Parks board not backing down
Court battle looms with six dissident Vancouver community centres
As Vancouver parks board and six community centre associations prepare to battle in court, one of the plaintiffs is claiming the board has backed down efforts to impose the controversial OneCard, while a statement released by the board said otherwise.
As The Province reported this week, six community centre associations have sued the board, alleging it has breached a decades-old operating partnership and unjustly enriched itself by seeking to seize revenue and centralize control of the community centres.
The group of six — Hastings, Kensington, Kerrisdale, Riley Park, Killarney and Sunset community centre associations — claim the OneCard is a “back door” scheme to seize cash and control of centres, after the associations resisted the city’s plans to centralize operations.
The group’s B.C. Supreme Court suit — which seeks an injunction against the September implementation of the OneCard — claims the board has been selling the OneCard in jointly operated community centres even though some associations say they won’t accept the OneCard and will continue to sell their own memberships as a requirement to access their recreation programs.
Riley Park Community Centre Association president Jesse Johl claimed that after the suit was filed the parks board changed its message about the validity of the OneCard on its website.
“They definitely blinked,” Johl said in an interview Thursday, adding he believes “forced conscription” of the OneCard is causing volatile situations at dissenting community centres.
However,the parks board seemed to stand firm. The board issued a statement late Thursday that defended the program and outlined the board’s intention to fight the lawsuit.
“These allegations are serious and the Park Board will be defending them in court,” wrote parks board Chair Sarah Blyth.
The statement then goes on to clarify the board’s position on several allegations that have been put forth by the plaintiffs, including suggestions the OneCard program will centralize revenue, or that it will cause the cancellation of certain programs.
OneCard sales have reached 40,000 across the city, and are highest are at Riley Park’s centre, with almost 9,000 sign-ups, according to the parks board.