Natural beauty is worth protecting. Our children not only need places to play, but also places to enjoy and explore nature. We all need places of tranquil refuge from our busy lives. The animals and birds that help make our urban lives enjoyable need places to nest and raise their young.
People and nature in balance is my vision for our parks and recreation system.
After nearly a decade as the de facto CEO of Vancouver parks and
recreational facilities, Malcolm Bromley will soon have a lot more time
to make use of them.
That's because the veteran municipal administrator plans to retire in May.
Bromley was Toronto's director of recreation when he replaced Susan Mundick
as the park board's general manager overseeing golf courses, swimming
pools, community centres, and city parks a few months after the
Vancouver Olympics ended.
His
tenure has been marked by several bold initiatives aimed at renewing
facilities and creating new recreational opportunities as the population
continues growing.
In addition, Bromley provided a steady hand
during some tumultuous political battles, as control over the board
during his tenure switched from Vision Vancouver to the NPA to what
appears at times to be an alliance between three Green commissioners and
two COPE commissioners.
Cetacean displays banned in Stanley Park
There was also no shortage of controversies.
The
society that runs the Vancouver Aquarium took the board to court when
politicians voted to ban keeping cetaceans in captivity on park property
after five of these animals had died at the facility in Stanley Park
over a three-year period.
Last year, the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld the board's authority to do this.
Then
there was the ongoing saga at Oppenheimer Park, which has twice forced
the Powell Street Festival to dramatically change its plans.
In
2019, Bromley was prepared to seek an injunction to enable police to
remove the longest-standing tent city in Oppenheimer Park. However, a
majority of commissioners at first prevented this and later set conditions. One of those conditions involved engaging a third party to conduct an independent assessment.
In
addition, Bromley had to deal with annual public and media flare-ups
when organizers of the 4/20 cannabis celebration decided in 2016 to
start holding the event at Sunset Beach even though the park board
refused to provide permits.
While issues like these dominated the
headlines, Bromley helped steer through some major initiatives that
didn't generate nearly as much attention.
That included a
progressive trans- and gender-variant inclusion policy well before most
other governmental bodies, an urban forest strategy, and a biodiversity
strategy.
In addition, he's overseeing a major initiative to
decolonize the Vancouver park system, which was created in the 19th and
20th centuries through the theft of Indigenous land and the erasure of
the city's Indigenous history.
Bromley welcomed music in parks
Bromley
has rarely sought public attention for his efforts, despite his
enormous influence, preferring instead to put the park board chair in
the spotlight.
Another of his lasting legacies has been the reintroduction of live music in a multitude of Vancouver parks.
For
many years, the Vancouver Folk Festival was the only major musical
event on park-board-controlled land. Concerts in Stanley Park were
forbidden.
That changed during the Bromley era with major musical
shows taking place in Stanley Park at different times and the TD
Vancouver International Jazz Festival bringing free concerts to David
Lam Park. Musical events have also been held in other parks.
In an interview with the Straight in 2013, then park commissioner Constance Barnes heaped praise on Bromley for this dramatic change in attitude.
That wasn't the only slice of fun promoted by Bromley.
During
his tenure, the VanDusen Festival of Lights set attendance records with
its elaborately themed annual holiday shows. And the Roundhouse
Community Arts & Recreation Centre became a true hallmark of arts
and culture, as well as a gathering place for events showcasing the
city's diversity.
Bromley also played an instrumental role, along
with NPA commissioner John Coupar, in saving and enhancing the Bloedel
Conservatory. A new roof has been installed and attendance there has
increased four-fold since 2008.
VanSplash approved last year
Bromley also demonstrated grand ambitions to enhance sports and recreational facilities.
In October, the board approved the final two reports' recommendations for a new parks and recreation master plan called VanPlay.
As part of its 25-year outlook, it will emphasize more equitable
distribution of parks and recreational assets by applying a geographic
priority-setting approach.
That same month, the board gave the green light to an aquatics strategy called VanSplash.
There
were several bumps along the way, but ultimately, it will lead to a
pool replacement at Britannia Community Centre, the Vancouver Aquatic
Centre, and the Kerrisdale Community Centre; renovation of the
Kensington pool; a new large-scale pool at Connaught Park; an
investigation of the potential for naturally filtered outdoor swimming
experiences at Trout Lake; and an extension of the life span of
Templeton and Lord Byng pools for at least 10 years.
There are
also calls in VanSplash for a new outdoor pool in South Vancouver and
the creation of large-scale accessible spray parks in highly urban parks
serving large populations.
In addition, the park board broke ground on a $14.5-million downtown park in January at Smithe and Richards streets.
The board could join other municipal agencies, including in
Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Burnaby, New Westminster and Port Moody, in
offering the products for free. All schools in B.C. were also mandated
to offer the products in their washrooms by the end of last year but not
all are doing s.
The Vancouver parks board may become the next municipal agency to offer free menstrual products in its public washrooms.
Commissioner
Gwen Giesbrecht is scheduled to make a motion at Monday’s meeting to
direct the board to “recommend cost-free menstrual products be made
available at all park board facilities.”
“It’s a biological
function that women take care of in public washrooms,” she said, adding
the products are also used by transgender people.
Just as soap and toilet paper are provided, so too should the basic necessity of menstrual products, she said.
Municipalities
including Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Burnaby, New Westminster and Port
Moody have started offering free menstrual products on a permanent or
pilot project basis, said Neal Adolph of the United Way of the Lower
Mainland, which is operating a similar program for social services
agencies, called Period Promise.
And the province mandated through
the education ministry that all schools in B.C. were to offer free
menstrual products in school washrooms. The province provided $300,000
in funding, but not all schools are yet doing so.
“The vast
majority of school districts” have complied, the ministry said in an
emailed statement. “We anticipate all districts will be providing
menstrual products in washrooms very soon.”
The United Way in its
annual collection campaign amassed 500,000 individual products and
distributed them to Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley social service
agencies, such as youth homes, shelters for victims of domestic violence
and drop-in neighbourhood houses, said Adolph.
It expects to collect another half million products during this year’s drive, from March 3 to 31.
The
United Way also is conducting research with 12 of those agencies about
what products are being used and how many are being distributed and what
kind of benefits that is making to the people who receive them and to
the community.
The United Way, which received $95,000 in
provincial funding for the research, is planning to release an interim
report at the end of next month and a final report at the end of the
year, said Adolph.
It’s not known how much providing the free products will cost or where the money will come from, he said.
Giesbrecht
said if the motion is passed by commissioners on Monday, staff will be
asked to draft a policy, which would include costs to implement and
maintain the service at the board’s 100 or so public washrooms, and
other logistics.
“It’s not shown that people go in and take a
number of the products. They use what they need and leave the rest,” she
said, adding that assumption is based on anecdotal evidence and on the
fact that toilet paper isn’t stolen from public washrooms.
And if menstrual products are hoarded or stolen, “it’s a small piece of the whole picture.”
Pinky
de la Cruz, manager of city facilities for Coquitlam, said staff are
happy with the city’s pilot project started last year. The decision to
make it permanent will go back to council after staff has collected and
analyzed data, including a public survey.
She estimated installing
machines in the remainder of the 72 washrooms that don’t have them will
cost about $35,000, and supplies are estimated to cost $25,000 a year.
