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.
[ You can watch this portion of the meeting here ]
Since first
being elected in 2008, I have had the honour and pleasure to be in involved
with what I consider to be the three greatest achievements of the Board of
Parks and Recreation in its recent history: the renewal of the Joint Operating
Agreements with its Community Centre partners; our commitment to truth-telling,
reconciliation and redress; and now VanPlay, our masterplan for the next 25
years and beyond.
All of these
achievements have come about through the hard work of our staff and our outside
consultants. There are too many to thank individually, but I do want to make
special acknowledgments to: Curt Culbertson of the Design Workshop team; Dave
Hutch, our Director of Park Planning and Development; Doug Shearer, our Manager
of Policy, Planning, and Environment; and especially to Katherine Howard, the
project manager.
This is
truly a great achievement. The final reports show what a mammoth undertaking
this has been. Personally, I am most pleased to see the overarching commitment
to equity.
None of
this, the JOA renewal, our commitment to reconciliation, or VanPlay would have
been possible without the foresight, oversight, and leadership of our General Manager,
Malcolm Bromley. To you Malcolm, to everyone involved, my heartfelt thanks and
admiration.
The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation has endorsed the final two reports of VanPlay,
the city’s parks and recreation services master plan. The plan,
developed over the past three years with input from thousands of
residents, stakeholders, partners and consultants, outlines the bold
moves that represent a new way of thinking, with equity, asset needs and
connectivity at the core of Park Board planning and decision-making.
“VanPlay is the map and compass that will guide us as we plan and
grow parks and recreation opportunities for the next 50 years,” said
Vancouver Park Board Chair Stuart Mackinnon. “More importantly, VanPlay
will give this Board—and Boards well into the future—the powerful tools, lenses and rationale to build an equitable and connected parks and recreation system.”
The approval of VanPlay represents a significant and defining moment
for the Park Board; a commitment to the equitable delivery of parks and
recreation opportunities in a connected, efficient manner which
celebrates the unique history of the land, place, and culture.
The VanPlay strategy will have positive and sweeping implications for
much of the Vancouver Park Board’s day-to-day operations, as well as
park and facility planning. Most notably, three Strategic Bold Moves PDF file (38 MB) (Equity,
Asset Needs, and Connectivity) will enable staff to focus resources,
projects, and capital planning outlooks in a more purposeful way.
Decisions driven by equity
Bold Move 1: Equity provides staff and the Park Board with
tools to begin to address imbalances in the delivery of resources such
as trees, parks, land use and infrastructure. The community and
stakeholders were clear that equity, inclusion, and access are top
priorities for the future, with a focus on increased transparency around
decision-making and priority-setting.
Using the Initiative Zones equity tool, historically
under-served areas of the city can be identified. By focusing projects,
resources, funding, and effort on these areas of the city, over time,
provision will become more equitable.
Assets to meet Vancouver’s growing and changing needs
Bold Move 2: Asset Needs, takes stock of the Park Board’s
assets – which include park space, sports fields, ice rinks, and urban
forests, to name a few, and considers future needs through goal setting
to provide service excellence. Targets provide the ability to measure
goals over time, prioritize investments, and align funding.
A vision for a connected parks and recreation system
Bold Move 3: Connectivity, intends to create vibrant,
healthy communities by encouraging the connection and integration of
parks and facilities with the neighbourhood, the city, and the region.
The connected network will create places to play, exercise and socialize
while providing pathways for the movement of urban wildlife and
rainwater, with direct and intuitive connections for pedestrians and
cyclists of all ages and abilities.
The concept is based on Vancouver’s famous seawall, a pathway that
provides connections with a park-like experience and also reflects First
Nations principles such as a strong sense of belonging on the land,
relationship to the water, and the importance of gathering spaces and
places to heal.
The plan to get us there
VanPlay also includes a Playbook Implementation Plan PDF file (6 MB), which
identifies foundational tasks and approaches for action such as setting
clear policy, supporting effective communication, and building robust
data and mapping resources, which will ease the implementation of the
entire suite of VanPlay recommendations.
VanPlay is the culmination of three years of intensive and
unprecedented engagement with Vancouver residents, stakeholders, park
and recreation partners, staff, Board members and industry consultants.
In all, over 30,000 conversations took place, including more than 4,000
during a tour of the city with a pop-up playground. Nearly 4,000 surveys
were completed, and more than 600 people attended the VanPlay Smart
City talk series to hear dozens of speakers explore potential ideas for
the future of parks and recreation in Vancouver.
