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Posts Tagged ‘Vancouver’

Students at W. Earle Miller Public School

In an editorial comment from Wednesday’s Metro Vancouver, Paul Sullivan outlined his five reasons to not ‘Believe’ in the Olympic Games. While I can appreciate the jab at CTV, the Canadian broadcaster for the games, I find little else to agree with in his reasons. Lets take his points one by one.

Number 5: Sullivan says “The Olympic mascots are endangered or non-existent species [...] Somehow this says it all.” I have no idea what this says. Yes, the Olympic mascots are hybrids of endangered and mythical creatures. The animals that are threatened or endangered have not reached that point because of the Olympics. To my mind, all this says is that VANOC is conscientious of the amazing wildlife that BC is privy too. What does highlighting that fact say? If anything it brings further needed attention to animal populations under threat.

Number 4: “The Games will cost at least $6 billion [...] what are we going to do with a $104.9 million toboggan slide?” The first point to note with this claim is the standard tactic of anti-Olympic voices citing the figure of $6 billion as the cost of the games. As I’ve pointed out before, that number includes the construction costs of the Canada Line, the Sea-to-Sky Highway improvements, construction of the Vancouver Convention Centre, improvements to the Port Mann bridge and the construction of the Pitt River bridge. I strongly suspect that most, if not all of these infrastructure projects would have been undertaken were Vancouver not playing host to the games. They certainly are not ‘but for’ the Olympics. I should hope that any Vancouver resident is at a bare minimum proud of the fabulous new Canada Line. At a cost of $1.7 billion the rail line represents almost 30% of the oft quoted $6 billion figure; it is worth every penny and happy to have that argument with Sullivan. It baffles me how people seem to treat the $6 billion as money that is just lost. Do I really need to point out that these are investments? There is a reason that the latest quarterly growth figures from the Conference Board of Canada have BC atop the pack in terms of economic performance. I presume I don’t need to explicitly state why this is. I imagine that with the bobsled track we will see stronger luge, bobsled and skeleton teams in the future, as well as a new yearly World Cup event in Whistler. Wait for it; I expect that will bring a positive economic impact to the community.

• Great Britain: Your Gold Medal Is On The Way (Delivered) With one run remaining in the womens skeleton, Great Britain's Amy Williams is ahead of Canada's Melissa Hollingsworth by 0.54 seconds. This is an extremely large lead in a gravity sport such as the skeleton....
• Fun With The Olympic Budget [/caption] This past Monday, the local 24 Hours newspaper featured an article entitled "Let the Bailout Games begin". While the piece,  by 24 Hours staff writer Bob Mackin does contain many good pieces of factual...

• Athlete Profile: Dan Wakeham The first male Olympic competitor on snowboard in Britain, Dan Wakeham has announced that he will be retiring from the world cup circuit. He has...
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Dana and Yuji Kaneko skate with son Koji on the GE Ice Plaza at Robson Square

Just over two months ago, after a nearly 10 year absence, outdoor skating returned to Robson Square. In my own humble opinion it has been nothing but a spectacular success; on every occasion I’ve been, the rink has been full of smiling, excited people of all ages. Granted, I live within walking distance of the rink, and as I grew up being able to skate outside my back door on a rink built by my father most years of my life, I am extremely biased to having a positive view on the new skating facility and the corporatey, corporate investment by GE that it is. That being the case, I decided to seek out the opinion of some others.

Some skaters were there for the first time, while others had previously been multiple times. Everyone had nothing but positive comments about the facility itself , as well as the staff. One trio of skaters that I met bookended the evolution of skating at Robson Square very nicely. Dana and Yuji Kaneko both remember skating at Robson Square as kids, in addition to participating in other activities like public music recitals. The closing of the rink was just one more element contributing to an underused downtown core. When they learned about the reopened rink from friends, they bundled up, boarded public transit, and along with their son Koji made their way into the city. Like everyone else they had a great time. The image they formed of Mom, Dad and Child going for a recreational skate is one that is quintessentially Canadian. Many thanks are due to the City, Province as well as GE for bringing outdoor skating back to the heart of downtown Vancouver. The province maintains a webpage where you can view information about hours of operation of the rink, rental prices and more here.

