September 08, 2004
How I got kicked out of Rathtevor Park
So the time had finally come to visit Rathtrevor Park and I made my way out there on a so-so Friday. Little did know that I would get such an excited reception…
This turned out to be a media bonanza. Well, sort of. The Vancouver Sun picked up the story (and called me ‘she’. Nice research, guys. But I guess I did call them a rag a few journals ago, so I guess I rest my case). The Nanaimo Daily News put us in there twice, before and after, so thank you Nelson Bennett. I wish more reporters were like you. But what happened you ask? I’m getting to that.
Okay, so my girlfriend and I had set up our kiosk and gathered about 60 signatures or so. Most people were quite supportive and all was going well, when a parks operator comes around to ask us what we’re doing. He was in his early twenties. I tell him about it and start to chat with him. You know, ‘how have the changes affected your park?’, ‘how do like the job?’, etc. This jerk just kept shrugging and saying, “That’s irrelevant.” About a minute later, two other parks operators roll up in their golf cart thing like they were cops and jump out. One was a middle age woman, the other a past middle age grey bearded man. “Start filming this, get what their doing on tape!” the woman instructs the man.
“Hi, I’m Micah from the Western Canada Wilderness Committee,” I explain. “I’ve been touring the parks getting petitions signed in an effort to get the government to reinstate the parks budget and get rid of the new user fees.”
“Do you have a permit?” I’m asked.
“No. Why would I need one? I’ve been to a lot of parks and never needed one before,” I respond.
“You’ve got a donation jar and a structure,” the lady said, pointing at my kiosk. “You’re going to have to go.”
“How about I put the jar away and I’ll just keep working?” I ask.
“No, you’re going to have to leave.”
“Can I talk to you supervisor,” I inquire politely.
“I am the supervisor,” she tells me, none to politely.
“Well, then how about and park ranger. You’re a private operator, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, fine,” she says. To the youngster she says, “Stay here and watch him.” Back to me she says, “Put that donation jar away right now!”
They returned with a park ranger, who politely explained that the donation jar could be interpreted as commercial activity and that I would need a permit to return. I try to suggest that I come back tomorrow and they pretend I’m not there but alas, to no avail.
So Meagan and I began to pack up our stuff. As the grey bearded man left, he commented at us, “I guess there isn’t enough money in tree hugging!” What a bunch of jerks.
So it turns out it was a bit of a moot point because the weather was awful the next day. The day after that I went to Gordon Bay and had about 80 people sign the petition. Remarkably only 3 people didn’t sign that day: an old man who could hear me very well, a German man whose English was negligible, and an economics student who just didn’t seem to think universal accessibility to public facilities was more important that a balanced budget (his older brother later signed and told me his brother was the black sheep of the family).
So what really happened at Rathtrevor? Nelson Bennett tried to find out. It turns out that nobody at the Parks Board could find the section in the Parks Act that prevented me from doing what I was doing. Neither could the supervisor at Rathtrevor who had me leave, nor the ranger who back them up. Once the donation jar was gone, I should have been left alone. So the private company didn’t like us and they had us leave ‘their’ park. He wrote a story saying pretty much that. He’s a cool guy, that Nelson.
Of note, it seems that Osprey, the company operating the park, knew that visitorship was going to be way down: they had blocked of half of the parking lot and turning it into RV camping. The rest of the parking lot didn’t get even close to busy. I was told that it used to be a very popular place to hang out. Also odd, was that the meter gave hourly options (so you could pay a dollar for one hour, two dollars for two hours, etc up to $5 for the day). No other machine I’ve seen offers that. Perhaps it was no coincidence that this machine also ate more money than any other machine I’ve seen this summer. It just kept happening. One lady had $5 eaten. I get the impression that these machines are not top of the line.
Next I’m going to post some letters, one by me, one by Bill Barisoff, which were in the Nanaimo Daily News (I love those guys!). Then I’ll get back to telling you about the last stops on the parks tour. Until then, peace.
