Homeless in Vancouver

Homeless in Vancouver: Here we go (with the snow) again

by Stanley Q. Woodvine on February 4th, 2020 at 7:37 PM
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      It was just beginning to get light out—both in terms of sunshine and snowfall—as I was leaving my parkade sleeping spot at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning (February 4).

      Ten or 12 flakes of snow captured without the flash over a sidewalk light in the 1400 block of West Broadway at 7:13 a.m.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      With the snow and morning rush hour more-or-less beginning together Vancouverites (homeless and otherwise) had the clear advantage of good visibility and bare streets—to begin with, at least.

      Close-up of the mounded load of salt in a City of Vancouver plowing and salting truck on West Broadway at 8:06 a.m.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      Tuesday’s forecast high is only 2°C, falling to 1°C overnight. Wet, heavy snow is expected to continue falling all day and all night, with predicted concentrations of anywhere from five to 20 centimetres.

      At 9:47 a.m. while an orange-vested street cleaner picks trash farther up the street, a custodian casts salt on the sidewalk near my bike and trailer in the 1400 block of West Broadway.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      At best the evening rush hour will be more like “slush hour” and tomorrow morning—at worst—could repeat the near paralysis of exactly three weeks ago when the city was blanketed with something like 20 centimetres of snow.

      Maybe stay home Wednesday, if you have a home to stay in. 

      The two constants on West Broadway at 11:15 a.m.: transit buses and wet, slushy snow.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine

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