"Stanley Park-ing lot:" Pro-bike lane graffiti drawn on Park Board office
Pro-bike lane graffiti appeared on the Park Board’s Stanley Park offices over the long weekend decrying the City’s decision to remove a bike lane along the park’s road.
A cyclist or cyclists apparently upset with the decision took chalk to the offices on Beach Avenue, writing messages about how Stanley Park was only for cars.
“Stanley Park-ing lot” is how the graffiti artists characterized the bike lane removal.
“Just pave the entire park already,” another message read.
Khang Dang spotted the graffiti on May 22 and uploaded photos to social media asking who “redecorated” the offices.
Khang Dang/Submitted
“I can’t say I would condone defacing property like that,” he said. “But at the same time, that weekend was when the bike lane was actually being taken out and there were a lot of heated emotions going around … I do see why it happened.”
A Park Board spokesperson said staff spotted the graffiti at the southern entrance on Tuesday morning, and by 10:30 am an external cleaning crew had gotten it cleaned up.
“The Park Board does not condone graffiti of any kind,” the spokesperson said.
The bike lane through Stanley Park was implemented during the pandemic to give people greater access to outdoor recreation opportunities. The seawall was temporarily reserved for pedestrians, and bikes were diverted up the road to Prospect Point.
Bikes are now allowed back on the seawall, a relatively flat route, but many fitness-oriented cyclists still used the hillier route along the road.
However, now that pandemic restrictions have lifted, Vancouver City Council voted to remove the bike lane and revert the road to two lanes for vehicles.
The City has begun to take down the bike lane, but traffic problems persisted over the long weekend. Daily Hive spoke to former Park Board commissioner Tricia Barker, who said she spent an hour trying to drive from Second Beach to the causeway exit over the weekend.
She said the City needs to open Beach Avenue to allow traffic to exit the park. That road was also closed to through-traffic during the pandemic.
Now over 110,000 views.
This tweet brought out the “bike bullies”
This is what they do to make sure no one crosses them and their agenda.
My agenda is to continue to speak up for seniors and people with disabilities and ignore the screaming.#pickhappy #enough https://t.co/h9wZsmosDkā Tricia Barker šØš¦š“ó §ó ¢ó ³ó £ó “ó æ (@TriciaBarker49) May 22, 2023
A group called Stanley Park for All is also calling for Beach Avenue to be opened and claims traffic congestion on North Lagoon Road will spill over onto residential streets in the West End.
“Beach Ave was an arterial road designed to move traffic across the City of Vancouver before the pandemic and before they created a temporary bike lane on it,” the group said in a Wednesday news release.
Daily Hive has reached out to the Park Board for comment but has not yet heard back.
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