Rocks and Senses a new contemplative park area?

The wind was taken out of the sails of the supporters of the status quo in Victoria Park last night by a pre-emptive strike in the form of a $20,000 makeover of picnic area A, the East end of the park.
This area of the park is a source of woe to the residents of the area as it is perceived to be overcrowded and overused. Tales of picnic tables being earmarked at 7am, large tents being erected for shade and general complaints of noise and cooking smells were also raised. Well, Council has decided to try to and shut the residents up by effectively banning all people from the picnic area by converting the area to a passive park filled with "low-maintenance bushes and shrubs". Town staff quoted the move "as a completion of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan". This is untrue as the Plan's landscaping plan shows nothing of the sort of radical gardening that will take place. Even the workplan is silent on this move. However CAO, Stephen Peacock, when questioned about the change in plan and policy said, "Although the plan may not show the changes Council has the power to implement changes to it"
The end result is that the Town has shifted picnic patterns from the East end to the hitherto underutilised West side of the park. But in adopting other changes, that of chaining down picnic tables and only allowing two tables to be coupled together and forcing large groups to apply for "picnic permits" in order to book tables, both enforcement nightmares and cultural clashes are inevitable.
But will the residents, and obviously Council, be happy with the proposed changes. One resident, Bill Thompson of Church St, (seen in pic) wasn't as he questioned the Deputy Chief of police about the "No tolerance" policy that will adopted in the area of parking and other violations in the area. He was not mollified by the official answers and remained sceptical and agreed to pursue his claims of the police not being responsive last year. Other taxpayers questioned the definition of "groups" and wondered how large families will fit into this grouping. Deb O'Connor whilst telling Council that they should be spending more on garbage containers worried about the "over-regulation" of the park by the institution of so many rules. "Let's not forget that people go to the park to have fun!"
Another debate sprung up about the definition and use of "shelters". These shade creating devices will be permitted only if they are not sealed devices, for as the law-enforcement people put it, "We must be able to have a clear line of sight in the area, for emergency situations." and also "to stop the hiding of alcohol and small children."
All in all Council and staff will now be able to claim that they have started on a process of managing the area, whether they will be successful is debatable and yet to be proved but the shifting of picnickers away from the East of the park to the West of park and instituting restrictive picnic table rules is a dubious piece of social engineering designed to keep the Bay St residents happy. But as the parking rules on Paul Currelly Way haven't changed much there will still be traffic problems. And as we have seen in the past because towing and ticketing rules can be applied arbitrarily and subject to political pressure, a consistent policy may be hard to apply.
What was not mentioned was the impact of large festivals on the recreational choices for Cobourg. For as we know when the Waterfront festival and to a smaller extent RibFest come to Town without the East end of the park being available we now have handed over the park to non-picnickers; is this fair and how will the Town handle it?