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Transit numbers stay up after the Olympics

May 24th, 2010 · 18 Comments

TransLink is pretty darn happy with itself these days, winning awards for service-in-the-face-of-crushing-Olympics-crowds and other categories. This came out earlier this afternoon. Transit numbers after the Games: You came, you rode, you kept riding While TransLink earned worldwide applause for its performance as part of the Transportation Plan during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter […]

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Vancouver Olympics bill: $800 million, $578 m, $554 m, depending how you count

April 16th, 2010 · 10 Comments

Great media frenzy yesterday, as people rushed to put out the news about the city’s report on its Olympic costs. My version here, including former mayor Philip Owen’s assessment. Those in the know will remember he and his council insisted the city shouldn’t have to pay for anything. But some wildly varying numbers were used […]

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Olympics bid a bad idea, 40 per cent in B.C. still say

March 11th, 2010 · 23 Comments

Here’s a news item that will cheer up some on this site: B.C. continues to lead the way, even in post-Games euphoria, in disapproving of hosting the Olympics.

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Thank the complainers for our exuberant Games

March 7th, 2010 · 38 Comments

Well, now that we’ve had a chance to decompress, to re-accustom ourselves to bad bus service, heavy traffic, empty sidewalks, and winter rain, I thought this was a time to raise a glass of champagne to all those people who complained about how bad the Games were going to be. They predicted that thousands of […]

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The media storm over homelessness and Downtown Eastside never happened. What now?

March 5th, 2010 · 33 Comments

For years before the Olympics arrived, we routinely saw commentators warning that when the media arrived here and saw the scene on the Downtown Eastside and the homelessness situation, there would be a firestorm of negative coverage. That never happened. There was the odd piece here and there in the bigger newspapers, but it never […]

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A long, hard struggle to make Olympics’ benefits permanent

March 3rd, 2010 · 20 Comments

I know a lot of people are already in the dumps, with the party gone and nothing but litter, fencing, and the return of bad weather around. Hate to add to it, but here’s my story on how it’s going to be a long haul to ensure that all those things we loved about the […]

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Luxury condos sell like hotcakes during Olympics

March 1st, 2010 · 12 Comments

Somehow I don’t think this piece of news, sent out over the news-release wires this morning, is going to make most people feel that great about the Games. Their worst nightmare, actually. Vancouver real estate developer strikes gold $46.76 million sold during Olympics: $31.8 million to Olympic visitors With the 2010 Winter Olympic Games now […]

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Final Olympics night snapshot

February 28th, 2010 · 7 Comments

I missed the game (too much tension), following its progress by the screaming around me.I felt like I had to get out afterwards, because it was all just too much like an unreal Disney movie to me. Really, could old Walt himself have dreamed up anything better? Sports mega-event comes to (in global terms) relatively […]

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What can Vancouver really learn from the Olympics?

February 26th, 2010 · 49 Comments

There’s a lot of post-op Olympics delirium floating in the air these days, with everyone drunk on the successes and the street parties and the sight of people choosing to come downtown every day dressed in Canadian flag capes. And now, like summer-camp attendees who’ve had a really great week, we’re promising all kinds of […]

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Are we preparing to be cranky again? NY Times thinks so

February 24th, 2010 · 18 Comments

Okay, some international media coverage appears that reflects a little more some of the real preoccupations of a significant number of people here. But I don’t get why even the NY Times can’t get some basic things right. The taxpayers are not carrying $1 billion in debt for the village, at least not the way […]

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