#VanPoli | Movements Build Slowly, Inexorably

#VanPoli Civic Politics, Park Board, Vancouver, , , ,


Vancouver’s West End in the 1960s, a comfortable family neighbourhood next to Stanley Park

In the 1960s, when Vancouver was still very much a village rather than the thriving metropolis we know it to be today, in those near soporific, pre-movement times, rare was the occasion when the citizens of our fine city got up on their hind legs to protest the status quo or what seemed like the inevitable, as wealthy old men of circumstance wrought change unchallenged, untrammelled by reflection.


Tom ‘Not So Terrific’ Campbell, controversial Vancouver Mayor, in office from 1966 to 1972

Such was the case in 1971, when Vancouver Mayor Tom Campbell and his Non-Partisan Association Council cohorts decided that the time had come to develop the Coal Harbour site at the entrance to Stanley Park, cherished green space of long duration, but not much longer if Mr. Campbell — and the provincial government, led by 17-years-in-power Socred Premier W.A.C. Bennett — had their way.

The Coal Harbour site, owned by Harbour Park Developments, a politically connected local group with strong ties to the Non-Partisan Association, developer Tom Campbell — who in 1966 ran for Mayor as an independent, and won — and the Socred government, first unveiled their development plans in 1965.

The Four Seasons Hotel chain came forward in 1965 with a $40-million development plan on the Coal Harbour waterfront. The initial plan would house 3,000 people in three 30-storey buildings, including a 13-storey hotel and townhouses.

Over time, the development plan was expanded into an unheard of at the time $55-million massive multi-tower plan, with 15 apartment towers, ranging from 15 to 31 storeys set to be constructed on the then green space, a veritable high-rise forest along the Georgia Street causeway entrance to Stanley Park.

As you might well expect, the massive tower development plan for the 14-acre Coal Harbour waterfront site turned into a contentious issue that lasted for years and years, causing increasing numbers of people to rise up in adversarial opposition. The public wanted the site preserved as green space. Developers, Tom Campbell, the Non-Partisan Association, and the Social Credit government had other ideas.

Each week, for years, the community rose up in high dudgeon.

After all, the West End at the time was a single family dwelling neighbourhood, the tallest structure in Vancouver was the Marine Building on Burrard Street.

In 1966, each weekend for the first couple of months, a rag tag group of community activists — who came to include a young storefront lawyer, Mike Harcourt, and Darlene Marzari, an employee of the City — protested on the deserted site. Over time, their numbers grew to five hundred, and then a thousand, rising up in protest and stark and strident opposition to development plans for the cherished green space.


Vancouver City Councillor and then Mayor, Art Phillips; Councillors Walter Hardwick and Harry Rankin

In 1968, a reform-minded Art Phillips and his friend, Walter Hardwick — an Urban Planning professor at UBC, and a community leader whose work would come to shape the city and Metro Vancouver region — ran for Vancouver City Council under the banner of a civic party they had created, The Electors’ Action Movement (TEAM), securing two seats on City Council, joining a young lawyer by the name of Harry Rankin, who had been elected to Council in 1966, sitting in sole opposition to the developer-friendly Non-Partisan Association City Council of the day.

Throughout their campaign for office in 1968, both Art Phillips and Dr. Hardwick stated their clear opposition to the Harbour Parks Development / Four Seasons plan for the green space at the entrance to Stanley Park, standing with the community, and with Vancouver City Councillor Harry Rankin. Would community opposition to the Coal Harbour development plan, in ever increasing numbers, carry the day?

Only the continued opposition of Vancouver citizens could and would tell the tale.


A model of the Harbour Park Developments proposal for the entrance to Stanley Park. The $55-million development would have constructed 15 high-rise towers. Photo: Selwyn Pullan / PostMedia

By the early spring of 1971, hundreds of community activists gathered each weekend on the Coal Harbour site at the entrance to Stanley Park, in protest.


June 7, 1971. All Seasons Park after squatters reclaimed the site. Photo credit: Vancouver Sun

On May 29th, 1971, seventy community activists (hippies they were called by the press) took matters into their own hands, ripping down a fence surrounding the site, storming onto the Coal Harbour waterfront site to plant maple trees, setting up a camp of tents and ramshackle huts, the protest squat sustaining for a year, each subsequent weekend joined by hundreds and hundreds of concerned, mostly young, Vancouver citizens, at what was now called All Seasons Park.


