Category Archives: Park Board

#VanPoli | Ken Sim | Swagger | Bullying, Misogyny & Hubris | Pt. 1

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ABC Vancouver Mayor, Ken Sim

What is it with men who lack humility, intellectual heft, or have little character and no experience, and their unwholesome mistreatment of women?

In the case of Mayor Ken Sim, perhaps there is a partial answer to the multiple questions above, deriving from Mr. Sim’s use of the word “swagger”.

Social media response to former Park Board Chairperson, Anita Romaniuk

A Definition of Swagger

Pompous, arrogant, boastful. An insolent braggart, and from the definition of insolent:  disrespectful, rude, insulting in manner and speech, and deviant.

Swagger. Think: that jerk on the beach in a too small swimsuit who believes he’s God’s gift to women, who moves with a near drunken stagger, on the prowl for a victim of his all-too-visible misogyny and disdain for women, a man who is lacking in fidelity of purpose, and a little man devoid of empathy, and humanity.


Mayor Ken Sim, the next time he uses the word swagger, think: misogynist, arrogant, pompous, lacking in character, intellect and empathy, boastful, braggart, rude, scornful, with no conscience.

Under the current provincial Police Act, the Mayor of Vancouver upon election becomes the de facto Chairperson of the Vancouver Police Board.

Faye Wightman led several high-profile agencies before Solicitor General Mike Farnworth appointed Ms. Wightman, a well-respected and accomplished member of our community, to the Vancouver Police Board, in September 2020.

In past years, dating back to 1990, Ms. Wightman served as CEO of the Vancouver Foundation, CEO of B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation, vice-president of the University of Victoria, Board Chair of Inspire Health, and interim CEO of the Canadian Cancer Society, appointed as a B.C. Housing Commissioner, and Coast Capital Savings Executive Director.

“The Vancouver Police Board is guided by the values of independence, fairness, objectivity and accountability in all that it does,” Faye Wightman wrote in a statement she issued last week, following her resignation from the Police Board. “I believe Police Board Chair Ken Sim, and certain directors of the Board have lost sight of these key values, and I resigned.”

Faye Wightman’s departure comes less than a year after Police Board member Rachel Roy resigned in June 2023. Stephanie Johanssen also lost her job as Executive Director in November 2022, after serving three years and seven months in the role. Note should be made that Ms. Johanssen’s departure came the same month Mr. Sim and his ABC Vancouver majority Council were sworn into office.


From Mike Howell’s Glacier Media story: “The Vancouver Police Board won’t say why its Executive Director Stephanie Johanssen (far right) is no longer on the job.” File photo Mike Howell.

In a follow-up interview with Glacier Media’s Mike Howell, Ms. Wightman states …

“If the Board is comprised of directors who have a professional reliance on the City of Vancouver for funding, or on maintaining a positive relationship with the Mayor, who also chairs the Police Board, then their objectivity is compromised,” Ms. Wightman said in her statement.

“That is the case with two of our directors at the [police board] and it was becoming clear they were in a position of conflict.”

Ms. Wightman also named Trevor Ford, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, when asked about her allegation of interference from Mayor Ken Sim’s staff.

“[Trevor Ford] came to an in-camera meeting, he phoned and directed Board members to fire the Executive Director,” Ms. Wightman alleged in the interview.

“He sat in on one-on-one meetings that the Mayor had with individual Board members. If that’s not political interference, I’m not sure what is.”

Vancouver Police Board Executive Director Stephanie Johanssen,  Board member Rachel Roy and now Faye Wightman, who has stated that “Ken Sim, from the outset and throughout our tenure together on the Police Board repeatedly asked for my resignation.”

Gone.

Harassment of Ms. Wightman? Political inference from the Mayor’s Chief  of Staff in the firing of Police Board Executive Director, Stephanie Johannsen?

VanRamblings, in reading Ms. Wightman’s statement, believes so, yes.

Readers. Do you notice a pattern?

Could it be that Mayor Ken Sim demanded the resignation of the three strong women of accomplishment written about above because Vancouver’s current Mayor finds strong women of character, integrity and accomplishment threatening, and as such they must be excised from his circle of influence?

Not to worry, though.

