2008-2009 GWAC Directors in alphabetical order.   Click on members’ names for bios.

• Mike Carr
• Selena Couture   (Recording Secretary)
• Rochelle Davidson
• Dan Fass   (Corresponding Secretary)
• Craig Hathaway
• Bing Jensen
• Brenda Koch
• Craig Ollenberger   (President)
• Brian Peaslee   (Treasurer)
• Richard Penneway
• Petronella Vander Valk
• Shawne Wilson

Mike Carr teaches sustainable urban planning in SFU’s Urban Studies(Masters) Program at Harbour Centre and bioregional mapping at The School of Community & Regional Planning, UBC. He has many years experience working in community civic associations and has lived in Grandview-Woodland for six years. Mike is concerned about issues of social justice and equity as well as environmental sustainability in both neighbourhood and region. He is a member of the Livable Region Coalition and believes that we all need to work hard together to defeat the Gateway Project’s twinning of the Port Mann Bridge and extension of Highway One into Vancouver which threatens the health and livability of Grandview-Woodland and the region.

Selena Couture has been a resident of the Grandview-Woodland area since coming to Vancouver in 1991. She has worked as a teacher in alternative schools for 16 years and is on the Board of Directors for Arts in Action, with a special responsibility for the Purple Thistle Project, an independently-funded youth resource centre located in Grandview-Woodland. She has volunteered with the Commercial Drive Festival since it started. She is a member of the Cooperative Auto Network and an avid cyclist. She is particularly concerned with keeping the neighbourhood a vibrant, pedestrian/cyclist friendly, culturally alive urban centre. She loves the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood, has appreciated living here for all of these years and would like to add her support to the area council.

Rochelle Davidson has lived in this area for the past two years and on and off since the mid 1990’s. She loves the vitality, diversity and the DIY energy of many of the residents and businesses. She works as a legal assistant full time and as a pottery/art instructor and studio manager part time. She has created and implemented after school art programs and was a participating artist in the ARTSMARTS program. She has a BFA and B.Ed. in secondary art. For the past several years, her interest has shifted to municipal/community politics and policies. She is opposed to the Gateway Project. She supports Commercial Drive (and any other) community festivals, greenspace, local businesses, increased studios for working artists, affordable housing, and increased transit both here in the suburbs. She has concerns about EcoDensity as it stands now.

Dan Fass has lived in Grandview-Woodland since 1989. He has a long-standing interest in local community issues and has attended many community meetings and events. He has done voluntary work in Grandview-Woodland for many years in human rights, child literacy, and other areas. He was on the Board of Britannia Community Centre (2006–2008). He is active in a citizen's group which is seeking to preserve three city lots, known locally as "Gibby's Field," as a community greenspace in neighbouring Cedar Cottage.

Craig Hathaway bio presently unavailable.

Bing Jensen has lived in the Commercial Drive area for 17 years. He has served on the GWAC as a Director since the 2005-2006 year. Bing works here as a singer and songwriter. He also does odd jobs for people in the neighbourhood. Community is very important to him. He is for traffic calming, green spaces and the DriveFest and is against through cutting commuter traffic, the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge and the stench of the West Coast Reduction rendering plant. Bing feels it is important to have a balance between the needs of the residents and the needs of the businesses in the community.

Brenda Koch has been a resident of the Grandview-Woodland neighborhood for 8 years. She has worked on a number of social justice oriented research projects in the area as well as working with a number of special needs and at risk youth. She has also worked for a local business for the last three years. Currently, she is a full time student at SFU, pursuing her second BA. Brenda is active in the community as both participant and volunteer and supports community building events such as the Car-Free Festival. She advocates increasing both the sustainability and livability of our neighborhood while attending to issues of social equity. She recognizes that some ‘big’ issues are coming up for our neighborhood — the Olympics and EcoDensity — and looks forward to participating in the discussions around these topics while advocating for social justice.

Craig Ollenberger, a current director of GWAC, has been living in Grandview-Woodland for the last four years and over that time he has become involved in a number of non-profit initiatives in our community. His interest in being a part of GWAC stems from the important role GWAC can play as a liaison between our neighbourhood and decision-making bodies. The City of Vancouver, the Provincial Government and many other organizations come to GWAC to assess neighbourhood opinion on various issues, and he believes he can represent our neighbourhood well in this capacity.

Brian Peaslee is a Librarian at Vancouver Public Library. He has experience working as a volunteer in a number of labour and human rights organizations. He currently serves on the grievance committee of his union local and is active with the Communities for Laibar Singh project. He has rented in East Vancouver since 1990.

Richard Penneway is a recently retired Certified General Accountant born and raised in Grandview and has held a number of directorships with both private and public organizations in the Vancouver area. He is a graduate of UBC and is concerned with maintaining the liveability of Grandview-Woodland. As a GWAC member he will work for improved public transit and for a reduction in vehicular traffic through the neighbourhood. He has been active in promoting the creation of an interesting and green pedestrian friendly corridor along Venables Street. Grandview-Woodland is a vibrant and diverse area of Vancouver and it is time that this is fully recognized by the City.

Petronella Vander Valk has lived and worked in Grandview-Woodland for the past 17 years, and greatly appreciates and values the sense of community shared within the neighbourhood. She would like to help preserve and build on this community feeling and believes that this is possible through creating a greener, more pedestrian and people oriented neighbourhood. Petronella has been a director on the GWAC board since 2005-2006, and is a founder member of the Neighbourhood Traffic Committee, a group involved in trying to reduce traffic on our residential streets. Currently in real estate sales, Petronella has a Bachelor of Arts degree in urban geography and urban sociology and a Bachelor of Architecture degree.

Shawne Wilson bio presently unavailable.