The Airport Mall, The Globe and Spammers

I wrote about the local opposition to the new outlet mall at the airport in July. More information is now available from the Globe and Mail which explains more about the proposal. Dump trucks have been moving sand at the site at the junction of Gilbert Road and Russ Baker Way since that post appeared.

The Globe is going behind a paywall next week so the story may no longer be available. Apparently, links will still work if they come from Twitter – presumably from the Globe’s feed – so it will not be the end of stories from that source. But in the same way that I no longer scan the Sun for stories, I will now have to rely on secondary sources.

I have also noticed that I am using twitter – when I can produce a pithy response – facebook and even Google+ more when there is less need to write a length but something seems worth attention in the purview declared for this blog. I am also steadily resisting people who “pitch” me offers of “guest posts”. So far this has been really easy as the offers seem to be based on a new type of spamming to get around the Word Press akismet filter. But sometimes there does actually seem to be some real person making these offers (as opposed to a spambot). If that is the case then can I ask that you read some of the blog – or at least the bit on the right hand column which explains what this blog is about. It is headed “Who I am, and what this is”. If you haven’t read that and persist in sending me email you will get a shirty reply and then be consigned to the outer darkness of Akismet

Written by Stephen Rees

October 16, 2012 at 7:25 am

Posted in blogging

Tagged with blogging, technology, Transportation

6 Responses

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the Globe article reads:

Since then, the airport and McArthurGlen have looked at shifting the mall location to a site next to a stop on the rapid-transit line that runs from the airport through Vancouver to downtown. Authority spokeswoman Rebecca Catley said that a significant proportion of the public wanted a mall that people could get to on the Canada Line. The first mall site would have required them either to drive or take a shuttle from a Canada Line stop.

what does that means? is the Mall gonna be at Templeton, an obviously much better location for all the involved party?

Voony

October 17, 2012 at 1:14 am
Stephen, the Sun and presumably the Globe should be accessible through the subscriptions that libraries purchase. In Vancouver one can access these papers on line and avoid the paywall through the VPL website by using one’s library card number. It may be worth checking if the Richmond library offers this level of on-line service. VPL issues memberships only to people with addresses in Vancouver.

RE: airport mall, it does seem unusual that a shopping mall would be allowed on airport land, assuming that the land falls under the jurisdiction of the airport authority, though it may be owned by the federal government. This wouldn’t exactly be a Timmy’s outlet in the domestic terminal, but a stand-alone complex not directly related to airport services.

One wonders if there is a standing provision in the agreement with the Airport Authority, or are they making it up as they go along?

MB

October 17, 2012 at 9:53 am
I just saw the following story in the Richmond Review

Vancouver International Airport is looking at an alternate location to place a controversial luxury designer outlet originally planned for on Russ Baker Way.

“After we consulted with our communities and residents in the summer, we considered a potential alternate site on Sea Island. The potential alternate site is located on the northeast corner of Sea Island and offers closer access to the Templeton Canada Line station,” said airport authority spokesperson Alana Lawrence. “The project is still going forward…Feasibility testing is currently underway on the site (and) should be completed this fall.”

Last March, plans for the 459,600-square-foot retail mall were unveiled for a 21.5-hectare site on Russ Baker Way. The project would see the world’s leading fashion brands come to a mall similar in area to Lansdowne Centre mall.

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said members of Richmond council, the airport’s board, and staff from both sides, met a couple of months ago to discuss concerns about the joint venture between the airport and London-based developer McArthurGlen Group.

“They listened to our concerns and have promised that they would conduct a feasibility study to see if another location, probably around the Templeton station, would be feasible,” Brodie said.

“That’s the last concrete thing I have heard, other than we’ve seen the trucks taking the preload off the site beside BCIT (aerospace campus) and moving it over to the site at the Templeton station.”

(Lawrence noted that work planned for the Russ Baker Way site is “largely complete” and added: “The soil from the Russ Baker Way site was relocated to airport property on the north side of the island off Ferguson Road.”)

Plans for an alternate site for development on Sea Island are part of a separate project that already include a 250-room hotel complex and a business park.

The luxury outlet is slated to open its doors in the fall of 2014 with 97 stores.

“I’ve been assured that the process has been ongoing, and that they had not given final approval as a board for the outlet mall at the BCIT site,” Brodie said.

Asked about why the Templeton site is considered better, Brodie said: “Our council believes that that is a viable option and certainly far superior to the BCIT site.”

A retail outlet along the banks of the middle arm of the Fraser River would create “walls of concrete” to people driving by, Brodie said, adding that outlet mall signs would not be attractive.

Brodie said the airport authority spent $300 million to help build the Sea Island arm of the Canada Line, and so “it never made sense that they then wanted to undermine the benefits of the Canada Line by designing and locating an outlet mall away from the Canada Line.”

He noted that travellers stopping over in Vancouver would be able to use the Canada Line for free for trips between the airport and the Templeton station and the proposed location for the luxury outlet.

Stephen Rees

October 17, 2012 at 11:09 am
No, I am not going to the library to access msm web sites.

Stephen Rees

October 17, 2012 at 11:11 am
The Templeton location would be much better. It would provide some services to the office workers in the business park and the hotel guests too. The Canada line would be a “fashion” line – with both Oakridge and the high end outlet mall on its route.

guest

October 17, 2012 at 5:08 pm
@ Stephen: No, I am not going to the library to access msm web sites.

In Vancouver you can access the VPL website from the comfort of your bed and the glow of your laptop, and peruse many papers they subscribe to.

MB

October 19, 2012 at 12:26 pm