Sometimes you just have to shake your head at our city halls.

The Vancouver Parks Board bureaucrats want to spend $450,000 on a new public art installation at Empire Field, near the PNE. It's a set of neon-painted 40-foot-high bleachers that "may have a slide." 

It's ugly and expensive. Is there nothing else in a Vancouver park that $450,000 could be better spent on?

The Parks Board, after public and social media backlash, had paused the project. They should just kill it outright. Here's more details from the :http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/1378075/vancouver-park-board-postpones-plans-for-450k-public-art-at-empire-fields/

The Non-Partisan Association-dominated board hesitated to approve the not-so-subtle piece, which might include a slide, because the public wasn’t consulted. At its meeting Monday night, the board referred its decision on “Home and Away” until the public gets more information at the park’s July 18th opening event.

“I’m not suggesting that we redesign the piece, I’m just suggesting the public should have a little more time to think about where it goes,” chair John Coupar said of the piece that was described throughout the meeting as “bold."

However, staff said the delay could “derail” plans for the sculpture due to the artists’ busy schedule.

Regardless, the board postponed its decision until the fall even though the public is never consulted on the specifics of commissioned art pieces, according to city processes. Rather, the public expressed a desire for public art in general at the location (and in East Van overall) when the city began planning the Hastings Park renovations.

The Seattle-based artists were involved in early meetings and met with multiple stakeholders before developing the 14-metre tall piece that references the park’s rich sports history.

While the concept could change slightly – it won’t necessarily be bright yellow and blue, and it may or may not have a slide depending on costs and safety – its scale and location are largely set, meaning people sitting on the non-wheelchair accessible bleachers will be facing away from the North Shore mountains.