Preserving and protecting parkland in an urban landscape is our duty

 This is a letter I wrote to the Regina Leader Post after a resident of Regina contacted me concerning the proposed building of a commercial development in Wascana park. You can find some background information from this CBC link.

Park should be preserved

Letter to the Editor of the Regina Leader Post  June 19, 2018

I love Saskatchewan. I don’t visit as often as I would like, but when I do, it always feels special: The wide-open spaces, the slower pace in many parts and the sheer beauty of every part. Regina fills my heart because of the wise decision made years ago to surround the legislature in a beautiful park. Anyone who visits Regina knows Wascana Park. Anyone lucky enough to live in Regina knows that it is part of what makes the city so special.

I have the honour to be an elected Commissioner of the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. My duty is to preserve and protect our parkland including Stanley Park. It is a responsibility I take seriously. For me, our parkland is sacred. It is held in trust not only for today, but for the generations that come after.

Preserving and protecting parkland in an urban landscape is our duty because once we give it up it is gone forever. Land is limited and so is money. To give up any portion of a park is to betray those that come after us; to deny them the opportunities that we have had.

The business of Saskatchewan lies with the people, and I wouldn’t dream of interfering with your governance, but when I heard that parts of Wascana Park were being given over to commercial development it broke my heart. Such a beautiful place, that so many love and enjoy, should be preserved for all, and for always.

Stuart Mackinnon, Vancouver

Vancouver park board rejects separate review of Langara Golf Course

Commissioners will continue with long-term strategy of looking at future of all parks

Justin McElroy · CBC News ·
 

Vancouver's park board has decided a separate review of its oldest golf course is out of bounds. Commissioners voted to continue with the current path of examining Langara Golf Course through a review of the entire park system that's already underway, effectively rejecting a request by city council.

In March, council asked the park board to consider different uses for Langara, which is approximately 120 acres in size.

"I know we've had park board people and many people in the community talking about track and field and an international competition facility that would be fantastic," said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson at the time.

"We've had cricket and kabaddi people saying, 'why do we have no facilities in South Vancouver that the community can use?'"

'Different ways we could use that much space'

Park board commissioner Michael Wiebe understands there are plenty of potential options.

"Would we make it a nine-hole course ... and then bring in different parkland and a nature area and track and field facilities? Those are the types of discussions that are being brought to the table, different ways we could use that much space," he said.

But he said there are ways the land can stay devoted to golf while becoming more accessible to the general public.

"Should we have a driving range and a putting green and have more accessible free golf things to get people involved in the sport? There's an opportunity to look at what the best use is from a golfer standpoint and a citizen standpoint."

Larger review underway

However, there wasn't an appetite among park board commissioners to have a unique review.

Park board chair Stuart Mackinnon said a separate review would likely have to be independent.
"We'll probably have to go to outside consultants, because our staff is overloaded with work ... and that's very expensive," he said.

Staff is currently in the midst of creating a 25-year parks plan dubbed VanPlay, the city's answer to calls for better park planning as the demand for public recreational space increases.

The review includes new ways to use public spaces such as adding concrete ping-pong tables, parkour courses and more interactive playgrounds such as the recently completed Empire Field in Hastings Park.

Whatever path the park board ultimately takes, Mackinnon says it's already generated plenty of discussion.

"The golfers of course would like to keep it as a golf course. Other people are thinking we need more park space, especially in the Cambie Corridor ... people from Langara college and the neighbourhood would like more fields, so there's a lot of different uses that space could have, if it wasn't golf," he said.

"But golf is very popular."

Plant thieves still at work at Vancouver's parks

by Monika Gul News 1130.com

Posted Jun 10, 2018 5:50 pm PDT

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It appears some people are doing more than ‘smelling the roses’ while strolling through Queen Elizabeth Park.

Several flowers were recently stolen from the rose garden at the park with someone putting an ‘I was stolen by a plant thief’ sign in their place.

