Vancouver Park Board votes to continue work in defiance of mayor's plans
Commissioners formerly with mayor's party, now sitting as independents, pass motion that reaffirms their oaths
In what may go down as a purely symbolic motion, a majority of Vancouver Park Board commissioners voted to continue the elected board's plans and reaffirm their oaths on Monday.
It comes just over a week after Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim announced he would ask the province to get rid of the park board and move its responsibilities to city council.
Vancouver is the only large city in Canada that has an independently elected board to look after parks and recreation.
Sim is expected to table a motion on Wednesday that makes his proposal a formal one — a motion that is likely to be passed given his ABC Vancouver councillors hold an overwhelming majority.
However, in a show of defiance Monday, park board commissioners voted on an "urgent motion" that reaffirms their oath of office and directs staff to not re-prioritize any work in light of the mayor's plans.
Despite ABC also holding a nominal majority on the park board, three of their commissioners — Brennan Bastyovanszky, Laura Christensen and Scott Jensen — say they are now sitting as independents and helped pass the motion in a 4-3 vote to loud applause from attendees.
"I think what makes this board very powerful is it gives a voice to those in the community who often don't get a chance to speak," Jensen had said earlier in the meeting. "We have a lot of neighbourhood groups that advocate hard for their parks."
More than two dozen former commissioners attended Monday's meeting to show their support for the park board.
Melissa de Genova, who served one term on the park board and later served on council, said neither current commissioners nor park user groups and stakeholders were informed of Sim's plan ahead of time.
"It's a really unique board — as we all know it's a gem and a jewel in our city," she told CBC News. "And I think that it's really important that we stand up for it."
De Genova said the board has played an important role in advocating for green space in Vancouver, and she feared that if park planning became the responsibility of city council, it wouldn't move fast enough to protect parks and facilities.
But the remaining ABC commissioners on the park board said the institution was archaic and no longer served a purpose.
One of them, Jas Virdi, argued that council taking over the planning for parks and recreation would be more cost-effective.
"I feel sick to my stomach coming here, eating free meals and going to free events," he said. "And at the end of it, we do nothing until council funds our motion."
Sim's principal argument for the abolition of the park board is also that it would save money and be more efficient.
However, he has not yet provided a cost estimate for how much the city would save if the park board was abolished.
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With files from Justin McElroy and Liam Britten