Pubdate: Sat, 22 Apr 2017
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Matt Robinson:
Page: A4

THE HEADLINE WRITES ITSELF: KEEP HIPPIES OFF THE GRASS

It's up to 4/20 organizers and city officials to determine a proper
place to hold event

Vancouver's annual 4/20 pot protest and farmers market may be a
ridiculous event, but it's one that's so popular and well-attended
that the city simply needs to suck it up next year and find a suitable
location and issue permits to organizers.

Early Friday, park board staff announced they'd need to close Sunset
Beach Park for five weeks to let the grass regrow after Thursday's
smoke-in.

It turns out 40,000 stoners can do a lot of damage to the green
stuff.

You'd think staff would have seen that one coming. Heck, Jodie Emery
did.

Speaking to a Postmedia reporter during the smoke-in, the princess of
pot joked she could imagine the next day headline in The Province if
the park grounds were damaged: "Stay off the grass, hippies."

Well this is not The Province, but it's close. And regardless of the
paper it's written in, Emery's message - spoken in jest or not - is
one that really does make sense.

A marijuana trade show, or "commercial festival" as park board
commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung calls it, has no business being held on
a grassy patch of park land - not without proper permits and a lot of
preparatory work, anyway.

Kirby-Yung said Thursday she believed the event should be held indoors
in a stadium - perhaps in B.C. Place, like the International Boat Show
is. An indoor venue can't be rained out (well, B.C. Place can, but
that's a different matter), and it can be crowd controlled and age
restricted, she reasoned.

But there is still the matter of smoking being banned in public spaces
and workplaces. So a stadium is a no-go.

No matter. There are at least two spaces in this city where a
marijuana trade show could easily be hosted.

Sticking to picturesque downtown locations that are large, outdoors,
paved and open for business, there is one tremendous choice - the
yet-to-be-built extension to Creekside Park.

For those unfamiliar with the backstory on this unsightly piece of
land, it is the large parking lot on the northeast corner of False
Creek. It hosts the Concord Pacific showroom as well as a rotating
assortment of commercial vehicles, dragon boats, and event tents.

If Concord Pacific is not amenable to hosting the event (and they did
not respond to a request for comment on this idea), the city has its
own large, often empty, and equally unsightly lot on the other side of
False Creek that could host red-eyed revellers and budding businesses
one day a year.

Pot protest organizers have been clear they want the event to be
permitted.

But park board commissioners refused to issue a permit for Sunset
Beach last month. Their chief concerns were around the smoking ban in
public parks and possible disruption to residents. The refusal came
with costs. It meant the organizers were unable to get liability
insurance for the event, which could have reduced risk to the city. It
meant the organizers could not be billed for some event-related
expenses. And it meant it would be difficult to set event expectations
and ensure compliance.

All of those costs were anticipated by park board staff and presented
in a report to commissioners before the vote.

So it should really come as little surprise that the protest
organizers failed to protect the turf before the event, or that
they're leaving thousands of dollars of damage in their wake, as
Michael Wiebe, the park board chair claimed Thursday.

Please, keep the hippies off the grass.

Find them a proper venue and give them a permit already.
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MAP posted-by: Matt