Price Points: Another Opening of Emery Barnes Park

This time, it’s complete. The Park Board opened Emery Barnes Park, in the heart of Downtown South, with a small but emotional ceremony last Saturday. Emotional, because it was Emery Barnes daughter, Constance, who was there to inaugurate it as Chair of the Park Board.

It’s taken a decade, from ground-breaking to final construction, to build Emery Barnes Park in the heart of Downtown South (map here) – and indeed the timeframe goes back before that. The Sun covers the opening here, and I detail more of the backstory at SpacingVancouver in this week’s Price Points, especially on the use of Development Cost Charges for the first time.

Importantly, this was a celebration of a man, Emery Barnes, who would have been very pleased to see the space that has been named after him, filled with a remarkable diversity – a gathering of politicos, street people, kids, dogs, passers-by and surrounding residents. It’s not often that any city opens a multi-million-dollar park these days, and it says something about Vancouver that we don’t make that big deal out of it. If anything, we complain that it’s not big enough and took to long to complete.

Here are a few shots of those at the ceremony who came to inaugurate the park, and those who were there because they just like to hang out in it.

Carrying on the city conversation:

Two generations of civic leaders: George Affleck, current councillor, and Setty Pendakur, an alderman on the fabled council of 1972 and now chair of the Roundhouse Community Centre.

Sam, local resident and a guy who’s seen it all happen.

Live performance by a singer whose name I missed but whose music I loved. She’s from Cameroon.

B.C. Lions football player Rolly Lumbala (as was Emery Barnes) – born in Gabon, lived in Montreal, played football in the States, and you can hear all that in his voice.