China Creek North Park is a well-used park on Vancouver’s East Side, located roughly on the border between the neighbourhood of Mt Pleasant and the False Creek Flats. It’s frequented by soccer and softball teams, joggers, neighbourhood children, dogs, and their human companions. It is situated at the corner of East 6th Ave and St. Catharines St and has a running track, fitness apparatus, two baseball diamonds, a soccer pitch, and a playground. On the west side of the park a steep hill leads from the sidewalk down to the running track and playing fields. Many people choose to walk down the grassy slope, as indicated by the well-worn path that traces the most direct route from the street corner to the sidewalk running beside Great Northern Way.
Unfortunately, the existing slope is very slippery and dangerous in the rain as the narrow dirt path turns to mud. Building a safe, permanent stairway will create a safer route for park users and improve access from the Mt. Pleasant neighbourhood to a number of nearby destinations, including:
- VCC Skytrain station and bus loop (#84 UBC Express bus)
- QLT building at 887 Great Northern Way
- the soon-to-be-completed Mountain Equipment Co-op head office building.
Safety is an issue with this often wet and slippery direct route. For people who can’t risk a fall or injury, it’s necessary to detour three city blocks utilizing existing sidewalks, just to get down this short, but steep hill. With the recent cancellation of the Hadden Park bicycle path, this is the perfect opportunity for the Vancouver Park Board to re-allocate funds to benefit East Side residents — with a simple, but effective improvement to a well-used, but sub-standard pedestrian route. So, I’ve started a petition at change.org asking the Park Board to consider this easy and relatively inexpensive way to make the park more pedestrian-friendly.
Link to Park Board web page for China Creek Park North
Don’t want to give change.org your personal info, but still want to contact the Park Board to let them know you support or oppose this petition? Get in touch via their official web page or email the commissioners directly at:
