CITY OF VANCOUVER
engineering services
D.H. Rudberg, P.Eng., General Manager
T.R. Timm, P.Eng., Deputy City Engineer
MEMORANDUM April 6, 2004
RTS 03981
TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: Dave Rudberg, General Manager of Engineering Services
COPIES TO: Judy Rogers, City Manager
Syd Baxter, City Clerk
SUBJECT: KEEP VANCOUVER SPECTACULAR 2004
The purpose of this memo is to provide the Mayor and Council with background information on Keep Vancouver Spectacular along with the details of this year's program.
Background
Keep Vancouver Spectacular is a volunteer-driven community cleanup program initiated in 1996 by Tourism Vancouver, the Oceans Blue Foundation and the City of Vancouver. Each year during the month of May, registered cleanup teams work in neighbourhoods to remove litter and graffiti. The program encourages increased stewardship of the public realm, as block captains and volunteers of all ages and backgrounds join together in tidying up their streets and lanes. It is this desire to maintain a clean and beautiful City, and to create a sense of community, that prompted about 5000 people in over 50 groups to clean up 2000 City blocks and dispose of 94 metric tonnes of litter and abandoned garbage in May of 2003.
City's Role
The City's role in this program is to promote, register and organize cleanups, and to provide free gloves, garbage bags, cleanup tools and sanitation services. Sanitation services include collecting the garbage bags after the cleanup and carrying out extra street cleaning. The City's Graffiti Management Program provides the services of their van to help volunteers conduct graffiti paint outs. We also supply a detailed event manual for block captains and hold orientation workshops for new block captains to give them tips on conducting a successful cleanup.
Free Disposal Month, Free Compost and Open House at the Vancouver Landfill
During May, Vancouver residents can dispose of household garbage and bulky items at no charge out at the Vancouver Landfill. They can also pick up a cubic metre of free compost produced from the yard trimmings that they set out for collection during the year. There will be an open house at the Vancouver Landfill on Saturday, June 5, 2004 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
School Play
Each year, as part of the Keep Vancouver Spectacular program, the City produces a play about littering, vandalism and graffiti for elementary school children called "Clean Up Your Act". That play is being performed at about 75 elementary schools in April 2004. The 22,000 children who see the play each receive a colouring book and some of them will also take part in cleanups around their schools.
Corporate Sponsorship and Media Partners
At the beginning of this year, with much help from Tourism Vancouver, staff started to organize an informal steering committee for Keep Vancouver Spectacular. The steering committee will be made up of representatives from the business community, including the BIA's and Tourism Vancouver, as well as representatives from some of the residential cleanup teams (block captains) and organizations. The intent of the steering committee is to obtain input from the community in order to improve KVS as well as to increase sponsorship and support as much as possible.
The steering committee was started this year in recognition of how vital corporate sponsorship and outside partnerships were to the early success of the KVS program both in terms of funding and suggestions for the program. In the last few years, the sponsorship and the partnerships have waned with the loss of our main corporate sponsors, Granville Island Brewing and Home Depot. The funding shortfall from these sponsorship losses was covered from our other existing community cleanup funding and some program reductions but, for 2004, we have adjusted the specific KVS budget to ensure we have adequate funding to carry out the program.
Smaller sponsorship donations of money, prizes or services from companies and organizations have continued to be very dependable over the years. To date, these companies are Concord Pacific, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Five Days to Midnight, Lost in Space, Vancouver City Savings Credit Union (2510 East Hastings Street branch), Vancouver Film Studios, 2010 Vancouver, International Paper Industries, Waste Control Services and Superior Disposal.
Tourism Vancouver and Vancouver AM are cohosting the kickoff event and doing much of the organizing, with a number of their members providing services. Tourism Vancouver is also cohosting the wrap up celebration for the block captains in their offices at 200 Burrard Street. For the wrap up celebration, the Peake of Catering has generously agreed to donate all the food and equipment, along with some beverages, which is a major cost saving for the City.
For 2004, our media partners are the Vancouver Courier and Citytv. The Courier is providing 4 quarter-page ads in April to solicit volunteers and 1 half-page ad in June that will thank volunteers. This is the third year that the Vancouver Courier has done this. Citytv is providing forty 15 second reports about KVS in their "Stuff You Should Do" section and some possible editorial coverage on "Breakfast Television" and CityPulse News. This is the second year Citytv has provided this kind of service.
Keep Vancouver Spectacular Events
The Mayor and Council are encouraged to participate in one or more of the cleanup events. This year's brochure, poster and colouring book, along with a special Keep Vancouver Spectacular garbage bag and gloves, will be provided at the Council meeting on April 20, 2004. You're also all invited to attend the KVS kickoff event, Vancouver Landfill open house and the KVS wrap up celebration as noted below.
Scheduled Events To Date
April 30 - 8:00 am - Kickoff event at Vancouver AM meeting at the Wall Centre Sheraton Hotel with cleanups immediately after.
May 1 - Hastings North Community Policing Centre.
May 1 - Main Street from 47th Avenue to 54th Avenue and Fraser Street from 38th Avenue to 51st Avenue - South Vancouver Community Policing Centre.
May 8 - Renfrew Ravine cleanup.
May 15 - Victoria Drive from 31st Avenue to 57th Avenue.
May 15 - Dickens Community Group cleanup in Kingsway/Knight Street/Fraser Street/King Edward Avenue area.
May 16 - Mountain View.
May 22 - False Creek Community Centre.
June 5 - Hastings North Community Policing Centre.
June 5 - Vancouver Landfill open house.
TBA - Wrap up celebration at the Tourism Vancouver Office at 200 Burrard Street.
An up-to-date schedule of events will be maintained on the City web site.
D.H. Rudberg, P.Eng.
General Manager of Engineering Services
RLM/