HEALTH Minister Michael de Jong committed this province to a partnership with the national ParticipAction initiative "in the promotion of physical activity in British Columbia" on Nov. 25, 2011.
The ghostly local applause was courtesy of former District of North Vancouver councillor Ernie Crist, a longtime exercisefor-health advocate.
Admittedly, only two months have elapsed since the Halifax signing, but de Jong's vision for the day-to-day reality of the partnership remains unclear.
Is the plan only to ensure British Columbia is in the loop of an information sharing network of groups like Girl Guides Canada, B.C. Recreation and Parks Association and the Active Living Coalition for Older Adults?
Or does the accord mean the City of North Vancouver can look to support from ParticipAction for any grants it might apply for from senior governments to assist with the cost of the long-delayed redevelopment of the Harry Jerome recreation centre?
No matter the answer, at least three councillors - Pam Bookham, Rod Clark and Guy Heywood - were glad to see that the project appears in the basket of 2012 planning priorities staff presented to council on Monday night. Although that might presage an acceleration of the decision making process, residents should be forgiven for not holding their breath.
Council discussions, staff and consultant reports and delegations began as far back as 2005 and continued through to October 2011, when further discussion was postponed until after the November elections.
That brings us to today when, in Clark's opinion, "(Council has) just not gathered the required information and come up with an appropriate plan and financing options."
Bookham and Heywood are more positive. Without providing specifics, Heywood believes issues around funding - one of two stumbling blocks holding up the process - have "mostly been removed."
Filling in some of the details, Bookham explained that the director of finance had "outlined the alternatives for funding . . . capital projects."
Stressing the need for costbenefit information on projects like Harry Jerome, Bookham noted the "finance committee approved the recommendation to hold a 'Budget Allocator Forum' on the city's website, to gauge community priorities."
Online-savvy taxpayers notwithstanding, if it is to reach a decision on this project council will still need to overcome significant divisions of opinion in the community. Away until Feb. 6, seven-year recreation commissioner, Wayne Robertson, was unavailable for comment, but it's unlikely anything has changed his mind since he appeared before council on Oct. 24, 2011.
Citing innumerable studies, open houses and stakeholder briefings, Robertson urge members to speed up the process.
Unfortunately for progress, Bookham believes one stakeholder group, the Courthouse Area Residents' Association, "came away from the planning charrette with the (erroneous] impression that all of the funding for HJ would come solely from development within their neighbourhood."
Association members pled their case so well that, on Jan. 10, 2011, council decided to preserve Norseman and Mickey MacDougall fields in any redevelopment plan.
Not only did that affect previous recommendations, but Heywood's second stumbling block remains: "a disagreement about whether to build new or renovate."
On this, Clark was outspoken as usual:
"HJ can be partially renovated, why would you knock down the arena and seating, only to build it all again? And the same applies to Flicka gym space. . . ."
While he believes renovation would be, "Complicated yes, but doable and with great savings to the taxpayer - and it preserves the fields. . . ." he made no mention of the costs for asbestos remediation.
For onlookers, the discussions look like endless attempts to put the cart before the horse: No one is in a position to determine project costs, or say whether renovation would result in "great savings" until council decides which plan it prefers.
Yet for seven years or more, the goalposts recommended in the original professional studies have been moved with every meeting, charrette and/or delegation.
Pointing out that he sits on the recreation commission on behalf the city, and that he knows "full well that we are pushing the serviceable life-span to the max," Clark ended by repeating the obvious: "The city needs to get moving on renewal at Harry Jerome."
ParticipAction statistics are nothing new; and every year that goes by without bringing HJ amenities to fruition is a year lost to community efforts to rekindle the interest of children, youth and adults in becoming more active.
There are no simple answers. But there is a vast difference between trying to be all things to all people and being rendered immobile by indecision.
Municipal recreation facilities cannot be the only solution to ParticipAction's "inactivity crisis" - especially for youth - so the barriers to others will be covered in upcoming columns.
