Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Standing Committee on City Services & Budgets

FROM:

General Manager of Engineering

SUBJECT:

Annual Khalsa Diwan Society Vasaikhi Parade

 

CONSIDERATION

AND

OR

OR

CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The City Manager RECOMMENDS A and B as set out above, provided the report on this years' event is provided to Council within the 30 day period so that a decision on a fee can be made based upon success of the event. The City Manager DOES NOT RECOMMEND C and D.

COUNCIL POLICY

The FEST Committee will obtain Council approval for Special Events that use City property or where the event could have an impact on the adjacent property.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to update Council on the 2000 Khalsa Diwan Society Vaisikhi Parade, and to submit recommendations for the 2001 parade for Council’s approval.

BACKGROUND

On March 30th, 2000 Council approved the 2000 Khalsa Diwan Society’s Vaisakhi Parade, subject to the Society’s adherence to FEST Committee’s conditions of approval. Council directed staff to report back with a review of how conditions were met for the parade, and a recommendation on whether or not the 2001 parade should be approved. Unfortunately, due first to a heavy workload for FEST Committee members, then last fall’s civic strike and finally a December change in the executive of the Khalsa Diwan Society, a report has not been available until this time. Because of this, Council is asked at this time to both assess last year’s parade and endorse a new plan for 2001.

Since 1993, the FEST Committee has requested Council approval of the Khalsa Diwan Society’s annual parade due to its significant size, duration and impact on the community. Each year Council has approved the event subject to the various conditions set by the FEST committee, in spite of ongoing and unresolved concerns about the ability of the Khalsa Diwan Society to adequately monitor and control the event. The 1998 and 1999 parades involved a significant number of participants, and FEST committee members, particularly the Vancouver Police Department, felt that safety issues were not sufficiently addressed by the organizers, and that participants and spectators, as well as neighbouring homes and businesses on the parade route, were at risk.

DISCUSSION

The Vaisakhi celebration is an important one for Vancouver’s Indo-Canadian community, and the annual parade is an important fund-raiser for the Khalsa Diwan Society. More than 50 thousand participants and spectators gather along the parade route, particularly in the Punjabi Market area on Main Street between 53rd and 49th Avenues, to view the parade, enjoy food stalls and activities along the route, and to make donations to the Society by depositing money into containers mounted on the first float.

Since its inception, and particularly with the growth in popularity of the parade in the past few years, the Vaisakhi Parade has had a significant impact on neighbouring residents and on traffic on 49th Ave., Fraser St., Main Street and Marine Drive. Specific concerns include the amount of time it takes to complete the route (as much six or seven hours) and the delay caused when the parade stops, unofficially, for an hour or more at the Punjabi Market at Main and 49th Ave. The most serious concern is the lack of safety measures around the floats, particularly the lead one, and the danger involved as people push up to it to donate money. Police have repeatedly asked that marshals keep the parade moving and prevent participants and spectators from climbing on and off vehicles as they move along the route. To this point the organizers have not complied with conditions set by the City, and to control the crowd that attends. After serous concerns were expressed by FEST Committee and Council before last year’s Parade, the then-President of the Khalsa Diwan Society, pledged to comply with conditions set by the City. Council agreed to approve the 2000 event, and asked for a report-back from FEST staff on the success of the Society in upholding the conditions, and recommendations on whether or not the parade should be approved for 2001.

The following problems occurred in the April 22nd, 2000 parade:

1. The parade was late leaving and returning to the temple, resulting in unscheduled delays for transit buses, more traffic problems for surrounding neighbourhoods and extended shifts for Police and city sanitation workers (extra costs were paid by the Society) .

2. The parade took more than 1.5 hours to move two blocks through the Punjabi Market area from 51st to 49th Ave., resulting in traffic gridlock for an extended period of time.

3. Vehicles in the parade were poorly identified as such, and some vehicles and drivers were not pre-registered with police, posing risk of uninsured vehicles and unlicensed drivers participating as in past years.

4. There was no communication between vehicles, marshals and the Police, in spite of an agreement to maintain contact at all times. This created dangers for people approaching the floats with donations and to those people climbing on and off them, which was not permitted.

5. Marshals did not maintain roped barriers or delineators around parade vehicles, and only a few vehicles had plywood skirting over vehicle wheel wells to prevent anyone who might have slipped from sliding under a vehicle

6. Attempts were made to set up staging in the Punjabi Market area, when agreements had speeches only at the Ross Street Temple.

