Dear Editor:
During a picnic at John Lawson Park on Saturday, July 4, a few of us spent some hours attempting to contact a parks person to open the men’s and women’s washroom(s).
The sign posted a 6 a.m. open time. At 9:30 a.m. it started. There were three of us, looking for a person in charge; could not find one.
A kind gentleman and lady both called the West Van police at 10:15 a.m. and they were going to find the parks person with the key to open up the two washrooms.
By 11 a.m., (the) kind gentleman and lady called the police again for a status report. They didn’t have one, but we had one for them.
Parents were now taking their children into the bushes to tinkle . . . . If any of you are familiar with this park, there is a children’s wading pool/play area beside the washrooms.
At 11:55 a.m. the fire department arrived. They were very kind but did not have any keys to open the locked doors.They called their boss and were told that the person in charge was on the way. They did some great PR work in the area and carried on. More tinkling in bushes.
At 12:15 p.m., (an) official-looking parks person arrived, very polite, but not the key holder. (They were) still looking for the key holder. Continuing to let people know that person of interest was on the way, as we had been told, now in a half-hour.
At 12:45 p.m. doors still locked. People now used to the fact of tinkling in bushes. We (were) enjoying (a) picnic with family.
1 p.m. — doors open.
Another parks person, on their day off, was called in to open doors. Spoke with another grounds person, very polite. She was not the holder of the key and didn’t know what happened, but we (were) all happy now that the doors (were) finally opened, seven hours later. Don’t know whatever happened to who should have opened the doors at 6 a.m.
Thank you to the kind gentleman and lady who made this experience somewhat entertaining and to all the polite people who dealt with us — but what a way to have spent our tax dollars.
Svetlana Evans
North Vancouver
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