VanPlay master plan sets course for Vancouver’s next 50 years

October 10 2019 –

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.”

[ READ MORE ABOUT VANPLAY ]

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.

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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.

Vancouver Park Board’s newest park adding to livability of East Fraser Lands

October 8 2019 – 

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.

Vancouver Park Board approves Track and Field Strategy

October 1 2019 

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:

1. Design and infrastructure
2. Access and participation
3. Programming and cooperation
4. 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.

original posting here

Oppenheimer Park: We can have safety with compassion

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.

Nourish your mind with food, arts and culture at Vancouver’s Sustenance Festival

Elisia Seeber / Vancouver Is Awesome

September 19, 2019 

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.

Check out the full event calendar and program details at sustenancefestival.ca.

Click here for original article

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Social Justice

As an elected Green, I believe in the values of the global green movement. The Global Greens Charter identifies six guiding principles:

• Ecological wisdom
• Social justice
• Participatory democracy
• Nonviolence
• Sustainability
• Respect for diversity

Under the heading of Social Justice:

We assert that the key to social justice is the equitable distribution of social and natural resources, both locally and globally, to meet basic human needs unconditionally, and to ensure that all citizens have full opportunities for personal and social development.

We declare that there is no social justice without environmental justice, and no environmental justice without social justice.

This requires:

• a just organization of the world and a stable world economy which will close the widening gap between rich and poor, both within and between countries; balance the flow of resources from South to North; and lift the burden of debt on poor countries which prevents their development.
• the eradication of poverty, as an ethical, social, economic, and ecological imperative
• the elimination of illiteracy
• a new vision of citizenship built on equal rights for all individuals regardless of gender, race, age, religion, class, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, disability, wealth or health

For more on Green Values visit the Global Greens Charter.