Although B.C. Solicitor General Mike Farnworth has been uncharacteristically silent following the resignation of Ms. Wightman as his chosen appointee to the Vancouver Police Board, fear not …

Premier David Eby in his GlobalBC interview on Police Act reforms, states …

“I understand there’s some concern in Vancouver right now. The reforms (to the Police Act) are clearly needed. We’ll be working with local governments, and with police and the public in terms of the changes that are coming forward. The Solicitor General’s office is working on it right now.”

GlobalBC reporter Catherine Urquhart ends her report, stating …

“Legislation changing the Police Act to remove Mayors from police boards is expected to come as early as the spring session.”


British Columbia Solicitor General Mike Farnworth keeping his powder dry. Buh-bye, Mayor Ken Sim.

Solicitor General Farnworth’s silence thus far = revenge is a dish best served cold.

#VanPoli | The Parlous State of Politics in Our Little Burgh by the Sea

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Sam Sullivan, one-term Mayor of Vancouver, 2005 – 2008

On Friday, June 29, 2006, without prior notice, Non-Partisan Association Mayor of Vancouver Sam Sullivan fired all the members of the Board of Variance.

The announcement firing all five members of the Board was made late on the Friday afternoon, in a press release emanating from the Mayor’s office.

The decision to fire the five members of the Board of Variance was contrary to the advice of former Non-Partisan Association Councillor George Puil, who the Mayor and NPA Councillor Peter Ladner had called in to “investigate” the Board, with Mr. Puil reporting back following his exhaustive six month investigation of the Board.

In his report to the Mayor and Councillor Ladner, Mr. Puil told Mayor Sam Sullivan and Councillor Peter Ladner that he had found no wrong-doing on the part of the Board of Variance members and, in fact, in his discussion with dozens of citizens of the community who had appeared before the Board with their appeal of a decision of the City of Vancouver’s Development Services and Planning Departments — citizens ranging from homeowners and members of the community, to developers — they had found the Board to be a fair and thoughftul body, adjudicating the appeals that were brought before the Board with a seriousness of purpose and intent.

Mr. Puil strongly advised Mayor Sullivan and Mr. Ladner against firing the Board.

“Let them finish out their term,” Mr. Puil advised. “The terms of Board members Terry Martin and Jan Pierce will end later this year or early next, with Raymond Tomlin’s term to be completed not too long after, with Quincey Kirschner and Tony Tang’s tenure on the Board to be completed before the next election.

Allow the current members of the Board of Variance to finish out their terms,” Mr. Puil intoned, “and replace them with stalwart members of the NPA to three-year terms on the Board, and should Vision Vancouver gain victory at the polls in 2008, our people will be in place on the Board, which means, we win.“


Peter Ladner, Non-Partisan Association Vancouver City Councillor, 2008, NPA Mayoralty candidate

NPA Councillor Peter Ladner maintained the members of the Board were fired because they had “refused to bring legal and administrative spending under control,” to which accusation fired Board Chairperson Terry Martin responded …

“Legal and administrative fees were never discussed with city officials. In fact, the Board had cut its administrative costs by $8,500,” said Mr. Martin, in an interview with CBC Vancouver.

At 6pm on the Friday evening, each of four of the members of the Board of Variance — Terry Martin, Jan Pierce, Raymond Tomlin and Tony Tang — received a hand-delivered letter from the City advising them of the termination of their work on the City’s Board of Variance. Board member Quincey Kirschner (pictured above), 27, had moved recently, and did not receive the letter of termination. Ms. Kirschner was otherwise unavailable on the Friday night. Raymond Tomlin was assigned the task of calling Ms. Kirschner on Saturday morning to advise her of the termination of her work on the Board of Variance.

When contacted on the Saturday morning at 9 a.m., still in bed and groggy, after a night out on the town, Ms. Kirschner was informed by Mr. Tomlin of her “sacking” (as it was referred to in the press).

Ms. Kirschner cried for an extended period of time, and was inconsolable.

Ms. Kirschner had poured her life blood, her passion, her integrity and immense dedication into her work on Vancouver’s Board of Variance, following her appointment as a Board member in late 2005, spending hours each week pouring over the six-inch thick binders Board members received each Thursday or Friday afternoon, and informing herself of the intricacies of development, planning, zoning and community consultation on planning and development and decisions.

