New Media » Olympics

We Own the Podium

jnarvey — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 07:46:24 +0000

No matter what happens at the Canada-USA hockey game, there’s no question that Canada has owned the podium this Olympics.

Gold medals at the Winter Olympics in Calgary? Zero.

Montreal? Zero.

Vancouver? Thirteen.

Which goes to show that $100 million buys a lot of gold. Kudos to our athletes for showing an incredible return on investment for Canadian taxpayer dollars.

(What was the final tally on that gun registry program, anyway?)

The Winner Is

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We Are The World

jnarvey — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:10:01 +0000

Vancouver has always been one of Canada’s most photogenic cities. Public art and cool venues built for the Olympics have certainly helped top up that visual appeal. Some images of our incredible city, starting with the artistic globes put up along the seawall in False Creek.

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Political Power Does Not Flow From the Trajectory of a Pie

jnarvey — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:58:26 +0000

When you consciously align your movement with anarchists, don’t be surprised when the result is anarchy. Years of planning by Vancouver anti-Olympics agitators seems to be up in smoke. Infighting has erupted between more conservative critics calling for non-violence and anarchists throwing out their Leninist vanguard model in favor of Three Stooges tactics.

The pie in lawyer-activist David Eby’s face may not rise to the level of violence in some people’s eyes (despite those inept blowhards who would categorize it as terrorism). Still, it’s hardly a substitute for constructive discourse for a movement that desperately requires a change in tactics if it doesn’t want to become entirely irrelevant over the next few days.

“You just watch seven years of organizing evaporate. It was as if I just watched two chairs through a store window destroy a lot of what lots of people have been trying to do for a long time. There still is that potential to build something bigger. We were on the cusp of grasping something different. We might still, but in my view it took a drubbing on Saturday and it took a worse drubbing on Wednesday. It set such a nasty tone for everything that followed.

“The left in Vancouver is famous for this and there was beginning to be change. That coalition was looking like it could be powerful and change Vancouver’s social justice scene. And then a day later, it faltered. Wednesday’s meeting was one of the nastiest things I’ve ever seen in Vancouver’s political scene.”

The radicals have the initiative. Fortunately for Eby, this time it was just a pie.
Shut Your Pie Hole, Traitor!

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So Much for the Olympic Truce

jnarvey — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:09:33 +0000

If we remain true to our tradition as Canadians and responsible members of the international community, we’re going to help finish the fight in Afghanistan — notwithstanding those commentators who seem to think that we ought to put down our weapons at the behest of the IOC or VANOC at the same time that Taliban snipers are shooting at ISAF soldiers from behind human shields.

The scary thing is that I can’t detect the slightest trace of satire in the Georgia Straight’s latest hit-and-run propaganda attack on Canada’s mission in Afghanistan. I think editor Charlie Smith might actually be serious:

I think it’s time for the IOC to include some penalties for those who violate the truce, including NATO leaders.

If Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Chief of the Defence Staff Walt Natynczyk, and U.S. vice president Joe Biden were refused entry into Vancouver Olympic venues for being warmongers during a truce period, perhaps this world would suddenly get a little more peaceful.

Smith seems to suggest that UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon actually wants Canadians to throw down their weapons and bug out of Afghanistan ASAP.

That’s a distortion of the truth. The UN bigwig couldn’t have been more clear about the importance of Canada’s boots on the ground. Remember this?

Once again, the opportunists are on the rise, seeking anew to make Afghanistan a lawless place — a locus of instability, terrorism and drug trafficking. Their means are desperate: suicide bombs, kidnappings, the killing of government officials and hijacking of aid convoys. Almost more dismaying is the response of some outside Afghanistan, who react by calling for a disengagement or the full withdrawal of international forces. This would be a misjudgment of historic proportions, the repetition of a mistake that has already had terrible consequences…

The United Nations, alongside national and international counterparts, non-governmental organizations and Afghan civil society, will continue to provide the Afghan government whatever assistance it needs to build on these achievements. Our collective success depends on the continuing presence of the International Security Assistance Force [emphasis added], commanded by NATO and helping local governments in nearly every province to maintain security and carry out reconstruction projects.