If you are making a trip into the downtown core to go skating, it may be IS prudent to call ahead first to ensure that there are no planned events altering skating hours, or that warm weather has not overwhelmed the machinery that maintains the ice surface is Vancouver’s ‘winter’ temperatures. Call 604-646-3559 for the latest conditions.

• The Colour Red To Bring Notice To Homelessness During Games [/caption] While it will be easy enough to find red (and white) in Vancouver this February, PIVOT Legal Society is hoping that you notice the colour for a different reason, as they kick off a...
• Looking Forward, Looking Back [/caption] Today is certainly a big day for Canada at these games as the Womens hockey team will go for gold later this afternoon. Womens curling semifinals have just finished, the men will play later...

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CBC and The New York Post both have stories up at their sites discussing the potential future of Intrawest, the company that owns the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort that will play host to the alpine events during the 2010 Olympics. The whole scenario is a somewhat confusing mix of creditors and debt holders, so you should just go and read either of the articles, but there seems to me to be two different elements to this story. The first angle is the leveraged buyout of Intrawest that occurred in 2006 by the hedge fund Fortress Investment Group. This purchase was highly leveraged, and wouldn’t you know it, the Lehman Brothers happen to be one of the creditors in that deal (you remember the Lehman Brothers, right?) Fortress recently missed a $524 million payment on the debt incurred during the purchase of Intrawest. As Lehman is currently restructuring under bankruptcy protection, they are looking for funds wherever they can find it to make good on the more $1ooo billion creditor claims against them. As such, they have indicated that they could foreclose against Intrawest as early as February 19th (right in the middle of the games) and begin to auction of it’s assets (including Whistler-Blackcomb.)

Further to Fortress’s tangling with Lehman Brothers, the hedge fund has also been sparring with VANOC/the Canadian Government. According to the New York Post,

VANOC guaranteed that it would make Intrawest whole for the time that its events take place at its resorts. But now, according to a source, Canadian officials are threatening to pull that roughly $50 million guarantee. That, the source said, has compelled [Fortress fund manager Wesley] Edens to privately say he has a legal right to keep the Games from taking place at Whistler.

There’s nothing like a sexy story about the possibility of Olympic events not taking place! I do think that it is important to give credence to what Bill Singer, a securities lawyer in New York had to say to the CBC:

I can’t imagine that it will ultimately mean much, because I would assume between [Canadian] government interest and the Olympic Committee there would be something that would be accomplished just to forestall [this.]

For their part, Intrawest had this to say:

We have a 2002 agreement with VANOC to host the Winter Olympics and have every confidence that VANOC will honour its financial commitments. Intrawest is looking forward to a successful Olympic Games.

The word ‘bankruptcy’ is a loaded one in the English language, and it carries even more weight these days in light of the past few years of economic turmoil. It is easy to forget that well established procedures are in place for navigating corporate entities through bankruptcy protection, and more often than not they emerge from protection as a viable company. And while this story is an interesting one that deserves to be followed, I too, in my extremely limited understanding of financial wizardry would not expect this current story to prevent a successful games from happening.

• Great Britain: Your Gold Medal Is On The Way (Delivered) With one run remaining in the womens skeleton, Great Britain's Amy Williams is ahead of Canada's Melissa Hollingsworth by 0.54 seconds. This is an extremely large lead in a gravity sport such as the skeleton....
• In Response To Paul Sullivan's '5 Reasons' Against The Vancouver Games [/caption] In an editorial comment from Wednesday's Metro Vancouver, Paul Sullivan outlined his five reasons to not 'Believe' in the Olympic Games. While I can appreciate the jab at CTV, the Canadian broadcaster for the...

• Olympic Torch Relay Comes to Meaford Go Canada Go DECEMBER 29, 2009 – 7:45 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. Followed by BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS (by donation) (Pancake Breakfast) Meaford Arena followed by...
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The Sea-to-Sky Highway; An Olympic Waste?