Background and history. In the 1950s, by an order of the U.S. and Canadian Supreme Courts, Boards of Variance were created in all communities across the North American continent, communites with 10,000 or more citizens, as independent, lay bodies, protective of and advocates for the community interest, these lay bodies responsible for overseeing all development in the city that did not conform with City zoning bylaws, or in the case of new construction were overheight, lacked the property frontage, where shadowing impinged on a neighbour’s property, or were not otherwise outright approvals of the City’s Planning and Development Services departments — ranging from simple home renovations, to the construction of high-rise towers in their communities, the Board of Variance responsible for hearing appeals from the public on all such related matters.

The arrogance displayed by Mayor Sam Sullivan in his unprecented firing of the members of the Board of Variance, and other matters of misjudgment eventually led to internal dissension in the majority Non-Partisan Association caucus on Vancouver City Council, which in 2008 resulted in Mr. Sullivan being denied the opportunity  to run for re-election that year. Councillor Peter Ladner was chosen as the Non-Partisan Association Mayoral candidate, instead, in 2008.

On November 15, 2008, the Non-Partisan Association was all but wiped out at the polls, losing the Mayor’s chair and four seats on Council, losing to novice Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson by nearly 20,000 votes, Vision Vancouver securing seven Council seats, giving the party a “super majority” on Vancouver City Council, allowing them to pass budgets and conduct the affairs of government without input from the three-member (two COPE, David Cadman, and Ellen Woodsworth; one NPA, Suzanne Anton) opposition on Vancouver City Council.

There is a correlation between one-term Non-Partisan Association Mayor Sam Sullivan, and current and certain-to-be one -term ABC Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, a topic VanRamblings will explore in depth this upcoming Monday, February 12th.

#VanPoli | ABC Vancouver Popularity Plummets, OneCity + Greens Rise

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In the 2022 Vancouver municipal election, the upstart ABC Vancouver civic party — a creation of founder / financier Peter Armstrong — came out of nowhere to secure an overwhelming victory at the polls, securing 34.5% of the vote, with the Greens trailing at 11.24%, and OneCity Vancouver managing 9.79% in voter popularity.

How ABC Vancouver’s fortunes have changed only 15 turbulent months later.


Saturday, October 15, 2022 | ABC Vancouver wins the Mayor’s chair, electing eight City Councillors

Let us count the ways in which ABC Vancouver has lost popularity with the public.

  • ABC Vancouver’s first budget raised property taxes by a whopping, unprecedented 10.7% (triple that for small business), alienating huge portions of the public;
  • ABC Vancouver jettisoned the City’s Livable Wage Programme, which pays the employees of suppliers of goods and services to the city approximately $24-an-hour;
  • ABC Vancouver shuttered the City’s Rental Office, telling the public that the monies it took to run the Rental Office would be transferred to TRAC, the Tenant Resources and Advisory Centre, and would move TRAC into new offices on Howe Street downtown.

    Surprise    , surprise, TRAC has not moved into the new offices that had been promised, which three years on remains under construction, and in addition, has yet to receive one red cent from the City. You gotta love “conservatives”: they lie like we breathe;
  • On December 13, 2023,  Vancouver’s rookie Mayor, Ken Sim, announced that his ABC Vancouver City Council would abolish the cherished 135-year-old Vancouver Park Board,  with an application to the province to change the Vancouver Charter to facilitate an undemocratic, unmandated, appalling change in City governance.

In 2022, a paltry 36.3% of eligible voters turned out at the polls to elect a new Vancouver City Council, School Board and Park Board — which means that the vast majority of Vancouver voters … 63.7% … stayed home, and couldn’t be bothered to, either, inform themselves of the issues in the last Vancouver municipal election, or take an hour or less to attend at their local polling station to cast their ballot.


Global BC newscasters Chris Gailus and Sophie Liu host B.C.’s top-rated suppertime news programme

Numeris (formerly the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement) is Canada’s audience measurement organization, tracks our country’s highly fragmented and increasingly complex media landscape, as it attempts to bring clarity and an understanding of audience behaviours and insights to an evolving cross-media landscape.

According to Numeris, only 18% of British Columbians tune in to watch news programmes on Global BC, CTV Vancouver, CBC Vancouver and CityNews, and their local affiliates’ news programmes. Where, then, do British Columbians get their news, if 82% of B.C. adults don’t get their news from television news programmes?

Newspapers remain a popular deliverer of the news for people age 35 and older.

The findings of a study held in Canada between October 2022 and September 2023 revealed that 32% of Canadians only read print newspapers on a weekly basis, whereas 6% read newspapers via computer only. For those persons between the ages of 35 and 49 across all regions in Canada, only 23.89% of persons in that age bracket read, watch or listen to the news once a week or more.

