Park Board Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak

March 13, 2020

Dear valued patron

The health and well-being of our patrons, partners and employees is always the top priority of the Park Board and as such, we are monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely. We pride ourselves on providing exceptional recreation and community programming, as well as stewarding and maintaining world-class park destinations in our city. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that we provide as much information about the precautionary steps we are taking to mitigate risk to our community.

Our staff are in daily contact with the City of Vancouver and provincial agencies who are leading the response to COVID-19 to ensure we are acting upon the most up-to-date information and to ensure our actions are proactive and appropriate.

At this time Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) indicates the public risk remains low, however, yesterday afternoon the Provincial Health Officer directed new protocols that have an impact on some of our events and services. We have been advised to cancel or postpone all public gatherings of more than 250 people.

Our team has done a complete review of all Park Board events that are scheduled to take place between now and June 30, 2020 and has cancelled the Stanley Park Easter Train, as well as the Easter Eggspedition at VanDusen Botanical Gardens. We will be issuing full refunds to any patrons who have already purchased tickets.

The new provincial protocols have also had a slight impact on our services. We have closed our saunas and steam rooms at recreation facilities until further notice. Given that the risk remains low, we are currently proceeding with our regularly scheduled programming. We are working with our Community Centre Associations to ensure that any patrons who are not comfortable continuing with their scheduled programming will be able to receive a refund.

We are following VCH's recommendations and reminding everyone to follow regular cold and flu season precautions when visiting our community centers and other public facilities.

The City of Vancouver's Emergency Management Agency (VEMA) has activated its emergency operations centre to bring some of the City's critical departments together to respond to the issue and ensure we are taking adequate and appropriate measures.

To date, we have taken the following proactive steps at our Park Board community centres, fitness facilities, pools, rinks, and other public venues such as VanDusen Botanical Garden and the Bloedel Conservatory. We will continue to make immediate adjustments as necessary.

• Implemented an enhanced cleaning schedule and protocols for the common and high traffic areas of our public facilities;

• Developed informational print and electronic signage in our facilities that encourages community members to wash their hands, cough into their sleeves and to stay home if they are feeling sick;

• Closed our saunas and steam rooms;

•  Limited users of Killarney and Hillcrest pools to 250 persons at a time;

• Created a dedicated page on our website with up-to-date information about any impacts to our services and facilities.

We will continue to welcome the community into our facilities and will continue to take precautionary measures to ensure the health and safety of the general public, our patrons, as well as our staff.

We are monitoring the situation closely and are making appropriate preparations should we need to take further action. We will be in touch with you should our approach change significantly and will provide timely updates on our website: 

www.vancouver.ca/COVID19

For up-to-date information about recreation facilities and services, please visit: 

www.vancouver.ca/recreation

Regards,

Malcolm Bromley

General Manager - Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation

Cherry Blossom events cancelled

UPDATED as of March 13, 2020: Following the recent provincial and federal health updates, Cherry Jam (Apr 2-3) and The Big Picnic (Apr 11) events will be cancelled.

We'll still be sharing as much cherry blossom excitement online with you as possible so stay tuned for more info! http://www.vcbf.ca

Stanley Park Easter Train and VanDusen Garden Easter Eggspedition events have been cancelled

The Stanley Park Easter Train and VanDusen Garden Easter Eggspedition events have been cancelled as they exceed the province’s new criteria of 250 attendees. 

TicketZone will be sending out an email to issue full refunds to all purchasers. Summer events scheduled July 1 onward are not cancelled at this time, but may be impacted depending on future direction from health authorities.

City responds to Provincial order to cancel gatherings of 250 people or more due to COVID-19

March 12 2020 – 

The City of Vancouver is currently reviewing all events and programs.

All gatherings with 250 people or more will be cancelled or postponed, as per today’s direction from the provincial health officer.

