After six sometimes stormy years on the Vancouver park board, Aaron Jasper's name will not be on the ballot as a Vision Vancouver candidate in the 2014 municipal election.

Jasper, who chairs the board, told the Georgia Straight that he feels "privileged" to be a commissioner, but he wants to spend more time with his family.

He and his wife Arminder have a three-year-old daughter and their son will turn one on Thursday (April 10).

"I put in easily 20-plus hours a week as chair on top of work and family" Jasper said. "It's getting to be a bit of a strain."

As he spoke on the phone, he was occasionally interrupted by his son.

"You can hear the reason right here," Jasper quipped in reference to why he's not running again.

For the first time, B.C. municipal politicians, including park commissioners, will serve four year terms following the 2014 elections.

In a statement issued this morning, Jasper said that he did not want to spend another four years on the board if it meant missing dinners at home, swimming lessons, soccer games, or going for walks.

"Those of you who are parents know just how important these early years are, how quickly they go by and how juggling careers and family can be challenging at the best of times," Jasper said in the statement. "We wouldn’t change a thing!"

In his early years on the board, Jasper was often the spokesperson for the Vision Vancouver park-board caucus, which bore the brunt of public anger after the Vision-controlled council imposed cuts to transfer payments.

This was caused primarily by a decision to shift the tax burden from businesses to homeowners, reducing the amount of overall revenue that could have been collected.

"I never in my wildest dreams imagined getting elected and having to face having to make $5 million in cuts over three years, but we find ourselves in recession," Jasper told the Straight in December 2010. "Let's hope that with the economy improving that in the coming years we won't have to face these kinds of steep cuts."

By December 2012, Jasper was expressing relief to the Straight that after four consecutive years of cuts, the board wouldn't be trimming expenses. 

In fact, spending rose by nearly $4 million over those four years, but that wasn't sufficient to offset rising costs. That led to the higher fees and reductions in the frequency of grass cutting.

In recent years, the Vision-controlled board has tried to negotiate a new joint operating agreement with community-centre associations, but six of them balked, taking the park board to court.

In January, the associations obtained an injunction stopping the board from cancelling its agreements.

The following month, the Vision-controlled board cancelled a plan to create a separated bike path through Hadden Park. It came after an opponent of the plan, Megan Carvell Davis, launched legal action. 

Jasper claimed in his statement that the board maintained "accessibility of quality programming throughout all our facilities", despite the recession.

Specifically, he cited public investment in Grandview Park, the English Bay seawall, and the VanDusen Botanical Gardens visitor centre.

"We have also put our support behind other important projects such as the Killarney Seniors Centre and the renewal of the Bloedel Conservatory," he declared.

At times, Jasper himself was condemned by NPA politicians for his stance on the proposed seniors centre and on the conservatory, which Vision was prepared to close. It reversed course in the face of a substantial public backlash.

Jasper also mentioned the board's role in the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, festivals to celebrate birthdays of Vancouver and Stanley Park, and the installation of a monument for the Komagata Maru at Harbour Green Park.

"We brought in a 'No Smoking' bylaw for all Vancouver parks, playgrounds and beaches and in collaboration with the Rick Hansen Foundation, opened the first fully accessible playground in Vancouver at Kits Beach," Jasper added.

He also noted that the park board has reduced its carbon footprint and issued more than 110,000 OneCards "with the goal of giving residents increased access to a network of affordable programs across the city".

Prior to entering politics, Jasper was a West End neighbourhood activist who worked with others to prevent the provincial government from shutting down St. Paul's Hospital. After he lost his job as a tour-bus operator, he became a real-estate agent.

A long-time New Democrat, Jasper was an early supporter of Jack Layton's campaign to become the national party leader. And like Layton, Jasper often spoke in office about the need to take action to address climate change.

However, Jasper was also one of the most partisan Vision commissioners, sometimes seeming to take delight in attacking former Green commissioner Stuart Mackinnon as well as his NPA opponents.

The Vision Vancouver–controlled board was supportive of the Vancouver Aquarium's expansion plans in Stanley Park, which had been approved by the previous NPA-controlled board.

In 2010, Jasper and the other Vision commissioners voted against Mackinnon's motion to hold a plebiscite in 2011 on keeping whales and dolphins in captivity.

He justified this by saying that the former board had already agreed with the aquarium to review the issue in 2015—and to hold a vote earlier would open the board up to a lawsuit.

"Why would we risk legal action from the aquarium and still not be able to do anything about the matter for four years?" Jasper told the Straight at the time.