Vancouver mayor changed boardroom into gym to stay ‘focused and energized’
Posted June 26, 2024 6:59 am.
Last Updated June 26, 2024 7:39 pm.
The spending habits and priorities of Vancouver’s mayor are being called into question after one of the boardrooms at City Hall was turned into a gym.
Green Party Coun. Pete Fry posted an image of the boardroom to social media. Scattered sparsely around the carpet is some workout equipment, including what looks to be a Peleton bike, a squat rack, and one set of dumbells.
Fry says back in early January, staff were notified via email by City Manager Paul Mochrie that the mayor and his staff needed to use the Ceremonial Boardroom and the Grouse Room, but didn’t explain why.
The memo stated, in part, that it was for “regular operations of the Mayor and his office team.”
Fry explains that on Friday he was grabbing a drink in the nearby kitchenette and saw the door was unlocked and open. He looked inside and realized the room had been turned into a gym.
“The door is normally locked to the non-ABC councillors, they’re all key-card door swipes and so we haven’t been able to access that room,” explained Fry.
“It was quite a well-used facility for councillors. Our offices are quite small so when we have delegations that we need to meet … we would book a boardroom and we would have meetings there. I was shocked to learn it had been turned into a half-assed gym. Not even a real gym, really.”
He’s calling out the Mayor Ken Sim for his part in the changes.
“We used it for city business and it’s a taxpayer-funded civic facility and it seems really out of touch to be repurposing it for such a trivial, non-use.”
Fry explains there’s already a gym at City Hall.
“There’s a gym in City Hall’s basement and they do have rotating trainers that come through as well.”
Fry maintains his frustration isn’t due to the fact it’s a gym, but instead the way City Hall resources are being used.
“It’s also disdainful of the public who voted for Ken Sim, who ran on a platform of reducing partisan activity in the Mayor’s Office. He called overspending in the Mayor’s Office the ‘dumb spend’ and then proceeded to massively increase his office budget, much more than any of his predecessors,” Fry explained.
“It smacks of hypocrisy, and it really is painful from the perspective of we have so many important issues in the city, we have so much need and then to just trivialize the hard work that we do as councillors and try to make the city a better place by misusing a boardroom like this.”
The councillor says there are a limited number of boardrooms available at City Hall and he doesn’t get the thought process behind the move.
“This repurposing of a civic facility for the mayor’s personal use is highly inappropriate.”
This comes as Coun. Christine Boyle is pushing for more financial transparency from the mayor’s office. She’s called into question the office’s spending, saying his budget keeps going up but it’s unclear where the money is going.
She and Fry both described Sim’s office as having “infuriating behaviour.”
Sim turned suite into gym to stay ‘focused and energized admist a demanding schedule’
In a statement to CityNews, Sim shared that at the beginning of 2024, he moved back into the “official mayor’s office” at City Hall.
“When welcoming dignitaries, delegations, stakeholders, and various community groups, it’s essential to present City Hall and the Mayor’s Office in the best possible light. This required a more official and dignified setting than my previous office provided,” he shared.
However, Sim said this official office shares a door with what was “once a boardroom.”
“Given the sensitive and confidential nature of the discussions that take place here, maintaining confidentiality is paramount. To ensure privacy and efficiency, we relocated the boardroom to a larger, more central location for Councillors. This new space not only offers better privacy for the Mayor’s office but also fosters a more conducive environment for meaningful discussions,” he explained.
“The room, which is part of the Mayor’s suite, was then turned into a gym space. I personally purchased the equipment. Health and well-being are crucial, and this setup allows me to stay focused and energized amidst a demanding schedule.”
Sim assured that as mayor, his focus is on “the real issues that matter to Vancouverites: affordable housing, public safety, and creating a vibrant, inclusive city. I’m committed to tackling these challenges head-on, rather than engaging in playing politics.”
Earlier this week, city council voted to add a new administrative position to Sim’s office, with an $80,000 salary, which was budgeted for the position.
On Tuesday, Fry says things got tense at city council when the new position was approved. He, Boyle and Coun. Adriane Carr didn’t agree with it.
“ABC shut down the conversation and used a sort of arcane procedural process to call the question, which they were able to do with their supermajority, and basically shut down any debate. We weren’t able to ask any more questions. We weren’t able to ask for more transparency from the Mayor’s Office.”
Fry adds he’s frustrated by all this.
“How when we’re asking legitimate questions on behalf of the taxpayers of Vancouver and the democratic process that we get shut down using brute force bullying majority tactics. We should be allowed to do our job and ask the tough questions when we think democracy is being upended and maybe public funds are being misused.”
The position is in addition to the $100,000 increase in discretionary funding for the mayor’s personal office, which was approved in December.
