Pay parking at Spanish Banks may still become a reality as two new motions have been put forth this week by two different Vancouver Park Board commissioners.
The first motion, from Catherine Evans, suggests that while pay parking should still go ahead, a reduced rate should be made available. The motion proposes a program of flat-rate parking permits, including one-day permits to enable Vancouver residents to park in either some or all Park Board paid parking areas for a reduced rate.
The second motion, which comes from commissioner Casey Crawford, looks at the possibility of implementing “peak-season” parking from April 30th to September 30th, which would see pay parking at the four lots at Spanish Banks Beach Park. Potential revenue from such a plan is estimated to be over $300K, according to the motion.
This development is the latest in the back-and-forth situation surrounding the question of pay parking at Spanish Banks.
In February the park board announced they would implement pay parking at rates of $3.50 per hour or $13 per day for the summer period at Spanish Banks as of April 1st. That suggestion prompted a petition from concerned residents which now has 13,000 signatures.
The board is expected to consider both motions when it meets on Monday night.
UPDATE: A decision was made not to proceed with implementing fee parking at Spanish Banks Park this summer.
Last modified: April 17, 2018
Utter insanity. What are we paying these useless Park Board Commissioners for? They don’t know up from down or stop from go. Do they have the money in their budget or not: first, they say no, then yes, now no again! It’s all arbitrary nonsense at the expense of the people. Fire the lot of them and start over. Either you value the 13,000+ constituents who signed the Petition against parking meters at Spanish Banks, or you do not, Park Board. Get your act together, and stop putting the public through a roller-coaster ride of on-again, off-again policy: you look like a bunch of fools. Just because we cancelled the public Rally on April 15th against the meters, after you said you weren’t going ahead with the meters, you are now going to change your minds yet again, all within a matter of a month, and plan to put the meters in again. What the _______ is wrong with you? You are a disgrace.
NPA = flip-floppers and Visionistas in sheep’s (NPA’s) clothing: Casey Crawford (NPA)and Catherine Evans (Vision).
Keep this in mind come the October election.
Update for All: Tonight (Monday, April 16, 2018), the Park Board voted unanimously to “study” all of the following: parking as revenue, parking accessibility based on transportation mode, parking costs, parking availability, locals’ vs visitors’ parking, and parking costs for all parks citywide, including Spanish Banks, to attempt to come up with options that address all of these matters. No “study” results will be provided until after this summer, so there will be no parking meters at Spanish Banks and no changes to costs of parking in other parks until after this summer. So, enjoy your summer, but then we will be back to fighting our Park Board once again re parking meters at Spanish Banks! The Petition of over 13,000+ signatures has achieved only a delay in the proceedings; it will mean nothing without a sustained re-invigoration of further action by the public in the future. How crazy is it that we have to keep fighting our own government bodies or lose our rights and lifestyles as residents and citizens. Did you ever think you would have to do this in Vancouver of all places?
It is not really insane, but it is viscerally dishonest: A Parks Board Commissioner announced to VanPoli, and other members of the community, would be deferred at least until 2019. That was a promise. Then the protesters agreed to drop their rally, planned for April 15th. Then Parks Board announced that they were going ahead with the parking at Spanish Banks, as planned. This is the type of deception you expect in crack-pot Third-World countries. If parking is approved at Spanish Banks, we need to make certain the commissioners are not re-elected. That goes for the NPA commissioners who are running for council and the mayor’s position.
Vegan Biker: Yes, interestingly, when asked to weigh-in on the issue tonight, John Coupar (NPA Park Board Commissioner) said he had nothing to say, and he said nothing, at all, about this matter; yet, he is running for Mayor, voted for the meters initially and publicly, but promised David Fine (13,000+ “No Meters at Spanish Banks” Petition starter)and other residents privately that he would stop meters at Spanish Banks. The NPA even posted on their invitations to attend Caucus coffee houses that the public should send/bring their thank yous to the NPA for stopping these meters, but today NPA Casey Crawford puts forth a motion in favour of the meters, and when asked to weigh-in on the issue, NPA Coupar says that he has nothing to say. At least Vision is CONSISTENTLY WRONG AND SLIMY; the NPA is just one massive WAFFLE, not to be trusted from one week to the next. Time for a new party with a new leader!
