Morning Buzz: Emily Carr University of Arts & Design's Move to East Van

You would think that Emily Carr students and East Vancouver would go hand in hand. However, looking at some of the comments made on news websites and forums the potential move of Emily Carr to East Vancouver’s False Creek Flats is being panned by most students.

Currently situated on Granville Island, the university is developing a plan to move to an East Vancouver facility with capacity for 1,800 students. This will be located near the Centre for Digital Media campus, which is a couple of blocks away from VCC.

As it stands right now The Great Northern Way location doesn’t stand out as an urban playfield. It’s very much a work in progress that in 10 years will may become a vibrant community. Hopefully they add some more retail in the form of coffee shops and restaurants as its totally devoid of street life right now. However, as far as benefits to students go there are quite a few:

• Better transit. It’s closer to a Skytrain station and better bus service, unless of course you take the aqua bus to Granville Island every morning.
• More centrally located. Don’t get me wrong, Granville Island is also pretty central, however, the better transit options at False Creek Flats make it much more appealing, especially to suburban students and even the Main Street, Gastown contingent. They can simply get on their bike and be there in mere minutes.
• With other campuses situated so close there is potential for cross-pollination with other campuses
•  Won’t have to put up with tourists