Vancouver Park Board Chair Stuart MacKinnon doesn’t know who put the signs up but says the theft of plants is an ongoing concern.

“It’s an unfortunate fact of city living that some people will come in at night and take things that don’t belong to them,” he says “We rely on the public to be honest and to enjoy the plants that are in the park and to let others enjoy it as well.”

He says their parks are not policed at night and while they tell people not to go in them, some disregard the rules, adding when people steal from parks, they’re stealing from the community.

His message to the thief or thieves: “Be respectful and mind that other people come into our parks to enjoy the plants as well,” he says “You can always go to your local nursery and buy a plant for your garden and leave the ones in our parks for everyone to enjoy.”

News 1130

Vancouver Green Party to nominate candidates on June 27

The Vancouver Greens will nominate their slate of candidates on Wednesday June 27 at the Heritage Hall (information here). At that meeting the membership will also vote on whether to support the Vancouver and District Council (VDLC) proposal on electoral accommodation with the other progressive forces in Vancouver. The proposal calls for 9 Green candidates, 3 each at Council, Park Board, and School Board (3-3-3). The VDLC will endorse a Mayoral candidate at a later time.

There are 17 seeking Green nomination, including 7 for Council, 4 for Park Commissioner, and 6 for School Trustee, thus ensuring a contest for all 3 levels of civic government.

At Council the nominees are:

Denise Brennan

Terry Martin

David Wong 

Pete Fry

Michael Wiebe

Adriane Carr

Francoise Raunet

 At Park Board the nominees are:

Stuart Mackinnon

Dave Demers

Mash Salehomoum

Camil Dumont

 At School Board the nominees are:

Lois Chan-Pedley

Alex Dow

Estrelitta Gonzalez

Nicholas Chernan

Janet Fraser

Ralph Fraatz

You can learn more about the prospective candidates here and you can meet them on Friday June 8 at a special 'meet and greet' event at the Performing Arts Lodge, 581 CARDERO St, Vancouver, BC from 6- 9 pm. Just follow the link to RSVP.

I am one of the nominees for Park Board Commissioner. I actively seek your support. You can support my nomination by joining the Vancouver Greens here and coming out to vote on June 28.

For more information about me visit: www.stuart4parks.ca

Candidate names to be listed in random order on 2018 election ballot

City of Vancouver

Information bulletin

June 6, 2018

 

 

Vancouver City Council has voted today to list mayoral, councillor, and Park Board commissioner candidates in random order instead of alphabetical order on Vancouver’s municipal election ballots.

 

The update to the election by-law was requested by Council to create a more even playing field for candidates. Research has shown many voters are more likely to vote for those listed first on a ballot, meaning that candidates at the top of an alphabetical list are perceived to have an advantage over those lower down.

 

As this will be the first year Vancouver voters will vote with a random order ballot, Council has approved $235,000 for strategies to prepare voters for the change.

 

The confirmed randomized list of names will be circulated well ahead of the election, supported by additional communications to ensure voters feel informed and know what to expect at the voting place. Voters will also be strongly encouraged to vote in advance in anticipation of longer vote times expected on Election Day.

 

As well, more staff and more voting booths will be available at voting locations wherever possible, to offset longer vote times and ensure assistance for those who may need extra support to vote.

 

The City does not have control over the list order of candidates for school board trustees. The school board has authority under the School Act, and the City’s Election Office will seek direction from the board on their desired order of names for the 2018 election ballot.

 

For more information, read the full report to Council:

http://council.vancouver.ca/20180606/documents/cfsc4.pdf

 

 

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Media Contact:

Corporate Communications

604.871.6336

Vancouver files claim over 2015 fuel spill in English Bay

Denise Ryan 
Vancouver Sun

Published on: May 27, 2018 

 

 Vancouver is still fighting to recover $550,000 in costs incurred by the city to clean up after the MV Marathassa spilled 2,700 litres of bunker fuel in English Bay three years, Mayor Gregor Robertson said on Sunday.