A growing number of people selectively avoid news stories, such as the war between Israel and Gaza, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the cost-of-living issue.

Thirty-eight per cent of those surveyed actively avoid the news, up from 29% in 2021, according to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Around 36% — particularly those under age 35 — say that the news lowers their mood.

“Large numbers of people see the media as subject to undue political influence, and only a small minority believe most news organizations put what’s best for society ahead of their own commercial interest,” writes Reuters Institute Director Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, in a Reuters report based on an online survey of 93,432 people, conducted in 46 markets across Canada.


Gen Z (1997-2012) and Millennials (1980-1996) acquire news, predominately, from their Tik Tok app

Younger audiences, those under 45, are increasingly accessing the news via platforms such as TikTok, or from their friends, and have a weak connection to online or conventional media. Forty percent of that age group uses TikTok daily, with 15% saying they use it to find, discuss or share news.

What is the context and meaning of the preceding information, and its impact on Vancouver politics, the current fight to preserve Vancouver’s Board of Parks and Recreation, and the re-election chances of ABC Vancouver come 2026?

Where Vision Vancouver’s success in their ten years at the helm of politics in Vancouver was dependent on three groups who consistently turned out in droves to support the party at election time …

  • Unions. Vision Vancouver set the wage scale agenda during their time in power,  not just locally, but in municipalities across British Columbia and beyond, in the public sector where it moved the provincial government off its 1-1-1 agenda, and by extension in the private sector, the union vote in the City of Vancouver, loyal and consistently good for 45,000 votes at the polls in strong support for Vision Vancouver;
  • The active transportation lobby (think: Hub Cycling), who are committed to bike lanes and a healthy, environmentally friendly and livable city, with fit, cycling Millennials turning out in droves to re-elect Vision Vancouver at election time; and …
  • The 2SLGBTQIA community, whose support Vision Vancouver worked tirelessly to gain and maintain, and for whom it could depend on at least 20,000 votes at the polls — as was the case with the bike lobby — in the 2008, 2011 and 2014 civic elections.

ABC Vancouver has no natural constituency in our decidedly progressive, left-of-centre, NDP-voting city on the far shores of western Canada.

The 2022 Vancouver municipal election was a “kick the bums out” election, with dismayed, disgruntled and disquieted Vancouverites sick-and-tired of a lazy, do-nothing, whiny Kennedy Stewart administration, which had non-productive relations provincially with John Horgan’s NDP government, federally with Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party of Canada, and in 2022 with the Vancouver electorate.

As we say, ABC has no natural constituency in the voting Vancouver electorate, their election to civic government in 2022 a blip on the political radar, and consequent from a dissatisfaction among the electorate with the previous administration, a well-run campaign by master electoral tactician and motivator, Kareem Mahmoud Abbas Allam, and bucketfuls of money from Rocky Mountaineer tourism founder Peter Armstrong, and Lululemon lifestyle founding promoter, Chip Wilson.

Well, Mr. Allam is gone now — having pulled away from ABC Vancouver one year ago —  the powers that be at The Vancouver Club and Terminal City out for blood and set to do all in their power to oppose the re-election of Ken Sim and company, not to mention a significant and engaged majority of the 36.3% of Vancouver voters who turned up at the polls in 2022 also out for blood, alienated beyond all measure with the autocratic, anti-democratic administration of Ken Sim and his crew of “we’ll go along to get along, and do whatever” ABC Vancouver lickspittles.

The Sword of Damocles hangs ominously and precariously over the heads of the “certain to be one term” ABC Vancouver administration at Vancouver City Hall, the arbitrary and unilateral move to eliminate Vancouver’s cherished Park Board — which over the past 135 years has given the citizens of our province a world class parks and recreation system — the final straw, as engaged Vancouverites in high dudgeon, certain to work towards not the elimination of the Vancouver Park Board, but the elimination of the “they know the cost of everything, and the value of nothing” ABC Vancouver civic party from the political landscape of our city.

#SaveOurParkBoard | A Passionate, Reasoned, Well-Attended Town Hall

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This past Thursday afternoon, Green Party of Vancouver City Councillors Pete Fry and Adriane Carr, and One City Vancouver Councillor Christine Boyle organized a spirited Town Hall — with more than 200 passionate, reasoned citizens in attendance, who oppose the elimination of an independent, elected Park Board — the event taking place in the Joe Wai Room, on the main floor of Vancouver City Hall.


