VANCOUVER—Candidates vying for a seat in civic politics are weighing in on the issue of discarded needles and people sleeping in Andy Livingstone Park.

The park has been described as ground zero for the increasing conflict between families with children who attend the nearby Crosstown Elementary School and homeless residents who use drugs and sleep in the park.

A community forum organized by the False Creek Residents Association earlier this week attracted more than a hundred people, who raised issues ranging from garbage to discarded needles to violent individuals at the park.

This is an ongoing debate that has reared its head again, just in time for the upcoming civic election this fall.

Park Board commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung, said the park board needs more funding in order to hire the additional staff necessary to keep the Andy Livingstone clean and safe. Kirby-Yung is running for Vancouver city council with the Non-Partisan Association party.

“I think getting some additional eyes and ears on the street for playgrounds is really important,” she said.

Fellow NPA park board commissioner John Coupar introduced a motion in 2017 that suggested the park board ask city council for additional funding in order to enable 24-hour-a-day patrols at Andy Livingstone. That motion was referred to staff.

Based on what she has heard from residents living in the condos around Andy Livingstone, people won’t tolerate the current situation for much longer, she said.

“People are going to start moving out of the neighbourhood.”

From May to August of this year, park board staff have been picking up about 35 needles every morning from Andy Livingstone park, according to a park board spokesperson. Other agencies also pick up needles throughout the day. Park rangers picked up 100 needles a day at Andy Livingstone, the park board said in an interview in June 2017.

The park board allotted an increasing amount of resources to the site in recent years, including adding cleaning staff and ranger shifts. It also added four needle-disposal boxes to the existing two at the park.

The park could also benefit from more foot traffic, said independent city council candidate Adrian Crook.

“(Crosstown Elementary) essentially goes dormant in the summer and after hours and the weekend. That’s what allows the drug use and occasional criminal element to come back in,” he said.

“If you start to invest a bit more and keeping up appearances of the park you would be less likely to allow it to slide downhill.”

He acknowledged it is tough to balance the needs of homeless people and the needs of other people who want to use the park.

Vision park board commissioner Catherine Evans acknowledged the growing concern about Andy Livingstone Park. Evans is running for city council in the upcoming civic election.

“I think people are frustrated, and rightfully so, that the situation isn’t getting better.”

She said the root cause of the problem is that many people don’t have proper housing and resort to sleeping in Andy Livingstone park.

“Until getting a solution to homelessness, we will be managing some of the problems.”

More than a dozen people sleep in Andy Livingstone every night. Park rangers are tasked with waking them up and moving them along every morning. In a 2017 interview, park board staff said rangers were experiencing burnout and trauma from working at Andy Livingstone.

Evans said she expects the situation at the park to improve soon because modular housing is rapidly coming online thanks to provincial funding.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Civic elections in B.C. will be held on Oct. 20, 2018.

People can contact Vancouver Coastal Health’s needle-pickup hotline at 604-657-6561.

Correction — Sept. 14, 2018: This story has been edited from a previous version that misstated the name of the political party Non-Partisan Association.

Read more about: