The Courier’s choice for this year’s Newsmaker of the Year can be seen as an extension of our 2012 choice, which was neighbourhood dissent.
As Courier reporter Mike Howell detailed a year ago, in 2012 residents from across the city focused their anger toward city hall and developers. Residents packed meetings in Dunbar and dozens of speakers weighed in on a controversial rezoning in Mount Pleasant.
But this year, Vancouverites turned their ire to the park board and in unprecedented actions upped the ante by filing lawsuits in B.C. Supreme Court. It’s the reason we’ve chosen the Vancouver Park Board’s contentious year as Newsmaker of the Year for 2013.
It began with an epic park board meeting at the West End community centre in February, which fed the growing rancour against the majority Vision Vancouver commissioners.
The reason for the meeting was to give park board general manager Malcolm Bromley an opportunity to explain what at the time was still a “proposed” joint operating agreement between the board and the city’s 23 community centre associations.
The park board is making changes to the associations’ long-standing joint-operating agreement, including centralizing “core programs.”
The most contentious of the recommendations is one under discussion that could see the board pool revenues from room rentals and programs — money traditionally retained by the associations — to be distributed amongst “have-not” centres.
But the focus of the meeting was lost when the majority Vision Vancouver commissioners refused to adjourn as it continued into the wee hours, despite repeated requests from members of the public to defer the vote.
But after conferring with members of Vision’s caucus, the meeting continued for nine hours, until 3:30 a.m.
That’s when the Vision Vancouver commissioners approved the controversial agreement to repeated cries of “Shame” from the crowd.
And that’s when park board staff called in the Vancouver Police Department.
In response, Hastings, Riley Park-Hillcrest, Killarney, Kensington, Kerrisdale and Sunset community centre associations began the first of three legal proceedings against the park board in B.C. Supreme Court.
The first asked for an injunction against mandatory use of the OneCard, a universal access card introduced by the park board that eliminates the need for individual memberships to the city’s community centres.
That injunction was denied by the court, partially because the park board agreed it wouldn’t make the use of the OneCard at those centres mandatory.
The park board then gave the six associations their walking papers with a deadline of Dec. 31 to vacate the centres.
The second and most important part of the legal action includes a charge the park board breached many conditions of the standing joint-operating agreement, a case that is before the court this week.
The third part of the legal assault included a successful request for an injunction to stop the park board from proceeding with a transfer of power from the associations before the legalities of the main case are finalized.
As news of these lawsuits disappeared from the front page due to a postponement of proceedings, on Oct. 7 the park board approved a 12-foot wide, paved bike path through Kits Beach and Hadden parks.
The announcement took many residents by surprise despite the fact the park board proclaimed its public consultation was extensive.
A rally was held and yet another lawsuit was launched in B.C. Supreme Court. In November, the court halted construction of the bike path until yet another hearing can be held to determine its legality.
Terri Evans, manager of the Urban Studies Program at Simon Fraser University, believes part of the problem could be the way Vision Vancouver handles issues overall.
“Within Vision Vancouver itself, it’s not what it does, it’s how it does it,” said Evans.
“It’s the process and that has included some missteps, whether it’s the next bike lane or route of the next bike lane.”
Evans, a Vancouver resident, said the OneCard appears to have been an afterthought meant to deflect criticism over the joint-operating agreement debacle.
“The OneCard could potentially achieve administrative efficiencies in response to recreational services,” said Evans.
“The park board could potentially have some important plans, but in processing them they trip themselves up. The OneCard is a more streamline system and it makes sense to use, but they made it extremely hard to swallow for those associations.”
Evans believes the park board is taking flak for decisions made by the Vision Vancouver-dominated city council and points to the marathon meeting in February as an example.
“Perhaps it should have been the city that had its feet held to fire that night,” said Evans.
In describing what she believes is Vision Vancouver’s overall attitude towards residents, Evans quotes a fellow urban studies colleague, “Pissing off voters one block at a time.”
UBC political science professor emeritus Paul Tennant says as far as he’s aware, the number of lawsuits, and the rebellion of community groups against the park board are unprecedented.
“There was somewhat similar community unrest in the late ’60s, but the result was political action, not legal.”
A YEAR IN THE NEWS...
- February: A nine-hour meeting at the West End Community Centre regarding the then-proposed joint-operating agreement (JOA) between the park board and the city’s community centre associations ends at 3:30 a.m., when it’s approved by Vision Vancouver commissioners.
- June: The board announces the OneCard, a universal access card eliminating the need for individual association memberships. Killarney Community Centre Association president Ainslie Kwan complains the OneCard was announced to the press before officially approved.
- July: The OneCard is launched.
- July: The park board fires a negotiator hired to help community centre associations negotiate the proposed agreement.
- August: Six associations launch their first lawsuit against the park board accusing it of breaching numerous sections of the standing management agreement. The six also request an injunction against the OneCard, which is denied. In response to the lawsuit, the park board announces it will take control of the six community centres and issues eviction notices.
- October: Vision commissioners approve a 12-foot-wide bike path through Kits and Hadden Beach parks. Residents unhappy with the consultation mount a protest, which is attended by hundreds. The six centres get an injunction against the board to stop the termination of their JOA until their lawsuit is fully heard.
- November: In response to a case before the Supreme Court of B.C., construction of the bike path is halted until a hearing can be held to determine its legality.
- Dec. 9: The court case between the six associations and the park board reconvenes.
