To the editor:
Re: "Kerfuffle at Kits Community Centre," April 24.
The Vancouver Park Board and its allies are describing the annual general meeting last week at Kitsilano Community Centre as a "failed takeover" and unsuccessful "coup."
Yes, a group of local candidates came forward to run against the existing Kits board - a board that supports the park board plan to take effective control of all Vancouver community centres. And, yes, most but not all of those opposing the existing board were defeated. It is up to people in Kitsilano to decide whether their centre's election was run fairly.
But since when is a genuine, multi-candidate election an attempted "coup?" Are not contested elections an essential part of the democratic process?
Is there, for example, anyone who would take seriously a claim that the provincial NDP is mounting a "coup" to take over the government in Victoria from the Liberals?
The park board should know a takeover when it sees one. It is, itself, mounting an increasingly desperate effort to push through its planned takeover of the local community centres, and to do so before most people notice. Park commissioners approved this plan after a one-night, nine-hour long marathon meeting. The board did not put its plan to a vote of the citizens of Vancouver. It has refused even to consult the public and refused to hold public hearings, until after it has made its final decision. All of this suggests some odd and dangerous ideas about local democracy.
Don Munton, Vancouver
