's way of clearing old trees and creating new growth, much like forest fires have done since the beginning of time. As destructive as forest fires are, it is remarkable to see the level of growth and new life in a forest mere weeks after the total devastation of a fire. The same process will happen in Stanley Park -- as the Wikipedia notes show, this isn't the first time this has happened, and it won't be the last.

[KnowItAll]

Maybe I shouldnt be, but I am impressed by how fast wiki updates. I was surprised to see the present situation already there. Maybe they should take over cfl.ca (I just couldnt resist)