The Non-Partisan Association council is going to announce imminently that it will put the $20 milliion for a new Trout Lake community centre back into the capital plan for 2009-2011.
That’s coming as a great relief to community centre presidents, who got alarmed when all money for community centres got dropped from the capital plan in the spring. That was because the plan — which is essentially the spending for any large projects in the next three years that has to be approved by voters during the civic election — has been squeezed by the ginormous cost overruns for the Olympics-related community-centre improvements of the last three years. That’s the Trout Lake and Killarney ice rinks, plus the complete makeover of the Hillcrest centre, which will be the Olympic curling facility in 2010, then the community centre and swimming pool after.
As well, all kinds of police and fire big-budget items are also on the ticket.
Danny Yu, president of the Marpole Community Centre, said it’s a relief that the NPA have decided to restore at least one community centre to the plan. (In case you’re confused, the Trout Lake ice rink is just one part of the community centre, so it will have a beautiful new ice-rink building soon and then the regular main part of the community centre is what the tussling is over.)
He says the park board renewal plan, which aims to keep replacing the city’s aging centres at a regular rate, has only been proceeding at one community centre every seven years, when it really needs to be one or two every three-year capital plan.
He and others will be at the city’s Sept. 15 public meeting on the capital plan to also get the council to at least put in some planning money for the next two centres on the list, Marpole and Hastings.
Don’t you love election time and the way it loosens the purse strings
5 responses so far ↓
1 Sarah Blyth // Sep 9, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Great News!
2 TM // Sep 9, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Smells a lot like vote-buying to me….an attempt to placate East Van residents still very sensitive to any hint of the NPA selling them out to VANOC….the 2008 NPA has a lot of work to do to distance itself from the Sam era.
http://www.bcandbeyond.wordpress.com
3 Wagamuffin // Sep 10, 2008 at 12:29 am
Awesome! I think this is a signal that the right (or is that left??) man for the mayor’s job was chosen at the NPA nomination meeting.
4 Rob Wynen // Sep 10, 2008 at 10:47 am
Yes this is a bit of good news but let us not forget that this situation was created by our current board, Trout Lake should never have been dropped off the capital plan in the first place. Most would agree that the Olympics are coming and that we want it to be a success. What concerns me is that while Trout Lake did get put back on the capital plan, once the election is over the next community centre up for renewal may not be so lucky.
We need to take a strong stand and ensure that our community centres continue to receive necessary funding and that we properly deal with olympic cost.
5 Ian Robertson // Sep 11, 2008 at 6:39 pm
While this is indeed welcome news I hope that funding for Trout Lake is supported by all Council members. Ongoing renewal of our community centres is vital. Vancouver is fortunate to have 23 community centres across the city that support and encourage distinct and unique neighborhoods. For many, a community centre can be the first point of contact when a resident first moves to the city; many provide health counseling and recreation programs for the young and seniors.
Rob, if your comment is directed to the current park board, you need to do your homework. If you did you would know that all the park commissioners have strongly advocated for funding to be in place for Trout Lake. In addition there have been funds allocated for new community centres in the previous two capital plans. New community centres at #1 Kingsway (replacing Mount Pleasant and soon to open) and Sunset were the recipients of this funding.
In my opinion, the task for future park boards will be to increase the pace of community centre renewal to at least two centres per capital plan.”
Ian Robertson
Park Commissioner
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