Park Board pegs Vancouver 4/20 costs near $180,000

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The cost to taxpayers for the 4/20 event at Sunset Beach was $148,000? According to Vancouver Park Board chair Sarah Kirby-Yung, the tally is likely closer to $180,000.

She is tacking on another $30,000 to costs estimated by the city to include staff who were pulled from regular park duties to deal with the cannabis celebrators and the events aftermath.

“We said from day one that Sunset Beach is not an appropriate location. I do believe that there is an opportunity to find a site that is better suited to it and where the costs can be better managed,” Kirby-Yung says.

She says she is happy to work with the city and organizers to consider a different location for 2017.

“Having it in the downtown core is problematic because it has huge impacts. There are some folks that have said it disrupts business and commuters in the downtown core. They’re getting traffic and people in the neighbourhood from early in the morning, the party sort of continued in the evening, people were complaining that people were urinating in their park.”

The cost for the 2015 event outside the Vancouver Art Gallery was estimated to be around $92,500.

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