To the editor:
Re: "Rule review," July 13.
In reviewing its rules for meetings, the park board might consider the following:
The board chair should forward citizens' petitions addressed to the board, directly to the board. He should not ignore a petition until challenged at a public meeting, four months after receiving it.
The board planning and environment committee should not change the dates of public meetings without giving a week's notice and notifying interested parties.
A board committee should give equal time (and courtesy) to a delegation, whether it is sympathetic to the delegation's presentation.
The board chair should not busy him or herself with email during the five minutes a delegation is allowed to address a board committee. The minutes of a committee meeting should faithfully reflect the views of a delegation's presentation, even though such views may be embarrassing to the committee.
Perhaps adopting these modest proposals might give some semblance of democracy and fair procedure to park board deliberations.
Jon O'Grady, Vancouver
