[Via Rebecca Blissett]
Talk about utilizing space, a couple people in Mount Pleasant have organized a Liveable Laneway market which takes typically vacant and trash filled laneways and transforms them into a market filled with all sorts of vendors and even live music. The market takes place on the weekend between East 7th Avenue and Broadway, just west of Main Street. The usually empty laneway is then filled with tents and vendors selling all sorts of goodies, including jewellery, clothing, plants, and small leather goods. Sounds fun but Liveable Laneways founder, Rob Sutherland, still struggles with working around the dumpsters that hang out in these areas, in addition to the evening's drunken party goers who prefer the use of an alleyway than a bathroom. The Liveable Laneways group has been around for four years and used to received funding from the City but this year they did not. By generous donations of Mount Pleasant residents, the Liveable Laneways are still going ahead this year.
· City Livings: Livable Laneways Group Transforms Vancouver Alleys [Vancouver Courier]