Kitsilano pool reservation system staying put for now

What happened: On Monday evening, ABC park board commissioner Marie-Claire Howard attempted to bring an urgent motion to remove the reservation system at Kits Pool. However, as was anticipated based on our reporting last week, Howard’s motion was deemed not to meet the park board’s procedural standard for urgent business, and did not move forward. 

• In explaining the ruling, park board chair Laura Christensen said she did not find any public safety, financial, or legal risk associated with Howard’s proposed motion. 

Salty overflow: “The pool has been open for a month and there have been no changes in the last two weeks that I feel would constitute an emergency needing immediate changes. Commissioner Howard could have submitted a notice of motion at our meeting two weeks ago and we could be debating this today. She did not.” 

• “To quote a sitting ABC city councillor, ‘this is not the wild west of [expletive] procedure,’ Christensen said, referring to Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung’s viral outburst last year.

Christensen said she knows there are “voices on both sides of this debate” that want to be heard. Staff will be reviewing and collecting public feedback on the reservation system at the end of the summer, and will report back to the board on possible incremental improvements that could be made for next year. 

Pool politics: Mayor Ken Sim took the decision as an opportunity to criticize the park board as an institution, in line with his long-standing attempt to abolish the board and bring parks and recreation under city control. 

“What we have seen with Kits Pool is a reminder of a bigger problem: the Park Board itself. It continues to operate with limited accountability and with little regard for what residents are actually asking for,” Sim said in a statement, citing “overwhelming public feedback” for the immediate removal of the advance booking system. 

“I will be actively exploring all options with City staff to eliminate the advance booking system,” Sim said, meaning he would try to override the park board’s jurisdiction over operations at their facilities. Sim did not clarify if he would be trying to remove the booking system for all four outdoor pools or just Kits.

• Comm. Tom Digby told Vancity Lookout that he would ask his colleagues on the park board to take legal action if Sim followed through with his threat to intervene in park board jurisdiction. 

What readers think: We put out a poll on the issue last week, and did you all ever respond. Nearly 170 readers cast votes, with two-thirds of you saying you don’t like the current reservation system.

We also got 40 comments from readers (more than I’ve seen for any poll we’ve run!), which broke down about the same way as the general voting (two thirds against, one third in favour). Here’s a selection of some of the comments submitted by readers: