Alan Clapp says he’s seen better days. During an interview Monday, the legendary B.C. broadcaster, who was behind the 1976 Habitat Forum in Vancouver and the revitalization of Granville Island, trails off several times and admits “he’s a little mixed-up.”
Asked how he’s doing, the Victoria resident says, “Not so hot. I’ve seen better days, that’s for sure.”
Clapp, 83, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer about a month ago. Since then, his wife of 30 years, Geraldine Glattstein, has watched his health rapidly decline. Last week, he was moved into a wheelchair. Now, Glattstein says, she’s not sure how much time he has left. “I see him dying every day,” she says. “I’m so tired of crying.”
Exacerbating the couple’s emotional journey is the protracted battle they’ve been having with their landlord. After four unsuccessful eviction attempts, the couple will be forced by month’s end to leave the Fairfield house they’ve called home for the past six years.
It’s an ironic turn for Clapp whose Habitat Forum, held in long-gone seaplane hangars on Jericho Beach, tackled such issues as homelessness, poverty and problems associated with urbanization.
The event, which ran alongside the UN Conference on Human Settlements, which was also held in Vancouver, attracted thousands, including Mother Teresa, Pierre and Margaret Trudeau, Barbara Ward and Margaret Mead.
Glattstein says her husband is too ill to move, a point she says is supported by a doctor’s note.
Their lawyer intends to file a petition for a judicial review of the case in B.C. Supreme Court within the next week. This doesn’t guarantee that they won’t be forced out.
“It is so hard, I’m caring for my husband and I don’t need this at all,” says Glattstein, who described her landlord’s eviction attempts over the past two-and-a-half years as harassment. “We are decent people. We pay our rent and take care of our home.”
The landlord, who lives in Seattle, declined comment on the story when contacted Monday. The reason given for the latest eviction notice was that the landlord intends to move into the home, a claim Glattstein doesn’t believe, due to lack of proof.
The previous eviction attempts, according to Glattstein, related to claims the couple were destroying the house, had too many weeds in the garden, had not made a payment (related to the landlord raising the utility bill) and had done something to the swimming pool.
All the evictions were successfully appealed and thrown out following hearings in front of the residential tenancy branch. Meanwhile, Glattstein just wants her remaining days with her husband to be peaceful.
“It is just an affront and it is so offensive,” she says, fighting back tears. “[Alan says] ‘I should be allowed to die in peace.’ He is really devastated by the way he is dying.”