In any case, there can be no truce with these fanatics. Their idea of a ceasefire is an off-season to recruit child suicide bombers and make some point about the unifying spirit of religion by spraying acid in the faces of girls who want to learn to read.

Let’s be clear. The UN wants us in Afghanistan. Our NATO allies want us in Afghanistan. The long-suffering Afghan people want us in their country. The only true warmongers are those who would have us abandon the field to let the Taliban conquer an entire nation.

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The Stupid Side of Multiculturalism

jnarvey — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:19:18 +0000

Canada is a mosaic of cultures. We’ve got the three “founding peoples” including First Nations, French and British. Then you’ve got waves of immigration since even before Confederation which have resulted in third-generation Heinz-57 (though mostly Eastern European) ethnic hodge-podges like myself. My wife is Chinese (well, from Hong Kong, anyway. Apparently, there’s a difference). My last boss was Czech. My proud Irish-Canadian pal is matched with a charmingly-accented Australian of Korean descent. You get the picture.

Can’t we all just chill out about this ridiculous multicultural hissy-fit about the Olympic ceremonies? First it was the “lack of French” for a ceremony in which every line we heard was in French, then English. Now, we hear that representatives of Vancouver’s “multicultural groups” — whoever they are — have demanded a meeting with VANOC.

First of all, no magical combination of English, French, Cantonese and Skwxwu7mesh at these sorts of events is going to make everyone happy. No mix of folk-festival dance numbers will satisfy the cultural-victim political propagandists, politicians and bureaucrats who need to justify their own existence.

More to the point, what exactly do these critics expect? It’s too late to rejig the closing ceremonies. So what’s VANOC going to say?

Maybe something like this, if they’ve got the guts to level with these idiots: “Sorry we screwed up. I’m sure that when Vancouver gets the Olympic games again sometime in the next century, the artistic director will pay more attention to cultural sensitivities. In the meantime, suck it up, you whiny little bitches.”

We are all Canadians. Have some pride.

Canada’s Really Big

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Mayor to VANOC. Free the Flame

jnarvey — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:19:56 +0000

The people have spoken. VANOC, tear down this wall!

“I’ve seen crowds peering through the fence (at the flame),” Robertson said. “We want that flame to be more accessible.”

That‘s an understatement. For me, it’s not even about access just to the flame. As alluded to previously, I think it’s an act of treachery to any tourism worker in BC’s Lower Mainland that the people are being kept back from the most beautiful spot of waterfront in all of Vancouver.

Let the Olympic flame burn true (North, strong) and free

Further Reading
Mayor Robertson, tear down those walls
A distant flame has Vancouver hot and bothered

UPDATE: Democracy works! Apparently, VANOC didn’t want to fully adopt my suggestion, but politics is the art of compromise.

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Gimme Shelter

jnarvey — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:03:35 +0000

“Homes, not Games” has been a consistent rallying cry of anti-Olympics protesters. But visitors to Vancouver may not realize that progress on this file has not been utterly lacking. The social housing we’ve built for our most vulnerable may even be a model for other cities around the world to follow.

Here’s an excerpt from my report in Granville on the viability of Woodward’s as a living example of social housing that works:

Of course, since about 2000, Vancouver’s residents and politicians have made substantial efforts to change this neighborhood. Without an umbrella organization to direct taxpayers funds effectively, many projects have seen pitiful returns on investment. But as I noted last week, the Woodward’s building is an example of a project that has provided real benefits to residents—and in the bigger picture, our city.

New Woodward’s resident and DTES-based new media specialist April Smith can’t say enough good things about her new accommodations on an upper floor of the building. She understands the importance of basic shelter to the living conditions of her fellow citizens in the area: “Housing is vital. It can change lives. Certainly changed my life. I went from being homeless to having the best housing I could possibly get.”

She’s not understating the quality of the place. Overlooking the newly renovated neighbourhood and with a view of the water, April has what some people might consider to be a million-dollar view.

The space is smaller than a typical studio apartment, but each room comes with a full kitchen and washroom. Residents have free Internet, phone and cable. There’s laundry on the top floor next to a community lounge and an outdoor space as well.

