1. It’s day one on the job… and to start your work with the Park Board, you are invited to make one change in one park – which park do you pick, and what do you do?
Prohibit further commercial logging in Stanley Park or any other Vancouver City Park areas. Make sure any logging that occurs is only for the removal of trees that have been deemed to be unsafe by inspectors who are only beholden to the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Parks Board.
2. In your opinion, how well is the delivery of parks and public spaces aligned with the type of growth and change taking place in Vancouver’s neighbourhoods?
Parks and public spaces are central to a healthy and properly served community. Due to Vancouver being a growing urban area the last thing the city should be doing is decreasing or removing the amount of space, infrastructure, and amenities available to the public.
3. Heavier rains, more intense heat, and wildfire smoke are all being described as part of a “new normal” tied to climate change. Should Vancouver’s parks and recreation facilities play a part in supporting climate resilience or climate adaptation? If yes, how?
We must protect and expand the level of green canopy in Vancouver. We will establish the Green Canopy Office, a panel of experts from which City staff will be required to receive permission before removing trees. Furthermore, during events like heat domes or smoke causing unsafe levels of toxins in the air, community centers play a central role in providing refuge to citizens. Especially the most vulnerable, such as the elderly and or those facing housing insecurity.
4. The Park Board (and City) is under increasing pressure to find new ways to finance park upgrades, deliver new parks, and cover other capital and operational costs. How do you propose financing your priorities in the context of the broader City budgeting process?
Council should adequately fund parks and recreation from the tax base. Citizens of Vancouver already pay plenty in taxes and those dollars are supposed to be going to public spaces and recreation facilities anyways. “Think Big” commercialization will be halted, since our parks should not be primary focus of commercialization. Citizens should not be bombarded with advertising or blocked by closures for private events when accessing their parks.
5. Vancouver is a city with a very diverse population with lots of different cultures calling this place home. Should the Park Board be doing more to respond to the needs of different cultural user groups? If yes, what sorts of changes to Park Board processes or practices would you envision?
We will institute bottom-up governance. We will convene monthly town halls to meaningfully engage with citizens and their concerns – no matter who they are. In a properly functioning democratic community there is an obligation to provide access and space for commentary for all citizens regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.
6. We have to ask: are you planning – secretly, overtly, or otherwise – to abolish or reform the Park Board? If yes, what are you intending to do? In general, what’s your vision for Park Board governance?
Absolutely not. In fact, we are planning to expand the level of engagement the Parks Board has with the citizens of Vancouver. We will convene monthly town halls to meaningfully engage with citizens and their concerns. Then based on that engagement elected commissioners will set policy for the parks and public facilities. Unelected city staff will implement those policies, but those same staff will not be allowed not usurp the authority of commissioners to push their own policies that go against the public will.
7. In recent years, the Park Board has taken steps towards reconciliation, decolo
Yes, the voices and direction of hereditary leaders and traditional indigenous values is very important to us. However, we will not allow any entity, including but not limited to MST Development Corporation to commercialize Vancouver parks – as our policy is to protect Vancouver’s green spaces and not develop them into towers, businesses, parking lots etc.
8. What, if anything, do you think the Park Board should do to support/facilitate community activation and stewardship of park spaces and facilities?
Again, we fervently believe in bottom-up governance. Convening monthly town halls to meaningfully engage with citizens and their concerns is one of the best ways the Parks Board can stay closely connected and aligned with the citizenry of Vancouver.
9. We are living in a period of both increasing polarization and increasing social isolation. Should the Parks Board be doing more to respond to these issues? If yes, what do you propose?
We must make public spaces accessible for all income groups, otherwise those unable to afford ever-increasing user fees will be marginalized and priced out of what are supposed to be public facilities and resources.
For example, the cost of parking at many Vancouver’s Parks has gone completely out of control and prices out many individuals and families. Therefore, we will take actions like rescinding the recent parking fee increase at Spanish Banks and returning the cost to a much more sensible $1/hour.
10. Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself or your platform?
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