The Rotary Club of West Vancouver

Centennial Project

This article was posted in the Outlook newspaper on July 15, 2004

Rotary Clubs to the Rescue

By Don Fiorvento

Al Hasley was already a little perturbed after a trip into Vancouver some five or six months ago. He had hoped crossing the Lions Gate Bridge back into his home community would help alleviate some of that frustration, but it only fired him up some more.

The large grassy area within the loop road coming off the bridge and into West Vancouver was overgrown and full of litter. Due to cutbacks, the ministry of highways was no longer providing regular maintenance to surrounding landscape.

"They said 'We don't look after it anymore,' "Hasley recalls being told after calling the ministry. "I said who does? They said, 'We're looking for volunteers. " So, Hasley brought the idea to West Vancouver Rotary Club president Kevin Conway, who pursued the idea and invited the other North Shore Rotary clubs to come aboard.

For the last several months the Rotarians have taken the time to clean up litter from the 1.2 hectare property and hired a landscape maintenance crew at least three times at about $400 a pop to cut the grass.

"It became our centennial project," Hasley explains, noting that Rotary International will be 100 years old next year. Not only do the clubs plan to maintain the highway property but also plant daffodils this fall and erect a sign to note Rotary's involvement.

And rather than lament the provincial government's lack of funding for maintenance of highways green space, Hasley describes the situation as a win-win-win. The provincial government saves money, the community receives a benefit and Rotary gains a higher profile.

It is, for now though, the only highways project the North Shore's Rotary Clubs are taking on. Hasley explains that the work of Rotary has always been more global in nature, with the current focus to eradicate polio throughout the world.
"Rotary is more people oriented and about helping the needy rather than building edifices," he explains.

And the maintenance costs are not cheap. In fact Rotary is hoping to lighten the burden of maintaining the highway property and shift the funds to more needy causes by obtaining a tractor type lawn mower.

Hasley says hopefully somebody from the public will be able to provide one, or some of the funds needed to obtain such a machine.
Anyone who has fumed like Hasley over the lack of highways landscape maintenance and is interested in keeping the community clean and green should call him at 604-926-7457. Don't worry, he has calmed down considerably since first noticing the grass overgrowth.