Thread by @AnthonyFloyd

Oh hey! There's a Vancouver Park Board meeting about to start. You _might_ want to mute this thread. #VanParkBoard

"The meeting will being shortly". Sigh, not even any smooth jazz to keep us entertained. #VanParkBoard

Committee meeting first, acknowledgements of International Women's Day.

(I need to take a kid to a class, there will be a pause in live tweeting. Hopefully nothing interesting happens. Also, my audio keeps cutting out. :( )

And I'm back! What did you miss? A report out about the Bright Lights non-event at Christmas time and the pivot to airing the train ride online. $9k raised for the Burn Fund through donations. #VanParkBoard

Now we're on the surprisingly controversial Vancouver Urban Food Forest at Burrard View Park in Grandview-Woodlands. Staff is reporting out... #VanParkBoard

"Controversial" = 69% support, 28% opposed

🙄The naysayers always get all the attention.

#foreshadowing

#VanParkBoard

On to Commissioner's questions. Commish Mackinnon asks about where else water is available in the park. Staff: No where else, really.

I'm not going to tweet all the questions or answers.

#VanParkBoard

Mind you, Commish Coupar characterized this as "an awful lot of angst in the community" (recall, 28% opposed). #foreshadowing

#VanParkBoard

Oh noes.

"We have a number of speakers."

They're paging "Group A".

THERE'S MORE THAN ONE GROUP.

Sigh. What are the chances these are all from the 28% nay-sayers?

#VanParkBoard

A 10 minute recess has been call for what I assume is an "energy drink break" for the Commissioners. #VanParkBoard

It has been 50% longer than 10 minutes. Do we really need to make this meeting stretch *longer*? There must be an awful lot of Red Bull being consumed.

#VanParkBoard

Hey @ParkBoard, you okay? We're on minute 25 of a 10 minute recess!

#VanParkBoard

Aaaaaaaaaaaand they're back! Welcome back Commissioners, hope you had a good nap, erm, I mean, recess.

#VanParkBoard

Uh.

This is the garden size that's the source of the controversy.

Um.

I clearly don't understand the nuances here.

#VanParkBoard

They're on speaker #3.

OMG.

#VanParkBoard

The 4th speaker has finished. In 40 minutes of "speakers". All in support, all associated with the project so far.

40 MINUTES HAVE PASSED.

#VanParkBoard

Got to go pick up the kid from their class now. Tweet frequency will decline, perhaps for the night.

#VanParkBoard

And *I'm* back.

Speaker #7 is just starting. #6 (also in favour) started just as I was leaving.

#7 starts by talking about finding needles on the blvd where he lives. Wanders around a little bit but turns out he's ... oh, I think he's also for this project.

#VanParkBoard

Speaker #8: Also in favour. So far, 100% in support.

Um, where's the controversy then?

#VanParkBoard #CanWeHurryThisUpPlease

Speaker #9. Against. "Think of the kids". They have NO WHERE ELSE TO GO, than this empty corner of the field where they want to put this garden.

I see.

#VanParkBoard

Speaker #9: This garden will cause "immediate and palpable harm to young people".

Rhetoric is such an ugly thing.

#VanParkBoard

Lol, no matter what the issue is, there's always this framing.

Speaker #9: "Like many of my neighbours, I'm an enthusiastic gardener but ..."

Replace "gardener" with whatever issue is at hand, and you have every opponent at every public meeting, ever.

#VanParkBoard

Oh, I'm so sorry. Somehow I missed Speaker #9. That opponent was speaker #10. Maybe #9 was a no-show?

Anyway, speaker #11 is also against. She's much more reasoned expressing her thoughts.

10 speakers in 90 minutes.

#VanParkBoard

Commissioner Irwin suggested fencing the nearby off-leash dog area to give kids some place to play without mixing with off-leash dogs.

Wait. Is this all about dogs?

#VanParkBoard

Commissioner Dumont reveals Group A consists of TWENTY-FIVE speakers and that given the time, extend the meeting to accommodate all these speakers.

Group B (how many) will be called tmrrw.

Not sure what this means for the Regular PB Meeting (this is just the ctte) #VanParkBoard

Surprisingly, Commissioner Coupar doesn't want to hear from all Group A speakers tonight (but? what about hearing from the public?) and challenges the motion as being out of order. Doesn't matter, motion carries over NPA objections.

Consistency much?

#VanParkBoard

Anyway, this isn't my circus, not my clowns.

I'm done for the night.

I'll try to find out when we can expect the Regular Meeting to be held, when we'll hear Commissioner's motions.

#VanParkBoard