Erika Mashig has made her mark on New West since becoming the City of New Westminster's parks and open space planner in February 2014. Mashig, a landscape architecture, previously worked in the private work as a consultant, before taking on her current role.
Since arriving in the Royal City, Mashig has worked on projects including the new playgrounds in Moody Park, Quayside Park and Sapperton Park, the timber wharf project at Westminster Pier Park (including the misters and hammocks made from fire hoses in the urban garden), St. Mary’s Park, the city’s urban forest management strategy, the Century House garden, the Moody Park off-leash area fence, the city’s tall buildings in the public realm guidelines and the community garden at city hall.
“This is like the city of opportunity for a landscape architect,” she says. “There’s so much going on. It’s great. It’s a pretty cool job.”
Record reporter Theresa McManus had a chance to ask Mashig about her work and her thoughts on New Westminster.
Q: What did you do before becoming a landscape architect?
A: I worked at a tree-ring lab studying tree rings; the science of tree rings is called dendrochronology. I did my research at a lab affiliated with Columbia University in New York. My work was mostly climate change related… I had the opportunity to travel to some interesting, remote places like Mongolia, Thailand, Alaska and core trees at high elevation. I was lucky enough to core the oldest living things on earth – bristlecone pine trees approximately 4,500 years old.
Q: Why did you get into landscape architecture?
A: I have a background in forestry, but I had an artistic side. I decided one way to really bring together that science and the creative/artistic side was to go into landscape architecture because it really marries the two.
Q: What sort of projects have you worked on in the past?
A: I’ve worked on some pretty major projects. I don’t generally just work on gardens. I think people generally think landscape architects just work on soft plantings and things like that, but I actually do work on everything but buildings – public realms, streetscapes, plazas. I’m working on the (Front Street) mews. It’s really a wide range of things.
Q: What kind of work are you doing with the City of New Westminster?
A: I am getting a very diverse experience. I wouldn’t say there aren’t types of projects I haven’t worked on before – I have. But it’s pretty amazing to be doing it all here in one place, in one place here in New West, and how it all connects together. My position is actually shared between parks and development services. I work with, really, everybody. I work quite closely with engineering, development services, parks, the event coordinator. It’s kind of neat. It’s great. I love the diversity. It keeps me busy.
Q: Are you from Metro Vancouver?
A: No, I’m from New York. I came out here for grad school and then I stayed and never went back.
Q: Where in New York are you from?
A: Just north of Manhattan, a town called Nyack.
Q: How does little, old New Westminster compare to New York?
A: It’s certainly smaller, but I think there is so much opportunity here. I think that’s the amazing part, why I was so attracted to New West.
Q: Some people have referred to New Westminster as “the new Brooklyn”. As someone from New York, what do you think?
A: Absolutely. It’s a working waterfront, and with all the revitalization that’s going on and really making a more pedestrian friendly, better public realm within the city, I think it’s got a lot of similarities. Even the demographics are changing and having younger folks moving in. Similar to Manhattan they can’t afford to live there, so they go to Brooklyn, and suddenly it becomes really funky. I think there’s a parallel with New West to Vancouver.
Q: Any final thoughts on New Westminster or directions you’d like to see the city go?
A: I’d like to keep improving the public realm. We are really working on our approach with public engagement and really getting a public voice and trying to do some creative, fun things, and to continue to put New Westminster on the map - attracting new businesses, great festivals, great parks and making it an overall great place to live.
