Thank you Lesley Ewing. I’m glad another North Oak Bayer raised concerns about our beloved Carnarvon Park.
The current state is sad, but not surprising. It has been neglected for far, far too long. The natural beauty is there, but its outdated buildings and dilapidated courts are not in good shape.
Once the neighbours kicked up a fuss about those pesky pickleballers, the council thought it a bright idea to move pickleball into the lacrosse box. And what do you know, they’ve done some work to spruce it up: some new plywood and a paint job. And now they’re dedicating $70,000 to resurface the lacrosse box.
Let’s be clear: kids have been playing in there for years and Oak Bay has never considered updates for the kids. What if kids show up in the summertime or weekends, during the day, to play road hockey/lacrosse, but can’t now because pickleball is happening. Maybe we should have our elementary-aged kids call Oak Bay Rec to book the lacrosse box, only to find out that they had to call before a certain time, otherwise you’re out of luck. It’s all getting a bit silly.
And the use of surplus funds? What a gross misappropriation of our tax dollars. And will the pickleball courts be moved again? Is this part of the Carnarvon Park master plan? Perhaps the $70,000 should be used to pave the rest of Eastdowne. No wait, let’s do Bowker Avenue and the rec centre parking lot first. Ridiculous, but I digress.
Even the mayor admits that the building is in poor condition; thank you Captain Obvious. What about an update on the implementation of the Carnarvon Park master plan, other than it being finished by 2025? Can we get a more detailed timeline? Transparency? And Mr. Herman had the gall to suggest people make donations for park benches or picnic tables.
I don’t believe there is any shelter at Carnarvon Park. I’m curious who funded the shelter at Windsor Park, near the playground? Let’s have some equity across the municipality for once.
Will Moore
Oak Bay