Food is for employees only, you can’t buy any of that. The gift shop is full of overpriced clothing with “Russia” on it, you’ve probably seen that around town.

I stood in line for an hour and a half to get in but it really wasn’t worth that much of my time.

I was born here and raised here as well, but you’ve clearly drunk the kool-aid.

The only “opportunity” for those of us with $100 free in our bank accounts and a lack of press credentials is to walk around debating which line to get into for the privilege of poor service and a mandatory 18% gratuity.

Or maybe to get jostled by rude drunks yelling in Russian. Or to read promotional junk about our own province. Or get up an hour earlier than usual to commute to work, avoiding the tourist mob on the train. Or to work on getting that idiot Believe theme song out of one’s head.

The athletic competition I can respect. Pity it’s been hamstrung by location.

Vancouver is busier and better lit than usual. Still, except for the thumping of the fireworks show each night, the occasional “wooo!” from a partier, or the helicopter buzz, you’d never know the Olympics were here if you were standing in Kits or the West End.

Thankfully no one is partying in my neighbourhood.

We have argued passionately, and at considerable length, right here on your blog that the tide is not going to turn in the DTES (including Chinatown and Gastown) unless we learn from these neighbourhood spines, rather than bring on the tower-and-podium that the Historic Area Height Review seems hell bent on imposing…”

CORRECTION:

… rather than bring on incompatible building types, historically out of line with local character, that the Historic Area Height Review seems hell bent on imposing.

I am told FSR 5.0 will not result in towers.

Others are noticing this as well. I met an Italian tourist the other night who said more less the same thing. He finds the city a bit of a downer. He finds the crowds are not as varied as he finds in Italy. few families and friends walking around… without the boisterous fake joviality of our crowds. The drunkenness and the tendency to over drink….

This and concurrent oppressive IOC brand-washing requirements has left no room for locals, including non-approved businesses, to contribute creative and/or spontaneous events of any genuine kind for our public spaces, places or familiar private venues.

I should say former public spaces, as they are now essentially Vanoc spaces for the duration of the games.

In short, the City has sold out its cultural soul to Vanoc’s corporate-think.

On the other hand, Vancouver’s most vibrant cultural souls wouldn’t put on a show for the games and its associated visitors since they (and I thought Shane K. was part of that group) are opposed to them due to their outrageous demands for public money and oppressive compliance to its agenda.

This then leaves visitors and many of its own to be entertained by vacuous mirages that corporate types pass off as “culture” and “social” events.

And there’s no better trio to represent that than Ben Mulroney, Tamara Taggart and Fred Ewanuick, who have been pushed to the fore by the games’ TV rights holder, CTVGlobe Media, as the public personalities for these games.

Truly, is it really any wonder the downtown echos like an “empty canyon”?

And therein lies the divide.

None says there is not enough to do in the city…

…ok…ok…line up to see some “olympic” medals is not the same game than lineup see a Picasso “pink period”…but well we do with what we have isn’it?

I’ve lived in several other large Canadian cities (yes, that includes Toronto and I’ve never had a problem finding something to do in each of them. But after three years in Vancouver I feel like there’s nothing interesting to see or do here… actually, I felt that way after the first year.

Vancouver is frequently called “the most livable city” – but I’m afraid I just don’t see it. I find the city itself to be drab and uninspired. Yes, there’s an ocean and mountains, but that isn’t the city. Commercial drive and Kits are fun, for the first 20 visits or so. After that? Not so much.

The one thing that’s kept me from moving away has been the people – I’ve met some truly wonderful folk in this town that mostly makeup for its (perceived perhaps) inadequacies. Visitors aren’t going to develop those kind of relationships in a couple days – so I’m not surprised that they’re getting bored.

How come the city’s fun zones are hidden from view? Is it so that people cannot make a reasoned decision if it is worth the line up to enter?

If there had been plenty of busking, food vending, ambush marketing and street theatre in the streets, that could have been alright. Unfortunately, there is way too much controlling happening.

Who would have thought that the provincial fun zone at Robson Square would win, if only for its openness?

Maybe it’s all to dramatise that the $900 Million spent on security were a good and necessary expenditure.