Ian Mulgrew in Vancouver Sun today 10 March 2010
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010wintergames/Good+riddance+Olympic+security+cameras/2665631/story.html

- Most people I know (and perhaps they represent the silent majority?) were/are ambivalent about the Games. We looked forward to the party, the spectacle, the atmosphere, and will cherish the memories, but most were/are also disgusted with VANOC and our political masters’ mortgaging our future on Big Brother-style control, the blatant hypocrisy represented by the Inner City Inclusive Agreement and Greenest Games Ever label, and the shameless corporate shilling. No matter how much fun I had, these complaints were and are still legitimate and should not be overlooked. “Bread and circuses” alone cannot sustain us.

- The riot scenario was only to suggest that the Games succeeded purely by luck and chance (or divine intervention) and had pretty much nothing to do with VANOC and the Preem, which seemed hell bent on embarrassing the hell out of us with their constant snafus and making us look like bush leaguers. BTW, the #1 threat identified by the Security forces was never terrorism, it was street riots, and the size of the force was based on the ratio needed to contain a large riot a la 1994…

- And, as gmgw picked up on, I was invoking the 1994 riots. Thankfully, we got a Game Six-like celebration at the end of the Olympics, but it could have easily been a Game Seven nightmare. I would venture to add that the No Fun history of Vancouver was a direct result of the backlash to the Stanley Cup riot. Prior to that, Vancouver in fact was a bloody hell of a lot of fun, so much so that we were labeled “Sin City North” by the American press in the early 90s!

Lastly, I share a similar ambivalence toward your initial comment, Paul, because you ended it with:

“Maybe all of us can start being positive about what we have here in Vancouver, rather than searching for something wrong and exaggerating our faults to the point of hyperbole and rhetoric.”

Hear, hear!

Although I’m sure many would label me a complainer who often resorts to rhetoric and hyperbole, most of my comments on this blog are founded on that very same belief of yours. I know this is off topic, but, for example, it frustrates me to no end that our politicians and Planning Department willfully ignore the immense potential and highly marketable capital that lies latent in the Historic Area, and see fit to justify destroying our history and heritage by trotting out the constant clichés, hyperbole and rhetoric that most people/press use to negatively define the DTES.

Just saying…

And that is where I see the “opposition” as having played an important role. I suspect that if no one had pushed back and pointed out the potential abuses, there would have in fact been abuses. As it was, the Powers that Be were forced to save face and commit ahead of time to not doing what they had given themselves authority to do. They were also forced, by people constantly pointing out they had promised to do so, to make at least some token efforts, more or less at the last minute, to keep people housed.

That all being said, I definitely give those in charge props for doing a good job of organizing the actual events, and in almost every case acting with a proper balance of authority and restraint in the face of problems. My fears, anyway, never came to pass, so good on them! (Not that I want anything like this to come back any time soon!)

I found it surprising and uplifting to see the prominence First Nations received in the opening and closing ceremonies. Now let’s move on to complete resolving outstanding issues around land claims and justice.

As I said at yesterday’s debate, the ‘dualism’ of an event like the Olympics has to be considered. It’s a two-week sporting event and mass spectacle, replete with tons of free activities for the general public — it’s not the same as a three-day meeting of the world’s bankers and politicians.

But there have been some great successes. I think indigenous sovereignty and rights issues are critical, and a lot of great work has been done in exposing this reality to the international media, for instance. The Tent Village and the Red Tents campaign have been brilliant in drawing attention to the homelessness crisis. But more like that could have been done, for sure.

Starting with the sunny middle stretch something palpable changed in the city, and my attitude changed with it. On a fluke, I bought standby tickets at the tourist office at face value to ice dancing long-program (total, marvelous fluke), and went to some cultural olympiad events. i do think the olympics were a transformative event for the city in an overall positive way.

and on a related note, I was at work on saturday when I heard about the window smashing on georgia street. and as a long-time vancouverite, i felt a very strong and palpable anger against the instigators. IMO this event will set them back further that they expect…

We’re discussing the hypothetical spin of hypothetical headlines of a hypothetical worst-case scenario for an event that already happened without incident.

Really?
Why?
Where will this get us?
What’s the lesson?

Be sure to win big hockey games or lunatics will tear apart the city?

Don’t let local teams play in big hockey games?

No more hockey?

How about no more cheering?

“Vancouver could have just as easily been torn to shreds by a mob of angry testosterone-fuelled drunk guys that would have made the anarchists look like a bunch of old ladies in red mittens…”

Given that it became clear, toward the Games’ end, that our national self-repect is so utterly fragile, that this country is so pathologically insecure, that something as banal as losing a hockey game would apparently be capable of potentially wreaking serious and even permanent damage upon our collective national psyche, perhaps leading to civil unrest or even outbreaks of mass suicide (“…the shame! The burning, unbearable shame! We… were… (choke) SECOND!! Beaten at our national game… by the cursed, unworthy Americans!! Oh, God in heaven… this cannot be forborne! Atonement must be sought! Expiation! Expiaaationnnn!!”), I, hearkening back to 1994, somewhat anticipated the possibility of said riot myself, GJG, with rather mixed feelings (sometimes feelings just gotta be vented. Unhealthy to bottle ‘em up. Clears the air).

But let me ask you this: In the aftermath, as the the smoking rubble that was once Robson Street was combed for red-clad survivors, do you suppose the perpetrators would have been denounced by officialdom and in the media and in on-line discussion groups as “anarchists” or “terrorists”? Or just a bunch of patriotic good ol’ Canadian boys who got a bit carried away? Makes me wonder.
gmgw

But in the end we were won over, not necessarily by the medals (though several individuals and competitions were absolutely riveting and got our attention), but by the vibe on the street, and the glimpse into Vancouver’s potential future, should we make wise decisions over the next couple of decades.

My concerns about health care remain, but they predated the games. And no matter how much a government thinks it can prioritize freeways and sports over healthcare, we Boomers remain the largest voting block in history and can be very nasty to any politician who cuts back just when we need the system the most.

We Boomers also have to accept responsibility for taking care of ourselves, and paying for the big party that was put on credit.

Your hauteur, as per usual, is riveting….”

I’m a little fuzzy today, HW. Are you saying that this is a *good* thing?
gmgw