campus resident january 2013

Published monthly by the University Neighbourhoods Association

Volume 4, Issue 1 JANUARY 14, 2013

Published monthly by the University Neighbourhoods Association

Article by Dan Wei Ma and Charli Jin, both in grade 11 at University Hill Secondary School. Photos by Edward

Chang, grade 12

University Hill Secondary School Principal, Alex Grant

Same School… New Building, University Hill Secondary

After years of meticulous planning and anticipation for a much-needed new building for University Hill Secondary, the students and teachers have finally been able to move in to the new building on Ross Drive and 16th Avenue. Gone are the days of lunches in the Chemistry classroom and overcrowded hallways; the new building provides many new facilities that enable the stu-dents and teachers to have a more com-fortable and safer environment. On the first day of school, the shock of a new building was evident in the faces of the students. We were in awe of the high ceilings, glass walls, and spacious areas. When asked what their thoughts were on the new school, many said, “It is way bigger than our old school.” And true enough, this new building is built for 1000 stu-dents while the former had 700 students crammed into a tiny space built for

around 350. Now, there will be no more scrambling to find a floor space for lunch hours as

tables and chairs are provided in the des-ignated student areas. We are also given the opportunity to go to Wesbrook Vil-lage and spend our lunchtimes there with Save On Foods, ToGo Sushi, and various other food venues nearby. Teachers, especially, are extremely im-pressed by all of the assets the new school now provides for staff and students alike. The greatest change about this school is that it is much larger and cleaner than our old one. When asked about their initial thoughts on the new school, teachers said that they feel so fortunate and grateful for the opportunities presented here. They feel that the move into the new building provides a positive and fresh start to the New Year. Overall, the new school gives a bright, airy, and a much more relaxed atmosphere than that of the old school. For students with special needs, the new school has given them commodious, more enjoyable classrooms that allow them to have the environment they need. Our new gym provides much more space than the old one and the new rules of gym strip and running shoes only in the gym allow for a more focused atmo-sphere. The new music room is much ap-preciated because now the students and the teacher do not need to set up and take down all the chairs and stands before and after each rehearsal. The new location al-lows everyone to enjoy better acoustics, a permanent set up, and brand new practice rooms. A dance studio provides students, especially the U-Hill Dance Club to have mirrored walls and a clear space to prac-tice, unlike the days when the members had to share the auditorium with every-

one else. Despite the extraordinary features of our new school, there are some concerns about the building. Many teachers have expressed their apprehension regard-ing the windows everywhere; they are concerned that students, and even them-selves, will be somewhat distracted by the things that are happening outside their classrooms. However, they also be-lieve that in real life, people need to work with distractions and that this may be a good way to prepare the students. The glass walls also pose a danger to everyone in case of an emergency situa-tion such as a Code Red situation, when an intruder comes into the school. As all the walls are glass, there is nowhere for us to hide if someone dangerous walks in. The new location is also located along the fast and busy 16th Avenue, which is almost considered a highway. With so much heavy traffic nearby, students must be more cautious than before on their way to and from school. University Hill Secondary has trans-formed from a tiny village to a bustling metropolis. The efficient high-tech this new school offers keeps fascinating the students and staff with its magnificent features. With the forefront physical “hardware” and the spacious facilities, the students of University Hill are ready to meet the standards that they have al-ways achieved and to go beyond to be-come more rounded and comprehensive. Though somewhat unsettled, the teach-ers, students, and staff are all so grateful and glad to be at the new school and all are adjusting with maturity to the new ex-perience.

Students being introduced into their new school

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT JANUARY 14, 2013page 2

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT JANUARY 14, 2013

Editor & Business Manager

University Neighbourhoods Association

#202-5923 Berton Avenue,

Vancouver, BC V6S OB3

Published by:

John Tompkins

604.827.3502 [email protected] Page

page 3

Letters to the

Editor &OpinionsInclude name, address and telephone number. Maximum lengths: Letters 400 words. Opinions 750 words. We may edit or decline to publish any

submission.

I have been a resident of the West Side of Vancouver since April 1988 and for the past four years have lived facing W. 10th Ave at Tenth and Blanca. Currently I see the large number of double buses enter-ing UBC at peak hours. Once I boarded crowded # 25 buses to go to classes and I’ve seen crowded #41 and #49 buses en-tering the campus at peak hours. During the past 25 years there has been a never ending discussion about commuting to UBC. I have a new proposal, which I believe would improve the current system. It is a marine commuter service between False Creek and UBC. For the sake of familiar-ity, let’s call it a UBC Sea Bus. Compared to other ocean side com-munities like Hong Kong, Boston, New York and even Seattle, marine commuter services are underdeveloped in Vancou-ver. We do; however, have a point-to-point marine commuter link between the Downtown and North Vancouver. Per-haps it’s time for a second point-to-point marine commuter link between False Creek and UBC. Two Skytrain collector lines – Expo and Canada Lines have stations on False Creek. The Expo Line collects from the Millennium Line at the Broadway Sta-tion. A huge volume of UBC commut-ers could be funneled through the Main

