The Non-Partisan Association’s (NPA) allegations that wacky Vision Vancouver priorities have led to poorly maintained parks this summer is a misrepresentation of the facts, according to Vancouver Park Board chairman Aaron Jasper.
The park board “shaved off a sliver” of its $10 million park maintenance budget last year because the sluggish economy meant less tax revenue to go around, Jasper told Business in Vancouver July 8.
Vancouver city council votes to provide the park board with about 60% of its $100 million annual budget. The balance comes from revenue generated from services like parking, green fees and concessions.
“We just went through the second-worst recession in the last how many decades,” Jasper said.
“There was a major economic downturn and the City of Vancouver – all municipalities – are required to balance their books. We can’t run deficits like the province or the federal government. They were running huge deficits because of the downturn in the economy.”
BIV reported last week that the park board voted to trim $700,000 from its 2011 budget in December. (See: “Maintenance cuts tarnish Vancouver parks’ beauty” – BIV Business Today; July 7).
Those cuts were not only for reduced park maintenance, they also included the twinning of the management of two community centres.
Jasper said Stanley Park and Queen Elizabeth Park are being maintained as they would be in a normal year. The only reductions to maintenance are to “fringe” areas of other parks, he said.
Non-groomed lawns near the seawall stem from causes other than budget cuts.
“It’s been a wet summer,” Jasper said. “We did work on the seawall area where we had to reseed. It hasn’t been the best opportunity to re-grow grass.
“We don’t go out there with a single guy and a lawn mower. We go out there with heavy equipment so we don’t go out when things are soggy and muddy.”
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