September 23, 1971. An A-frame squatter’s shack in All Seasons Park. Photo: Ross Kenward / PostMedia

In early 1972, bowing to public pressure, a combative Tom Campbell announced there would be a plebiscite on the Four Seasons development, but that only property owners could vote.

This was roundly denounced at a public meeting on June 21, when urban planner Setty Pendakur dubbed the project “the biggest abortion in the history of development in Canada.” Pendakur said the development would create traffic chaos at the entrance to Stanley Park, that Council was confusing people with its plebiscite.

Property owners voted to reject the Four Seasons proposal by 51%. Then the federal government stepped in. On February 10, 1972, Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s government killed the proposal by withholding the transfer of a crucial water lot.


1972.  Alderman Harry Rankin talking to activists at All Seasons Park. Photo: Gord Croucher / PostMedia

With a new Mayor and majority progressive T.E.A.M. (The Electors’ Action Movement) Council voted into office in 1972 by a public eager for change, led by Mayor Art Phillips, with Walter Hardwick, Darlene Marzari, Mike Harcourt and Setty Pendakur securing seats on, perhaps, Vancouver’s most progressive Council ever, in November 1973, the City of Vancouver bought the entire site for $6.4 million.

The green space at the entrance to Stanley Park is now known as Devonian Harbour Park, but for some of us, it will always be All Seasons Park.

Some historical source material for this article provided by Vancouver Sun reporter John Mackie.

There is a correlation to be drawn between the movement leading to the defeat years ago of the Harbour Park Development project at the entrance to Stanley Park — championed by the City Council of the day — and the movement opposition of, now, 200 informed citizens (and more) who gathered at City Hall two weeks ago, and again this past Monday evening to state their opposition to the initiative of the Ken Sim-led ABC Vancouver City Council to eliminate Vancouver’s cherished, 135-year-old, independent and elected Board of Parks and Recreation.

Movements start off small, with generally only a few of our better informed citizens coming to the fore to state their opposition.

As time passes, more of our citizens become informed, inform themselves, taking the power to change for the better into their own hands, to rise up for the better, to work in common cause with friends and neighbours who share their concern to, in time, elect a more democratically-minded local government committed to the livability of our beloved city.

#SaveOurParkBoard | A Preservation Conversation

#VanPoli Civic Politics, Park Board, Vancouver, , , , , ,

On Monday evening, February 12th, 2024, approximately 100 citizens tried-and-true, almost to a person strong advocates for the preservation of Vancouver’s cherished 135-year-old independent, elected Vancouver Park Board met together.

Why do we say almost to a person?

Because at meeting’s outset, a group of “concerned citizens” were present, who did their best to hijack the meeting, to push their agenda that take our present Park Board to task for failing to “save the trees in Stanley Park.” A righteous cause, for sure (or, perhaps not) but not the reason why the 100, or so, people meeting in the Hillcrest Community Centre gym on Monday evening had gathered together in common cause, which is to say: save Vancouver’s much cherished and beloved 135-year-old independent, elected Board of Parks and Recreation.

The video above pretty much presents the highlights of Monday night’s phenomenally moving meeting of a sterling group of Vancouver’s finest, most activist citizens, persons possessed of uncommon wit and intelligence, heart and conscience, committed to a social democracy that champions the community, the hope of our present and our future, folks who could just as easily stayed at home, but instead gathered in common cause to work together to preserve our elected Park Board.

Terri Clark, in charge of Park Board communications from 1973-2008, was present, as was Erin Shum, a past Park Board Commissioner (and one of our very favourites), in the city, traveling from her home in the Okanagan, and Jerry Fast, the President of the Kitsilano Community Centre — to whom we owe a thousand apologies — as well as former Killarney Community Centre President Ainslee Kwan (another one of our very favourites), and someone who we’ve been asked not to write about — cuz she’s in the employ of the City, and no one, we mean no one (except maybe a dastardly few in the administration and employ of Mayor Ken Sim … hey, it’s politics, and the current folks at City Hall, like many folks in past civic administrations, play hard ball) wants to see this fine woman of character, intelligence and passion for our city have her employment with the City jeopardized.

Of course, Scott Jensen — current Vice-Chair of Park Board — was present.

