Owners of electric vehicles will be happy to know the park board is considering a pilot project to install more plug-ins at city parks and attractions.
To date plug-ins provided by the park board can be found at Sunset, Creekside and Coal Harbour community centres, as well as VanDusen Botanical Garden and the Evans Service Yard, which isn't open to the public.
Vision Vancouver park board chair Constance Barnes told me she's excited about the prospect of expanding the service.
The commissioners will decide whether to go ahead with the trial at the March 26 park board meeting. There was no staff report available before the Courier's press deadline, but it is expected to be posted online this week.
Just a reminder, committee meetings are now being held just prior to regular board meetings, which is when a lot of information and reports are made public. The March 26 committee meeting, which includes agenda items such as the plug-in pilot project, takes place at 7 p.m. at the park board's administrative office on Beach Avenue. Meeting agendas can be found at vancouver.ca/parks.
FARM REPORT
Also being discussed at the March 26 park board meeting is a motion from NPA commissioner Melissa DeGenova recommending staff visit the animals adopted out from the Children's Farmyard in Stanley Park every six months. The farmyard closed in January 2011.
DeGenova is bringing the motion forward due to recent allegations some of the animals that lived at the Children's Farmyard were sold for profit and slaughter. DeGenova wants staff to follow up on the welfare of the remaining animals for as long as the animals are alive. The city also launched a $12,000 small-claims lawsuit this week against Trevor French, the Langley farmer accused of taking 17 of the goats and sheep from the farmyard and selling them for profit.
FOR ART'S SAKE
Vision Vancouver park board vice-chair Aaron Jasper is bringing a motion forward Monday that recommends naming a tiny park off Burrard Street after former mayor Art Phillips. The park is named Discovery Square, but Jasper wants to change it in honour of Phillips' contribution to the city.
Coincidently, at the March 26 committee meeting the park board will discuss changing the way parks are named. I wrote about that in Wednesday's edition of this column.
SCHOOL AID
The park board is considering an application that will see 20,000 music lovers in Stanley Park this September for a massive fundraising concert.
The concert, produced by event management company brand.LIVE, will headline Sarah McLachlan and benefit her music school, which offers free music programs for low-income and at-risk youth.
The organizers want to use the Brockton upper and lower fields for the event, which will include a concert, food vending areas, a licensed area for 5,500, merchandise sales and VIP suites.
The event will run from 2 to 11 p.m. Tentative ticket prices are $50 for general admission, $149 for reserved seats and $249 for reserved VIP seats.
Twitter: @sthomas10