Letter to the Editor

Point Grey Resident Rocks Boat with Plan for UBC Sea Bus

Marine commuter services are under-developed in

Vancouver; ferries would be in service between False

Creek and UBC

Street and Yaletown Stations. It would not be necessary to build bun-ker style docking facilities like at Water-front. Vessels could be side loading as are the public water buses in Venice that move millions of passengers a year. At the UBC end all that would be needed is a floating bumper, similar to those used by BC Ferries at Inside Passage stops and a covered escalator going up the cliff side. At the Campus level, a walkway un-der Marine Drive and a shuttle bus link could distribute students throughout the University. This proposal has many advantages. It would be far less expensive and much quicker to put into operation than a rail line above or below ground along the Broadway/West Tenth Corridor. It would greatly reduce congestion along the Cor-ridor by the elimination of a large num-ber of double buses at peak hours. It would greatly reduce the amount of air and noise pollution along the Corridor. It is much easier to adjust the scheduling of two or three water buses to accommodate holidays and no class periods than it is to accommodate hundreds of double busses and drivers. From the student’s point of view, this would be a unique experience, probably unknown anywhere else on the planet. They could bring their bicycles to and from school on the boat. They could have a coffee and a light snack while going to class. The stunning views might even el-evate some student’s creative skills.

Jamie Lewin,Vancouver

Most people have heard about the trag-ic shooting that occurred on December 14th, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Since the in-cident, people have mourned, people have been angered and stirred into ac-tion, people have spoken out; however, change has yet to begin, much is standing in the way of the safety of the people in the US from these acts of irrational vio-lence. Regardless, this is not to question the United States on its arms laws or its glorification of violence; in Canada we are fortunate not to be in constant fear of being potential victims to senseless vio-lence. As Vancouverites and as citizens of Canada, we must learn from the mis-takes and misfortunes of others to ensure that it doesn’t happen in our community and in our home. The one thing that always comes up in news articles after a mass shooting oc-curs is interviews of people that knew or had connections with the perpetrators; many of the quotes from them sound something like: “He was quiet, didn’t know much about him,” “I just saw him around” and “he mentioned some weird stuff but I thought it wasn’t serious” or “I don’t know what happened”. The reality however, is that many of the perpetrators were not doing well, they were dealing with a mental illness or seri-ous instability which would have shown signs. If someone had actually paid atten-tion, had acted when seeing the signs of a person having mental issues, had helped or reported unusual behaviors and had stepped up to do something to help the

Youth Editorial

Accountable to Each OtherBy Eliot Escalona,

Grade 12 Lord Byng Secondary School

person, then maybe many of these ter-rible deaths could have been prevented. This is a lesson that communities world wide must learn after seeing what has occurred in the United States, twenty-five times since 2006 and seven times in 2012. Our communities must begin to take responsibility for the people who reside within them. Starting in the fam-ily nucleus, if a mother, father, brother or sister see that one of their family mem-bers is undergoing changes or struggles that are out of the ordinary, then it is up to them to take initiative to address it and seek help. If a teacher sees a student or a co-worker acting differently, struggling with daily life or there is a feeling that something is wrong, they must take a proactive approach. If a group of friends begin to notice changes in a friend, if it seems that they are beginning to seclude themselves, or if they begin to talk about strange ideas, alarming ideas without it clearly being a joke, then it is up to the group of friends to bring it up with someone who can help. We must help those who surround us to keep everyone safe including ourselves. As cities grow, communities expand and modern society makes people more distant, it is always important to realize that we are all ac-countable to the people we know and share our lives with. We must not let peo-ple like Adam Lanza or Seung-Hui Choi (Virginia Tech Massacre) slip through the cracks and not receive the help and atten-tion they need. If we all become accountable to the people with whom we share our home, our jobs, our parks, our lives with, then we can ensure that our community will remain safe and free of groundless vio-lence.

Campus resident Bill Holmes has be-come the new alternate director for Elec-toral Area A at Metro Vancouver. Mr. Holmes replaces fellow campus resident Gary Gibson in the back-up spot to Maria Harris, elected director for Elec-toral Area A. Before serving four years as alternate director, Mr. Gibson served six years as elected director for Electoral Area A. In announcing her decision to change the alternate role to Mr. Holmes from Mr. Gibson, Ms Harris said, “I would like to recognize Gary and extend thanks to him for his fantastic public service.” Ms. Harris said she had undertaken the

Bill Holmes New Alternate Director at METRO

change with support from Mr. Gibson, and his agreement. “He wants to turn his direction to other things,” she said. A retired lawyer, Mr. Holmes moved to Hampton Place relatively recently, and has taken an active interest in community affairs since his arrival. He strongly supports the policies of the Organization for University Residents (OUR), which played a dominant role in the September election of three directors of the University Neighbourhoods Asso-ciation. Ms. Harris said Mr. Holmes will be a “fantastic resource, especially in matters relating to transportation.”