Vancouver City Councillors, l-r:  the Green Party’s Pete Fry and Adriane Carr + OneCity Vancouver’s Christine Boyle

One of the most compelling speakers of the afternoon was Terri Clark, Vancouver Park Board’s Public Affairs Communications Manager from 1973 through 2008.

“In all my years at Park Board, our General Managers worked productively with Vancouver City Managers Fritz Bowers (1977-1990), Ken Dobell (1990-1998) and Judy Rogers (1999-2008). Ours was a relationship of mutual respect and co-operation.

Necessary funds were always provided by the City for the upkeep and maintenance of Vancouver’s parks, pools and community centres, in order to best serve the public interest.

               Photo credit: Elvira Lount
First row, above: l-r, Park Board Commissioner Tom Digby | John Coupar, former Park Board Chair | Tricia Barker, Commissioner, last term | Laura Christensen, current independent Commissioner; Bottom row, l-r. Michael Wiebe, former Commissioner, former City Councillor | Sarah Blyth, former two term Commissioner | Brennan Bastyovanszky, current independent Park Board Chair.

Recent maintenance problems at the Aquatic Centre or Kits Pool would never have been allowed to happen in Mr. Bowers’,  Dobell’s and Judy Rogers time as City Manager at Vancouver City Hall.

In September 2009, before Susan Mundick, Park Board’s General Manager (1998-2009), announced her “retirement“, City Manager Penny Ballem had stripped Ms. Mundick of all her duties, stating she would “help park board choose Ms. Mundick’s replacement”, a selection process City Hall had never previously been involved in.

If our pools and community centres are in disrepair today, as Mayor Sim has pointed out, such a circumstance arises from City Hall’s decision to cut Park Board out of any and all maintenance decisions, ceding those responsibilities to the City, which over the past dozen years has largely ignored the needs of what was once a world class parks and recreation system of which we were proud.”

Several past and current Park Board Commissioners addressed those who had gathered at City Hall last Thursday, including: Michael Wiebe, who spoke about the role of Park Board Commissioners in preserving the natural environment; past Park Board Chair, John Coupar, who addressed the role of Park Board in creating a livable city;  both Sarah Blyth and Tricia Barker reminded those present that “Ken Sim and his ABC Council were not given a mandate to abolish the Vancouver Park Board”; while formerly ABC Vancouver but now independent Park Board Commissioners Brennan Bastyovanszky, Scott Jensen and Laura Christensen committed to continuing their work in the community to preserve the invaluable 135-year legacy of an independent, elected Vancouver Park Board that serves the interests of all British Columbians and “those who visit our beautiful city”.

Several speakers referenced an article in The Vancouver Sun, written by Canadian gardening legend Brian Minter, who writes …

“The Vancouver Park Board maintains 242 parks that comprises 11% cent of Vancouver land. In addition, Park Board maintains 22 kilometres of seawall at Stanley Park, and walkways along False Creek. Park Board’s mandate includes 10 ocean beaches and a freshwater lake beach. Not only are they responsible for the city’s recreation programmes, services and community centres and facilities, park infrastructure comes under their jurisdiction.

In a time of significant climate change with the huge challenges of heat and drought, and the drive to expand green spaces, a high priority must be placed on the viability of parks. The importance of green spaces, the many proven benefits to both our health and wellness are well-documented, as our needs continue to grow.

The Vancouver Park Board is one of our region’s most important public assets and needs dedicated people and citizen engagement to ensure the long-term viability of  B.C.’s, and indeed, Canada’s, most spectacular green spaces, for generations to come.”

And then there’s the disposition of the 242 Vancouver’s parks, one hundred of which do not a have a protected park designation.


Former ABC, now independent PB Commissioners, l-r: Laura Christensen, Brennan Bastyovanszky, Scott Jensen

Perhaps the most articulate and moving participant in Thursday afternoon’s Town Hall was Laura Christensen’s month-old daughter, who cried throughout most of the proceeding, voicing the despair clearly felt by her mother — to whom Mayor Ken Sim had committed his support, when he asked her to run as a Park Board Commissioner on his ABC Vancouver slate — and the despair and frustration of those who had gathered together in common cause to, as one speaker, said “fight ABC’s undemocratic initiative to abolish our cherished, independent Park Board.”