Final Public Consultation

Since when should an elected Parks board be allowed to close the Bloedel Conservatory that was built with the aid of a $1.4 million donation by the Bloedel family … without the permission of the citizens?

The Bloedel family was also involved in the H. R. MacMillan Planetarium, the MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. Canadiana Collection in the public library, and the H. R. MacMillan Gallery of Whales at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre. The Bloedel building designed by Arthur Erickson. Also given by the Bloedel family was the Henry Moore bronze sculpture “Knife Edge” beside the Conservatory.

Let Council know your thoughts!

The public research that Council completed (or paid for) suggests that most of you believe that a tax increase is appropriate to address the budget issues. (see Q 14 of http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20091201/documents/rr1.pdf)

Council suggested a maximum 2% tax increase in October and then began the consultation. I’m not sure where the 2% cap came from and public opinion suggests that more than 2% is also supported. A mix of cuts, efficiencies, and tax increase seems like the way to go. Council just needs to rebalance this ratio based upon the public feedback. I do not mind paying an additional $3 per week for the services provided by our municipal government…

The police budget should be cut proportionally to the other budgets that are being cut!

In his most recent book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell (a Canadian by the way) outlines how it was the legalization of abortion, not police efforts, that reduced crime in the US by reducing the number of people that were most likely to become criminals. In other words, the level of policing had less of an impact on reducing crime than social measures. And yet, here we are once again protecting the police budget from the same proportional cuts as other sectors of our city’s budget.

Meanwhile, the library can do it’s own creative cost cutting. But rather than close the bindery, perhaps they could start by asking the patrons directly which services they would be willing to part with. And rather than cutting the lower paying part-time positions, try cutting some high paid executives and deferring executive salary hikes. Many of the city’s more vulnerable people rely on those jobs as a sole source of income.

That goes the same for the Park Board. Cutting the children’s farmyard at a time when you are telling people that they should be buying local farm products is counterintuitive to the message you are promoting. Most children don’t get to experience direct interaction with farm animals.

My sincere suggestion to this annual dilemma is to make the necessary cuts proportionally across the board to make it through the next year. Then over the coming year, take an honest and hard look at what we want our city to look like in 50 years and base decisions on that vision rather than managing by crisis.

Mayor Roberston, you said you do things differently. Now is your opportunity to show us that you meant what you said.

The city of Vancouver is out fo control. They have no idea what they spend on items that all areas could use. The #311 system should be scrapped. This White Elephant is an added cost that has stripped Vancouver Citizens of services they deserve. The 311 system, is into huge overruns. That is one reason why the city is short of money. Come clean. This American style, depersonalizing, waste of time, has got to go.

I do not support the closure of the farmyard. I was born and raised in Vancouver and it is one of my fondest childhood memories. Surely, we can keep it open and save costs elsewhere or accept donations. There has to be a solution and the Parks Board decision is totally short-sited and selfish. If only kids had a say in that decision.

The Vision’s Vancouver candidates for Park Board were elected on a platform of doing things differently (different than the past NPA). They said they were going to consult with citzens and carry out their wishes. This Park Board did exactly like past NPA Board’s did - cunsult the public, ignore what they say and go with staff recommendations which were exact opposite of what the public consultation process indicated.

The Vancouver Park Board have overstepped their mandate in my opinion.

I’m outraged that four Vision commissioners, each with less than one year’s experience in elected office or policy making have decided to do away with two long standing Vancouver institutions, with virtually no public consultation or debate.

The Conservatory and Children’s Farmyard are invaluable assets to this city and need to be preserved.

The Park Board mission is to “Provide, Preserve and Advocate” - not to destroy.
This is a decision best decided by the people of Vancouver, not agenda-bound political neophytes.

Please include some funds to begin the all-important community vision and planning process for the West End in 2010. Nine other communities have had this done already. It’s urgent here, where immense pressure to do one-off rezoning approvals threatens to decide our future by default.

Library users need to be more vocal and ask the Public library management to look for innovative ways to cover a small budget shortfall. Cut management? Charge a voluntary user fee? Think. Think of something. And if we, the public, think of suggestions, we should write to our councillors or the Vancouver Public Library, even a short email.

I am only a library user, not an employee, but even I can see the library staff morale has fallen since the Bindery was closed and now there is talk of more privatization of library services. We live in a democracy and we need to ask politely and firmly for a review of how these decisions are made. Vancouver Public Library is a wonderful resource, we should all be asking the City to keep it that way. If enough of us speak up, we can maintain the integrity of the library.

I will second the motion on the libraries: they are integral parts of our communities and make our city more liveable.

The Downtown Historic Railway has run only every other year for the past five years. After massive upgrades to track and infrastructure surely it should be possible to find the $12,000 it costs to run it for a season. With no advertising budget and no payroll, this public amenity attracts tourism, benefits business and fosters community pride. I’d be happy to pay more for a ride if it came to that–the tram is such a great value to everyone!

Please fund our libraries properly. They are invaluable community resources, especially in tough economic times.