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“How to Best Enhance the Value of Our Leases” (Second of a Series)

Last month I looked at why a fee simple (“FS”) interest in land was more valuable than a leasehold (“LH”) interest in land. In this article, I examine the property val-ue of our LHs compared to FS as of the date that we first purchased and compare the value of our LHs to other groups of LHs measured as of the date these others were first purchased. I did court and arbitration work until my health made it impossible for me to continue to do this work. I largely did cases described as complex commercial litigation. I dealt with numerous issues of valuation of assets (often land) which necessarily involved comparing the value of Subject 1 to Subject 2, etc. One precaution regarding the process of comparison. The process is complex. Consider two residential properties, lo-cated within a block or two of one an-other, in the same residential area, same age, same quality and amenities of con-struction, etc. They should be of equal value. Of course, seldom will each be absolutely the same in all these ways. If you add a fire hall across the street from one property you complicate the ques-tion. And once you take a community’s physical and social development and, for a LH, the relationship between landlord and tenant, into account (all of which we will be doing) the question becomes more complicated. So in trying to com-

Jim Taylor, Hampton Place Resident, Lawyer and First

UNA Chair

pare the property value of our LHs when compared to FS, I have chosen physical-ly comparable FS properties that are as alike as possible to the applicable LHs. I do this as carefully and fairly as possible. But the exercise involves judgments. Reasonable people could take issue with some of these. And finding a good FS comparison to some groups of LHs is not always easy. For our Neighbourhoods, the best FS comparison to our multi-fam-ily units would be a new multi-family property adjacent to us (as an example, the UEL or Vancouver west side). While there are some new multiple-family units nearby in the UEL there are few on the west side of Vancouver. I have identified several different dates of LH interests which I compare to com-parable FS properties. The LHs I have chosen are set out in the table below. This table compares the market value of these LHs to FS as of the date each were new. Property values change over time so comparing values across dates means using sometimes higher, or lower, property values but as the comparison is to the value of the LHs (ultimately ex-pressed as a percentage) as compared to the FS overall changes in property value do not affect this. One further important comparison is the two large Musqueam LH developments off Marine Drive but collecting data on these has been difficult so I will report on this in the next article.In the table below all residences are 2 bedroom, 2 bath units. Frame construc-tion is compared to frame; concrete (mid or high rise) is compared to concrete.

Date when new Location LH/FS # of

Comparables

Market Value - Per Sq. Foot (rounded to nearest

$5,000)% Value of LH to FS

1 6/1997 - 12/1997

Hampton Place LH 4 $280LH 105% of FS

Dunbar, Kits, PG FS 3 $260

2 4/2005 - 10/2005

Hawthorn LH 3 $405LH 95% of FS

Kits, Arbutus FS 2 $430

3 7/2007 - 10/2007

Hawthorn LH 3 $525LH 90% of FS

UEL FS 4 $580- ↓

4 2/2007 - 5/2007 and 10/2008

Chancellor LH 3 $585LH 100% of FS

PG, Kits FS 3 $585- ↓

5 1/2009 - 8/2009Wesbrook LH 2 $525

LH 90% of FSPG FS 2 $575 - ↓

6 7/2011 - 1/2012Wesbrook LH 2 $745

LH 105% of FSPG FS 2 $700 - ↑

7 Early 2009Wesbrook LH 2 $525

LH 90% of FSKits FS 2 $575 - ↓

8 2005SFU LH 4 $295

LH 100% of FSBurnaby NE FS 4 $295

9 1983 - 1984COV/False Creek LH 3 $140

LH 80% of FSPennyfarthing – False Creek FS 2 $170

10 1980COV/False Creek LH 4 $75

LH 75% of FSFalse Creek FS 3 $100

11 1986COV/False Creek LH 3 $80

LH 100% of FSFalse Creek FS 3 $80

In the next article we will look at the Musqueam comparables when new and then ask what all this early data means. I do this work as a volunteer. But to do

this I need paid consulting help - a prop-erty consultant and someone to identify (so I can analyze them) other leases in the Lower Mainland by using various

indices beyond my skills. The UNA and UBC (Properties) are covering this cost.

THE CAMPUS RESIDENT JANUARY 14, 2013 page 5

Work of Volunteers Wins Well-Deserved Praise226 volunteers - 69 adults

and 157 youths - are providing services to the UNA and The Old Barn

Community Centre; number of hours worked by

volunteers has increased significantly over five years

As National Volunteer Week approaches, the University Neighbourhoods Associa-tion and The Old Barn Community Cen-tre have released figures showing how strong the volunteer movement at UBC is—especially among youths. Qiuning Wang, Community Engage-ment and Volunteer Coordinator at The Old Barn, called the work of volunteers in 2012 “glorious”, and said, “This work continues.” Qiuning revealed that 226 volunteers provided the UNA and The Old Barn with services in 2012—69 of them adults, and 157 youths. The volunteers provided 3,885 hours of service work. “Their time, expertise and passion have greatly supported the work of different UNA committees, over 20 programs and ten major community events in the past 12 months,” Qiuning said. One volunteer, Jim Taylor, of Hamp-ton Place, recently received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for services rendered in helping build the residential community on campus, and the Old Barn spokesmen said the honour bestowed on Mr. Taylor “is just the beginning” of UNA/The Old Barn volunteers being rec-

ognized. UNA and Old Barn staff have initiated plans for a 2012-2013 UNA Volunteer Award Ceremony to be held during Na-tional Volunteer Week, April 21-27. Qiuning provided a summary of the hours of service work volunteers have contributed over the years. As the table attached shows, the annual total of vol-unteer hours worked has jumped greatly from around 730 volunteers in 2008 to 3,885 in 2012. Qiuning provided the following com-mentary to the above table of volunteer hours:

These hours only provide one dimen-sion of the contribution of volunteers. The leadership and impact they have created in the community is far be-yond what these hours can measure. A total 19 volunteers have supported the work of the Multicultural Commit-tee, UNA sustainability planning ini-tiatives including the UNA Waste and Water Action Plan Working Group, the

Year Youth Adult Program Leaders

Total

2008 608.9 83% 121 17% 729.9

2009 1204.3 83% 240 17% 1444.3

2010 988.5 74% 340 26% 1328.5

2011 1273.8 68% 603.5 32% 1877.3

2012 2952 76% 933 24% 3885

Total 7027.5 76% 2237.5 24% 9265

Residential Environmental Assessment Program (REAP) Working Group (re-viewing UBC green residential building standards) and the UNA Sustainable Transportation Committee. The English language programs at The Old Barn Community Centre such as the English Conversation Clubs (led by Kay Trenker & Kathy Regelous, Ni-cole Fitzsimon, Brenda Stewart and oth-er volunteers), and the ‘New to English’ program, (led by Sandra Price-Hosie), have helped hundreds of immigrants not only to learn English but also to gain an improved understanding about Canadian culture and traditions. Their work has played an important role in promoting cultural exchange, mutual understanding and building a connect-ed and integrated community. Working professionals, retired resi-dents, new immigrants, UBC students and high school students compose the diverse profile of UNA volunteers in 2012, with a few highlights: The capacity in community participa-

tion of high school volunteers has con-tinued to grow. We have seen new youth-initiated programs such as Mandarin Fun, UNA Youth Band and the Youth Journalist Team. Three youth volun-teers successfully received UTown@UBC Community Grants to lead the Youth Green Lipdub, Give and Receive, and the UNA Youth Biodiversity Com-munity Club projects. We believe their learning from working on these projects is great and their positive energy will help sustain the community. We have also seen a growing num-ber of UBC students getting involved in the community programs and activities in 2012. We have UBC students from education, kinesiology, psychology, bio-chemical engineering, science, and for-estry who have offered greater potential to enrich our program portfolio. Volunteering is a great way to get in-volved in the community. In 2013, we will have more opportunities and pro-grams that are aimed to build a caring, connected and sustainable community for residents to get involved.

Please contact Qiuning Wang at [email protected] if you are interested in becom-ing a volunteer.

Details of the 2012-2013 UNA Volun-teer Award nomination process will be announced in early February on both the UNA and The Old Barn Community Centre websites. If you know of an in-dividual whose contribution has enriched our community, we invite you to submit a nomination, or to send a story about this volunteer to The Campus Resident.

Three youth volunteers help out at The 6th Annual UNA Barn Raising event

Sandra Price-Hosie (centre) with members of her New to English class


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Do UBC and the University Endow-ment Lands (UEL) overpay for water purchased from Metro Vancouver? That question was discussed a year ago in the Campus Resident (November 2011 and January 2012). In this update, I set out what I have learned so far, and make some observations. Metro Vancouver, through a corpo-ration called the Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD), supplies wa-ter on a wholesale basis to GVWD member municipalities—most Metro Vancouver municipalities are GVWD members—and to a very few non-members, including the UEL. The UEL purchases water for the use of its residents and for resale to UBC. Since 1949, the water rates paid by the UEL have been equal to the rates paid by GVWD members plus a 20% mark-up. For 2013, the mark-up is expected to yield about $600,000, a sum that is in-significant at the regional level but not locally. Of the total $600,000 mark-up, roughly $500,000 is borne by UBC and $100,000 by UEL residents (and hence reflected in the water rates they pay). The legislation governing the GVWD requires that it charge reasonable rates for the water it sells to the UEL (and indirectly to UBC). I have been trying for the past year to determine whether the 20% mark-up is reasonable. On the basis of the information I have obtained to date, it seems that even if the 20% mark-up was reasonable in the past, it

Metro Vancouver Water Rates UpdateBy Maria Harris,

Metro Vancouver Directorfor Electoral Area A

no longer is. Research in the Vancouver Archives has established that many documents exist from the time of the GVWD’s formation in the mid-1920s and later. However, there seems to be no docu-ment describing the historical rationale for the 20% mark-up. It originated in the early 1930s during the course of a GVWD Board meeting that considered an agreement with a particular non-member (Fraser Mills). In response to my questions, Metro Vancouver staff has indicated that now the 20% mark-up is intended, in part, to fund certain GVWD infrastructure costs and in part to pay what can be considered as risk or insurance charges. I’ll briefly describe these reasons for the mark-up and comment on them. Infrastructure Costs According to Metro Vancouver staff, a portion of the 20% mark-up (presum-ably most of it) is intended to cover the infrastructure costs that the UEL would have been required to pay if it had been a municipal member of the GVWD. Given the magnitude of the mark-up and the fact that it has been paid for over 60 years, it seems intuitively clear that the mark-up must have been more than adequate to cover such past infra-structure costs.Metro Vancouver staff has been asked to provide information on GVWD in-frastructure improvements made in the past specifically for the UEL/UBC area. This information should help in determining whether the intuitive view is correct.What about the effect on water con-sumption of the recent and projected

population increases in the UEL/UBC area? Will the GVWD have to construct additional infrastructure for which the UEL would be required to pay if it were a member of the GVWD? My under-standing is that the existing infrastruc-ture is adequate to serve the current and projected needs of the area. Hence, the 20% mark-up is not required to fund in-frastructure improvements in the fore-seeable future. Readers may be wondering about the recent upgrade to the GVWD’s water infrastructure along 16th Avenue. This upgrade was undertaken for the benefit of both Vancouver and the UEL/UBC area. Because the upgrade was made to ensure adequate excess capacity across the system and thereby prevent supply interruptions, I understand that Vancouver has not been required to pay any portion of the costs. The costs of such upgrades to the GVWD water sys-tem are covered by GVWD’s revenues from the sale of water rather than being borne by the individual members who specifically benefit from the upgrades. In other words, the UEL and member municipalities jointly bear such costs through the water rates they pay. For this reason, even if the UEL were to be charged for infrastructure improve-ments on the same basis as member municipalities, it would not have been required to make any payments in re-spect of the costs of the 16th Avenue upgrade. Joint and Several Liability for Debt Municipalities that are members of the GVWD are jointly and severally li-able for all GVWD debts. This means that if the GVWD defaults on a debt, creditors can look to individual munici-palities for payment. As a non-member, the UEL does not share in this joint and several liability. Metro Vancouver staff has stated that a portion of the 20% mark-up could be viewed as compen-sating GVWD members for not shar-ing this financial risk with them. It is analogous to payments to a third party to take on credit risks, i.e. the purchase of credit insurance. A scenario in which the GVWD is unable to pay its debts and one or more member municipalities are called on to do so is almost unimaginable given the GVWD’s conservative fiscal practices. Thus, the risk to a municipality because of its joint and several liability is more theoretical than real. Therefore, only a

tiny portion of the mark-up can be jus-tified on this ground. Physical Risks The water system is exposed to a number of risks, including the possibil-ity of a catastrophic event such as an earthquake that causes major damage to the infrastructure or the discovery of a source of contamination that is costly to resolve. If any of these risks were to materi-alize, the GVWD could be faced with substantial expenditures, and might conceivably have to turn to its mem-bers for capital contributions. The UEL as a non-member would not be subject to such a capital call. A portion of the 20% mark-up has been justified as being in lieu of any liability for such contingent capital contribu-tions. This portion of the mark-up can be viewed as a form of insurance pre-mium. The UEL is paying this portion of the mark-up for an eventuality that is high-ly unlikely to occur. It seems to me that rather than having the UEL pay such “insurance premiums”, the water rates charged to the UEL should be marked up if and when members are required to make capital contributions. The mark-up would be set at a level that would result in the UEL paying its share of the extraordinary costs over time (with interest). Alternatively, if the UEL continues to be required to pay a mark-up on ac-count of the risks to which the water system is exposed, then there should be an accounting for the amounts paid. Once the total reaches a specified level, the UEL should be relieved from hav-ing to make any further payments to-wards the risks unless a risk actually materializes. Conclusion In short, there does not appear to be any rationale for continuing to in-clude a 20% mark-up in the water rates charged by the GVWD to the UEL and, indirectly, UBC. In my view, this mark-up should be reconsidered in light of the legislated requirement that the GVWD sell water to the UEL at rea-sonable rates. Further information regarding the purchase price of water for the UEL/UBC area can be found on my website (www.mariaharris.ca) by clicking on the Water link under Issues.


A year ago, when Michelle, a grade 11 student and oboist at Lord Byng Sec-ondary School, was first encouraged to start a youth band, she was skeptical. How would she attract enthusiastic young musicians in the community? Who would take care of the admin-istrative work? Were her conducting skills good enough? Eventually her passion for music won out over her un-certainties. Together with Justin Wang and May Xing, two other high school students, she was able to rehearse for and conduct the first performance of the UNA Community Youth Band at the Old Barn 2012 Lunar New Year celebration. Since then, the Youth Band has more than doubled in size and currently con-sists of 25 members, ages 12-17. We

A Groundbreaking New Ensemble in the Community

by Michelle and Juliet Feng

have performed at the Chancellor Place playground opening, Old Barn Canada Day celebration, UTown Summer Fes-tival, and The Old Barn Christmas Con-cert. We also had our first performance tour on December 8, 2012, when we performed at the S.U.C.C.E.S.S. centre downtown and Sunrise Senior Living. The Youth Band is proud to be the only musical ensemble in the Vancou-ver area that is run almost completely by youth, for youth. We provide op-portunities for young musicians to interact and express themselves in a musical environment. We hope to help our members not only to become better musicians, but also to build their lead-ership and teamwork skills, and have fun in the process! The band is mainly led by our youth leadership team mem-bers: Michelle Feng (conductor, grade 12), Justin Wang (general manager, grade 11), Alice Li (website and graph-ics designer, grade 12), Tony Lu (re-

hearsal assistant, grade 9), Juliet Feng (secretary and librarian, grade 9), and Yunie Fuchioka (rehearsal assistant and librarian, grade 10). Although most of the rehearsals and administrative work are managed by the youth volunteers, we are also much indebted to our par-ent support team, who organizes events like our performance tours. Since September we have also been lucky enough to work with Mr. Nich-olas Francis, a professional conduc-tor and the director of bands at Eric Hamber Secondary School. Mr. Fran-cis joins us in rehearsal once a month to give musical guidance to the whole band and to advise Michelle on her conducting technique, an activity that she has recently picked up next to her major pursuit, oboe performance.In the future, the youth band plans on creating more opportunities for mem-bers to take leadership roles in re-hearsals, sectionals, chamber music

ensembles and solo performances. We hope to attend the Vancouver Kiwanis Music Festival this spring. Bands that attend this festival have the opportuni-ty to perform in front of an adjudicator and receive coaching from professional conductors. Our future performances in the community include an exciting performance in the upcoming Old Barn 2013 Lunar New Year celebration on February 2. We are also planning our very own concert this spring, so keep an eye out for more information in The Old Barn Spring 2013 Program Guide! The UNA Community Youth Band is always open to new members in wood-winds, brass, and percussion. If you’re interested, check out The Old Barn Spring 2013 Program Guide or contact Michelle at [email protected]. Our website www.youthband.org has a lot more information as well!

Top left- The UNA Youth Band performing at The Old Barn’s annual Christmas concert. Photo credit - Edward Chang. Top right and bottom left- The Band performs outdoors at The UNA and The Old Barn’s Annual Canada Day Celebration 2012.


UNA Community News

UNA Residents take on the Community Zero Waste Challenge.

Sustainability Corner

For my first column of the new year, I am continuing the story of the families that have committed to the UNA Com-munity Zero Waste Challenge (and will continue to report on the Challenge until it completes in February). For those who haven’t been following, we are thirteen families who have committed to measure and reduce our waste and increase recy-cling over a 12 week period. The UNA Challenge is unique in two ways: it’s the first to include multifamily homes and the first to occur over the holiday season (there have been three previous Metro Vancouver Zero Waste Challenges, but none occurred in multifamily homes or over the Christmas holiday season). During the first four weeks of the Chal-lenge, families weighed their garbage and recycling but did not change their behav-iour in order to establish a baseline. The subsequent eight weeks are our challenge period, where we try to reduce waste and increase recycling as much as possible. Since our challenge period included the holiday season we decided to break into two parts – a “Holiday Challenge” over the first four weeks (covering Christmas and New Years), and a four week standard Challenge following the Holiday Chal-lenge. We have now completed the baseline period and the subsequent Holiday Chal-lenge. So what did we find? First, to put things in context, Peter Cech of Metro Vancouver provided me with estimates

