By David P. Ball
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Vancouver's park board announced this week it will finally re-open the Downtown Eastside's beloved Oppenheimer Park, but not until June — more than a year after it was gated and locked shut.

The park was once a busy and bustling hub at the centre of the neighbourhood, a rare large green space full of trees, blossoms, sacred Indigenous items, a community centre and decades of memories.

For many local residents The Pulse on CFRO talked to on Monday afternoon, the park wasn't just a place for convenient services, arts programs, free food or washroom facilities.

It was a place to relax, a rare set of benches to watch birds from or have a drink with friends in peace, and a living heart of the community.

"It's the only place we have, right?" said Paul Young, who lives on a street facing the park and said he can't wait for it to open again. "I'll just sit in the park and drink a couple beers, probably.

"I used to grab food when they used to have food there. It's nice to sit in the park in the sun, you know," he added.

But when a homeless encampment sprung up there, the park gradually filled with homeless campers, tarps and tents — and the mood and sense of peace soured for those who depended on the park every day for years. Last May, the city evicted the tent camp, displacing it first to CRAB Park north across the railway tracks, before it was again pushed to Strathcona Park.

"I love it, it's beautiful there," said Vanessa Cardinal who said she camped in tent city there with her partner and close friends. "I used to go to the park and just sit there, and have a cooler and a cigarette...We're happy there."

"I live in the London Hotel, we're not allowed visitors at this point. This is somewhere for me to go. I wish I could go in there now and relax, but no," she said.

The city didn't re-open it last summer despite declining indoor spaces to safety socialize in the neighbourhood and stringent anti-guest policies in many low-income buildings. And citing the need for regrowing destroyed grass and landscaping, the park board said it can't pull down the blue fencing until at least June, and only on one half of the park.

For many residents, that's not soon enough, as the weather improves and there's no other park to go to nearby. For others, however, the question will be how to balance the park's uses and importance for the entire neighbourhood — and address the root societal issues behind the tent city to ensure that the park remains open for all.