There’s also the convenience of mixed-use zoning: “To have a real grocery store right underneath you, it’s really good for those residents who have mobility issues. It works out well for me too—I’m trying to be healthier and eat better.”

There’s no question that April and other residents of Woodward’s are now able to live with dignity in a supportive environment. But this improved living condition didn’t come cheap. Not everyone is pleased about the scale of the investment. As one friend who lives in Vancouver South confided in me the other day, “I understand people need housing, but why do we have to spend so much so that they can have views of Canada Place and brand new couches? I mean, do people really have a ‘right’ to live in some of the most desirable real estate in the world?”

Tough questions. But I think our city has provided some balanced answers in the Woodward’s experiment.

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Security Cuts Off Olympic Flame From the People

jnarvey — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:12:00 +0000

Hoping to see the Olympic cauldron up close and take in the scenery of the most beautiful waterfront spot in all of Vancouver, I roamed alongside thousands of people with exactly the same idea. Thanks to an unhelpful security fence all along the waterfront, none of us quite made it to our objective.

VANOC says the fence is there to provide security for the convention center and the Games’ international broadcast centre. All they’re doing is needlessly irritating visitors and locals by keeping them back from what ought to be a major venue for celebrations and for enjoying this city’s spectacular scenery.

The tragedy is that this stupidity carried out in the name of security is entirely unnecessary. VANOC could easily provide security for the convention center while allowing public access to this area by simply placing the fence perpendicular to its current deployment, aligned against the western entrance to the building. Besides, the malcontents involved in anti-Olympics protests are clearly incapable of mounting any mischief more threatening than knocking over some newspaper boxes and smashing in a store window. For this, VANOC is pleased to frustrate the photo opportunities of tens of thousands of tourists and all of the proud locals?

So much for showcasing our Olympic city. Here’s a reminder of what the people are missing beyond the chain-link fence, from photos taken when this public space was first completed with hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars.

How to Make Enemies and Irritate Visitors at the Vancouver Olympics

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Violence is the First Refuge of the Incompetent

jnarvey — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:26:49 +0000

I described the protest movement against the Vancouver 2010 Olympics earlier as unable to articulate a unified protest platform to bring in the masses — despite a fairly wide groundswell of anti-Olympics feeling among the general public. This speaks not only to a lack of organization skills (they did have four years to prepare for this, after all) but also very shallow sympathy for the myriad causes stuffed into this counter-culture sausage-fest.

Having failed to win grassroots support, the vanguard has inevitably decided to resort to violence to get the attention they need just to sustain momentum among their relatively sparse membership. This desperation move is just alienating the rest of us even further, at least according to snippets from the local Twitter crowd:

@stephenfung: Olympic protesters are breaking shit downtown and scaring tourists. What’s your cause again? That’s the one I won’t be supporting. K. Thx.

@canucksgirl44: #Vancouver protesters are just a bunch of wannabe hippies anyway. Welcome to the West Coast, lol #realhippieslivedinthe60s

@MitchGarvis: @DanaEpp Yeah but the funny thing is the protesters are all white kids, and the natives are all involved with the games

@steaks: Also protestors damage cause of people they say they are helping. How NGO’s going to raise funds and lobby well when associated to douches?

It’s getting a bit uglier than I expected, given yesterday’s lackluster showing by the perpetually disaffected. But it seems a severely downgraded and ineffective version of the Battle in Seattle is the worst the IOC and the City of Vancouver has to deal with. For now, the Games go on unimpeded.

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Will Vancouver Security People Be More Proactive?

jnarvey — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:44:22 +0000

A video of security guards in Seattle standing still while a robbery victim suffers a savage beating has gone viral.

I’d like to be able to say that Vancouver’s transportation security had a better record. Sadly, the don’t. Remember this?

Ravinder Sidhu said he was beaten and robbed late on the night of July 15 in a well-lit area at Surrey Central Station. Sidhu said the attacker left him bruised after stealing his watch and gifts for his six-year-old son.

“I had to get up, call the security people from the red phone which is in the secured area, and then somebody came to my aid,” said Sidhu.

“What if I had been knocked unconscious or I got stabbed? I wouldn’t be able to pick up the red phone,” he said.

And don’t forget, tourists. Pay your fare for skytrain or get Tasered.

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