Vancouver’s concerns about oil tanker traffic in our harbours have been ignored, said Robertson, and he said the inadequate response highlights the dangers raised by the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion.

“This is a clear example of where the federal government and the international oil tanker program is not safe, not dealing with the damages appropriately and where we have great concerns,” said Robertson.

Robertson slammed the federal Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund, which has disputed some of the costs associated with the city’s claim.
The SSOP fund was established in 1989 to act on behalf of impacted municipalities, companies and individuals in pursuit of compensation from shipowners in the event of a spill and provide additional compensation.

Robertson said the city has received an “absolutely unacceptable” offer from the Ship-source Oil Pollution fund of 27 per cent of the $550,000.

On April 6, 2018, the city filed a direct claim against owners of the Cypriot-registered vessel in Federal Court in the hopes of further cost recovery.

“Typically these ship owners are very difficult to go after when there is a spill, and the costs are never quite recovered by taxpayers, citizens and government who are paying for the impact,” said Robertson.

The lack of compensation leaves taxpayers and municipalities on the hook for costs incurred by the spill, and raises concern over what might happen in the case of a diluted bitumen spill along B.C.’s coastal waterways.

“Vancouver’s primary concern with the Kinder Morgan pipeline is the oil tankers — seven times the number will go through our harbour — and the oil spill we expect will happen over time and dramatically impact our environment and our economy,” said Robertson.

Stuart Mackinnon, chair of the Vancouver Park Board said English Bay is an “iconic spot” not just to Vancouver, but for the whole world.

“The federal government needs to step up and take responsibility for their jurisdictions,” said Mackinnon.

“We are terribly concerned about the amount of oil that will pass through here should the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion go through.”

Mackinnon said a diluted bitumen spill is not easily cleaned off rocks and sand, and would be much more difficult to remediate than the bunker oil.

“I can’t imagine what would happen in Burrard Inlet if a spill were to happen there.”

Transport Canada and representatives from SSOP were not able to respond to Postmedia inquiries on Sunday.

dryan@postmedia.com
 More from Denise Ryan

Access for All: Park Board improves beach experience with second Mobi-Mat and new water wheelchairs for those with mobility challenges

 

Vancouver Park Board

News Release
May 25, 2018

 

 

The beach is calling …. and this year two of Vancouver’s most popular beaches will be fully accessible to people with mobility challenges.   

 

It’s the second phase of the Vancouver Park Board’s commitment to a better, more inclusive beach experience for all residents.

 

This week, the Vancouver Park Board installed a Mobi-Mat, a non-slip beach access pathway, at Kitsilano Beach. It’s the second beach mat in Vancouver with the first installed at English Bay Beach last summer. In addition, 10 new water wheelchairs will be available at beaches across the city. The floating wheelchairs will provide persons with disabilities safe access to the ocean, with the assistance of an attendant. 

 

“Inclusion and access are core values of the Vancouver Park Board. In addition to our commitment to accessible beaches, the Board has removed barriers to recreation based on income, race, gender, and mobility and has forged a new relationship with community centre association partners through a shared commitment to equitable access to recreation for all residents,” said Park Board Chair Stuart Mackinnon.

 

“Feedback from the beach mat at English Bay Beach has been extremely positive. If you’re in a wheelchair, going to the beach can be an ordeal as you need the help of a strong friend or a lifeguard. Beach mats give those with mobility challenges the freedom to visit the beach on their own if they want,” said Mackinnon.

 

Jacques Courteau, Co-Chair of City of Vancouver Persons with Disabilities Advisory Committee, used the Mobi-Mat at English Bay last year and again last week.

 

“I got out of my chair and lowered myself onto the ground. It was awesome to just stretch there on the warm sand. I stayed about one hour. It was glorious! I will certainly do this more often this year,” he said.

