This was an interesting year for the park board, but then again that could pretty much sum up the past several years.
And while there was a lot going on in 2014, it was the tale of the whales that dominated much of the year since April when Vision Vancouver commissioners Constance Barnes and Sarah Blyth called for the end of cetacean captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium.
Their decision garnered impressive support, including from Mayor Gregor Robertson and other prominent politicians, as well as scientist Jane Goodall, but despite that momentum a proposed plebiscite was once again put on the back burner. Instead, the outgoing board recommended a controversial ban on cetacean breeding at the aquarium, which became grounds for legal proceedings. And, to the surprise of no one, that ban was immediately rescinded at the last meeting of the Vision Vancouver-dominated park board.
The ongoing debate around the sex lives of cetaceans at the aquarium is just one of the controversial issues the newly elected commissioners inherited following the November municipal election, which saw Vision Vancouver lose its majority and the NPA take four of the seven seats. NPA incumbent John Coupar was named board chair at the swearing in ceremony Dec. 1, replacing Vision’s Aaron Jasper who chose not to run again. There had been some initial speculation Green Party commissioner Stuart Mackinnon might be named vice-chair, but instead NPA newcomer Sarah Kirby-Yung, a former vice-president of marketing and communications for the Vancouver Aquarium, was chosen. Mackinnon, who previously sat on the board from 2008 to 2011, is joined for the first time on the board by a second Green Party member, Michael Wiebe, director of the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association and owner of a restaurant specializing in locally sourced ingredients. Also elected to the board was the NPA’s Casey Crawford and Erin Shum and the lone Vision commissioner Catherine Evans. Vision commissioner Trevor Loke was unsuccessful in a bid for re-election, as was Niki Sharma, who lost the race for a seat on council. Meanwhile Jasper left the board to spend more time with his family, as did Blyth, who lost the 2015 federal NDP bid for Vancouver Quadra.
Coupar made a point at the swearing-in ceremony of reminding attendees the park board and city council are two separate elected bodies, something that’s becoming less and less obvious under the Vision-dominated city hall. At one time the park board did enjoy autonomy, including managing its own website, but even that’s since been absorbed into the city’s control.
It was good news for West End residents this year when Nelson Park finally got a bathroom and the Courier was able to put an end to years of bad puns in headlines, including such nuggets as “Community leader raises stink over washroom plan” or “Nelson Park residents flush with relief.”
Speaking of parks, it was the unofficial renaming of Guelph Park that made news across the globe after the board agreed to allow a humorous, if not polarizing, sign to remain in place.
Even popular late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel got in the act when the park board voted to allow the Dude Chilling Park sign remain in place after some public consultation. For anyone not familiar with the now infamous art piece, it mysteriously appeared in Guelph Park on Brunswick Street at East Seventh in November 2012 as an exact replica of an official park board sign. The name pays homage to the Reclining Figure sculpture by Michael Dennis that lies in the park. In response to a news clip about the sign including Blyth, Kimmel announced in his opening monologue, “Between Dude Chilling Park and Rob Ford, I might have to move to Canada.”
It was good news for seniors when all three levels of government agreed to pitch in enough money to build a seniors centre adjacent to Killarney Community Centre, but just what the facility is going to look like when it’s finally built is still up for debate.
Finally, the ongoing discussions between the park board and a number of the city’s community centre associations regarding an interim joint operating agreement continued. And in November, superstar arbitrator Vince Ready, nicknamed “God” by some after successfully negotiating a settlement in the recent provincial teachers’ strike, stepped into the fray of the very public and litigious battle between six community centre associations and the park board. In late October, Hastings, Sunset, Riley Park/Hillcrest, Kensington, Kerrisdale and Killarney community centre associations approached Ready asking for help in ending the lengthy dispute. The results of that meeting have yet to be announced. The associations broke off talks with the park board over the interim agreement more than a year ago after what they say were breaches of that contract. In October, the Renfrew Community Centre Association also dropped out of talks with the park board.
