Keep the beat in the ‘Heart’ of Mount Pleasant!

MOUNT PLEASANT NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT NOW!

We love the ‘Heritage Heart’, the unique commercial/cultural district defined by the intersections of Main, Broadway, and Kingsway. We bet you do too.

Our Vision? When transit users emerge from the future Mount Pleasant Broadway Subway station, they will arrive at Mount Pleasant’s vibrant and distinct ‘Heritage Heart’, not a generic “could-be-anywhere” intersection.

BUT we are at risk of losing the ‘heart’ of Mount Pleasant and the local independent businesses and cultural groups who have homes there.

Did you know that the Heart of Mount Pleasant was ranked # 1 on Heritage Vancouver Society’s 2019 Top Ten Endangered Watch List? Mount Pleasant was also included on their 2021 Top10 Watch List.

The recognition of this district as the ‘heart’ of the community and the name “Heritage Heart” were born from the 2010 Mount Pleasant Community Plan (MPCP) and subsequent Implementation Package (IP), which were co-created by the City of Vancouver and the community through the investment of taxpayer dollars and hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours. They document the ‘heart’s’ importance as a vibrant shopping, cultural and gathering spot, not only to the neighbourhood but city-wide. Both documents also include the policy of “retaining the existing scale and character” of this small portion of Mount Pleasant.

To protect this treasured district, we asked, during meetings with the Broadway Planning Team (2020 – 2022) and during our presentations at the public hearing (May/June 2022), that the City and Plan formalize this policy by declaring the ‘Heritage Heart’/Main Street Village a Heritage District with a management plan.

The recently approved Broadway Plan  (effective September 1, 2022) does identify the Main Street Village as one of 3 heritage districts/cultural landscapes (Heritage Section – 18.3 ps 445 – 449 & 18.4 p 450) and the Broadway Planning Team, who acknowledged that the heritage work started very late in the planning process, have made a commitment to doing further assessment and protection of heritage assets in consultation with communities during the Plan’s “lengthy implementation period”. This includes doing statements of significance for heritage districts, including the Main Street Village (Heritage Section – 18.3.2 – p 445).

But protection of this vital area, the “living room of the community”, needs to include a management plan that deals holistically with the social diversity, independent businesses, affordable rents, historic architecture, smaller store frontages, public spaces and unique personality of Mount Pleasant.

Where Main St. meets Kingsway in the “Heritage Heart”.

Please join us as we continue to call upon the City to include a commitment to declaring the ‘Heritage Heart’/ Main Street Village a heritage district within the Broadway Plan with its own management plan.

Here’s how you can join our campaign:

First, let your voice be heard, please sign and share our petition to protect our much loved unique commercial/cultural district!

Sign Change.org petition to City of Vancouver Mayor & Council to “Keep the beat in the ‘Heart’ of Mount Pleasant here.

Or, copy and paste URL to petition: https://www.change.org/p/vancouver-mayor-and-city-council-keep-the-beat-in-the-heart-of-mount-pleasant

Note: After you sign the petition, change.org will solicit for a donation on this issue, this is how change.org operates – they give exposure in exchange for money. Please do not donate to this issue through change.org.

Second, stay informed!

Yes, I support this campaign! Please keep me informed by adding my name to your contact list:

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And finally, if you’d like to help us cover the administrative costs of running this campaign, please donate to our FundRazr page here.

We are a small but dedicated grassroots organization and, as such, any financial support, small or large, is very much appreciated. Thank you!

 

 

 

If you’d like to comment on this post, there is a “leave a comment” link at the top of this post. All comments will be published after moderation.

 

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Celebrating Heritage Week 2019

Join us in recognizing and appreciating Mount Pleasant’s “Living Heritage” in celebration of Heritage Week 2019 in Canada and the theme “Heritage: The Tie That Binds”. 

Heritage exists in both tangible (physical) and intangible (non-physical) forms. Tangible heritage, such as objects and buildings, are easy to see. Intangible heritage, such as beliefs, traditions and uses of space, are qualities that contribute to the cultural landscape of a neighbourhood and are no less important. It is the combination of both tangible and intangible heritage that are at the heart of Mount Pleasant’s distinct village character, commercial identity, affordability and diversity. To discover more visit the Mount Pleasant Community Centre and check out our exhibit in the display case of the main lobby. It is up until March 15, 2019.

This heritage week project brought to you by Jennifer Chernecki, Christine Hagemoen, Alyssa Myshok and Danielle Peacock.

Mount Pleasant Heritage Lives!

Vancouver’s Treasured (And Threatened) Old Mount Pleasant Village – A Video Story

Created during grunt gallery’s 2018 Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen Digital Storytelling workshops with Mount Pleasant residents. Mount Pleasant Heritage Group’s video highlights our popular and historic area of Vancouver, also known as the “Heritage Heart.” Please enjoy! and share with friends and lovers of heritage.

https://digitalstories.ca/video/vancouvers-treasured-old-mount-pleasant-village/

Celebrating Heritage Week 2018

The Mount Pleasant Heritage Group celebrates heritage in our community 365 days a year…but we always join the rest of the Province the third week of February to celebrate Heritage Week in BC. Every year, organizations in the heritage sector participate in Heritage Week by organizing events that showcase local heritage and involve the public. The theme for 2018 is “Heritage Stands the Test of Time.”

This year we have created a banner that merges a historical image of Mount Pleasant with a modern day one and our theme is: Heritage Stands the Test of Time: And Stays Affordable!

The historical photo, from the City of Vancouver Archives (Major Matthews Collection -AM54-S4-: SGN 1026), looks north along Main Street from 8th Avenue and shows the west side of the 2300 block. This Heritage Week we would like to promote the affordability of heritage buildings for both housing and businesses.

The banner is in the window of Rath Art Supplies, located in the Triangle Building at 2412 Main Street, right in the centre of Mount Pleasant’s Heritage Heart.

It will be up until the end of February, 2018.

MPHG would like to thank the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Area (MPBIA) and Rath Art Supplies for their generous support of this project.

This Heritage Week 2018 project brought to you by Jennifer Chernecki (artistic production), Christine Hagemoen (research) and the rest of the MPHG team.

Our banner from last year, which explains why Mount Pleasant’s streets are named after the Canadian provinces/territories & why Ontario Street is the centre/000 block of Vancouver, is up in the lobby display case of the Mount Pleasant Community Centre.

Mount Pleasant Heritage Lives!

MISSING! Another Treasured Building sign

The sign was taken from outside the Frontenac Apartment Building at 11th Avenue and Quebec Street.

Has the sign been stolen or borrowed, like the one that used to sit on the corner of the Mount Pleasant Optometry Centre in the stone planter?  After we tweeted about it being taken in March the sign was located in front of two houses which currently provide rental accommodation and which sit on a possible development site.  It seems the sign was put there to draw attention to these treasured houses and further the cause of heritage and affordability.  That sign was returned but has not been put back in the planter as the Optometry Centre now has a window sign up.

If you have seen a sign like this recently installed we would love to know its location.

As we said in out first tweet :(Who knew our signs would be so popular):

 

Our Treasured Building Sign That Disappeared

On March 12th we tweeted STOP THIEF!!  Treasured Building Sign taken from Mt. Pleasant Optometry

:(Who knew our signs would be so popular:)

 

 

 Well, the sign has been located along with a story.  We now consider the sign to have been borrowed, rather than stolen, to further the cause of heritage and affordability.  It seems the sign was used to draw attention to two treasured old houses which currently provide rental accommodation and which sit on a possible development site.  The sign has been returned.