March 3, 2004 fe. See Ta, Features “the other press © East Van and Astroturf Leni T. Goggins OP Contributor Trillium is one of the last pieces of undeveloped public land on the east side of Vancouver. Since its purchase in 1993, it has been designated an ideal location for Artificial Turf playing fields. Once built, these fields will service a small user group of amateur sports teams coming pri- marily from the west side of Vancouver, and alienate many east Vancouverites from the commun- ity’s remaining public space. In Vancouver there is a readily apparent divide between East and West. In the west there are the sky- scrapers, wide swept streets, little visible poverty, massive wilderness reserves, and many parks. Just east of the downtown is the poorest neighbourhood in Canada, the Downtown Eastside, where there are fewer parks, more convenient stores, and uglier bus stands. Vancouver's average amount of green space per person is 1.12 hectares to every 1000 people. In West Point Grey (a West End community) the average amount of green space is 3.27 hectares to every 1000 people. In contrast, the Grandview woodland area (the neighbourhood just east of Trillium) there is 0.84 hectares per 1000 people. As a whole, East Vancouver has less than half the green space per person than any other area of Vancouver or the Lower Mainland, according to the environmental youth alliance map- ping project. Although parks are often under- appreciated, they still remain an essential component of a healthy society, and local communities can and want to plan their own parks directly. It is critical not to leave the planning of park space solely to elected officials who may or may not grasp an individual community's needs. As green space is diminished inVancouver and around the world, we lose understanding of our rela- tionship with the natural world and how we affect that environment ona daily basis. Wendell Berry once said in an interview with John Fisher- Smith, published by the Orion Society: I’ve argued over and over again that the fullest responsibility has to be exercised at home, where you have some chance to come to a com- petent and just understanding of what's involved, and where you have some chance of being really effec- tive. Let’s understand that a little more carefully. Another superstition of the modern era is that if you don’t have it here, you can safely get it from somewhere else. A corollary superstition is that it’s permissible to ruin one place for the benefit of another.” . Parks serve a wide variety of needs in any neighbourhood, those needs can only really be comprehended by local people, and it is local people who are the ones to decide how parks should be developed. Eastsiders understand that, because it is a common experience to see people sleeping and living in local parks. The parks in eastern Vancouver often serve a much dif- ferent purpose than in the western areas. In 1995, Andy Livingston Park, home to two of the three Artificial- turf playing fields in Vancouver, was built in the Downtown Eastside. The park is gated and the rent for playing is expensive—a minimum rental fee of $28 per use. The Eastside has the highest concentra- tion of sports fields in all of Vancouver and lowest amount of green space per capita, yet there is only one amateur sports league— the Downtown Slow-pitch League, which has eight teams of Native co- ed youth and adults. They have been given priority access to playing fields in the East side and have no com- plaints about playing time. Andy Livingston Park was built without taking into consideration the needs of the entire surrounding community, as the majority of users of Andy Livingston come from West side communities. Essentially it is a private sports club. Trillium and the Works Yard (as the area is officially known), in the ters who reside inside Vancouver Parks Board refuse. The originally stated intent of the purchase of Trillium was to build Artificial Turf fields. In many ways Trillium is the perfect candidate for such a develop- ment. Sports fields require lighting for nighttime playing and lighted sports fields have been a huge issue with neighborhoods all over Vancouver. and the Lower When convenient, the Parks Board often consid- ers all of Vancouver one community, therefore — decisions that need to be made about specific neighbourhoods can be made by all 450, 000 Vancouverites. False Creek flats was bought from Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company on December 29th 1993. The deal was arranged by the Vancouver Parks Board staff and approved by city council. The community was not consulted, nor were elected Parks Board officials. The price tag was $4.5 million dol- lars, which was originally allotted for development of community parks. For ten years Trillium has sat awaiting its‘’development. It is home to trees, weeds and homeless squat- Mainland. Trillium is in an industri- al neighbourhood where only one side of the park has residential devel- opments, so the problem of lighting is less extreme. The site is large enough to support two artificial-turf fields, like those of Andy Livingston in the Downtown Eastside, and it is in a central location near major transportation systems and_ the Downtown. It is also in a neigh- bourhood where people do not have the power to lobby against the well- financed sports federations, who are always lurking behind the backs of http://www.otherpress.ca Parks Board staff and elected offi- cials. Trillium is in the middle of an industrial slough. The south end is tracks and grass; the old rail yard and the east are dominated by pro- duce shipping warehouses. Trucks blast by constantly. To the north is Atlantic Avenue, a small street lined with old wooden houses. The ground is covered in railway stones and strips of directionless asphalt, but still many trees grow here, some planted by locals and some self-seed- ed. Often I can see people sitting between the trees. I get the feeling that this is their turf, so I stay out of most everyone’s way. At the south end are piles of scrap and old piping. City engineers and the Parks Board consistently encroach upon the land with their waste. I was told by some folks from Strathcona Gardens, only blocks away, that in 2002, under the auspices of building a road to the new city works yard southeast of Trillium, the engineers cut down a row of 50-year-old poplars that bor- dered Trillium and stood as a visible line between wasteland and some- thing land. In 2002, The Vancouver Parks Board and the Vancouver School Board with active involvement of the Vancouver Field Sport Federation, conducted a study called the “Playing Field Renewal Plan,” which concluded that the combined inventory of the existing Vancouver Parks Board and Vancouver School Board playing fields “barely meets the current use levels for amateur sports.” Their solution is artificial- turf fields because one field can be played on as much as 25-30 grass fields. Six fields have already been approved, a $6 million dollar endeavour. The 2002 study said very lictle about the difference in partici- pation levels from west to east. For youth soccer teams it concluded that the Grandview Kensington area continued on page 20 Page 19