Holiday Zero Waste Challenge

for waste and recycling for multifam-ily homes in the Metro Vancouver region (which includes all Vancouver area mu-nicipalities). In 2011, Metro Vancouver estimates that a typical multifamily home generated about 4.6 kg of waste and re-cycling per person per week. About 0.6 kg (15%) on average was diverted to re-cycling, leaving 4 kg as garbage. In com-parison, during our baseline period, total household waste and recycling was about 12 kg/week, with more than 8 kg diverted (about 67%), leaving 4 kg as garbage. I don’t have per person values for our Challenge yet, but these are amazing re-sults – our household waste baseline is about the same as the 2011 per person rate for Metro Vancouver, and our baseline diversion rate was over 65% (compared to 15% for Metro Vancouver)! But the best was yet to come – for our Holiday Challenge, our overall waste + recycling increased minimally to just under 13 kg/week, while our diversion rate increased to more than 85%, and garbage reduced to less than 2 kg/week, less than half of the baseline period. This in spite of the challenges of reducing waste over Christ-mas and New Year’s holidays, when many families were hosting guests and Christ-mas events along with gift giving and re-ceiving. Much of the increase in recycling was due to containers (nearly double) and composting (more than 25% increase) – clearly related to increased food and drink over the holiday period. Paper and card-board only saw a 16% increase, perhaps surprising, but likely because paper and cardboard are less heavy than items in the other categories. These results are still preliminary with more to come, but point to a very success-ful challenge so far. I look forward to reporting how our Zero Waste Challenge families fair for the final four weeks of the Challenge. If our initial results are any indication, they should be exceptional in-deed. For any questions or comments on these or other sustainability topics please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or 604.822.3263.


Voice Of Campus Youth

Sally Tang lives at UBC and attends Lord Byng Secondary School. Sally runs the Youth Biodiversity and Environmental Community Club funded by the UTown@UBC community grant project. The primary focus of this club is on getting young people learning about the environment in healthy and socially-in-teractive ways. Sally has this to say about why young UBC residents might like to join her club: My mom lived at a university when she was younger, and I was amazed by what she told me about the unlimited learning resources available to her at this univer-sity. So I went out to explore the UBC campus, and ended up finding all sorts of resources I did not know existed. I thought why not use them instead of traveling far and wide across the coun-try in search of knowledge about the en-vironment. We could experience nature at the UBC farm, go to North America’s greenest building, the CIRS building on campus, or even gaze in admiration at the huge blue whale skeleton in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. The number one goal of my project is to remind youth that knowing and learn-ing about our own community resources is the first step toward serving it. Doesn’t this sound better than staring at a television set or playing games on a computer screen for too long? Come out of your house and feel the fresh air and talk among real people. Our group of mainly high-school stu-dents is going to visit museums, go on educational tours, and improve our com-munity by hosting public events every month. The club runs every Sunday 2-5pm throughout January, February and the beginning of March. We meet at The Old Barn Community Centre before going to other destinations. Contact Sally or Gigi for registration or questions at:[email protected] and [email protected]

Teenage Nature Club Commences

Projects

Club is funded by UBC and UNA; object is to create

friends while learning about Nature

A minga means “a community coming together to work for the benefit of all.” I first learned of this word a couple of months ago when Craig Kielburger, the co-founder of Free the Children, spoke about it at We Day Vancouver. They had journeyed to Ecuador to build a school, but due to unfortunate circumstances, they found themselves with very little time to finish the project. To help their sit-uation, the village chief called for a min-ga. The next day, there were hundreds of people around the village square, many summoned by child runners from distant villages, to help with the school. I believe Project Give and Receive is a sort of minga. What exactly is Project Give and Receive? It’s a community-giv-ing project, sponsored by the UTown@UBC Community Grants, comprised of a series of drives. Each month has a new drive collecting a new item for a certain cause. Last month was the first drive and we collected new toys for the Salvation Army. The project seeks donations from members of the community and in order to give back to the people who donate, the project offers a chance at a free ser-vice provided by a talented member of the community. So how did this project originate? As a

Project Give and Receive: A UNA MingaBy Dee Wang, Grade 12, University Hill School

teenager, I’m not sure most of us know what exactly we want to do with our lives. I know I don’t. Next year, I plan to study science in my first year at universi-ty, but aside from that I’m not sure what I want to do with my future. The one thing I do know that I want to do with my life is to leave the world a better place than I have found it. No matter the career path I take, I know my ambition is to make a positive difference in this world. In the summer of 2012, I began to feel especially passionate about wanting to make a positive difference in the commu-nity. I began searching for an idea when I stumbled upon a simple one that cre-ated a network of giving and receiving, which would eventually lead to Project Give and Receive. I thought about how I could help most effectively. I had a pas-sion to help as an individual, but I knew I would be able to do much more with the help of more people, so I came up with the idea of collecting items that most people would commonly have in their homes. This would allow many people to be involved, while not asking too much of them. To thank the generous donors as well as utilize the strengths of the many talented youths of the community, the project would offer a free service for those who donated, creating a network of giving and receiving. The idea stemmed from my main in-tent in improving an aspect of life for

an individual in need of help, and that still remains a big purpose, but along the way I have found so many new purposes for this project. This project allows me the platform to create opportunities for members of our community to contrib-ute towards a better society. It creates the opportunity for our community to create new relationships. It creates the oppor-tunity for our community to grow closer through the journey of a minga, a journey I sincerely hope you will all [email protected]

