Vancouver politicians 'shocked' by mayor's bid to take over tent-city park
Credit to Author: Matt Robinson| Date: Thu, 05 Sep 2019 01:41:26 +0000
Park board and city councillors reacted with surprise Wednesday at Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s bid to take control over Oppenheimer Park as a step toward ending a continuing tent city at the site.
John Coupar, a park board commissioner with the Non-Partisan Association, called the move, which he said he learned of late Tuesday after reading an article by the Vancouver Sun, a “shocking development.”
“I’m not aware of anything like this happening in the history of the park board since 1888,” Coupar said.
The park board’s work is valued by residents and entrenched in the Vancouver Charter, Coupar said, and he fretted that this move may just be “the thin edge of the wedge.”
Coupar said he would not support the mayor’s idea. Rather, he said the next tool in the park board’s toolbox was an injunction and he encouraged other members to consider that. It is unclear whether board members had already discussed that option, and Coupar would not say as much. Had it been discussed, it would have been in camera.
Stewart told reporters Wednesday that temporary jurisdiction over the park would allow he and city staff to devise a full plan for the park.
“Right now we have a plan that’s devised with park board having ultimate jurisdiction over, for example, whether or not an injunction is brought into the park. That is their sole decision to make. And what’s happening now I think has stalled and we need to move forward with other options,” he said.
Stewart said this year’s tent city has been the largest encampment the city had ever seen at the site. It has spurred 500 police calls, sustained 20 tent fires and was the site of the recent assault of a female minor, he said.
Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart at Wednesday’s news conference. ‘Right now we have a plan that’s devised with park board having ultimate jurisdiction over, for example, whether or not an injunction is brought into the park,’ Stewart told reporters. ‘That is their sole decision to make. And what’s happening now I think has stalled and we need to move forward with other options.’
There are enough shelter spaces available to house all of the remaining 40-or-so tenters, Stewart said.
“We’re finding, though, that some folks in the park may need a little nudge to move ahead,” he said.
Asked by a reporter whether the nudge he was speaking of was an injunction, Stewart said merely “there’s all kinds of ways.”
It would take affirmative votes at both park board and city council for the city to take temporary control, according to city staff.
Pete Fry, a city councillor with the Green party, was also surprised by the mayor’s move. He said he didn’t want it to turn into a slippery slope that led to a disempowered park board, and he questioned how different the situation would be if the city had control. Fry said he wanted to see a different type of solution than others that had earlier been tried.
“I might support an injunction if I thought, for instance, we had a place for folks to go that was like a sanctioned tent camping area,” he said.
For Coupar, Stewart had jumped the gun by announcing a move that commissioners were not aware of.
“He’s going to need a two-thirds majority of both bodies. That’s a very high bar … I think it’s a bit of a political ploy, to be quite honest.”
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.