In July, 2018, the Board approved the Inventory and Analysis report,
which describes the current state of parks and recreation in Vancouver,
including findings from community, staff, and stakeholder engagement
relating to current challenges and opportunities for the future, and 10 Goals to Shape the Next 25 Years, which sets out aspirational objectives to position the Park Board to respond to challenges and opportunities.
The last parks and recreation master plan was completed over 25 years
ago. Vancouver has changed dramatically in the intervening years, and
this new city-wide parks and recreation services master plan will do
much to enhance long-range planning, policy, and service goals. VanPlay
recognizes Vancouver’s parks and recreation system’s many challenges,
including inequity, increasing and varying community needs, climate
change, aging infrastructure, stretched resources, and ever-shifting
urgent priorities.
– 30 –
The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation are stewards of a network
of over 240 parks and a large public recreation system of community
centres, pools, sports fields, golf courses, and street trees. Its
mission is to provide, preserve, and advocate for parks and recreation
services to benefit all people, communities, and the environment. see original post here.
Neighbourhood
Park South—part of 10 hectares (25 acres) of new parks and green space
planned for the East Fraser Lands—is open and already becoming an
important part of the new and growing community.
Located just north of the Fraser River and framed by two low-rise
towers to the east and west and Riverwalk Avenue to the north, the 1335
square metre (0.33 acre) park features platform benches and picnic
tables, as well as robust planted berms composed of native vegetation
and a variety of trees including beech, vine maple, and mountain
hemlock.
Heart of a new neighbourhood
“It’s a modest park, but one that is rapidly becoming the heart of
Vancouver’s largest and last new waterfront neighbourhood that will
eventually be home to 15,000 people,” said Vancouver Park Board Chair
Stuart Mackinnon.
Neighbourhood Park South is part of the Vancouver Park Board’s commitment to create 25 acres of new parks and green space in the East Fraser Lands (also known as the River District).
The parks and green space will link to riverfront trails and connect
visitors to the Fraser River – British Columbia’s longest and most
storied river.
Enhancing access to nature
The greenway portion along the Fraser River will support the Park Board’s Biodiversity Strategy by enhancing access to nature for residents and increasing habitat for local birds and wildlife.
Design and construction of all parks in the East Fraser Lands are
funded through Development Cost Levies. Construction of Foreshore and
Kinross parks is anticipated to begin in 2020.
The site is being developed by Wesgroup Properties and will eventually house more residents than Yaletown.
The Vancouver Park Board has approved the Track and Field Strategy,
a document that will guide short-and long-term investment, management,
and programming at Vancouver's track and field facilities.
The approval of the strategy allows several projects to proceed to
next steps, including the development of Vancouver’s first regulation
competitive track and field training facility at Vancouver Technical
Secondary School and upgrading existing track and field facilities at
Templeton Park and Kerrisdale Park/Point Grey Secondary.
Much-needed roadmap
“The Park Board recognizes the physical and mental benefits of sport
and physical activity among children, youth and adults,” said Vancouver
Park Board Chair Stuart Mackinnon. “The Track and Field Strategy is a
much-needed roadmap for investment in our city that will ensure we have
the facilities and supports in place for people of all ages and
abilities to have access to inclusive, low barrier amenities that
support walking, running, and competitive track and field.”
The strategy was unanimously approved by the Park Board at its
regular meeting on Sept. 30 after hearing from a number of stakeholders
and advisory group members, including Diane and Doug Clement, both
former track and field Olympians who expressed their gratitude for
renewed investments in track and field in Vancouver.
The Clements spoke passionately about Vancouver’s rich history in
track and field, noting the new facility would do much to match the
city’s world-class amenities.
Vancouver-born Barbara Howard became the first black woman to
represent Canada in international competition at the British Empire
Games in 1938. Sixteen years later, Vancouver made headlines around the
world as the site of Roger Bannister’s Miracle Mile at Empire Stadium in
1954. Olympic sprinter Harry Jerome, whose statue graces the Coal
Harbour waterfront in Stanley Park, is one of the city’s best-known
track athletes, competing in three summer Olympics and winning bronze in
the 100 metre in the 1964 games.
Four themes
The strategy, developed in partnership with the Vancouver School
Board, provides a framework and recommendations under four themes:
Design and infrastructure
Access and participation
Programming and cooperation
Management and operations for Vancouver’s 14 existing facilities, and for future expansion
Comprehensive public engagement helped shape the strategy and
included input from more than 4,000 stakeholders. Outreach included
surveys, pop-up events, advisory group meetings, and open houses.
