The recently passed tree inspection policy is in contravention of provincial laws and guidelines in that it allows City employees to log thousands of trees in forested areas without inspections by provincially certified inspectors.

We will work with Park businesses such that they benefit from increased non-automobile traffic on car-free days.

For example, no major decisions will be made without full public involvement. We will end the dominance of automobile traffic in Stanley Park.

Thousands of citizens and visitors choose to walk, cycle, or use other forms of active transportation in our parks, and should be safe in doing so.

We will enforce automobile speed limits, reinstate a protected active transportation and recreation lane along Stanley Park Drive, and undertake a full transportation safety review of other parks.

All species in an ecological community are interrelated and depend on one another to sustain the community.

The current commissioners fail to recognize that even dead trees are full of life and play a vital role in their ecosystems. Even the Vancouver Greens commissioner erroneously believes that selectively-bred farmed seedlings laced with pesticides can be planted in a forest and somehow restore clearcuts to a resilient state.

The health of our forests is more important than unchecked development. Tree removals by City employees will require a permit from the Park Board.

We will impose a moratorium on further tree removals (except for imminently hazardous trees) until a complete review of reasons for removals is performed.

We will establish the Green Canopy Office, to which we will appoint non-political experts to advise us.

We will freeze all work on the Vancouver Aquatic Centre renovation until a thorough analysis of possible methods to retain the 50-metre pool is undertaken.

There is substantial evidence that it feasible to retain an Olympic-sized pool.No other regulation pool exists in the City of Vancouver.

We aim to represent all citizens and promote equal access without regard to financial status.

We recognize and identify with ancient indigineous values of living in harmony with nature and experiencing the earth as a living being.

More than twenty million has been spent on logging contracts for Stanley Park on the advice of the very contractor who profited from the contracts. At the same time, user fees and parking fees have risen exponentially.

It was not reasonable to trust the representation of one self-interested government contractor, without obtaining a second opinion, who said it was necessary to log Stanley Park.

It was unreasonable to ignore an engineering study which concluded that retaining a world-class pool at the Aquatic Centre was feasible while at the same time claiming that only a half-size pool was possible.

The recent Park Board Procurement Policy amendment raised the City’s delegated outsourcing authority from $750,000 to $2 million. As a result, millions of dollars can be spent by City employees without approval of the elected commissioners.

Eleven million dollars was allocated secretly for contracts to log Stanley Park. A City bureaucrat stated to the media that if citizens knew about logging, they wouldn't approve.

Major decisions affecting parks, beaches, community centres, sports facilities, and other areas within Park Board jurisdiction require meaningful, publicly transparent deliberation and consultation with citizens and experts, including scientists.

The current Park Board is obvlivious, out of touch, and non-communicative with citizens.

We intend to bring our commitment to ethical decision making to their positions on the Vancouver Park Board.

Is is a violation of basic ethical principles to manipulate information and mislead the public for the purpose of accomplishing a predetermined outcome.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia declared that the City of Vancouver exceeded its authority in signing the intial contract for the Stanley Park logging project. The Park Board commssioners, who hade exclusive authority to make such a decision, stood by and failed to discuss the merits of the project with the public.

Often times developers and other commercial interests must be turned down in favour of what is best for the people and the environment.

The recently passed tree inspection policy is in contravention of provincial laws and guidelines in that it allows City employees to log thousands of trees in forested areas without inspections by provincially certified inspectors.

Generating revenue for the mayor's agenda should not be a basis for decisions.

Prohibitive user fees and parking fees at community centres, farmers markets, and beaches does not promote the health of our citizens, nor does degrading parks such as Nelson Park to make way for more development in already over densified neighbourhoods.

Use of herbicides and microplastic turf fields are creating a public health risk.

While removing trees in Stanley Park which have not been determined to be a hazard, the Park Board has neglected to address trees throughout the city which are bona fide hazards.

We will ban the use of glyphosate and other environmentally hazardous herbicides and pesticides from Park Board jurisdictions and initiate a scientific inquiry into alternative methods of managing invasive species. We will require safer alternatives to herbicides such as glyphosate, and pesticides. The Park Board has the responsibility of protecting public health and protecting the environment.

