The Vancouver park board pulled the plug on Kensington Community Centre’s Shaw Wi-Fi hotspot less than a week after it was installed.
City workers shut down power on Aug. 28. Then, on the morning of Aug. 29, Kensington Community Centre Association president Milan Kljajic discovered the building’s locks were changed.
A letter from city lawyer Jason Twa to the association said Kensington had no authority under its joint operating agreement with the city, the owner of the property, for the installation.
“Should Shaw not remove their equipment and repair any damage done to the Centre, the Park Board will remove it, repair any damages and charge back any expenses to Shaw and KCCA,” Twa wrote.
Kljajic said the installation was worth $15,000 and performed at no charge to the association or taxpayers.
“It doesn’t matter,” Vision Vancouver park board chair Aaron Jasper told the Courier. “They're not authorized to do it and they have breached security of sensitive areas of the building that they are not authorized to access and despite repeated attempts by the park board to remind them of that, they proceeded anyway.”
Twa’s letter said senior park board staff told KCCA in June it was premature to install a system while staff explored a citywide system at beaches, parks and community centres, after an April park board resolution. Staff halted a July 9 attempt, but Shaw went ahead Aug. 23 and 24 despite park board disapproval.
Shaw customers had unlimited access to the hotspot, part of the cable and Internet giant’s network of hotspots throughout its coverage area. All others could use the system for free three times a month for 15 minutes per session.
Kljajic was adamant that KCCA did no wrong, has no intention of removing the equipment and will do whatever it can to reactivate the hotspot.
“We’re just expanding the scope of our Internet services. It’s not a new install,” he said. “We’ve had Wi-Fi in one room and we want to expand it through the centre.”
Jasper said community centre association presidents are not supposed to have keys to community centres and called the installation a “Trojan horse” strategy. “The president of the association is poised to announce his candidacy for city council,” he said. “I think it's more about politics than providing the service.”
Kljajic, a truck driver in the city’s sanitation department, said he has had keys to the centre for more than a decade and association staff, once they pass a criminal record check, are also issued keys. He was surprised that Jasper knew about his plan to run in the Nov. 15 civic election for Vancouver First. He said he informed management, including city engineer Peter Judd, in writing on Aug. 28 that he planned to take unpaid leave of absence from Sept. 30 until Nov. 16, but could be back at work as early as Oct. 14 if he is not nominated.
As for the allegation that it is politically motivated, Kljajic said the effort to expand Wi-Fi at the community centre is not new.
“Park board was well aware that we were going to go with Shaw Wi-Fi for five or six months, this was not a stunt. The association has been asking for Wi-Fi for a couple of years. Originally park board was the one that called Shaw to do an estimate on the centre,” he said.
In April, the Vision Vancouver majority park board ordered staff to explore a citywide system at parks, beaches and community centres. No deadline was given for the staff report. Jasper said he did not know when a request for proposals would be issued, but denied any service providers have lobbied the park board.
“As chair of the board I don't hold this against Shaw, but I think it's best if they get their equipment out, make repairs and if they want to put together a proposal then they're free to do so. The association has overstepped its authority, granted access to a third party and the security breaches … are frankly quite concerning,” Jasper said.