Engagement partners included the Vancouver Field Sport Federation,
Vancouver Sport Network, BC Athletics and the BC Wheelchair Sports
Association, as well as numerous community and varsity track and field
clubs and societies.
Next steps for the strategy include concept plans for the Category A
facility at Vancouver Technical Secondary, and detailed design and
contract award recommendations for the upgrades at Kerrisdale Park/Point
Grey Secondary and Templeton Park.
The following are remarks I made last night at a Special Meeting of the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation called to discuss Oppenheimer Park. You can view them here: http://bit.ly/32kDA0J
No one has a
monopoly on compassion. No one has a monopoly on caring about safety and
security. I believe that every elected representative in Vancouver wants the
best for the residents of the city. I have said that the decisions made by this
Board have been done out of compassion, but I have also said the Board believes
that safety is of paramount concern.
These two
ideas are not mutually exclusive. We can have safety with compassion. The focus
tonight, and for the past months, has been on Oppenheimer park. But it is not
the only park that have tents in it. Commissioners have to see that all parks
are susceptible to camping and many do have campers in them.
Our by-laws
do not reflect this, but the Supreme Court of British Columbia has said that in
the absence of alternatives, camping in parks is acceptable. In a landmark case
in 2015, Justice Hinkson said that that homeless people are allowed to erect
temporary shelters in parkland because of a lack of accessible shelter space in
the city. Hinkson’s ruling struck down a bylaw banning temporary shelters in
local parks. While he did restrict this to the hours between 7 p.m. and 9 a.m.
he said tents were allowed.
More than
anything I want to find safe and secure housing for the people in Oppenheimer
park and return the park to the community as a public space. This is what this
Board has been asking for.
In a recent
interview, Theo Lamb of the Strathcona BIA, said that an injunction would lead
to a quick displacement, and without a thoughtful plan ‘just move people out, moves
them around’. She reiterated that this is not just an Oppenheimer issue,
Strathcona issue, it is a city issue.
Tonight, we
have heard the consequences of not having adequate housing or a plan in place
to find this. The Park Board cannot supply housing and so we ask, we implore,
the City and the province of British Columbia to find safe and secure housing
for not only the campers in Oppenheimer, but to all of the people who are
homeless.
Many of the
people camping in Oppenheimer and throughout the city are indigenous. This
discussion, like all we have at the Park Board, must be done through the lens
of reconciliation. I would like to read something into the record here:
We have endured a lot. Where the connection to cultural
identity has been lost, many Aboriginal people live with a constant sense of
contradiction and compromise. The challenge is trying to live in two worlds,
while currently being ill-equipped to live in either one. But when we are
culturally strong in our world, Aboriginal people are strong living in any
world. The key is being able to control one’s life. It’s about being able to
make decisions over how that life unfolds.
These are
the words of the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould from 2007 when she was the BC
Regional Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
No decision
should be made without hearing from the people in the park. I encourage senior
levels of the police and fire and the City to reach out and have deep and meaningful
discussions with those in the park.
Yesterday I
met with the Mayor and had a robust and frank conversation. We talked about
ways the city could help and how Park Board could be supportive. I am
optimistic that solutions can be found.
City Council
will debate 2 motions next week to address this. I thank them for their
commitment to the residents of the City, those with and without housing. I
commend them for taking the leadership in this. I pray that a solution will be
found that is fair and just to all members of the community and will lead to a
safer neighbourhood for everyone.
If you’ve been thinking about fermenting foods, learning how to reduce
your kitchen waste or exploring a new cuisine, then you might want to
check out the long list of events at the Sustenance Festival.
There’s plenty to learn, eat and see at the 10th annual Vancouver
Park Board event, which brings together community groups, artists and
advocates who use food and art to cultivate discussions, celebrate
traditions and push for social change.
“What is so different about this festival is the way we engage with a range of diverse, underrepresented communities,” he said.
“Food is core to many cultural identities and ideas like reducing
waste or conserving water are embedded in many cultural practices
outside of a Western environmental paradigm.”
The festival runs throughout September until Oct. 19 offering a vast
array of free or low-cost family-friendly events and workshops led by
community centres and non-profit community groups.
You could learn how to grow micro-greens (to stay super healthy this
winter), make delicious mason jar salads, take a Korean cooking class
or find out everything you need to know about canning food.
There are also workshops on exploring dried goods and their cultural
role in the Chinese Canadian community and a panel discussion exploring
cultural perspectives on food waste.
The festival was created by the park board’s arts, culture and
engagement Team in 2009 to highlight diverse cultures, art, and
histories, as well as celebrate and foster community practices and
stories connected to food.
