A former member of the public space committee of the mayor’s Engaged City Task Force has been told to cease all activities in his public art space.
Julien Thomas was surprised when the city contacted him recently to say he’s no longer allowed to organize social activities for the centre of the traffic circle at St. George Street on the 10th Avenue bike route. In 2012, Thomas successfully applied to the Vancouver Foundation’s Neighbourhood Small Grants Fund and received $800 towards the project he calls “Gather Round.” The money went towards plants, a stonework mosaic, a website and a coffeemaker to keep visitors and weekend work parties caffeinated. Thomas sat in the circle each Sunday offering cups of fresh-brewed coffee to passersby.
“I started it to bring the community together,” said Thomas, an artist who works in construction. “When I was with the Engaged City Task Force I worked on arts-based civic engagement and suggested an ombudsman position be created to help residents navigate the public space committee.”
The city’s website says the main goal of the task force is to “increase neighbourhood engagement, and improve upon the many ways the city connects with Vancouver residents.”
According to a statement from the city, staff contacted Thomas following “concerns raised by community members.” An email to the Courier from the city’s communications department said, “The primary intention of a traffic circle is to direct the flow of traffic and a secondary benefit is that there can be gardens located in the circles. For safety reasons, the city does not support people staying in traffic circles for extended periods of time beyond the time needed to garden.” The email added city staff has suggested other areas, such as an adjacent sidewalk, where people can gather and socialize. The city also offered additional plants to fill in the traffic circle.
“It’s funny because the last time I even served coffee was in November and the last time I had any organized activity was when the entire street was blocked off for a block party last [July] when they painted the street mural,” said Thomas. “So I don’t know why I got the call from the [Green Streets coordinator] in January.”
Gather Round was the focus of a Courier story in January 2013, and had already been established as a popular neighbourhood feature. At the time, Thomas said he first became involved in the neighbourhood through efforts to “daylight” sections of a creek running beneath St. George Street. That got him thinking about different ways residents could reclaim and transform their streets, which, in turn, led him to ponder the many wonders of traffic calming circles as a means of creating urban green spaces and nurturing hubs of community activity and interaction.
This is not the only public engagement art project Thomas has launched. Last September, Thomas created Park-a-Park downtown, a disposal bin on wheels transformed into a mobile community space complete with benches, tables, plants, shrubs and an umbrella, where the artist would sometimes barbecue. In December, Thomas created a tiny “parklet” in two curbside parking spots on Commercial Drive. All of Thomas’ projects are designed to bring community members together while sparking discussion.
sthomas@vancourier.com
twitter.com/sthomas10
