Burnaby's parks, recreation and culture commission has decided against instituting evening closures in municipal parks.
The commission considered the closures after receiving complaints from Burnaby residents who live near Ledingham Park in the Metrotown neighbourhood last fall.
The tiny park sits between Waverley and Jubilee avenues, and Victory and Watling streets, hidden behind houses in the area and only accessible through two back lanes.
The commission chose not to bring in a nighttime ban for a number of reasons, according to the director of the parks, recreation and cultural department, Dave Ellenwood.
The Burnaby RCMP had a large influence on the decision.
"The Burnaby RCMP have at their disposal all of the tools required that they need to deal with this type of nuisance," he said of the issues at the park.
The issue came up in 2003 as well, Ellenwood said, but the RCMP said closures were not necessary at that time, either.
The mobile park patrol team can attend disturbance calls, as well, and are on call 24 hours, Ellenwood said, and staff can deal with minor offences and non-threatening situations in parks during week days.
There was also concern, from both Ellenwood and the RCMP, that closing the parks at night would adversely affect legitimate park users.
Area resident Thomas Hasek doesn't think the city took his and his neighbours' complaints seriously.
"At this time I should state that I find your casual dismissal of our concerns distressing, to say the least," Hasek wrote in an open letter to Ellenwood, in response to the decision.
Hasek and his neighbours, including neighbourhood Block Watch captain Debra Morgan, are concerned that problems over the last two summers at the park will continue if evening closures are not put in place.
Hasek said he doesn't understand why Burnaby will not introduce the closures when neighbouring cities such as Coquitlam and New Westminster ban park use at night.
Hasek and Morgan spoke to the NOW about some of the incidents in an article last fall.
Despite the park's intended use, it has attracted an older crowd, according to Morgan, with teenagers and young adults showing up to party there on summer evenings after dark.
Residents have observed what they believe are drug deals - people exchanging things from their car windows in the lane and driving off before the police arrive, after residents call in complaints.
The most disturbing incident, though, took place on Sept. 16, 2011, when more than a dozen people showed up in the evening at about 10 p.m., she said.
A fence in the area had some boards removed by the revellers.
The city's crime preven-tion through environmental design principles were no use in that particular instance, Hasek said.
Hasek also found the suggestion that closing parks at night would take legitimate uses out of the park "bewildering," he said.
"Furthermore, the implication in item No. 1 of the (commission's report) that playing basketball after dark should be encouraged is nothing short of irresponsible," he wrote in his open letter.
For now, the neighbours plan to be vigilant when it comes to misuse of the local park and call the Burnaby RCMP should any problems arise next summer.
"We're certainly going to be calling the RCMP on the slightest notice when we see anything that appears out of the ordinary," he said in a followup phone interview.
He hopes one of the other neighbours will start a petition so that the city will reconsider, as he thinks the city is not willing to listen to him personally.
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