Drinking in Vancouver parks: Board considering another pilot project
CTV
The Vancouver Park Board is considering another pilot project allowing alcohol consumption in city parks, more than three years after it began attempting to tackle the issue.
The Vancouver Park Board is considering another pilot project allowing alcohol consumption in city parks, more than three years after it began attempting to tackle the issue.
A motion before the park board at its meeting Monday night calls for directing parks staff to "design and implement a second Alcohol in Parks Pilot for 2022 onwards, with considerations given to the lessons learned from the 2021 experience."
It also asks staff to report back to the board with recommendations for the next steps after a second pilot project.
Drinking in Vancouver parks is technically illegal, though many people do it anyway. The park board has been considering ways to legalize drinking in parks since December 2018.
Spurred by the desire for outdoor socialization options during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the board voted in favour of a first pilot project back in July 2020.
That pilot didn't take flight until a year later, however, after the provincial government passed legislation to give the park board the authority to choose where booze could be consumed legally in Vancouver.
A total of 22 parks were included in the project, and designated drinking areas were set up in each of them from July 12 to Oct. 11, 2021.
