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October 12, 2006
Parks Board Openly Scorns Public Opinion
Posted by Jeff in Sports & Play

oct_11_06_thebird.jpgEveryone at the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House was treated to a not-so-encouraging look into the inner workings of the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation last night. The topic of discussion was the fate of China Creek skatepark (which I mentioned last week) and Parks Board representative Michel Desrochers demonstrated how little weight public opinion carries in the Board's decision making process.

The results of a neighbourhood poll were posted on the wall and in a sample of 147 residents of the neighbourhood, over 70% were in favour of Option 1, which involves keeping the existing skatepark as it is and spending the remaining money on other park upgrades such as a bike path, new trees, and a playground. However, Michel announced that in spite of this fact, the Board is going to recommend the other option (which was favoured by about 15% of the respondents) to the city planners. That's the one where the bowls are removed and a playground with an attached smaller skatespot is built in their place. He also gave us a new piece of information regarding the newer, smaller skateboard facility that will potentially be taking the place of the old one... it's going to be for young children only. That's especially interesting considering the number of non-skateboarding park neighbours who are concerned about the loss of the anti-junkie effect that skateboarders currently have on the park. A number of parents who have kids that skateboard said that their children like having the older skaters around to watch and learn from. There were about 50 people in attendance and not a single person had anything negative to say about the skatepark. A couple of people noted that, over the last two years of meetings, while a number of viable solutions have been proposed to deal with the major complaints regarding the skatepark, no attempt has been made by the Board to integrate those suggestions into the plans. It was definitely a busy night for Michel, who was even criticized by one attendee for not having taken any form of meeting minutes. Politicians are a thick-skinned lot though, so all of these comments rolled off his back without leaving so much as a streak and he stuck to his guns. "I know what all of you want, but my professional opinion is that you'd all be better off with what I think you want".

I guess I shouldn't really be suprised that a public official would ignore the preferences of the people who he has been appointed to serve. It seems to happen enough that it's sort of become the norm. But I am suprised. And annoyed.

So that was the final public Parks Board meeting on the subject of China Creek South Park. The next step is the city meeting when the Parks Board presents its recommendations to City Council.

Photo courtesy of tuppus.

Comments

Shit. Good for you for going. Now people have got to make contact with council to stop it. Letters, petitions phone calls etc.

Posted by: sarah at October 12, 2006 09:28 AM

This is ridiculous. I am super annoyed by this.

"I know what all of you want, but my professional opinion is that you'd all be better off with what I think you want".

What the hell kind of comment is that and how does his professional oppinion have leverage over what the majority wants? Why seek public oppinion at all? Just wasting more of our time and money for nothing.

The junkies will be back in that park in no time and the kids won't be safe to skate there or play in the playgroud cause there will be needles everwhere to step on etc.

Bah!

Posted by: Lee Ann at October 12, 2006 12:51 PM

Did you actually say that to him? I hope so.

Posted by: Ariadna [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 12, 2006 01:46 PM

Please note that that was a paraphrase, not an exact quotation. He swung around the "my professional opinion" thing quite a bit as he dismissed various public concerns.

And yes, he knows that the junkies will return. That exact concern was brought up at the meeting by a number of non-skateboarding neighbours. The Parks Board is already well aware of how skateboarders keep junkies away because of their experience with Andy Livingstone Park.

Posted by: Jeff [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 12, 2006 04:08 PM

China Creek is not going down, what about historical site standings, we should petittion to make it a historical site, which would mean,it stays as is with upkeep as a part of the clause, just a thought

Posted by: Char at October 12, 2006 11:35 PM

design announce defend.

the whole night michel spent defending his decision and rebutting the crowd rather than listening to a community.

plus he managed to us the skate strategy against use, since the park doesn't conform to the indicators it sets out. a document which he also played a major role in creating and is the long term strategy for skating in the city.

what a waste of community time.

Posted by: jazz hands death metal feet at October 13, 2006 03:40 AM

The historical site issue was brought up at the meeting but was basically laughed off by Michel.

Posted by: Jeff [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 13, 2006 10:40 AM

do i hear "email campaign"? michel.desrochers@vancouver.ca

Posted by: k3nt at October 14, 2006 02:19 AM

E-mail the Parks Board Commissioners directly as it is THEIR vote that will decide the final fate of the park. Let's tell the elected officials our side of the story since there are no meeting minutes of what went down on Wednesday night.

List of Commissioner emails can be found at:
http://www.vancouver.ca/parks/board/commissioners.htm

Posted by: Howard Redekopp at October 15, 2006 10:45 AM

The planners seem concerned about a skate area being so close to a daycare and playground.

Two examples of skate parks co-existing successfully with children's areas: Seylynn park has a daycare right next door in the Rec Centre, and of course Metrotown skate park literally shares a concrete wall with the kid's playground. Keeping China Creek's skate area as-is makes the park useful for ALL ages.

I thought part of skate culture is inter-mingling between age groups and the younger kids learning from older skaters. Bulldozing the existing park and putting in a "junior skate area" would purposely shut out adolescents and teenagers from their neighbourhood park. This makes no sense.

Posted by: Gayle at October 15, 2006 10:55 AM

Hi,

I've been following this for a while, and can say I'm quite concerned about what I'm hearing happened at the meeting. I live 5 blocks from the park, and love that it's busy with boarders. It makes it a much more welcoming park.
I'd encourage you to keep writing the other park commissioners who can be reached at pbcomment@vancouver.ca.

Spencer Herbert
Park Commissioner

Posted by: Spencer Herbert at October 16, 2006 09:37 AM

what happened at china creek today

Posted by: sarah at October 16, 2006 05:57 PM

I did an interview and shot some photos with The Province and 24 Hours. Then eight Skate Coalition people met with city councillors Al DeGenova and Spencer Herbert and started getting a plan together. I'm doing another interview/photo shoot with Metro tomorrow.

Posted by: Jeff [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 16, 2006 09:57 PM

saw you on the cover way to get the word out

Posted by: sarah at October 17, 2006 09:41 PM

I'll also be on "The World Today" with John McComb on CKNW (AM 980) today at 3:45.

Posted by: Jeff [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 18, 2006 01:20 PM

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