7. An information flyer notifying neighbouring residents and businesses about the parade was not delivered in a timely manner, going out only two days before the event.

8. A first aid and lost children center was not established by the Society.

After last year’s Parade the FEST Committee met to review the event and determine if conditions set out by Council in granting approval for the 2000 event were met. Although there were still a number of concerns that were not adequately addressed by the Parade organizers there were some improvements in compliance to the City’s conditions. Organizers paid off previous debts for City services in past parades and paid a deposit in advance to cover costs of the 2000 event. The parade was only one-half hour late in leaving the Temple and one hour late in returning, an improvement over past years’ efforts. More vehicles were equipped with skirting to prevent participants from slipping under them, and a good effort was made by volunteers to clean the parade route after the event.

Following the election of a new Temple Executive in December, staff and Police met with the new President of the Khalsa Diwan Society, the Vice President and the Event Manager for this year’s Vaisakhi Parade. Earlier discussions had been held with the previous executive to consider a change in the route of the parade to shorten the time of it and minimize impacts on Marine Drive the new Executive is adamant that the route remain unchanged. They agree to work with the FEST Committee to ensure that safety conditions are met, and have submitted in writing a series of conditions they feel they can meet. These include:

· A senior Temple executive will be assigned to each float and be responsible for ensuring that a rope barrier be maintained to prevent spectators from getting too close to the vehicle, and to ensure that individuals getting on and off vehicles will be kept to a minimum.

· All parade participants will be informed by the Society that they must pre-register their vehicles and drivers by April 9th, and all local vehicles must be at the Temple Friday afternoon for pre-parade inspection of skirting and clear marking of positions in parade. The Society will provide a preliminary list of drivers and photocopies of drivers’ licenses to Police by April 9th, and last minute revisions and additions will be allowed only until 11am on Thursday, April 12th. The organizers have guaranteed that no unauthorized drivers or vehicles will be permitted to join the parade on Saturday.

· A sufficient number of parade marshals will travel with the parade at all times to maintain consistent movement of vehicles, and marshals will be clearly identified and equipped with walkie-talkies or cell-phones to maintain contact with police and Event Manager.

· A First Aid station will be maintained by St. John’s Ambulance and Punjabi-speaking volunteers, and that a bicycle patrol first-aid component be included. As well, a lost and found center will be set up at the Sunset Community Centre, with two Khalsa Diwan Society volunteers on site at all times.

· The Parade be kept moving at all times, and all vehicles will be back to the Ross Street Temple by 3pm.

· The Event Manager will work with the City and the Punjabi Market Association to find a solution to the delay in the parade traveling through the Punjabi Market area. (in the past, the PMA has never been involved in the FEST discussions, but has acted independently in mounting a stage in the area.) City staff met with representatives of the Society and the Punjabi Market to discuss how we can minimize the slow-down in the area from 51st to 49th Ave. and have agreed to allow a small stage (not to exceed 96 sq. ft) ) to be set up sidewalk at the corner of Main and 50th Ave., not to impede access to 50th Ave. for emergency vehicles, to permit commentary on the parade to be broadcast to the spectators. The podium will be dismantled immediately after the last float has passed that location.

· The Society will ensure that volunteers will clean-up side streets as well as the main parade route.

· The conditions of approval listed above be written out in a letter from the City Engineer, and that each clause be signed by the Khalsa Diwan Society representative as acknowledgement of agreement to them.

· That a deposit of $25,000 be submitted by the Society 15 days in advance of the event to cover Police, Engineering, and Park Board costs; and that a deposit be made to Coast Mountain Bus Lines 15 day in advance to cover costs of rerouting Transit buses in the area.

· That the Society agree to send out a notice to residents of the area who will be impacted by the Parade to make them aware of the date and time of the event, and its effect on traffic movement in the area. (Knight Street to Manitoba, Marine Drive to 47th Ave.)

CONCLUSION

The annual Vaisakhi Parade is an important celebration for the Khalsa Diwan Society and Vancouver's Indo-Canadian community. While the FEST Committee is aware of the lack of serious incidents in past parades, there are still concerns about public safety and community well being which have not been adequately resolved by organizers in the past. The new Khalsa Diwan Society executive has expressed their strong commitment to working with us to ensure that this year’s parade will proceed safely and without incident. However, as a further incentive to comply with the conditions, it is recommended that a fee be levied if there are issues with non-compliance. The proposed $10,000 fee would be reviewed by Council after the Parade.

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cs010222.htm

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