It’s official, the Dude Chilling Park sign can stay in Guelph Park under the guise of “public art.” By decree of the Vision Vancouver majority on the Board of Parks and Recreation, which apparently ran out of more important things to ponder at its Feb. 3, 2014 meeting.
The 2012-erected parody sign by artist Viktor Briestensky was inspired by the Michael Dennis sculpture called Reclining Figure. It became a social media sensation when Google Maps briefly renamed Guelph Park as Dude Chilling Park. Vision Vancouver Park Board commissioner Sarah Blyth took up the cause. When it comes to the all-important issue of joke signs in parks, you can’t call her blithe!
That got me thinking. Why not an open season on Vancouver Parks signs in this election year? Let free expression flourish among the trees, fields and benches.
Here are some of my topical suggestions.
Brilliant!! A contest would be a great idea.
Topical, or openly partisan? Wait, don’t answer that. It’s pretty obvious.
You know it’s an election year when those sympathetic to the party in power accuse me of being “partisan.” Thanks for the laugh! I’ve heard the same things over the years from card-carrying and/or cheque-cashing Conservatives, BC Liberals, NDP, COPE and NPA, among others. I don’t subscribe to that “you’re either with us or against us” attitude.
With apologies to Groucho Marx, I don’t care to be a member of any political party that would have me as a member. I’m a reporter and my job is to ask questions, to challenge authority. All of the above is factual. It is also satirical.
One thing is not a laughing matter. Access to Vancouver city hall for citizens and journalists has declined over the last five years. It is run like a corporation. Local government is supposed to be the most-accessible of all the levels. Instead, 12th & Cambie has become a lot like Victoria and Ottawa. As a journalist, I would not be doing my job if I didn’t advocate for freer access.