Paralympic Ambassador Sam Sullivan has a very short memory about his own record in office.
Today’s Vancouver Courier arrived on my doorstep with the following front page headline:
In consideration of the efforts of Sullivan to make Vancouver the most accessible jurisdiction in the world in advance of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, this is most definitely a scandal.
The problem for the current Paralympic Ambassador and former Mayor, however, is that responsibility for the scandal rests solely on his shoulders.
I had the opportunity to assist in writing the draft report for the Accessible/Inclusive Cities and Communities (AICCP) project back in 2005.
The AICCP was conceived through the introduction of a motion to Vancouver City Council by Councillors Sam Sullivan and Tim Louis (refer to Appendix 1 in the above-linked report).
The motion was premised on two fundamental objectives:
- To foster greater opportunities within the City of Vancouver and across British Columbia for people with disabilities.
- To harness the 2010 Winter Olympic Games as a catalyst for the creation of such opportunities.
While there was a healthy and diverse disability infrastructure that already exists in the province, the motion attempted to create a new lens in which to consider the broader implications of disability. New paradigms of opportunity and community were supposed to be created in British Columbia as a result of the Olympic Games being awarded to Vancouver, a fact that became abundantly clear after Councillors Louis and Sullivan engaged the public through a series of community meetings designed to expand upon their vision.
The project was eventually absorbed into 2010 Legacies Now. It is a fantastic initiative that I am supremely proud to have been associated with.
So here we are in 2010, just days away from the opening of the Paralympic Games, and this is what Sullivan is telling the Courier:
“That’s a scandal. I just talked to the guy building the Georgia hotel and he told me he had to fight for it but he has now achieved an agreement that he can build flush balconies. So if a private sector guy in a very expensive building like that can do it, why couldn’t the Athletes’ Village do it?”
Great question Ambassador. So let’s examine some of the facts.
On April 16, 2006, the City awarded the contract to develop the Olympic Village to Millennium Properties. Their bid assembled a large team of designers and consultants, including Millennium’s Hank Jasper as the representative tasked with providing a linkage to the City of Vancouver’s Project Office team and Roger Bayley, a professional engineer and founding partner of Merrick Architecture, who stepped into the role of design manager.
Amongst many other tough requirements, the development was to be a community that encouraged vitality, diversity and cultural richness.
The Southeast False Creek Official Development Plan was enacted on July 19, 2005, and guided the proposals from Millennium and other developer bids.
It specifically outlines requirements for:
“2.2.7 Housing diversity and equity – Development is to promote opportunities for housing for a range of income groups along with social and physical infrastructure that is accessible to the whole community, especially children.”
According to the City of Vancouver’s project timeline, actual construction began in early 2007.
On March 13, 2008, the Standing Committee of Council and Planning and Environment heard a motion brought forth by Councillor Heather Deal, that originated from a meeting of the Access and Inclusion Advisory Committee on February 5, 2008:
“Brad McCannell, Canadian Barrier Free Design Inc., provided an update concerning accessibility issues involving raised thresholds in developments in Southeast False Creek and sought the Committee’s feedback on addressing this matter.
During discussion, it was suggested building envelope regulations may be focused on ensuring no leakage thereby including raised thresholds in the door ways and balconies of new developments. Councillor Heather Deal, together with staff, responded to questions regarding appropriate action on this matter.
Members agreed that this should be brought to Council’s attention.”
The motion, which passed unanimously, resolved:
THAT Council direct staff to;
A. take timely action on ensuring that building envelope regulations that are creating raised thresholds to the front doors and balconies of developments in Southeast False Creek and other Olympic facilities, are changed to allow for flush transitions, and
B. bring recommendations to Council that are more universal for ensuring flush transitions throughout any new developments, and
C. send a copy of this Motion to Mayor and Council for the Municipality of Whistler.”
Furthermore, as the buildings were going up, the City of Vancouver in conjunction with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the Government of Canada, also commissioned a Design for Inclusion Toolkit, which was released in April, 2008. The document is listed as one of the Southeast False Creek official documents, meaning it was initiated specifically to guide the construction of an inclusive neighbourhood to host the Olympic Village.
This is what Brent Toderian, the City of Vancouver’s Director of Planning, said about the report:
“Whether it is used for an entire community or a single building, the CMHC Toolkit will help local governments, designers, developers and builders to better meet the needs of people with varying levels of mobility and sensory ability. Its Matrix and an easy-to-use Checklist for Design provide concrete and clear direction, forming a starting point for creative design solutions. Ultimately, the Toolkit challenges city builders to design and build communities which are more “complete” in terms of who can visit and live in the neighbourhood.”
The Courier article quotes Roger Bayley as stating the following:
“I can tell you we went through an awful lot of discussion on this issue and everyone concluded that at the end of the day, [building] envelope performance had to trump the access to the balconies.
He agreed with Sullivan that a suite could be built so a balcony would be flush with the living area. But, he said, it would be expensive because of the added cost of making specially designed concrete slab forms.”
So there you have it – Millennium’s Bayley confirms that this was a decision made about cost, having nothing to do with consideration for accessibility. In fact, it goes against all accessibility-related guidelines, motions and directions that City Council specified throughout the development process.
So my questions to Sam Sullivan are the following:
- Were you aware of this kind of decision-making regarding accessibility within the Olympic Village? And if so, why didn’t you take action while you were Mayor?
- If indeed you were kept in the dark about this issue, does this not confirm that, as pointed out in my Vancouver Sun column from yesterday, city staff are regularly withholding information from elected officials?
Either way, this is a monumental failure of leadership on the part of Sullivan, particularly as the number one advocate for accessibility issues regarding the Olympics and Paralympics over the past seven years.
