Poor Kumori-Con Communication, Poor City Planning, and How Vancouver's "Living Room" Got Thrashed Labor Day Weekend 2014

Esther Short, "Mother" of Vancouver City

  This is an extremely hard post for me to write, given the subject matter - Esther Short Park, and how it was thrashed this past weekend by Kumori-Con attendees - touches upon two of my favorite sights in Vancouver City: the park itself, and the colorful (and for the most part, exceedingly friendly and polite) Kumori-con "costume play" crowd. 

Kumori-con 2014 Attendees, Hilton, Downtown Vancouver

Our story starts Friday morning (August 29th). Yours truly stopped in at City Hall to speak briefly with Peggy Furno, City Manager Eric Holmes' aide-de-camp (and a very capable and smart lady) on a semi-park related matter: I had been noticing the weed-filled beds in Esther Short Park, and was concerned (since I had already spoken to Holmes about it at City Council's Aug 25 meeting) that the City grounds crew had NOT done its job: namely, weeding and grooming the flowerbeds of Vancouver's "living room" (as of this morning, City grounds crews still had not cleaned up said flowerbeds). 

Peggy assured me that, due to the limited size of the City's grounds crew (14 staffers), and given the vast number of things needing doing by them (crew members were apparently cleaning up the McGillivray Blvd medians, rather than attending to downtown Vancouver needs), that groundskeepers would NOT get around to Esther Short Park til mid-October, if not later. She promised to email me their schedule (still has not yet arrived as of press time). 

I also queried Peggy on the locked Porta-Potties in Esther Short Park, given the already large numbers of Kumori-con attendees milling around Propstra Square fountains and in the park itself, waiting for the con's Friday morning opening. She reassured me that the Hilton (across 6th from the park) would "see to their needs", and that the Vancouver Fest organizers (a Christian rock fest scheduled for Esther Short Park the same weekend), whose outhouses they were, would "unlock them" for Kumori-con needs. Hilton staff noted to me separately (on Saturday morning) that their bathrooms were for Hilton and con patrons only, while the Porta-Potties remained LOCKED all day Thursday and Friday, only opening during Vancouver Fest hours Friday and Saturday evenings (music acts mainly had a Kumori-con audience). Porta-Potties were again locked on Sunday and Monday, Labor Day. 

Peggy also noted to me that Kumori-con organizers "never touched base" with anyone at the City of Vancouver regarding their bathroom needs, nor paid the City any monies to provide facilities. In fact, Peggy let me know that NO ONE from Kumori-con, or the Hilton Convention Center, ever got in touch with the City for a 4-day weekend event that drew in excess of 7,000 attendees to downtown Vancouver (and Esther Short Park). 

Saturday morning, August 30: I walked along Esther Short Park's Columbia Street side, already appalled by the huge amounts of litter and waste left in the flowerbeds, bushes, on the sidewalks, in the fountains - including beer cans. One VERY DISGRUNTLED City temp worker, emptying overflowing trash cans, noted to me that not one, but TWO folks had actually POOPED in Esther Short Park. Needless to say, they were none to happy to clean it up. 

I wandered into the Hilton, and spoke at the front desk with communications management staffers about the trashed park. They promised to contact Kumori-con folks, and pointed out 8.5"x 11" signs, taped to all Hilton doors, asking con attendees to please "not litter" Esther Short Park. Swirls of costumed folks, many carrying cumbersome appendages, moved to and fro as we spoke at 830 AM. 

Sunday passed quietly, for the most part. Again, large numbers of Kumori-con folk moving to and fro. 

Monday, September 1st - Labor Day: I noticed heavy litter all through the park - on the lawns, the paths, in the beds. There was a very sweaty young blond worker bee from the City (I believe) picking up trash in a large garden wagon - around 5:30 in the afternoon. 

I decided to go talk to Kumori-con folk directly, at their front desk for the convention registration. Staffers there said no one from the City had contacted them about renting Porta-Potties (they would have been happy to), nor about litter issues in the park. They were appalled to learn about the public pooping in Vancouver's "living room", but quickly noted that "aggressive homeless people" (there are a few, not too many) were to blame, while also telling me about public nudity in Esther Short that day (not sure if aggressive homeless responsible there as well). For the record, I have NEVER seen a homeless person pooping or peeing in public in Esther Short Park. I saw quite a few young Kumori-con men peeing quite openly in the park on both Friday and Saturday nights. 

I'm not sure what to make of all this. Peggy Furno at the City of Vancouver says everything is fine, and grounds crews are "getting around" to cleaning up Esther Short. Kumori-con folks say the City never contacted them, and their folks are "picking up their trash" (per their signs on the Hilton's doors). Hilton folks, working for regular pay ON Labor Day itself, seemed weary of the hoopla. 

Me? I'm tired of nasty weed-filled, beer-can choked beds in Esther Short Park. I'm tired of a City that pushes off discussion of a public bathroom, open 24/7, like the Portland Loo, because they're frightened of the Vancouver Police Department's bugaboo of sex and drug orgies. I'm sick of a City, and an event, that blame eachother, and innocent-seeming homeless folk, for public pooping, nudity, and litter in MY living room. 

I call on Peggy Durro, and through her Eric Holmes, City Manager, and Vancouver City Council, as well as Kumori-con organizers, to MEET up and rectify this mess. Otherwise, in my opinion, the Kumori-mess can just hit the road and leave OUR living room in peace.