 

Water wheelchairs will be available as of June 1 at Kits, Second Beach in Stanley Park, and New Brighton pools and the following beaches: English Bay, Kits, Jericho, Second Beach, Spanish Banks East and West, and Trout Lake. The chairs require an attendant and are available on a first come first served basis, at no charge, at each location’s lifeguard station between Victoria Day and Labour Day long weekends from 11:30 am – 8:00pm. More information at vancouver.ca.

 

The Park Board offers many adapted and integrated recreational activities for children, youth, adults, and seniors with mobility challenges. These activities include aquatic lifts, wheelchairs and assisted entries at pools and ice sleds at rinks. In addition, the Board provides free access to facilities for attendants who support persons with disabilities to swim, skate, exercise in fitness centres, participate in recreation programs and visit parks. Support is defined as assistance of a physical, psychological, emotional, intellectual or sensory nature to ensure that the patron with the disability is able to participate. Information on the full range of adapted and integrated Park Board programs can be found at vancouver.ca.

 

Every year the Board is doing more to make our facilities, parks and beaches more accessible. Two years ago, the Board opened the Southeast False Creek paddling centre. It provides Vancouver’s paddling community with a permanent home and has ramps to allow paddlers with mobility challenges easy access to their boats.

 

Current estimates are that about 15 percent of Vancouver residents have some form of physical disability or mobility restriction. This includes people using wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and strollers. When you add family and friends, approximately 50 percent of Vancouver residents are affected by barriers to accessibility. 

 

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Media contact:

Park Board Communications

604.257.8440

Park Board statement on closure of Sunset Beach Park and field

Vancouver Park Board  

Information Bulletin

April 23, 2018

 

 

The Park Board will attempt to have Sunset Beach park and field open to the public in six weeks, by early June. This revised estimate of field impacts after the 4/20 marijuana event comes after a full inspection of the field by senior park operations staff this morning.  A forecast of hot and dry weather this week will greatly assist us in preparing the wet field for rehabilitation.

 

Park operations staff did a preliminary inspection in the immediate aftermath of the event and fenced the field to protect the damaged field from public use over the weekend.  Park Board and City staff worked together all night after 4/20 to clean event debris on the field, but there were still objects such as glass and discarded edibles on the field that posed a danger to the public. The fencing was installed on Saturday morning partially as a protective measure to ensure safety, particularly for children and dogs.

 

The fencing used to close the field was repurposed by Park Board as it was ordered before 4/20 as protection for new plant beds, young trees and vulnerable species such as eucalyptus and palms. The fencing was removed from these plantings and used to close the field on Saturday morning after the preliminary inspection.

 

The process to rehabilitate Sunset field involves the following steps:

 

• Drying the field – requires a good long stretch of warm weather
• Cleaning the field – ensuring debris such as cigarette butts, metals and glass are fully removed so machinery can operate
• Aerating the field – Soils can become compacted through heavy use and thatch (a fibrous layer of dead grass stems, leaves and roots) can develop. Aeration, the process of puncturing the surface of the soil, mitigates this by allowing oxygen into the roots, carbon dioxide to escape and water and nutrients to more easily flow through the soil.  Aeration is necessary for healthy turf grass. 
• Topdressing the field - This process involves spreading an organic mixture - usually sand, soil, clay or compost or a mixture of these materials - over the field. This helps even out the field, adding an extra element of safety for athletes. Topdressing is like a conditioner for athletic fields, giving turf a fuller feel and extra layer of protection.
• Seeding and germination – waiting for the grass to grow enough so that public use does not damage the grass. With the right preparation, new turf will have shallow roots in about two weeks. This first stage of root growth is very sensitive and requires us to keep the public off the vulnerable young grass. In fact, all weight should be kept off the grass to allow for healthy, resilient turf with deep roots. This takes between 30-45 days in good conditions.

 

The Park Board understands that Sunset Beach Park is a much loved community asset, and provides vital recreation space for the dense downtown core.  We regret any closure, but must take steps to ensure the long term viability of this field which also experienced major impacts in 2017 during the same event.  Sunset Park field was closed for 10 weeks last spring after the 4/20 event.

