This is such a choreographed Olympics, with the absolute denial of socially regressive actions early on, like this great number from the po’ about how they absolutely will not be moving homeless people to tidy up the streets: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/03/27/bc-no-olympic-homeless-crackdown-police.html and then springing new plans, rules and bylaws complete with Bush-style free speech zones just months before the games. Can you feel the spirit?

Just another Cassandra

At the Council meeting, Geoff Meggs displayed obvious frustration as he went into a routine about intentions are good, vague and sweeping language does not matter, Council should be trusted.

I think that if you take the time to read Geoff Meggs’ apologia for the city’s action(s) on page C5 of Saturday’s Sun– which includes an egregious attack on the BC Civil Liberties Association as well as nauseatingly self-congratulatory assurances that Council has acted in the interest of the Greater Good in moving to protect those of us too stupid to realize that Osama might be lurking beneath our very beds– you might find your outrage meter registering a pretty good jolt.

This is all starting to remind me of Pierre Trudeau’s complaint, made after he invoked the War Measures Act, about “weak-kneed people who don’t like the look of an army”. The mixing of liberalism and testosterone can yield bizarre results.
gmgw

I’m not sure I understand the comment. Do you mean for the Olympics, or in general? If the latter, I would agree the way the government of the City of Vancouver is set up is undemocratic. I think many would agree with that, on both the left and right.

Quite frankly, I’m not sure where my outrage meter should be dialed to in regards to the City Manager’s new Olympic powers. It would be nice to know what happened in other Olympics cities, for context. At this point it strikes me as pure CYA: the CoV will be defacto shut down for 2 weeks and they need to have some sort of mechanism in place to quickly deal with the unexpected.

That said, there is the possibility this could be abused and might be used to ram through an “agenda”.

At this point nobody has done anything, so I will just register my unease.

Spartikus at no. 26 takes note of Queen Penny’s power of decree (but fails to see that City Manager with Mayor and City Engineer form a triumvirate).

Peter G at no. 28 spots the City Manager’s brief comment itself as lacking the “fair and reasonable balance” that the recommendation preceding the bylaw proclaims.

The biggest unreported gem is that City Council passed the bylaw without having consulted its own ballyhooed Civil Liberties Advisory Committee. That committee gets to review the bylaw after the fact!