East Van rallies to save Crab Park from planned Port of Vancouver expansion

In 1989 Don Larson was part of the Crab Water for Life Society that lobbied to have Crab Park opened in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Now he's mobilisingpeopleagain to save its integrity.

"It's very special to me, my heart is here," he said on Saturday at a rally to oppose Port of Metro Vancouver's proposalto expand Centerm Terminal, the park's industrial neighbour. "It's sacred for some people. There's even whales that come in here from time to time."

The port authority is proposing a $320-million expansion of theCentermcontainer terminal in Vancouver's inner harbour thatwould extend the terminal westward as well asreconfigurethe terminal's road and rail access.

The port says the proposed changes will boost terminal capacity by two-thirds but adds that nothing is final yet.

"So if and when the project does go tothe final application stagethere will be plenty of opportunities for moreconsultation," said Robyn Crisanti with the port.

"And it is absolutely an important aspect of the project. A lot of people may not realize that the federal mandate of a port authority is to handle Canada's trade but also to protect the environment and consider local communities. So it's a critical part of our process to consider community feedback."

Vancouver-East MP Jenny Kwanhas met with port authorities to voice concerns about the project which she says willobscurethe view from the park and also increase traffic, noise and pollution.

"This is a park that our community fought long and hard for," she told the crowd at the rally on Saturday. "People actually camped out in this crown land before it became a park to say that we want this park for the people of the community and we will pretty much do anything to get this park."

The Port ofVancouver is the busiest in Canadaand the Centerm container terminal handles approximately one-fifth of the goods shipped in containers through Vancouver.

The expansionproject is being spearheaded by Centerm's private operator DP World Vancouver.

On itswebsite, itsays the project is in the "preliminary design phase" andmust still undergo the Port ofVancouver's project and environmental review process before any work begins.