 

The Park Board will tally all costs associated with the field restoration and other related expenses and will be billing organizers for these costs.  A full accounting of 4/20 costs will be released by the City and Park Board when all associated expenses are in.

 

Organizers did install about $30,000 worth of plastic turf protection around the main stage at this year’s event, which helped to mitigate the cumulative damage. 

 

The Park Board will continue to work with partners at the City to encourage organizers to find a more suitable, alternate location for the event in future years. 

 

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Media contact:

pb.communications@vancouver.ca

604-257-8699

Park board takes next step in reconciliation

Commissioners take on mission to ‘decolonize the Vancouver Park Board’

Jessica Kerr / Vancouver Courier

April 19, 2018 10:26 AM

The park board’s reconciliation planner, Rena Soutar, will work with the board and City of Vancouver to advance mutual goals and create relationships between municipal government and Indigenous communities.

It’s been more than two years since Vancouver Park Board adopted its reconciliation strategies and this week the board took another step on the long road to reconciliation.

In January 2016, the park board adopted 11 strategies in response to the 94 calls to action issued by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The strategies encompass a range of goals, including adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, staff training on Indigenous issues and reconciliation, and ensuring the integration of Aboriginal history, heritage values and memory practices in policies around monuments, memorial and public art.

This week, commissioners took things a step further and adopted a reconciliation mission, vision and values.

“We’re at a critical juncture for the future of reconciliation,” Rena Soutar, the board’s reconciliation planner, told commissioners. “The park board and institutions at all levels have done important work in recognizing the unique issues inherent in reconciling our relationship with the Aboriginal peoples of this land, but this work is only phase one.”

Soutar presented the mission, vision and values statement, saying that a “good compass” is needed to guide the work of reconciliation.

“We believe this journey will enrich us all and that articulating an inspirational vision with core values to support it helps us all paddle in the same direction.”

She said the 11 strategies address a specific set of issues and provide tactics to implement in park board processes and projects, work that has already started and will continue, while adopting the mission, vision and values statement embeds the reconciliation principles.

The mission is to decolonize the Vancouver Park Board by recognizing “the institution’s colonial history” and upholding its commitment to the 11 reconciliation strategies.

“In my mind this does mark quite a significant shift in paradigm and attitude to reconciliation,” Soutar told the Courier, adding that it shifts the focus from improving relations with First Nations people to examining what made the relations problematic in the first place and figuring out how to fix those problems.

“I’m just really pleased with how well it was received,” she said of the statement, which was adopted unanimously. “I’m looking forward to this next piece of deciding with my colleagues and whoever else is buying into this mission, vision and values on what that means for us.”

The vision is for the park board to be “an evolvable organization in which every employee and commissioner recognizes the humanity in themselves by recognizing and respecting the humanity of First Peoples” and one that sets an example in treating reconciliation as a process of decolonization.
And the values include clarity, pragmatism, leadership, learning and patience.

“We’ve heard something from our staff partners at Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations, and that’s that important things take time,” Soutar said. “And it’s not just that we need to be patient because important things take time, it’s that they actually need that time to take root.”

Board chair and Green Party commissioner, Stuart Mackinnon said that reconciliation isn’t just up to a few individuals.

“It doesn’t fall on two or three employees, it falls on all of the staff, all of the commissioners and in fact all of the residents of our city to move forward with this.”

Fellow Green commissioner Michael Wiebe echoed his sentiments and praised staff for a making a strong statement in the mission to decolonize the park board.

“I think sometimes we tip toe around a subject that we’re all involved in and I think they’ve done a great job here of not doing that and making sure that we’re pushing the boundaries.”

Mackinnon also introduced a reconciliation motion of his own, which was carried unanimously, directing staff to analyze the park board’s colonial roots and current practices, asking for a report back that includes “recommendations to acknowledge any and all injustices uncovered as part of the ‘truth-telling’ phase.”

“It’s time that the park board told those truths,” Mackinnon said. “It’s from those truths that healing can begin.”

