Briefly: Neighbours finally have their say about Memorial South Park closure for a 2026 World Cup training site at Nov. 30 John Oliver gym drop-in session.
Bob Mackin
Memorial South Park neighbours got their first chance to tell civic officials what they think about the surprise July announcement to close the heart of the South Vancouver park for nearly two years.
Feedback from attendees of the Nov. 30 FIFA 26 information session at John Oliver secondary (Mackin)
Rather than a town hall about the temporary training facility for FIFA World Cup 26, they got an information walk-through in the John Oliver secondary gymnasium on Nov. 30 with managers, posters and pamphlets.
Attendees were invited to leave their thoughts on sticky notes and attach them to a poster near the exit.
Just before the scheduled 2 p.m. end of the three-hour opening, theBreaker.news counted 115 messages. The prevailing mood was on the skeptical-to-opposed end of the spectrum. Such as:
- We need the track not a new soccer field. Event will be for rich people only.
- How/who chose South Memorial? Does this comply with Vancouver Charter?
- Too little info too late.
- It should stop ASAP.
- Force this through?Ask for forgiveness after?
- Tickets from FIFA to close residents to buy good will.
- This info session is late in the process. There should have been more consultation prior.
- Such waste of space, energy, water, money. I do not agree!
- Where are we going to go? #Followthemoney
- Community compensation for running clubs.
Outside the gym, Friends of Memorial South Park had their own display, to collect messages for the World Cup-boosting Mayor Ken Sim.
The Park Board plan includes transplanting four trees and chopping down 11 others (seven younger trees that an arborist says are dead and four older trees that are in the way of the temporary training facility).
Vancouver Park Board Comm. Tom Digby hopes his fellow commissioners will consider a motion at the Dec. 9 meeting to postpone tree removal until staff report back on what, if any, efforts have been made to secure an alternative, soccer-specific site for World Cup team training in June and July 2026.
Digby’s motion suggests Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium, Christine Sinclair Community Centre and Simon Fraser University or the University of B.C. are viable alternatives to Memorial South Park and Killarney Park.
NEW: Subscribe to theBreaker.news on Substack. Find out how: Click here.
