by Jacqui Birchall
(click images to enlarge)

Beautiful Stanley Park has been at the centre of much controversy and some successes in the last few weeks.

The Third Beach Drum Circle , operating without a permit, has become a focus of concern.

LIFEGUARDS AND THE THIRD BEACH DRUM CIRCLE

The Park Board posted a notice that lifeguards were being withdrawn from Third Beach starting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday July 19, during the times of the “unsanctioned Drum Circle event.” It is reported that the withdrawal of lifeguard services occurred following threats and racist comments directed towards the lifeguards.

According to witnesses, Drum Circle participants tried to attack lifeguards as they attempted to move an unconscious person to safety from the ocean. One lifeguard trying to navigate the crowd to reach the woman was hit on the back of the head with a bottle. Another was verbally attacked with racist comments. EMT members also experienced problems reaching the drowning victim.

The police were called but only one officer arrived.

On July 26, city management once again withdrew lifeguard services at Third Beach and police were briefly in attendance. It is a management, not a lifeguard decision. A reliable source reported that lifeguards want to continue providing services, but with police to protect them.

This unsanctioned event is clearly attracting unpleasant participants. Wednesday mornings bring views of a garbage strewn Third Beach. The organizers of the Drum Circle, Rufus Drum Shop, do not have a permit. The cost of a permit would pay for policing and garbage removal.

Drum Circle attendees and other visitors to our beaches often ignore the rule “if you carry it in, carry it out”.

A source tells me that the drum circle attracts an aggressive sub-culture and claims that police involvement would result in a violent response from some of the participants. A few of the organizers seem to be trying hard to stop participants blocking the seawall and smoking on the beach, but how effective can they be in the face of such large numbers?

The lifeguard shortage continues, with many complaining of workplace bullying and disrespect of the lifeguards by senior management.

Last June when lifeguards were pulled from English Bay and reallocated to the pools, an Edmonton man drowned. The lifeguards used to work until 10 p.m. and this has now been cut back to 8.30 p.m.

The Vancouver Lifeguard School, an internationally respected organization, was closed in 2018 and Vancouver does not appear to be offering free lifeguard training to help alleviate the shortage, as other cities are doing.

There are still only two lifeguards on English Bay. The diving raft has not appeared. Some claim the city is just not interested in spending the money to move and secure it. I was told that senior management at City Hall make decisions on beach lifeguards, despite having little understanding of the issues.

THE PARK BOARD MOBILITY STUDY

The Monday, July 18 Park Board’s meeting regarding the Stanley Park Mobility Study ended in disarray. The Park Board felt threatened by the loud crowd that had come to speak. General Manager Donnie Rosa posted that “multiple members of the public yelled at the commissioners and staff in attendance, including swearing and pounding on the chamber doors.“

Cars, pedestians, cyclists, and horse-drawn carriages all vie for room in Stanley Park.

When the meeting reconvened on July 19, one member of the public was allowed into the chamber at a time to present their comment on the Mobility Study. Park Rangers and security guards were on site to ensure commissioners’ safety and the meeting concluded peacefully.

Not all present at the July 18 meeting share Rosa’s interpretation of the evening. It is worth noting that this was the last Park Board meeting before the election on October 15. Could some of the commissioners have been vying for political points?

A new Park Board will be in place when this study is voted on.

The findings of the mobility study are very interesting. 51 percent of trips into Stanley Park are by walking or rolling, 33 percent by vehicle, 15 percent by bike and 1 percent by transit.

Seventy percent of those surveyed want to see vehicular traffic reduced, seeing reducing vehicular traffic as important to lessen emissions and noise. In these evolving times vehicular traffic in the park does not have to be limited to bikes and cars.

Those who bike or walk visit the park more frequently, but spend less at the businesses in the park than those who come into the park on tourist buses.

Almost half of the park visitors live within ten kilometers of the park. Many of the others visit the park once a year. It is estimated that the park has 9.5 million visitors a year.

The extensive report can be found here.

AND OTHER NOTES AS WELL …

LOGS ON THE BEACH … Ten logs were recently delivered to English Bay following a media blitz on the issue. We have the amazing Vancouver landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander to thank for logs on our beaches. Oberlander’s work has included designing Robson Square, The Vancouver Public Library central branch’s rooftop garden, and other landscapes. In the early 1960s Oberlander was appalled to see the park workers burning washed up logs on Jericho. At her suggestion to Park Board deputy superintendent Bill Livingstone, logs became a part of Vancouver beach life. Second and Third Beach have not received logs at press time.

ENGLISH BAY WATER QUALITY … The water on our beaches is regularly tested by Vancouver Coastal Health. If you would like to read the latest readings you can check here.

CO-EXISTING WITH COYOTES … Since May, two Park Board staff members and six Stanley Park Ecology Society volunteers have been conditioning coyotes to be wary of human presence. The patrollers have been walking the trails and making loud noises or advancing when coyotes linger. This has proved very effective and shows that the coyotes are wary of humans in the park.

The two leaders in this initiative are Dana McDonald, environmental stewardship coordinator for the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation and Nadia Xenakis, of the Stanley Park Ecology Society. Xenakis runs a program called Co-existing with Coyotes. They both agree that coyotes will always live in Stanley Park.

The aggressive program to stop feeding wildlife in the park and the new animal-proof garbage cans are reported to be helping to keep the coyotes away from humans. Some 20 percent of garbage cans in the park have been replaced with the animal-proof cans, with the rest scheduled to be replaced this summer.

Eagles and seagulls don’t really make for good neighbours for each other!

EAGLES VS SEAGULLS … The eagle/seagull battles are epic at the moment. If you hear seagulls screaming look up, up, up. The battles are frequent, as the eagles try to steal seagull chicks from the high-rise seagull nests. A single eagle can be observed being dive-bombed by a large flock of gulls. The eagle swerves and dives as the loud battle rages, and the seagulls are smart enough to keep behind the eagle’s head and away from the deadly talons. The eagle always retreats.

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