Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone?
They paved paradisePut up a parking lot.
(Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi", 1970)
If these lyrics ring true, you will soon witness the demolition of Riley Park Community Centre under the guise of saving money and adhering to a dated master plan to convert the buildings to additional parking and green space. The Riley Park Community Centre has been consigned to this fate because the park board refuses to grant a six-month moratorium to a group of concerned residents who believe the facility is worth keeping. Residents see the demolition as a blatant contradiction of the city governments own programs for planned, sustainable development, public participation in decision-making and becoming the world's greenest city. Importantly, the residents request is a reasoned response to the citys development plans for the area.
The Little Mountain area is coming under extraordinary pressure to densify along the Cambie corridor, at the Little Mountain housing site and along Main and Fraser Streets. As part of the Cambie Corridor Phase 2 planning, the city committed itself to, ensure that community facilities are expanded, upgraded or maintained.
The Riley Park South Cambie Community Visions (RPSC, at rpscvisions.ca) requested a moratorium on demolition to show how keeping Riley Park Community Centre will respond to population growth by supplementing the programs at the new Hillcrest complex. We proposed to focus on: childrendaycare, pre-school and after school programs; a comprehensive seniors centre including adult day-care; access for the physically challenged and space for arts and cultural groups.
We put forward a proposal that will bring non-profits, arts organizations and private business together to operate Riley Park Community Centre for the benefit of this growing community. These program and activities are given high priority in the Cambie Corridor planning document. But, one wonders if the park board has read either City Plan or the Cambie Corridor planning documents? If it has, does park board have any real role in the future cultural growth of our city? Does city council really believe in its own plan?
The new Hillcrest Recreation Centre, which is both a citywide destination and a community facility, is enormously successful and has already reached capacity. Plans to expand its fitness centre are already on the table. Within a short time, 10,000 new residents will be added to the Little Mountain area. It seems, however, that city council and park board do not read each others plans and programs. If they did, you would not have one part of government tearing down existing facilities while the other level pledges to expand them.
The city will seek to increase the quantity of childcare spaces within the Corridor corresponding to increases in population brought by new development. Cambie Corridor Phase 2.
A city councillor stated that it will cost at least $5 million to add the childcare spaces that existed in the Riley Community Centre facility. Why does park board plan to destroy a facility that can provide increased childcare for working families while the city calls for expanded services to meet growth?
The Cambie Corridor planning report prioritizes the need for,
Non-profit and cultural space within the Corridor to enhance the cultural and creative diversity of the City.
A revitalized Riley Park Centre can achieve this objective at little capital cost and would provide a range of new cultural activities. We put forward a proposal that will bring non-profits, arts organizations and private business together to operate Riley for the benefit of this growing community. One wonders if park board has read either city plan or the Cambie Corridor planning documents? If it has, does Parks and Recreation have any real role in the future cultural growth of our city? And does city council really believe in its own planning?
The Vision team is a strong proponent of environmental sustainability in development. Clearly, the most sustainable growth uses facilities that already exist such as Rileys which are still physically sound. There is, however, another part to sustainability that council and park board have overlooked, and that is the sustainability of neighbourhoods. Facilities and programs that nurture the talents of our future citizens and leaders as well as bring people together to share and to learn from one another speak to sustainability at a much deeper level. When we care for both our young and elders, we encourage the sharing of experience, ideas and skills; and that lays the groundwork for social cohesion that benefits our community for many decades to come. An intergenerational approach to meeting the challenges of population growth is one of the cornerstones of the RPSC Visions (Sec. 8&9Recreational Facilities and Services and Arts and Culture).
Nearly 2,000 people signed a petition in support of the moratorium. Still, park board chose not to listen to its citizens. City council, which publicly stated that local communities are to be respected and consulted, has chosen not to become involved. Council has stated that the fate of Riley Community Centre is a park board decision. The park board, however, does not concern itself with the citys development plans for the area.
Recently, the park board announced a public consultation process to discuss uses for the site after the buildings are demolished. At a minimum, our proposal warrants a moratorium so that the public can consider the option of continuing to operate the facility. Keeping Riley Park Community Centre is not an inconvenience to the park board. Instead, it presents the city with a unique opportunity to provide creative responses to some of the vexing problems of growth. If not taken however, the centres destruction will only prove that our local government is no more than a series of institutional silos that neither communicate nor work together effectively, incapable of finding immediate, practical and financially prudent solutions to the challenges of change.
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Allan Buium, a former high school instructor, is chairman of the Riley Park South Cambie Community Visions committee. Norm Dooley is member of the RPSC and a long-time resident of the Little Mountain area.
