The Board proposes a plan that would redistribute funding to help ‘have not’ centres.
Staff would centralize certain costs at each centre, such as bookkeeping, to save money and not cut programs.
But Kerrisdale Centre members say they fear those cuts, and that they manage their centre just fine, “We are starting a campaign to get the city’s attention. It is going to involve radio ads. They’ve already started. It is going to involve social media. It’s already started.”
Robert Lockhart claims if staff had better managed the ‘have not’ centres, they would not propose such a plan.
Nikki Sharma is a Vision Park Board Commissioner. She says her party wants to offer the city’s subsidized program at all centres, through one membership card, “Well, I think just like every public service in Canada, we’ve come to understand the importance of making sure that no matter what neighbourhood you’re in, you get the same level of service, you get the same quality of service and you get the same opportunities.”
As for claims the city could have better managed the “have-not” centres better: “I think that it’s very hard when you’re a President of one centre to understand the difficulties that a centre might have in a community. I think, to be fair, if you want to judge them without knowing, I think that isn’t fair. You have to go talk to the Presidents in the Strathcona Community Centre, where their community makeup is completely different.”
The Park Board will vote on the plan once staff have received feedback from all centres.
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