One wonders if Mr. Jensen ever thought for a moment — when a couple of years back, then ABC Vancouver candidate for Mayor Ken Sim asked him to run for Vancouver Park Board on his party’s slate — whether a couple of years on he’d find himself in the midst of a trying political maelstrom that rather than lead to an enhanced quality of life instead has changed his focus, such that too much of his energy is being directed away from his family, his satisfying career of contribution as an educator, and his very important work as a Park Board Commissioner.

Still, as a nascent #SaveOurParkBoard movement begins to burgeon, how can one not take heart that we are together a small but sturdy group of activists working collectively in common cause, part of a salutary movement for the ages in our little burgh by the sea, destined to be recorded in the history books as a grassroots democratic movement the likes of which we’ve not seen in Vancouver in decades.

Fills one with hope for a better, more democratic and more community-minded city.

#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.

Stories of a Life | Redux | Marriage For The Better

Jude and Megan, Stories of a Life Redux, VanRamblings, , ,

Megan Jessica Tomlin at age 7 in 1984, black and white photo
Megan Jessica Tomlin, aged 7. Photo credit: Cathy McLean.

When out for a walk in our Kitsilano neighbourhood when Megan was 7 years of age, as we were walking down the street heading towards Jericho Beach, Megan stopped and turned to me, and said in a matter-of-fact and portentous manner, “Dad, when I grow up, I’m going to get married.”

“Good for you,” I said to Megan in response.

As we were nearing McBride Park on that sunny summer 1984 Saturday afternoon, Megan pulled me over to sit on the grass opposite the tennis courts to begin a discourse on her thoughts on marriage …

“I could marry a poor boy, and I would love him, and he would love me, and we would have children together, and be as happy as happy could be every moment of our lives together, for many, many years of wedded bliss, happily raising our children together, all of us loving one another.”

“On the other hand, I could marry a rich boy, someone  I could love with all my heart, and we would have children, and love our children as much as it possible for a parent to love their children — which, if you and mom are any indication as to how much love there is to be given to their children, is a huge love, one of immense and sustaining proportion.”

“Now, if I was to marry the rich boy, and we were to have children together, as we most assuredly would, each of the children would have their own bedroom, and my husband and I would have ours. My children would not want for anything, ever, we could travel, and every day of our lives together would be filled with joy untold, our love for one another carrying us through all of our days, in a life of immense satisfaction and happiness, in comfort and without concern to distract from our lives.”

“Y’know, Dad, if I have a choice, I am going to marry the rich boy.”

Megan’s extemporaneous but thoughtful treatise on marriage was surprising for a number of reasons, the most prominent being that her mother and I were in the midst of an overtly contentious and very ugly divorce and custody battle that had gone on for some years — which both Jude and Megan found themselves precipitously and distressingly in the middle of — so I found it to be a bit more than surprising she would ever want to marry, given what she was experiencing with her own parents, that she had quite obviously given the matter some thought, and how pragmatic she was about whom she might choose to marry, and the — forgive me for saying so, but somewhat mercenary — criteria she had set for her future intended, and the tenor of the married life she felt assured would follow.

Make no mistake, Megan was raised as a feminist and a socialist — at least by me, her mother’s “politics” post marriage reverting to the conservative politics of her parents, and the peers of her distinctly privileged youth.

Over time, Megan and I returned to the topic of her future marriage — still many, many years away — as I took pains to impress upon Megan the necessity of agency, that she should always be true to herself and to her values of compassion and contribution, that love must be a part of her life always, but not if it were to come at the expense of her independence and place in society as a difference maker striving to make ours a better and more just world for all.

From time to time, Cathy would catch wind of my philosophizing and say to me, “Stop lecturing the kids. They don’t like it!”

And Megan?

Yes, Megan married the “rich boy”, the two very happy together, their children perhaps not quite so much (children, as we all know can be, and often are, rebellious, as Megan was with her mother most of the time she was growing up, and as she often was with me — honestly, it’s to be expected), although her children (and her lovely and successful husband, Maz) love her to distraction, Megan in “middle age” quite the sophisticated (if too bourgeoise for my tastes, if I might be so bold as to say so) woman of 46 years of age, her life not having taken the path of her best friend growing up, Kasari Govender (she/her/hers, who took office as B.C.’s first independent Human Rights Commissioner on September 3, 2019), but for Megan, her life still one of meaning and substance, if not quite the degree of societal contribution for which she possesses an unparalleled aptitude.