I agree with Vegan Biker. This is extremely dishonest. Coupar agreed to delay the parking, at least until 2019. Then he, and most of the commissioners decided to break that promise. Disgusting! I expect sleaze from Vision – or even the Greens – but this is a new low for NPA. It is time for totally new leadership in City Hall – that will exclude Vision, Greens, NPA an any of the leftist bozos who have enabled Vision, these past 10 years.
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/pair-of-proposals-bringing-spanish-banks-parking-fees-back-in-consideration
So, Visionista PB Commissioner Evans wants us all to pay to park at all parks, including Spanish Banks, but at a reduced rate if you’re poor, a class-system of parking. Will we have to bring our income-tax assessments to the park/beach to prove our parking pass status based on gross/net income, or will there be a security guard stationed in the Spanish Banks parking lot to judge our wealth status based on the type of car we drive or the clothes we wear? NPA Kirby-Young says parking spaces in parks should be removed to put in more green space and eliminate more cars; how do you obtain more meter revenue by metering fewer parking spaces? Oh, yes, you increase the cost to park per hour. Coming in the Fall of 2018 to a park near you!
Next, the Park Board will be “re-visiting” the Kits Beach HUB-driven demand for a bike lane through Kits Park, endangering pedestrians with a high-speed bike freeway. If you haven’t already done so, SIGN THE PETITION TO MAKE KITS PARK A PEDESTRIAN-ONLY ZONE: https://www.change.org/p/vancouver-parks-board-commisioners-declare-kits-beach-and-hadden-parks-pedestrian-only-zones
Dear Seaside Greenway Resident,
You are absolutely right. If we do not protect Hadden and Kits Beach Parks as pedestrian zones, Parks Board will try to impose another bike freeway. This is overkill.
We need to protect these parks, so that the greater public may enjoy these special places. We are not against cycling (indeed, I am a bike enthusiast). But every society is based on boundaries in one form or another.
Cyclists don’t want people walking on their bike lanes, so cyclists should appreciate that pedestrians don’t want bikes on foot paths. This shouldn’t be an issue.
Anyway, I urge everyone to sign the petition – including the socially responsible cyclists. Let’s live together, shall we?
Thank you,
In the peak season parking scheme, what is the $300000 revenue going to be used for?
Adrian,
Firstly, they won’t make the $300,000 because the users of the beach & park, like me, will stop going there if they have to pay to park. Secondly, $300,000 is a drop in the bucket based on the increases in our property taxes, which have gone up by 60% in just the past couple of years, but the cost of maintaining parks has not increased by anywhere near the same amount. So, the $300,000 claim is nonsense. The real reason to charge people to park is yet another bombshell in the war on cars; Vision City Council, by their own admissions, want us to stop using our cars, so they are charging us more and more and more to drive. The NPA on the Park Board are no better; Kirby-Young wants to reduce the number of parking spots at Spanish Banks to limit the number of cars — she said so at the Park Board meeting (watch it live-streamed) this past Monday, April 16, 2018. But, we are not going to stop driving. We just won’t go where there is pay parking; I don’t go to Stanley Park anymore due to the pay parking that was installed a few years ago. This is a disgrace: the Park Board have a responsibility to encourage park use, but they are discouraging it by charging user fees as pay parking.
The October election won’t come soon enough. The only commissioner who has shown any sign of being in touch with what the residence of the City want. Is Erin Shum, Catherine Evans is one of the most out of touch and condescending persons that I have talked to in a very long time. Evan’s has no place on the board, she cannot be trusted. She wants to close the cities existing pools. Is behind the Spanish Banks pay parking. And yet when I asked her point blank after the Barks Board meeting in February. “Where is all the money going?” she quickly changed the subject and then walked away. What is clear is that she clearly has some kind of hidden agenda. I personally have no interest in EVER re-electing her to find out just what that agenda is.
Bikes are great but get real. A family of 3 or 5 or more is not going to be cycling from east van to go to a park especially with the traffic the way it is. Parks are for everyone not just a select few. Disabled people are not going to be biking either. Just enforcing mob rule is what it is.