This past Monday, the local 24 Hours newspaper featured an article entitled “Let the Bailout Games begin“. While the piece,  by 24 Hours staff writer Bob Mackin does contain many good pieces of factual information, I do

have to take issue with some of the analysis and accounting within. To start with, Mackin writes the following:

Amid the Great Recession a year ago, VANOC’s message was all about being the shining light to guide B.C. to recovery because it had a billion dollars to spend. Spring came and chief executive John Furlong admitted a profit was unlikely.

Both of these sentences are accurate enough, but I have no idea how one idea is related to the other. The way they are linked in the piece makes it seem like the author is concluding and implying that since the odds of VANOC generating a profit have diminished since a year ago, spending on games related endeavours does not aid in economic recovery. I am no economist and I don’t have any specific numbers to cite (partly because I am having a hell of time getting the relevant data from the Stats Can webpage) but I am quite confident in asserting that injecting a billion dollars (or more, depending on what number people are tossing around as the ‘cost’ of the Games at this time, more on that later) is, and has been, very beneficial to economic recovery.

Mackin’s article then goes on to mention the Olympic Village in Vancouver. While the term ‘bailout’ is more than appropriate to apply to the measures the city was forced to take a year ago to ensure financing for the village, the article, along with many others when discussing the athletes village look at the $1 billion dollar price tag on the project as if it is money that is gone down the tubes, never to be seen again. Nothing could be further from the truth. Once the games are finished most (if not all) of the units will be sold on the open market, and in case you haven’t noticed, Vancouver’s insane real estate market has more than recovered since last year. While a profit is no longer expected from these sales, the city does expect to break even, and with the recovery of the housing market, turning a profit is not out of the realm of possibilities. What is most distressing about the village is the potential for there to be no lasting affordable housing legacy. This would be shameful, and ideally will not come to pass with the healthy rebound in prices Vancouver has seen this past year. Further to serving as the Athletes Village during the games, new housing and hopefully affordable housing post-games, the facilities at the site are also state of the art ones that feature some of the latest technologies in energy efficiency; this further adds to the value of this investment.

• And The Proof Shall Be In The Olympic Pudding This Monday's Metro Vancouver featured a report on an anti-Olympic mural that has been repainted outside a Downtown Eastside art gallery. [/caption] The original removal of this mural in November has been cited by civil...
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This Monday’s Metro Vancouver featured a report on an anti-Olympic mural that has been repainted outside a Downtown Eastside art gallery.

SEAN KOLENKO/FOR METRO VANCOUVER

The original removal of this mural in November has been cited by civil rights activists as proof that freedom of expression will be curtailed during the games; City Councillor Greoff Meggs maintains the removal was a mistake made in good faith that is not “representative of  how we want to protect civil rights during the Games. And we’ve been adamant that we do.”

David Eby, the executive director for the BC Civil Liberties Association expressed hopes that the city would treat anti-Olympic messages the same as pro-Olympic ones. If Counc. Meggs assertions at the recent public forum on security and civil rights during the games prove to be true then this should be the case. I have previously said that these games should be judged on their actual implementation, not by supposition on possibilities. The November removal of the mural, or this article in the Globe and Mail certainly left the city and VANOC looking like their claims that freedom of expression would not be curtailed look questionable. Should this mural remain up going forward, it will provide some needed credibility to Counc. Meggs claims.

My own mural would look a little more like this:

however that’s just me. The artist’s point is well taken and most certainly should not be removed from view. Metro’s article points out this space has been used for display since 2003 without incident. Hopefully the temporary removal was just that, temporary.

• How Wrong Is It To Contractually Require Promoters To Not Denigrate (Your Product)? A short while back on the CBC Radio3 blog, host Tariq Hussein linked to a blog post by Carey Mercer, the lead singer of the band Frog Eyes. In this post he was lamenting the...
• Does The IOC Have A Learning Deficiency? [/caption] Towards the end of last week, in an incredibly tone deaf move, the International Olympic Committee sent word to the Australian Olympic team that the large banner the team had suspended outside their rooms...

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Thursday evening saw a divided panel come together for a public forum on security and civil liberties during the 2010 Olympics at the SFU Harbour Centre.  The forum was organized by the Impact on Communities Coalition and consisted of Integrated Security Unit chief Bud Mercer, Vancouver Police Department deputy chief Steve Sweeney, BC Civil Liberties Association director David Eby, Vancouver City Councilor Geoff Meegs, Pivot Legal Society attorney Laura Track, Vancouver Organizing Committee director of corporate rights and management Bill Cooper and anti-Olympics activist Alissa Westergard-Thorpe.  There was another panelist speaking from an anti-Olympics stance, but this writer did not catch her name and has not been able to find a complete speakers list online.  My apologies to her.  The forum was moderated by IOCC director Am Johal.

The panel was clearly separated into two camps: organizing and security personnel on one side and those against the Olympics due to concerns about civil liberties infringements, both against those exercising political protest and the homeless on the other.

Civil rights advocates first highlighted the history of the IOC’s desire to present a ‘clean’ image of the games and the lack of communication from VANOC to the IOC that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the law of the land and must inevitably hold sway over efforts at image and brand control.  They further argued that the passing of the city’s 2010 Olympic and Paralympic bylaw, providing officials with the power to remove messaging throughout the city, along with the more recent provincial passage of the Assistance to Shelter Act not only flout the Charter rights but fly directly in the face of the bid committee’s Inner-City Inclusive Commitment Statement.

Panelists representing different organizational facets of the games highlighted upcoming changes to the city’s Olympic bylaw they say clarify their position that actions will only be taken against commercial messaging, not political messages.  Additionally they indicated these upcoming changes will limit the scope of both the time frame for these changes in enforcement as well as the physical areas that constitute Olympic Venues where enforcement will take place.  Outside of the venues, protest would be handled “business as usual” according to deputy chief Sweeney.  Aside from these messages, Mr. Mercer and Mr. Sweeney both underlined that they are in charge of difficult exercises in logistics.  The audience was not particularly sympathetic to this point.

Should organizers insistence that only commercial messaging will be targeted for removal prove to hold true then I will be satisfied that rights to speech are being protected sufficiently.  Nonetheless the fact that it has taken this long to present clarifying language from the city on the original bylaw that was so clearly an infringement on free speech liberties is disturbing.  Smarter minds than myself have not been mollified as easily.  Chris Shaw, a UBC professor who brought forward a lawsuit in response to the cities bylaw describes the proposed changes as “more superficial than substantive” and has indicated his suit “won’t end until the civil liberties playing field for all of us gets a lot more level.”

• Anti-Olympic Voice Turned Away At Vancouver Airport [/caption] On Saturday, after undergoing several hours of questioning from Canadian customs officials, Martin Macias Jr., an activist with ties to the Olympic Resistance Network attempting to travel to Vancouver to cover and participate in...
• Does This Mean Whistler Will Disappear? CBC and The New York Post both have stories up at their sites discussing the potential future of Intrawest, the company that owns the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort that will play host to the alpine events...

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Walking through the newly renovated Robson Square early last week, a security guard approached me to ensure that I was not about to jump out onto the not quite completed ice surface and slide across.  I suppose I must have had that glint in my eye.  After reassuring him that I would control myself, he let me know that next week sometime the ice would be re-opened to the public.  Today at noon that proved to be true as reopening ceremonies were held that included an appearance and skate by Olympic Bronze medalist and 2008 Mens’ World Champion, Jeffrey Buttle.

The skating rink has not been in use since the end of winter in 2000 due to cost concerns. Thanks to a sponsorship from GE that sees the venue renamed as the GE Ice Plaza and the expenditure of $1.6 million over the past three years outdoor skating has returned to downtown Vancouver.  Public skating continues daily from noon to 9pm through the start of the 2010 Winter Games.  Access to the ice is free and if you do not own skates, rentals are available for $3.00
(Photo by Kirsten Thompson/Metro Vancouver)

Update
The skating facilities will be open daily from 9am to 9pm, not from 12-9 as originally reported

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