WEDNESDAY
December 3 2014 Vol. 105 No. 97
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THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS since 1908
Park board seeks separate path NPAers John Coupar named new chair, Sarah Kirby-Yung vice-char
Andrew Fleming
afleming@vancourier.com
Captive whales and their sex lives were not on the table at the first meeting of the newly minted park board Monday night at the VanDusen Botanical Garden’s visitor centre. But rebel community centres and a seniors centre were. A motion to ban cetacean breeding at the Vancouver Aquarium, a hot-button topic over the past several months after being proposed by outgoing Vision Vancouver commissioners Sarah Blyth and
Constance Barnes, failed to pass at a lastditch meeting Nov. 24 and is unlikely to resurface with a new seven-person park board dominated by four Non-Partisan Association commissioners. The NPA not only now has a majority of seats but also the positions of chair and vice-chair. Incumbent NPA commissioner John Coupar, who was first elected in 2011 after being active in the fight to save the Bloedel Conservatory at Queen Elizabeth Park, won the nomination by acclamation to replace departing Vision chair Aaron Jasper. Coupar made a point of thanking all of the departing commissioners for their service and presented each of the rookie commissioners with a book detailing the first century of the board’s 126-year his-
tory. The book chronicles its uniqueness within Canada as the only park board that is its own separate entity from city hall. “The first thing I would like to ask is that this is required reading,” said Coupar to appreciative laughs from the crowd, which included several former commissioners. “The two bodies, the park board and the city [council] are two separate elected bodies. It is really important, even though there sometimes is some tension between us, because out of that tension comes a much better result for the citizens of Vancouver and that is what we are all here to deliver.” Fellow NPAer and neophyte park board commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung, a former vice-president of marketing and communications for the Vancouver
Aquarium, was named the board’s new vice-chair. The other two newly sworn-in NPA commissioners are Casey Crawford and Erin Shum. Crawford, the chair of the board of directors for the Stroke Recovery Association of B.C. and a player agent with Little Mountain Baseball, came in eighth place in the 2011 election. Shum, a special education assistant working with students with autism, is also the owner of an organic spa in Kerrisdale and volunteers with Lotus Light Charity society. Coupar went on to outline the immediate goals for the next four years. “Priorities are to re-establish the independence of the park board and focus on the role it plays in facilitating Vancouver’s active lifestyle,” he said. Continued on page 5
Push merits six days
Case of woman shoved by cop took four years to resolve Mike Howell
mhowell@vancourier.com
SKATERS GONNA SKATE. Students from Lord Roberts elementary school were among the first to hit the ice Monday as the skating rink opened for another season at Robson Square. The rink is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET
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In an act he called “callous and reckless,” an adjudicator presiding over a public hearing has ruled that a Vancouver police constable who shoved a woman with cerebral palsy to the ground in the Downtown Eastside should be suspended without pay for six days. The constable, Taylor Robinson, pushed Sandy Davidsen to the sidewalk June 9, 2010 after he claimed the woman, who also has muscular sclerosis, was going for his gun. “The act of pushing Ms. Davidsen to the ground was callous and reckless,” said retired judge Wally Oppal in his written reasons, which were released Nov. 28 after he delivered his decision at the conclusion of a hearing at the Robson Street courthouse. “She was clearly vulnerable. The officer took no steps to assist Ms. Davidsen. This is a clear violation of public trust.” Continued on page 4