I have been chair of COPE’s parks committee since April 2012, and all too often in the past three years, I’ve talked to residents of Vancouver who are unhappy with the Vision-majority park board, and increasingly cynical about politicians in general. It is threatening the democratic fabric of our city. Why is this?

It’s about respect. And accountability.

The issues that I’ve heard about differ, but the disillusionment that results is all-too prevalent. A botched attempt at negotiating a new joint operating agreement with the park board’s partner community associations is still unresolved after 18 months for the associations who are negotiating, heading for the courts for those who are not negotiating, and has fostered an underlying distrust that could take years to heal.

Residents of Mount Pleasant wonder where their outdoor pool is, almost four years after it was included in the master Plan for the park at 16th and Ontario, bypassed in the 2012-2014 capital plan and not included in the draft capital plan for 2015-2018. Residents of Marpole were promised the remainder of the funding for their new community centre in the 2015-2018 capital plan, but the only reference to it in the draft is one sentence about more consultation needed around its location, with no funding attached. Residents of Northeast False Creek are increasingly frustrated with the non-appearance of a park that was promised more than two decades ago. Residents of Downtown South were shocked to discover that the final phase of Emery Barnes Park has been replaced by a condo tower, another issue that is headed for the courts. Where is the accountability?

Both the park board and city council promised us a greener city, but the residents of Oakridge discovered that in the plans for a much higher-density development at Oakridge Centre, the promised park is basically a fourth-storey plaza situated in the middle of a shopping centre. The park board interpreted a generalized public consultation that demonstrated a majority of people supported a continuation of the Seaside bikeway through Kitsilano (who wouldn’t support that?), only to discover the devil is in the details, and attempted to route a wide, paved bike path through a much-loved grove favoured by picnickers. The park board backed off on that one, threatened by yet another court case, but only after provoking an unnecessary confrontation between the cyclists and the people who only wanted to enjoy the most peaceful area of Hadden and Kitsilano Beach parks. Meanwhile, residents in historically park-deficient areas on the East Side of Vancouver such as the Downtown Eastside and Commercial Drive area are still park-deficient and faced with the possibility of significant densification which their parks cannot absorb.

Even when the park board stood up for the residents of Hastings and passed a motion that the park board be the governors of Hastings Park, their associates on Vision-dominated city council ignored the residents and awarded governance to the PNE. This, after the residents waited a decade for governance to be resolved, and patiently participated in the public process, only to be unjustly accused of wanting to get rid of the PNE, when time and again they emphasized that, yes, they were fine with the PNE having its share of the park, as long as they had their share, too.

No wonder disillusionment and cynicism are rampant, but it doesn’t have to be this way. COPE is a democratic civic party; our members elect our executive and our executive, and we carry this commitment when we elect representatives to our city’s governing bodies. It starts with meaningful public engagement and consultation, where all participants respect each other, and it ends with accountability. I hope to be part of that process as an elected parks commissioner.