 

Shows scheduled for March 12 and March 13 at Vancouver Civic Theatres are cancelled

That includes the following:

Queen Elizabeth Theatre

• My Dad Wrote a Porno, March 12
• Shen Yun, March 13

Vancouver Playhouse

• PechaKucha Night Volume 51, March 12
• Chopin Society: Dina Yoffe, March 13

Orpheum

• The Beethoven Experience: A Most Remarkable Night I - March 13 

 

What the City of Vancouver is doing

City-run events, permitted events, or gatherings booked by third-party organizers are all currently under review.
We continue to work with internal and external partners, including Vancouver Coastal Health, on a proactive approach to deal with COVID-19.
We are:

• Reviewing all events and programs
• Cancelling or postponing all gatherings with 250 people or more, as per today’s (March 12, 2020) direction from the provincial health officer
• Increasing cleaning protocols at all City of Vancouver, Vancouver Park Board, and Vancouver Public Library facilities
• Posting signage at all facilities reminding both members of the public and staff to stay away if they are feeling sick
• Activating the City Business Continuity plans to ensure we can maintain our core City services, such as water, sewers, police, and fire
• Ensuring business-critical staff have the right tools should they need to work from home
• Working with the business community to assess and understand economic impact and potential strategies
• Responding to questions from the public and our staff, and re-directing to Vancouver Coastal Health as needed 

 

What you can do to protect us all

You can:

• Remain at home if you are feeling sick
• Wash your hands
• Cover your cough or sneeze

Stay informed about COVID-19 in Vancouver

Vancouver park board general manager Malcolm Bromley plans to retire after leaving lasting mark on city

by Charlie Smith on February 27th, 2020

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.

(c) 2020 Georgia Straight

Vancouver parks to offer free 'basic necessity' menstrual products in all washrooms

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.

 

  Susan Lazaruk  Updated: February 6, 2020 

 

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.

(c) 202 Vancouver Sun

‘How is that better?’ Clearing Oppenheimer Park will leave homeless in alleys: commissioner

By Simon Little Global News

Posted January 21, 2020 12:39 pm

The Vancouver Park Board held its first meeting since the winter break Monday night, but how to deal with the entrenched homeless camp at Oppenheimer Park was not on the agenda.

The board sent out a media release hours before the meeting saying that it was in the “final stages” of procuring a third party to help it facilitate a “decampment” of the park.

Hiring a third party was one of several key steps the board seemed to be necessary in early December, before it would seek an injunction to order campers to vacate. Amending the city’s camping in parks bylaw and securing housing for the campers are also required in that plan.
 The release provided no timeline to hire the third party.

The Non-Partisan Association (NPA)’s John Coupar, one of two park commissioners who have been pushing for an injunction since early summer, said he’s frustrated with the board’s pace.
“The board works under majority rules. They are moving forward with some steps, I’m happy to see those steps going forward, though obviously I’d like to see them go a little faster,” he said.

“It’s taken longer than I would have liked.”

Coupar said area residents and nearby businesses are feeling forgotten by the city as the situation in the park deteriorates, pointing to a deadly assault on New Year’s Day.

But former board chair and Green Commissioner Stuart Mackinnon defended the board’s approach, saying clearing the park without a bigger plan is pointless.

“Get an injunction and where will those people go?” he asked.

“They’re not going to go to Point Grey (Park), they’re not going to go to Killarney, they’re going to stay there, but they’re going to be on the streets, they’re going to be in the doorways, they’re going to be in the alleyways. How is that better?”

Mackinnon couldn’t say when the board would bring on its third-party consultant, other than to say an announcement was “imminent.”

But he said the board has been left to deal with an issue — homelessness — that is far out of the scope of its powers or resources.

“We know that Oppenheimer is a symptom of the problem, it is not the problem itself,” said Mackinnon. “We have people camping in many of our parks in the city.”

He said the root cause of the Oppenheimer encampment, and the cycle of evicting homeless people from parks and their subsequent return, won’t be addressed until there is adequate housing for the homeless.

© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Residents sleeping outside urged to visit Powell Street Getaway or extreme weather response shelters

January 9 2020

 
As temperatures drop this week, Powell Street Getaway – next to Oppenheimer Park - continues to open as a warming centre to ensure people have an option to come inside from the cold. Due to increased City of Vancouver funding, Powell Street Getaway has been open more frequently this winter, opening when the weather is 0 degrees instead of the previous threshold of -5 degrees.

The Province, in conjunction with Homelessness Services Association of BC and community organizations,  also opens additional shelter spaces when extreme weather alerts are issued on evenings such as tonight when the temperature is 0 degrees or feels like 0. Details on these shelters are attached.

 

Additional warming centres open from January 12

Warming centres will be activated from Sunday, January 12 to Wednesday, January 15. All are welcome and people can bring their carts and pets. People with their own bedding may choose to sleep at the centres and hot drinks and snacks are available.

 

Warming centre locations

January 12 to 14:

• Britannia Community Centre (Hours: 9pm to 8:30am)
• Vancouver Aquatic Centre (Hours: 10pm to 6am)
• Overdose Prevention Society (Hours: 11pm to 8am)

January 15

• Britannia Community Centre (Hours: 9pm to 8:30am)
• Overdose Prevention Society (Hours: 11pm to 8am )

The City urges anyone who is sleeping outside on a cold night to make use of facilities such as Powell Street Getaway or to call 2-1-1 to find out about available shelter spaces.

Since the start of winter, warming centres including Powell Street Getaway have been open on 23 nights, with more than 2,600 visits.

 

Are you concerned about someone sleeping outside?

If residents are concerned about an individual, they’re encouraged to check in with the person safely to see whether they want help, then direct them to a warming centre or EWR shelter PDF file (225 KB), or call 2-1-1. Members of the public who would like to donate warm clothing such as new socks, toques or gloves can call 2-1-1 to find out how.

During the day, those in need can also access low-cost meals and free shower and laundry facilities at Carnegie, Evelyne Saller, and Gathering Place community centres. These locations and other public buildings, such as libraries and community centres, are also available during their opening hours as spaces to warm up during extreme weather conditions.

Recycling your Christmas tree

Bring your tree for chipping, donate to charity

Every year, City staff and Lions Club volunteers provide Christmas tree chipping events. After the trees are chipped, they are taken to the Vancouver Landfill to be composted.

Your cash and non-perishable food donations collected at the events will be distributed to local charities.

*** Remove all decorations and tinsel ***

When:
Saturday, January 4 and Sunday, January 5, 10am to 4pm

Where: 

• Kerrisdale Community Ice Rink parking lot
  (5670 E Blvd, north of 41st Ave)
• Kitsilano Beach parking lot
  (Cornwall Ave and Arbutus St)
• Sunset Beach upper parking lot
  (Beach Ave and Broughton St)
• Trout Lake Community Centre parking lot
  (3360 Victoria Drive, south of E 12th Avenue)

Set out your tree for collection

Live, cut Christmas trees will be collected from households with City Green Bin service during the weekend of January 11 to 12, 2020. To ensure pickup, residents should set out their tree by 7am on Saturday, January 11.

To get your tree ready for pick-up:

• Remove all decorations and tinsel
• Lay the tree on its side
• Leave the tree loose (no bags, string, or rope)
• Do not put your tree inside your Green Bin

January 11 to 12 is also a designated leaf collection weekend. Leaves should be set out in paper yard waste bags or in store-bought bins (max. 100 litres) by 7am on Saturday, January 11.

Drop off your tree at the transfer station or landfill

Bring your tree to the Vancouver South Transfer Station or Vancouver Landfill for free until January 31.  

Remove all decorations and tinsel beforehand

Happy New Year!

for better parks and a better city

wishing you all health, happiness, and love