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LET’S NOT BE CHILDREN
An Open Letter To Mayor Ken Sim

Glenda Bartosh.

by Glenda Barosh
(Click images to enlarge. Find related links below)

When it comes to the park board — and democracy — we need an adult in the mayor's chair who knows his history ABCs.

I don't usually go around quoting aphorisms. But once in a while you come across one that sinks its teeth into an issue so well you just can't ignore it. In this case, it's: "Not to know what happened before one was born is always to be a child."

Cicero had some good advice for Mayor sim — about 2,000 years ago.

It's from Marcus Cicero. Italian. Lived around 2,000 years ago. Roman statesman, philosopher, and one of the first major social and political thinkers in our shared human history — one still highly regarded, especially when it comes to ideas around democracy and community.

Cicero's saying keeps rolling through my mind as I consider Mayor Ken Sim and his foot-stomping, selfish, seemingly single-handed decision to dissolve Vancouver's park board. ‘I want it gone. Make it go.’ Or something to that effect.

Not to say that he can do it single-handedly. Of course, he needed the blind partisan support of his ABC super-majority on city council after, ironically, blindsiding his own ABC park board commissioners with his explosive announcement in December.

It was as though he'd forgotten his own history and that of his party. For countless sources, including former ABC park commissioners, have loudly reminded us that in 2022 when the brand new ABC ('A Better City' now seems ironic) party formed in the wake of the defunct NPA party — a bastion of Vancouver’s political scene since 1937 when it was created "to develop a proper sense of civic consciousness and a due sense of civic pride" (ahem) — Mr. Sim and his candidates clearly said they'd keep the park board. Who knew it was up for grabs?

Now the three former ABC park board commissioners who sit as independents swing between anger and embarrassment that their leader did such an about-face, leaving them embarrassingly hanging. (For more, check out Mike Howell’s reporting and Tim Louis’ blog.)

The bigger page from history that happened long before Mr. Sim was born — one he seems to neither know nor care about — is the reasoning behind the creation of the board.

Founded in 1888 for the sole purpose of overseeing the one singular green space that's more heart than park in Vancouver — namely, Stanley Park — the park board structure as created by the Vancouver Charter was meant to be unique and dynamic. The board was intentionally made to not be a direct part of city hall. Rather, according to Vancouver Heritage Foundation, it's supposed to walk an unusual, sometimes tough line, one that makes Vancouver stand out, and be outstanding: "…[T]he Vancouver Park Board is the only elected body of its type in Canada, setting it up for constant friction, at one time or another, with all other elected groups. That single fact has made all the difference in our character as a city."   

Scott Jensen.

Thank goodness three commissioners — Brennan Bastyovanszky, who now sits as chair; vice chair Scott Jensen; and Laura Christensen — decided to think for themselves and joined the only non-ABC commissioner, the Green's Tom Digby, to stand tall and stand up to the dictator, I mean mayor.

Now, don't be offended by the former term, or think it's too dramatic. In its stripped down meaning, a dictator is simply anyone who tells people what to do in an autocratic way — taking no account of other people's wishes or opinions.

Brennan Bastyovanszky.

That's exactly what was evident at a dynamic town hall meeting February 3 in a highly unusual moment in the hall's 135-year history. Three city councillors — the Green's Adriane Carr and Pete Fry along with OneCity's Christine Boyle — organized what some described as an unprecedented event, even using funds from their own discretionary budgets to pay for security and other services at the meeting.

Laura Christensen.

The room was packed, with not an ABC member in sight. Of the 44 informed, passionate people who spoke, including many former park board commissioners and city councillors, only one supported Mayor Sim's idea. The tone and thunderous rounds of applause said it all: Many people's wishes and opinions sure haven't been taken into account by Mr. Sim.

As councillor Pete Fry pointed out in a Mike Howell article, "What is really at issue here is the elimination of an elected board and the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of Vancouverites who went out and voted for park board commissioners and a vision that they put forward.”

But don't count on the democratic cog that the ABC's super majority on council has to first get approval from our provincial government (more on that that in a minute). For now, the whole thing smacks of Cicero's blinded child.

That includes Mr. Sim's false arguments and accusations — like the death of thousands of trees in Stanley Park are the fault of the park board. What?! A quick internet search reveals that it's another cyclic infestation of looper moths that killed the trees, something that's been happening long before Mr. Sim was born, only this attack was intensified by climate change.

Or that the leaks in Kitsilano Pool are all the fault of the park board. City hall's own records clearly state that the city's Real Estate and Facilities Management Department has been in charge of the pool and its maintenance, or lack thereof, for years.

In fact, the city has been in charge of maintaining park board facilities for the past 15 years, since Vision Vancouver and then-city manager Penny Ballem reviewed core services and decided to centralize them to save money and reduce overlap. So if you knew your history, logic dictates that dissolving the park board and sweeping its functions into city hall would bode worse, not better, for our parks.

Another thing you'd expect from a child: Mr. Sim repeatedly insists that doing the above will save millions. But then he never explains how.

Larry Beasley.

All this reminds me of something Vancouver's former director of planning and much-vaunted urban design guru, Larry Beasley, pointed out at a recent presentation he made at SFU on the City’s view cones. These protect treasured views of the North Shore mountains — views, like our parks, that define the city and are part of our shared commons anyone can enjoy, whether you're rich or not.

Yes, over time you should revisit and review things in your civic fabric, iconic or not, and ensure they're delivering what you want. But as Larry Beasley said, it's how you do it that matters. You pick the best team with expertise from many different perspectives. You do your research and learn from history. You take your time to make the best decisions. And, most of all, you welcome public input.

But view cones and our park board aren't the only Vancouver icons in Mr. Sim's and ABC's sightlines. There's the concept of selling naming rights. Which would you rather visit — Sunset Beach, or Lululemon Beach?. And selling off some of Vancouver's park land, like maybe the edges of Langara Golf Course.

I have to say I'm of like mind with one of our long-term West End neighbours — a city councillor who regularly earns the most votes, and someone I've respected since she was my geography instructor at journalism school. As Adriane Carr says, "It’s very frustrating to witness a wholly undemocratic move to oust a duly elected board based on flimsy reasons.

"It’s equally frustrating to know that the city’s auditor general had, just last November, recommended ways for the park board to improve revenues and the park board committed to implementing those recommendations.

"Why not let that process unroll?" Why not, indeed.

With all this broiling, don't take anything for granted, especially not the assumption that wisdom will prevail at the provincial level and the whole thing will be stopped.

Write, phone, email the Premier’s office and your local MLA. Ours here in the West End is Spencer Chandra Herbert, who also happens to be a former park board commissioner. Tell them you value our independent, elected park board, for B.C. Municipal Affairs Minister Anne Kang has already confirmed that work has begun with the city to move forward on dismantling it.

Maybe Minister Kang needs some history lessons, too.

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West End resident Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who
values the democratic process — and history.

Views expressed in guest “Viewpoints” columns are those of the authors.