When an awning falls in Chinatown, does anybody hear? People in the second floor dining room at Carnegie Center heard a crash. One Carnegie member recalled that he was watching a movie in the dining area at the time; he's pretty sure it was Christmas Eve.It was not until he and others went outside later that they realized that the awning over the bakery on Main St. (next to the Royal Bank at Main & Hastings) had fallen to the sidewalk. It appeared to have collapsed under the weight of the snow.
The above photo shows the holes left after the bolts gave way and the awning fell.
As of this evening, the awning was still lying on the sidewalk. It's filled with water, after last night's rain.
6 comments:
For dinner I would like Peking-- Duck!
Look out for an up and coming "provincial ministry of awnings" or at least an addendum to the safety standards act. As for any repercussions for the awning manufacturer or owner? Probably not, this is BC, anything and everything but.
I notice that most government places in town have left their sidewalks uncleared. The police, the city, most "social" agencies have sheets of ice, banks of snow, and or lakes of slush around them. They can't do the work themselves, I suspect, because it would violate CUPE regulations. So here I am, nearly incapable of walking because I slipped and wrenched my knee.
But one can't point only at government and their idiot union protection: business owners are so used to being regulated that they don't think to offer someone $10.00 to clear a way for customers to come and spend money inside. Business owners are as addicted to "welfare" as are those who collect "welfare proper."
One of the problmes with collectivism is that people, who are creatures of habit in the first palce, take on the collective habits, many of which tend toward doing the least, "conservation of energy," we call it, if we're generous. It keeps those who might have acted on their own from doing the things that need to be done even if the government, the collective, the minders aren't there to say it's OK.
And thus, the snow builds up on a shelter to the point that it comes crashing down onto the sidewalk. By the time the snow melts and they find the guy under that awning, no one will want to claim the body, even with the snow preserving him. Big yuck.
dag,
Sorry to hear you fell and wrenched your knee. Ouch.
I slipped and fell twice. Once on Boxing day at Main and Hastings. I slipped and fell a few days earlier too at Columbia and Hastings.
Carnegie cleaned off a narrow passageway on their steps for people to use for a couple of days while they had the rest of the front steps blocked off with yellow caution tape. The steps are open again now though.
You're right about the social service agencies, police, and City not being overly concerned about hazards in front of their buildings.
Moved away from Vancouver over 3 years ago, but have fond memories of buying warm egg tarts at that bakery
It comes clears that Jean Swanson and her lot mean when they say that nothing matters but the community, that individuals are nothing, that she and they mean: "If the sidewalks are treacherous, stay inside. You don't matter anyway. Let the snow melt on its own. We won't go out and shovel it 'cause we're too busy doing good works, like complaining about world poverty."
CUPE security guards at Carnegie Library can chase around a harmless fellow like Simpson, but shoveling snow? "It ain't my job, man."
And we can see police cars snowed under for days at a time, one cop finally giving up in utter frustration and going back into the police station to find the keys to another because it's easier than getting his car out like any civilian would have to do.
And business owners? They'd rather wait for the government to come and tell them what to do that pay someone panhandling to shovel it off.
It's indicative of the state of things.
By the way, it's no wonder that awning fell. Look at all the water and snow inside it! That must weigh a ton.
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