After 30 years, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation is no longer interested in owning Granville Island and the feds are quietly considering handing it over to Port Metro Vancouver.
It's a prospect so ominous to Vancouver's mayor, he's willing to buy it with city funds. It's an audacious move, especially in the run-up to an election. But we can't say we blame him.
Granville Island's riotous success is due in large part to its governance structure - a nine-member trust representing various fields of expertise and interests from the local community.
This is the antithesis of how the port likes to operate as we saw with the Low Level Road project.
The port pitched the project as a way to make room for more rail lines, which would increase efficiency and safety while decreasing noise. The port's managers made no mention, however, of the expansion projects at Neptune Terminals and Richardson International and the high voltage transmission lines that were waiting in the wings. The headaches created by this are still being felt today as the city struggles and neighbours fight over what to do with the drastically altered Moodyvillle in the new official community plan.
Here in North Vancouver, we have our own piece of prime, public waterfront property that has every bit of potential that Granville Island started with. Could you imagine the hue and cry if there was any suggestion that the Shipyards be turned over to the port?
