Author: Stuart Mackinnon

It is strange to think that the ideas I was fighting for in 1999 are still the issues 15 years later. Below is from the original BetterParks site that I started in 2001. Values never change.   I have always cared passionately for our parks and green spaces. Growing up

This marks the 300th posting since 2008 on this incarnation of the BetterParks blog. I originally started this blog in 2001 on an old Telus members site, and migrated over to blogspot 6 years later. One of the first postings on the original site was about my excitement with a

Well…here’s a press release we’ve wanted to see for a while. Seems like summer has started at Vancouver Parks! Vancouver Park Board News Release May 14, 2014 Starting this Victoria Day long weekend, the city’s outdoor pools and beaches will open, and lifeguards and Park Rangers will be on duty.

In the 9 May 2014 edition of the Vancouver Sun in a section called this day in history, they ran an article entitled “The failed industrial plans for Spanish Banks“, describing the plans of the former Municipality of Point Grey (1908-29) to industrialize the area we know today as Spanish

With a vote of 9-1, Cllr. Adriane Carr’s motion for campaign finance reform was defeated at City Council this past week. Surprise? Not really as all 9 dissenting votes came from Vision Vancouver and the NPA–the two parties that benefit most from unlimited campaign donations and lax rules on donation

City Counsellor Adriane Carr has submitted a notice of motion for a plebiscite to be held during next November’s civic election in Vancouver on keeping whales and dolphins in captivity. This is important as the Park Board will be reviewing their cetacean in captivity by-law in 2015.  Cllr. Carr has

The time has come for a change at the Aquarium. It is time for them to phase out the containment of whales and dolphin (cetaceans). If they won’t do it voluntarily then they must be compelled to. Next year the Park Board will re-negotiate the terms of the Aquariums lease

The development at Oakridge is just a little bit controversial. This new plan will see the corner of Cambie and 41st Avenue transformed from a low rise mall into a highly dense tower city. There are many controversial aspects to this proposal but perhaps none more so than the proposal

As we all watched the bizarre proceedings in the city of Toronto, and the consequences of the mayor’s behaviour, I think these events are symptomatic of a larger problem in Canadian politics. The mayor of Toronto will not step aside, no matter what the cost to his city, because he

They went with songs to the battle, they were young. Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall

What is with the Park Board? They pass a motion to put a new bicycle path through Kitsilano and Haddon Parks and then crumble when the public object. The motion came with a map clearly showing the route would put the path through both passive and active green areas. An

West End Neighbours (WEN) has launched a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against the City of Vancouver. Earlier the My Community Centre group also launched a suit against the City and Park Board. Is this the new way citizens protest against city government? Here is an article

The gloves are off, finally. The My Vancouver Community Centres group is taking the City and the Park Board to court and the Park Board has retaliated by issuing the 90 day notice of severing the Joint Operations Agreement with those community centre associations. Surreal to say the least. And

In a July 17 article in 24 hours, local pundit Daniel Fontaine asks the question, is it time to legalize booze at the beach? He also includes the idea of legalizing the consumption of alcohol in our parks as well. The idea of more alcohol in our public spaces has

‘To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a

Opinion: City park board, community centre associations at odds over plans to end volunteer-run operations  Special to The Vancouver Sun June 19, 2013 The following commentary was submitted by the following community centre association presidents: Robert Lockhart, Kerrisdale Community Centre Association; Massimo Rossetti, Hastings Community Association; Ainslie Kwan, Killarney Community

Frances Bula wrote a lovely article about the return of the corner store for the Globe and Mail and then commented on it on her blog, This is my reply to her article: Ah…the good old days. Growing up near 41st and Dunbar in the ’60′s we had Mr. Pyatt’s

By Betty Krawczyk. This article was first written as a Facebook posting and is reproduced by permission of the author. In the book”Games People Play” by Eric Berne (1964) the author delineates some of the more common social transactions between humans and describes them as games. AIN’T IT AWFUL is a