by Sandra Thomas, Vancouver Courier, March 26 2012
Name game
Last week I wrote about a proposal to change the way the park board names public spaces. I heard from several people with concerns, including former Green Party commissioner Stuart Mackinnon and former NPA commissioner Ian Robertson, as well as former park board candidate Jamie Lee Hamilton.
“This new measure is anti-democratic since elected members of the park board will have undue influence regarding park names,” Hamilton wrote in an email to the Courier. “They will be able to instruct staff on the name they want for a particular park. This method will allow them to suggest names of friends or political insiders. Cronyism will creep into what was until now a fair and democratic process…”
In what looks like a response to comments and concerns from the public, the naming proposal has been withdrawn from the park board’s agenda for tonight’s meeting.
A statement on the park board’s Facebook page reads, “Park naming report being withdrawn from tonight’s park board committee meeting to allow GM [Malcolm Bromley] and vice chair [Aaron Jasper] to work on more detailed analysis and recommendations."
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