There is strong scientific evidence that artificial turf playing fields are poisoning our streams. We will reject additional artifical turf and initiate an investigation of how existing artificial turf sports fields can be removed and replaced with natural grass.

A recent UBC study linked articial turf in metro Vancouver to toxic stream pollution and salmon death. The current Park Board is aware of the study yet continues to approve artifical turf.

It is unjust to extract ever-increasing fees from citizens who simply want to use their public resources, while at the same freezing property taxes.

We will declare that parks are to remain fully in the public domain, not to be transferred in whole or part to the private sector.

We will not sell naming rights to private corporations. We do not embrace neoliberal values.

Temporary parks, such as Sunset Beach and David Lam, are vulnerable to commercial development.

They are for the benefit and enjoyment of all citizens, not be managed as revenue streams.

We will declare that the purposes of parks include recreation, education, preservation of nature, beautification of the city, and personal benefit to citizens; but that their is not to generate maximum revenue. We reject neoliberalism.

Our parks should not be commercialized. Citizens should not be bombarded with advertising or blocked by closures for private events when accessing their parks.

We will rescind the neoliberal “Think Big” revenue generating program, which has resulted in inappropriate commercialization of our parks and unfair hikes in parking and user fees. Filmmakers block public trails with 'no tresspassing' signs is unacceptable.

We will encourage proper maintenance and utilization of existing developed areas rather than expansion of development with concomitant loss of natural spaces.

Our commissioners will halt replanting farmed, selectively bred trees in Stanley Park until a thorough scientific inquiry is conducted to assess the consequences.

We will investigate reports that replanted trees have a low survival rate, and studies which show that monoforests have low diversity and poor resilience.

Our commissioners will comply with directives and goals in https://parksparty.vote/SyncFusionPDFViewer?filename=CommemorativeIntegrityStatement-2004.pdf Stanley Park National Historic Site Commemorative Integrity Statement</a>, which requires that the native forest be preserved. Many do not realize that the City of Vancouver is the custodian of a national treasure, and must treat it with care and respect.

We will rescind the Park Board's authorization for the land use agreements allowing BC Hydro to build a substation at Nelson Park and formally request that the British Columbia Utilities Commission deny the permit for the substation.

We will initiate a scientific review of the cleanup status of the polluted Trout Lake water with the goal of expediting a solution which will restore the ability of the public to safely enjoy the lake.

We will convene a panel, including the public and experts, to inventory the numerous maintenance deferrals and expedite repairs and needed upgrades, including the washrooms and dog park.

We will immediately address underfunding, lack of attention, and resulting disrepair of the David Lam Park playground and convene a panel of experts to solve the problem of excessive downtime due to lengthy seasonal grass reseeding.

The playground is relied upon by children at multiple schools, as well as the Roundhouse Community Centre.

Continued delays are unfair to residents of Vancouver's' unique and vibrant River District.

Allowing the ponds to dry out is more than an aesthetic problem. The vibrant riparian ecosystems are being destroyed.

Why the current Park Board would close two pools simultaneously is beyond our understanding.

HAVN is inapproriate commercial degradation of a heritage waterfront. This view would be obstructed by the 150ft barge spa.

We will not allow infrastructure access through Hadden Park for the HAVN barge spa. The preparation and maintenance of the barge will release toxic biocides into the water, endangering the marine ecosystem and swimmers.

Catering to developers, making decisions in back rooms, and insistence on priotizing private automobiles are examples of how our city is being held back.

Vancouver Independent Parks Party commisioners will introduce bold new intitaives that bring openness to government, and encourage active transportation. For example, no major decions will be made without full public involvement. We will end the dominance of automobile traffic in Stanley Park.

We will make space available for farmers markets and collaborate for the long-term. Local farmers and public health will benefit by making farmers markets more accessible and affordable to all citizens.

We will support local farmers and promote public health by eliminating parking fees at farmers markets on Park Board jurisdictions, including Riley Park. We will allow permamnent structures and simplify permitting.

The Park Board has the responsibility to promote public health by incentivizing vendors to provide healthy alternatives.