Tag Archives: Little Mountain Film

Neighourhood Conversations

Posted on by
MPNH04

I meet Ingrid Steenhuisen at the event, who presented her perspective as long time tenant and activist at Little Mountain.

Hey everyone, Last night I showed a couple of short excerpts from the documentary work in progress: The Little Mountain Film. Also screening a short film I just edited for Marine Gardens, one of the next social housing projects in Vancouver to meet the wreckers ball.

The event was at Little Mountain Neighbourhood House:

MPNH14_crop

Engaged and diverse community group brings together international perspectives to social housing and community building in Mount Pleasant.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1438838819741190/

Upcoming events include participation with SCARP UBC in upcoming International conference on The Future of Social Housing, and a solo exhibition at the Centre A Gallery on the subject of Sim and Joan Chang titled:

Champions of Little Mountain.

Both events are coming up in May 2015.  More info to come.

MPNH01

Follow the Little Mountain Project on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow The Little Mountain Project on FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/david.vaisbord
https://www.facebook.com/LittleMountainFilm
Follow The Little Mountain Project on TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/davidvaisbord

 

Did you like this? Share it:

Big day for BC Housing as last building goes down at Little Mountain

Posted on by

BC Housing finally flattens the last of 45 buildings at the Little Mountain Housing Project this week. The demolition took place on Tuesday December 16, 2014.

X-Karin&XmasDemo

Karin Nicholetti, the last tenant to move out, payed her respects.

X-MasDemo02

The last 3 Tenants had fought for and won a 5 year demolition reprieve. BC Housing attempted two times, in 2009 and 2012 to evict them.

The redevelopment of Little Mountain has been a failure. So much so that BC Housing is now taking a new approach: they intend to sell all their social housing assets to non profit organizations. This new intiative (as always with out any public consultation) will transform the housing portfolio from government responsibility to charity work. Such a profound change deserves some sober second thought. The first housing project to be sold will be Stamps Place.
X-MasDemo04_v3
When I shot this scene I assumed it would be the end of my film.  I was wrong.  Rich Coleman, the Minister of Housing was to cut the ribbon on the first new building in the spring of 2015.  I will shoot that meeting, and my final words with the Minister before I begin to edit the film.

With your financial support we can make a truly great film.  It’s never too late to make get involved. Find out more about the fundraising campaign at littlemountainfilm.com
Sincerely
David Vaisbord

Follow The Little Mountain Project on FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/david.vaisbord
https://www.facebook.com/LittleMountainFilm
Follow The Little Mountain Project on TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/davidvaisbord

Did you like this? Share it:

Thanks DOC BC for sponsoring my Hyperlocal workshop

Posted on by

DOChyperlocal1websizeOn Wednesday this week DOC BC presented: 6 YEARS AND COUNTING: Reflections on The Hyperlocal Documentary at the Pull Focus Film School. I had a great time, and I hope that my experiences with The Little Mountain Project will inspire others to take a more active role in the stories that they tell. Thank you to friends, supporters, DOC members and all the sponsors who make events like this possible.  A shout out to my friend Claire Yargeau, who had the brilliant idea to take out her Iphone and snap photographs during the event.

DOChyperlocal3websizeAnd a reminder to DOC members that our annual AGM and holiday/year end party is on November 26th. Check your email for the event notice with time and place.

Cheers,
David Vaisbord

Did you like this? Share it:

All Candidates Meet to discuss Vancouver Housing

Posted on by

Last night I attended SCARPE – UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning’s all candidates debate at UBC Robson Square. Housing Debate 2014_websize

This meeting is required viewing for the upcoming election, and you can click on the link at the bottom of the page to view it.

Debate1

I was very impressed with Cope’s Lisa Barrett, two-time former mayor of Bowen Island, and Adriane Carr of the Green Party.

Debate3_sml_flt_web

One City’s RJ Aquino has his heart and policies in the right place, and I have a huge amount of respect for David Chudnovsky, who’s the fire behind One City.

Meena_sharp

Meena Wong met with audience and debate participants afterward. I spoke with her after the debate and agree with her housing policies. If she wins she will be the first woman and person of Asian descent in the mayor’s chair! They say that she has an uphill battle against the Vision machine. This will be an interesting election!

Debate2_sml_flt_web

The entire debate can be viewed here:

Kudos to Dr. Penny Gurstein and colleagues at SCARP for putting together a great event.

David Vaisbord
For information on how to support the film project go to: http://www.littlemountainfilm.com/

Did you like this? Share it:

I return…with thoughts on Oppenheimer Tent City

Posted on by

With apologies to my readers – this new blog entry is long overdue!
This blog was out of commission during my crowdfunding campaign for The Little Mountain Film, and then I took a summer hiatus. For information on how to support the film project go to: http://www.littlemountainfilm.com/

Today, I post a new banner photo that begs the question: What would Little Mountain look like as a tent city?  Oppenheimer Park is a city park that is now a living community.
The Little Mountain Housing Project was a living community that is now a private park.

Oppenheimer Tent City as Little Mountain Project

Oppenheimer Tent City as Little Mountain Project

Did you like this? Share it:

Little Mountain Film – The Funding Campaign Launches Today!

Posted on by

Just click on the icon below to be redirected to the documentary film fundraising site:

I’m ecstatic to be finally embarking on campaign to fund the Little Mountain Film. After six years in the making, I’m ready to share this story with the world. Thank you all for joining me on the journey. Most of you have been involved in the fight for Little Mountain for just as long as I have. I’m hoping that finishing this film will create a way to get the word out about what happened at Little Mountain – the good, the bad, the ups, and the downs. Please join me in making finishing this film. Check out our crowd-funding campaign HERE and let the world hear about Little Mountain.

There’s a NEW website dedicated to the film here:   http://www.littlemountainfilm.com/
Come on board SHARE with your friends, and we can finish this film!

Please note, that I will be blogging on both this site and the Little Mountain Film site for the duration of the campaign.

David V

Did you like this? Share it:

Heather Place learns lessons from Little Mountain travesty

Posted on by
Warning: Lack of truth beyond this sign - Little Mountain 2014

Warning: Lack of truth beyond this sign – Little Mountain 2014

Barry Growe has a new article in The Tyee, in which he links the fight to preserve social housing at Little Mountain, with recent developments at Heather Place.

The article is titled:
An Authentic First Step for Affordable Housing?
Let’s Hope Vancouver’s Heather Place learns from Little Mountain’s big mistakes.

Barry and the tenants at Heather Place, including Karen Gilchrist and Tamara Szymanska will be speaking to City Council at City Hall next week, on April 15, and I will be there to record their presentations and their thoughts on the process, for a future post.

There are many lessons to be learned at Little Mountain. I’ll cover them in my documentary.

The fundraising campaign launches on May 1st!
Check out my new FACEBOOK site at Little Mountain Film.

Cheers,
David V

Did you like this? Share it: