Author: Stuart Mackinnon

Over Spring Break my friends, Louis and Darcy and I, made a trek half-way up the Lynn Headwaters trail in North Vancouver. This is a fairly easy hike of about 12 km there and back, though we did run into snow and icy trails. Here is a photo Louis took

Here’s a “Tweet” from the Park Board from 10 o’clock this morning:________________________________________________________Vancouver Park Board ‏ @ParkBoard Park Naming report withdrawn from tonight’s Park Board Committee: GM and Vice Chair to work on further analysis and recommendations.________________________________________________________ Incidently, the Vice Chair is Aaron Jasper.

Stuart Mackinnon March 21, 2012 City Caucus.com If we rename a Strathcona park, philanthropist Milton Wong might top the candidates list Guidelines approved in 2007 give community a voice over elected officials on naming parks. Monday vote will change that. Names are important. They are how we identify ourselves, each

By Sandra Thomas, Vancouver Courier March 21, 2012 A former park board commissioner says a proposal to change the way parks and public spaces are named by the Vision Vancouver-dominated park board opens the door to nepotism. Stuart Mackinnon served one term on the park board as a Green Party

A motion is coming forward to the Park Board on Monday 19 March which will take the naming of parks out of the hands of the community and put it back into the hands of the politicians. This was the method used until 2007 when a new protocol was adopted

The city budget passed which will mean fewer services and less maintenance for parks and recreation in Vancouver. While the city did increase the budget allocation to parks, it was not enough to meet the costs of the department. For years the Vancouver School Board has been saying that they

You might remember last year when the Vision dominated Park Board threatened to close washrooms in its bid to slash the budget ordered by City Council. This was a cynical attempt to goad the public into action, only to be saved at the last minute by a relenting Council. Meanwhile

By Carlito Pablo, February 24, 2012 www.straight.com Publish Date: February 24, 2012 For as long as Mike Cotter knows, Vancouver’s Jericho Beach has always been a lifeguarded beach. But to the dismay of the long-time general manager of the Jericho Centre Sailing Association, lifeguard services may be cut from this

Animals rights hyperbole alienates public, hurts cause By Mark Hasiuk, Vancouver Courier February 21, 2012 Save the whales, from the animal rights folk. No other North American social movement has been more damaged, more pushed to the fringe, by extremists than the so-called animal rights movement. Regularly, intransigence from hardcode

On Thursday, March 8th from 10am to 6pm, CNIS and Ten Thousand Villages will partner for a one-day fundraiser to celebrate International Women’s Day, and to support CNIS’ efforts in providing ‘safe birthing practices to low-income communities in Africa.44 Ten Thousand Villages stores across the country will participate in this

With another Vision majority on the Park Board we have 3 more years of them doing pretty much whatever they want. That is the nature of democracy and I respect that. I have not always agreed with the direction they have taken and voiced my concern while I was sitting

I’ve been greatly honoured by being invited to join the Board of the Friends of the Bloedel Conservatory. You might recall that the last Park Board tried to close this jewel on the hill in an effort to cut the budget. With an incredible outpouring of public support and the

I applaud Andrea Reimer and Vision Vancouver for the motion to seek electoral financial reform in Vancouver. Of course this is really a matter for the provincial government through amendments to the Vancouver Charter, but they will only act on a request from the City. The Province has been very

Vision Vancouver is calling for electoral-financing reform Vancouver CKNW AM980 Gord MacDonald | Email news tips to gmacdonald@cknw.com 1/24/2012 The governing party at Vancouver City Hall wants a ban on corporate and union donations in civic election campaigns. That and a number of other ideas to reform the local election

A news release today from the Park Board announces an app for iphone users to get information on individual parks. This is an initiative I spearheaded on the last Board. Joyce Courtney and her team have worked miracles to get this up and running. There are so many applications for

Good news for those of us in Canada. We can now order the cd single of Wherever You Are from Amazon.ca: UK two track CD pressing of this 2011 single. `Wherever You Are’ is a moving love song written by Royal Wedding composer Paul Mealor for the wives of RMB

Tonight is the start of Hanakkuh, the Jewish festival of lights. We are just 4 days away from Christmas Eve (one of my favourite celebrations in the year), for the Celts amongst us Winter Solstice is upon us tomorrow, Pancha Ganapati is celebrated by the followers of Ganesh, and for

I’ve been working on public space issues for more than 12 years now, and blogging for about 10. It has been incredibly frustrating but also amazingly rewarding. Having grown up in Vancouver I have been able to watch the changes to the city and its public spaces for more than