@JessicaEKerr
jkerr@vancourier.com

(c) 2018 Courier.com

Reconciliation and truth-telling—acknowledging our colonial past

by Stuart Mackinnon on April 17th, 2018 at 6:20 PM
Straight.com

Last night, the Vancouver park board unanimously approved chair and commissioner Stuart Mackinnon's motion directing staff to analyze the organization's "colonial roots, as well as current practices" and report back with recommendations "to acknowledge any and all injustices uncovered as part of the 'truth-telling' phase". Below, you can read a transcript of Mackinnon's speech before the board:

Post-impressionist artist Paul Gauguin famously asked in his 1897 painting:Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?  These questions are as relevant today as they were more than 100 years ago.

The Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada states:

"There is an emerging and compelling desire to put the events of the past behind us so that we can work towards a stronger and healthier future. The truth telling and reconciliation process as part of an overall holistic and comprehensive response […] is a sincere indication and acknowledgement of the injustices and harms experienced by Aboriginal people and the need for continued healing. This is a profound commitment to establishing new relationships embedded in mutual recognition and respect that will forge a brighter future. The truth of our common experiences will help set our spirits free and pave the way to reconciliation."

In the introduction to "Confronting the Past: Truth Telling and Reconciliation in Uganda", by the International Centre for Transitional Justice, it says:

"Truth telling is recognized as one of the important transitional justice measures for redressing the legacies of abuse and responding to human rights violations and harms that occur during repression or conflict.

"Truth telling plays a critical role in acknowledging the wrongs suffered by victims, fostering reconciliation, community healing, and preventing the recurrence of the past abuses in post-conflict societies. Establishing the truth about past violations will not only help determine the most appropriate remedies to be offered to victims, but it will also help identify the necessary reforms that can prevent such violations from happening again."

Vancouver’s history is one of progress and wealth, but it has been built on great sacrifice and destruction. What once were dense forests, pristine fish-filled streams, and fertile hunting grounds have been cut down, paved over, and built up. This has come at great cost to the land and the people who have always been here.

We are a prosperous city of unparalleled beauty, but our prosperity has come at a price.

That price is not buried in some obscure, forgotten past. It is documented. And some of that documentation is held by the park board. It is time that the park board told those truths. From those truths, healing can begin. 

Healing is an important step on our journey to reconciliation. At the Manitoba national event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2010, residential school survivor Evelyn Brockwood talked about why it is important to ensure that there is adequate time for healing to occur in the truth and reconciliation process.

She said “When this came out at the beginning, I believe it was 1990, about residential schools, people coming out with their stories... I thought the term, the words they were using, were truth, healing, and reconciliation. But somehow it seems like we are going from truth telling to reconciliation, to reconcile with our white brothers and sisters. My brothers and sisters, we have a lot of work to do in the middle. We should really lift up the word healing.”

Truth-telling is the first step in helping unlock the past and helping us to understand "where do we come from, what are we, and where are we going?" The truth of our common experiences will help heal all of our spirits and help pave the way to reconciliation. 

Evelyn Brockwood also said, “Go slow, we are going too fast, too fast.... We have many tears to shed before we even get to the word reconciliation."

I hope that you will join me in supporting this motion on truth-telling of the park board’s colonial roots, as well as our current practices, so that we may continue our path to healing and reconciliation with local First Nations.

Colonialism is the policy of a nation seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories, generally with the aim of developing or exploiting them to the benefit of the colonizing country and helping the colonies modernize in terms defined by the colonizers, especially in economics, religion and health.

Unceded: those lands never signed away through a treaty or conquered by war.

Historical Dates

January 13, 1849: Vancouver Island is declared a "crown colony"

August 2, 1858: Crown Colony of British Columbia is established, not including Vancouver Island

August 6, 1866: Vancouver Island and British Columbia are merged into one colony

July 20, 1871: The colony entered into Confederation with Canada

(C) 2018 Straight.com