Love locks Vancouver to be taken down

February 21, 2013

Posted by Vancity Buzz | 11 »

Earlier this week we reported about the appearance of love locks on Vancouver’s Burrard Bridge. And before Vancouverites could go padlock crazy on the bridge, the City of Vancouver has another idea, bolt cutters.

Sometime around Valentine’s Day these love locks started to appear on the Burrard Bridge’s chain link fence. And after a respectable period of time, city officials will take them down.

This should not come as a surprise as other cities have done the same. In Paris, thousands of padlocks were cut down from the Pont des Arts. Similar situation occurred in Toronto in 2011 when city workers cut the love locks from the Humber Bridge. Other cities have fined individuals for expressing their love in this manner.

Perhaps, it’s time for the lovers of Vancouver to claim a wall somewhere in the city, something like the secret crush wall in Chinatown.

Image Metronews

http://twitter.com/karrabarron Karra Barron

Aww that’s a shame. I really loved seeing all the love locks on the Ponts des Arts! Not only do they give you the warm fuzzies when you see them, but they’re great tourist attractions, too. I agree, we should put up a wall or something else that people can contribute their loving sentiments to.

http://www.bykarra.com/travelholic/paris-france-love-lockdown/
http://twitter.com/vancan19 Josh Hall

It’s definitely an eyesore after a while. I like the wall idea much better
http://twitter.com/wmfeng wmf

I know kids think that this is romantic and ever-so-symbolic of their “lasting” relationship, but did anyone ever stop to think that they’re costing the city money? Even if they didn’t take them down now, they’d have to eventually get rid of them once they start rusting and causing problems to the infrastructure. This is a nuisance, and should be treated no differently from vandalism.
Pedestranian

These did not start to appear around valentines day, I’ve been walking over that bridge daily since spring 2011 and they were around then.
chris

maybe they should just designate an area somewhere where people can do this for fun, and outside that area is not permitted. that way everyone is happy.
http://www.604yvr.tumblr.com/ 604YVR

Eyesore
Guitarss987

eyesores? Next time your out look down at the streets, these aren’t the most amazing looking things. Learn to live with stuff people. Vancouver was rating one of the most boring places for a reason.
Uberwagner

They are only costing the city money because the city chooses to remove them. And how are they going to cause problems to infrastructure? They are on a fence.
http://twitter.com/GardinerHanson Gardiner Hanson

Eyesores? Nuisances? Vandalism?

C’mon, really? I love the idea and the look of locks on fences/bridges etc. They make you stop, take notice and they become topics of conversation. They can also serve to break the monotony of a chain link fence and add a humanistic touch to the concrete jungle. I also agree with Karra that in a way they also become tourist attractions.
The first time I came across one of these bridges was in Krakow, Poland on a lovely bridge over looking the main river there. There must have been at least one or two thousand. It was one of my fondest memories of the city as me and my girlfriend stopped, looked at them, talked about them and took some pictures. We weren’t the only ones doing so either. There were lots of people checking out the locks.

Either way, I find this just another great example of NO FUN CITY!
http://jonshawpaintings.blogspot.ca/ Jon Shaw

I think its a shame that things that communities enjoy because they are visually interesting are being taken down by the city. The “free corner” in Kits was just eliminated, and people are angry! Thats because people LIKE stuff like that.

So the city shuts that down, and takes these locks down, next they will start cutting off the knitted yarn-bombs on street posts, and before you know it they’ll decide that any kind of public art will be demolished too.

So where does this get us? It makes Vancouver less interesting, more grey and a further example that the city decided at some point to rule a bland interesting city with an iron fist. As if us artists (or for that matter, anyone doing anything MILDLY cool or intriguing for its citizens to actually sit and ponder over on their way to yoga class) didn’t have a hard enough time getting through the city’s stranglehold on limiting creative thought.

Laaaaaame.
Robert

We are looking to partner up with a local artist / community center / parks department / art museum to promote the Locks of Vancouver. We have done so in Los Gatos, California and Kansas City and the organizations there are using the locks as a means of collecting donations. If anyone in Vancouver wants to help its….. a win win for all. Please visit us at http://www.lock-itz.com and check out our website! I’ve contact several museums and town officials but have not heard back from anyone. Please contact me at [email protected]

Love locks Vancouver to be taken down

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