Did Shane Simpson Slip On The Codswallop?

ForgetTheCodswallop
LookAtTheMapPartIIVille

OK........

There is an interesting passage in the British Columbia government's press release regarding the Pacific Park Developer-Jacking that took place today as an adjunct to the land claims settlement made with the Musqueam Nation.

And it goes like this:

Recognizing the significance of these lands to the public and area-residents, the agreement ensures that the UBC golf course area be used for golf course purposes for nearly eight decades until 2083. It would also establish 7.3 hectares of the UBC Golf Course lands as a park accessible to the public and maintain 1.2 hectares of Block F as a public park.


Now, we figure that it was this bit of 'zero-sum hectarage endgame jujitsu' that led Opposition member Shane Simpson to reportedly make the following statement:

The NDP's Shane Simpson is happy the public doesn't lose parkland over all. "It looks like that piece of parkland that's been earmarked for development will be replaced with an equivalent piece of parkland." Simpson, however, is upset the government hasn't said if other public parks are part of treaty negotiations that are underway. The Musqueam also become the new landlords for the River Rock Casino.


Which is fair enough, as far as it goes.

But have a look at the map above.

The red arrow points to the chunk of parkland that will be turned into condos.

It is in the heart of Pacific Spirit Park. Additionally, there are trails that run through that isthmus of forest that is sandwiched between UBC's family housing, U-Hill High School, and the Golf Course that are the ONLY connection between the much larger Northern and Southern segments of the park.

And once that forest is gone - well?

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There's something else to consider here also - The Developer-Jacked Land directly abuts Acadia Rd as far as we can tell....so the infrastructure is already there, ready to be tapped into as soon as, if not before, the trees come down (which is what happened to a development on the adjacent , and much smaller, Block G which was originally designed by the former government that Mr. Simpson was a part of to be affordable housing, but which morphed into something else entirely under the jujitsu-hand of Mr. Campbell's government (ie. there's precedent for this sort of thing already).


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