Dee Wang

Sally Tang (right) and Gigi Liang


Helium is lighter than air, but this huge helium storage tank needs a lift to get on site at TRIUMF, Canada’s national labo-ratory for particle and nuclear physics in South Campus. To minimize traffic interruption on Wesbrook Mall, the tank was brought in on a Sunday morning, and was then lifted

Growing TRIUMF Takes Delivery of Huge Helium Tank

Liquid helium to be used as super-coolant;

TRIUMF is one of the world’s leading subatomic physics

laboratories

over the fence and onto the TRIUMF site early the next morning. TRIUMF spokesperson Curtis Ballard said the delivery of this tank from Maple Ridge “went very smoothly thanks to the professional planning by Eagle Crane.’’ The tank, which is 47 ft. long, 11 ft. in diameter and weighs about 70,000 lbs, is

a storage vessel for the inventory of he-lium that will be used in TRIUMF’s new Helium Liquefaction Plant. TRIUMF will use liquid helium stored in the tank to super-cool parts of its new accelerator.

Helium storage tank gets ‘air-lifted’ on to TRIUMF property in South Campus. Photo courtesy of TRIUMF.

Team up with our fun and energetic leader for an action packed party!

604.822.9675 [email protected]

6308 Thunderbird Blvd @ UBC


Biodiversity in your backyard

At this time of year, the question of what plants are adapted to snow comes up fre-quently. This is not surprising, given that damage to plants from snow accumulation is sometimes very serious. In Vancouver, any snow that falls is usually associated with warm, moisture-laden air driving in from over the Pacific meeting colder air from inland. As anyone who has lived in Vancouver for a few years can attest, this phenomenon doesn’t always result in snow, but if it does, it’s usually very wet snow. The good news is that it usu-ally changes to rain within a matter of a day or two and anything left on the ground quickly melts away, as temperatures rise. Unfortunately for plants, this kind of snow is heavy, and while not sticky in the sense that glue is sticky, snow tends to stick to surfaces and to build up. For the most part, deciduous trees and shrubs are relatively immune to damage, having shed their leaves in plenty of time before conditions are right for snow. On the other hand, there are a number of de-ciduous plants that are slow to shed their leaves, and these plants are often at risk of breakage. These include selections of some common species, such as American and Chinese sweet gums (Liquidambar species) and some types of Japanese maple (Acer palmatum). The common denomina-tor with these plants is that they are mostly derived from southern latitudes. Southern

By Douglas Justice, Curator of Collections and

Associate Director, UBC Botanical Garden

Snow Adaptationplant populations are often not as sensi-tive to the normal seasonal day length and temperature cues as northern trees, and of-ten don’t become dormant until well into winter. In the south, where the risk of cold injury is relatively small, a long season of growth is an adaptive advantage. Evergreens are a different matter, but again, those hailing from northerly lati-tudes are generally better adapted to han-dling snow. Rhododendrons are a case in point. Not only do most of them naturally shed rain and snow by virtue of the spac-ing of their branches and the downward posture of their leaves, but the tendency of rhododendron leaves to curl inward and hang vertically during cold weather is also helpful in preventing snow from accu-mulating. Contrast this with the southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), which has broad, leathery, evergreen leaves, held upright or flattened out around stiff, brittle branches. This species, more than almost any other ornamental plant in the Vancou-ver area, is often ruined by heavy snow. Coniferous evergreens, too, are not im-mune. Even native conifers like Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) are sometimes adversely affected by heavy snow, but such trees are usually adapted to periodic branch loss and are no worse for wear af-ter winter storms. The best snow-adapted plants are undoubtedly those that grow on mountain tops where heavy snow is a fact of life. Some plants in these habitats lie flat, covered with snow, rebounding when the snow disappears in the spring. More common in our gardens are conif-erous evergreens like the Serbian spruce (Picea omorika) that shed snow with flex-ible branches and narrow, spire like tops

Three snowy photos from the UBC Botanical Garden grounds.All photo credits - Daniel Mosquin

that bend and flex in the wind, shaking off snow like a dog shakes water from its fur. In the Collections: The Beaty Biodiver-sity Museum is featuring Sea/Life, an ex-hibit of photographs by David Ellingsen, on through to February 3, 2013. Invoking Venus: Feathers and Fashion, an exhibi-tion of photo-based images by Catherine Stewart and accessories from the clothing

collections of Claus Jahnke and Ivan Say-ers lanches February 7 at 7:30 pm with a fashion show featuring historical clothing and accessories. Tickets can be purchased online. Details at: beatymuseum.ubc.ca/events. Registration is also open for the UTown@UBC Nature Club botanicalgar-den.ubc.ca/utown (free for campus resi-dent children and their families).