New West residents are invited to take a seat at tables and chairs that will be popping up around the city.
The city’s public seating pilot project is getting underway, with bright red movable tables and chairs being placed in spaces around the city. By the end of next week, movable furniture will be located at Anvil Centre, the Belmont Street parklet, the library and the Queensborough Community Centre.
Erika Mashig, the city’s parks and open space planner, said the city has about 45 sets of furniture to distribute to a variety of locations in New West. The city is seeking opportunities to partner with various businesses or business improvement areas to launch the remaining furniture.
The idea behind the project is to give people the ability to adapt the public space to meet their needs, whether that’s using the furniture to eat lunch, work, hold meetings or relax.
“We recognize that flexible seating is important to creating a successful public space,” said Mayor Jonathan Cote. “We hope to see everyone taking advantage of the seats this summer.”
Last November, Cote attended a conference in Dallas, Texas, where he noticed movable tables and chairs in public spaces such as parks, streets and public squares. He watched as people moved the furniture around to meet their individual needs, with choosing to sit in the sunshine and preferring the shade, and many moving under cover when it started to rain.
Cote asked Dallas staff if chairs goes missing, and was told that a few may vanish but most people respect them for what they are and leave them in place. In New West, city staff, businesses or adjacent property owners will manage the furniture in some locations by moving it in or out of storage every morning and evening or securing it overnight.
After visiting Dallas, Cote asked staff to look into the possibility of offering a similar pilot project in New Westminster this summer. He also asked staff to consider some “free to play” offerings he saw in Dallas, where parks concessions were equipped with board games and equipment for activities like bocce, badminton and croquet.
A playbox filled with toys, balls and instructions for outdoor games has been installed at Westminster Pier Park and is being considered for other locations in the city. The box will include a variety of items, offered on a rotating basis, such as basketballs, soccer balls, badminton racquets and shuttle cocks, rubber balls, volleyballs, pickleball racquets and balls, buckets of sidewalk chalk, small pop-up nets (for soccer/hockey), Frisbees, plastic hockey sticks and pucks, Bocce, skipping ropes, hula hoops and Capture the flag flags.
