Drinking won’t be allowed in Hamilton’s McLean Park nor in Minoru Park – but some sections of Garry Point, King George and Aberdeen parks will allow alcohol consumption this summer.
This was the final decision from city council on Monday, with three city councillors voicing their opposition but four voting against the motion.
Couns. Bill McNulty, Michael Wolfe and Chak Au were adamantly opposed to the revised plan. While Coun. Laura Gillanders voted against it, she also said she didn’t mind if the motion passed.
Both McNulty and Au said they hadn’t heard anyone asking for the city to allow drinking in the parks.
Wolfe spoke at length about safety issues, saying he wouldn’t want to take his young daughter to a park where there was drinking. He said, recently on visits to King George and Garry Point parks, he had seen broken bottles and discarded cans, even the remnants of a campfire.
“Now, we’re going to have people showing up with coolers and trunkfuls (of alcohol),” Wolfe told city council.
He suggested, instead of allowing open drinking, having a beer garden system with people supervised while drinking in certain areas.
“Not this go around the corner and do things you’re not supposed to do – and then other things you’re not supposed to do,” Wolfe said.
Day, on the other hand, called Richmond the most “conservative” city in the Lower Mainland, and felt the opposition was “over-reacting.”
“Let’s trust the citizens of Richmond – I believe they’re responsible,” she said.
The motion to allow drinking in parks was voted down last week at a committee meeting, but when it came back to city council on Monday, Couns. Andy Hobbs and Day suggested some revisions, taking out Minoru and McLean parks.
The pilot will begin in July after an official bylaw is passed – most likely at the first city council meeting in July – and will continue until the end of September.
Mayor Malcolm Brodie voted against the drinking motion last week because it included Minoru Park, which he opposed.
After Monday’s vote, he told the Richmond News he thought city council “arrived at a good place” after removing the two parks.
“I believe it’s a reasonable way to have a pilot project on it,” he added.
Furthermore, he said he’d spoken to other mayors in cities where drinking has been allowed in certain parks, and it was “no big deal” for them and they related to him they hadn’t encountered any problems.
“I hope that’s our experience – we’ll see soon,” he said.
Reactions were mixed when the News asked people at two parks about allowing alcohol consumption. On the one hand, some people weren’t overly concerned, but they did think there should be some limitations.
At Aberdeen Community Park, Bianca Tamayo and Lorin Garcia felt limiting areas of the park for drinking would be helpful, and they also suggest imposing time limits for drinking alcohol.
“I don’t know how they would enforce people not wildin’ out, but, in general, I think it’d be fine,” Garcia said. “I don’t think anyone’s going to go too crazy with it, right?”
The proximity to play areas for children and potential disturbances to residential areas are some of their concerns.
Jing Jin, who has a child and was at Aberdeen Community Park, is concerned allowing drinking in parks would be “unsafe” for kids.
It was recommended that, during the pilot program, there be a 10-metre buffer between designated drinking areas and areas where youth and children normally congegrate such as ball diamonds, playgrounds and spray parks to “minimize the risk of adverse role-modelling.”
The idea of limiting areas in the park for drinking was something Jin also suggested.
“For some older kids, they are allowed to drink alcohol, but they may not do some proper thing after drinking it,” she said. “So, I think it’s a bad influence for the younger kids.”
Meanwhile, at King George Park, Antonio Agustin, who was visiting from Burnaby with family at the park, said he’s concerned about how it could be controlled.
People are already bringing alcohol to parks, usually hidden, but telling them they can drink in the park might make it even more prominent, he said.
And because parks are largely child-focused, the primary objective should be the safety of children.
“Most of the parks are for children, not for the old,” Agustin said.
Sara Tiles, who was visiting King George Park from Seattle, Wash., also felt telling people they can drink in parks might make it get out of hand, whereas currently people drink in parks without many issues.
She has no issue with people having a drink at a picnic, but once you tell them “go ahead” it might get out of control.
In a Richmond News online poll, 31 per cent of respondents said allowing alcohol consumption in parks was “great news” while 21.5 per cent said they weren’t sure about it.
Thirteen per cent of respondents said they were already drinking in parks, while 34 per cent said they don’t drink alcohol.
There were 778 respondents to the News’ poll, of whom 205 were from Richmond.
The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 3.51 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
- with files from Vikki Hui
