To the editor:
Re: "Central Park," July 13
The uncut grass at John Hendry Park and many others is typical of the third class treatment many disabled individuals are forced to endure by the Vancouver Park Board.
At China Creek Park north, the playing field is routinely mowed three times in 10 days or less. Recently, the playing field was cut July 8, 12 and again on July 18. This high frequency of grooming is for the benefit of the board's favourite demographic-the able-bodied special interest groups, which in the case of China Creek are not only all from far outside our inner-city neighbourhood, but from outside the city.
Re-cutting the previous week's clippings is unnecessary and the excessive consumption of fossil fuels burned ignores any Greenest City objectives. Perhaps the field was seeded with some form of mutant grass inspired by Homer Simpson's Tomacco crop. The park board may claim that every park patron receives equal treatment, but the facts prove otherwise. Again, this year the board installed a standard portable toilet at China Creek Park despite the fact the company that supplied the unit would have supplied a fully accessible facility if the board would have ordered one. Repeated requests to commissioners to have it exchanged have been ignored. Apparently, the park board has determined that the elderly and disabled are capable of holding it longer.
