- The CityCaucus are up in arms about “keeping the Mayor’s office website distinct from the City’s.” They claim that “city’s website has been used to continually shill for Mayor Robertson.” But similar links from other cities’ websites do the exact same thing – Calgary, being just one of many examples. There is not one mention of anything political on that website – mention Vision Vancouver doesn’t appear anywhere. So to accused such a site of being used to “politick” is ridiculous, and just another empty allegation from a potential future City Council candidate and possibly his future campaign manager.
- Alex Tsakumis stated this about George Chow at the end of one of his most recent blog posts: “Nice thing, being able to count on your ethnic vote every three years, eh Georgie?” This statement seems to imply that the ethnic vote is is all the George relies on to get elected every term, which is not only completely false, but also quite offensive. In spite of Alex’s taunts about George’s intelligence, sarcastically referring to him as a “MENSA candidate” and calling him a “useless nit,” they don’t at all match up with a man who is an engineer by profession and one of the most pragmatic, level-headed individuals elected to Council in recent memory. Tsakumis’ continuing trend of making culturally insensitive remarks is piling up, giving people a deeper window into the man behind the bluster.
- Speaking of Tsakumis, I stumbled on the following comment from Frances Bula’s blog, and I thought it to be quite funny in light of recent developments: “24hrs. is a FIRST CLASS operation and I’m sure I speak for my highly respected colleague, Bill, when I say that it’s a pleasure to work there. On behalf of our editor and publisher, thanks for the employment suggestions, but neither of us is going to be fired and the reason we have two of the most popular and most read columns in the city is precisely because we are impartial and fair. 24hrs has almost a quarter of a million readers per day and ranks in B.C. only behind the Sun and Province in daily readership…and our trendline has always been on the up…” I wonder if he still has the same opinions today about his former employer today…
- The NIMBY’s in the west end who are up in arms about the proposed STIR development in their neighbourhood might have a lot of names on a petition, but by no means are united in the reasons behind their opposition. Some hate the developers and development in general, some feel that the height is too much, even though it would be on par with other buildings in the area, some feel attached to the church, and some just don’t think that the element that would be coming into the area would be desirable (a silly perception of what kind of renters would be attracted to such a building, but that is how myths turn into reality in a neighbourhood war like this). Anyways, this is yet another example of how the few mobilize, and turn a program that has real benefit to the city and demonizes it. City Council had better be prepared to have some open and honest consultations with this group, but hopefully won’t abandon a very worthwhile program for a city of Vancouver’s expense.
- This if probably worthy of a larger post, but where is COPE on City Council these days? Ellen Woodsworth and David Cadman are nowhere on the public radar, as opposed to Jane Bouey on the School Board and Loretta Woodcock on the Park Board, who have both been excellent in their roles. Woodsworth and Cadman (when he bothers to show up) have been silent in terms of advancing any causes, and yet I hear that COPE administrators are trying to demand more than 2 spots if a deal with Vision Vancouver can be agreed to. So you have two under-performing Councillors who will have a very hard time getting elected next time around (particularly with the sorry state the party is in these days, both financially and organizationally), and now you want more guaranteed spots in an electoral arrangement? These guys are delusional, and possibly heading the way of the NPA if they don’t get their act together.
- The Montreal hockey fans really disappointed me amidst my utter elation at the fact that my beloved Habs are moving into the third round of the playoffs. Although, as was pointed out by CBC’s Mark Kelley yesterday, Montreal has a history or riots over politics, culture or sports, so it wasn’t entirely a surprise (they had Rejean Houle come on with a recorded statement in the Bell Centre asking people to show class and respect in their celebrations). But what I found even more upsetting was the site of Minister of Heritage James “I”m eating crow now” Moore wearing a Habs jersey. After labeling the Canucks “Canada’s Team” a few weeks back in a ill-thought out tweet, I get no joy in seeing that XXL sized jersey being worn by someone who clearly has no context about hockey history. Let’s hope he hasn’t jinxed what can now be officially classified as “Canada’s Team” in the next series.
That’s it for today folks. Enjoy the beautiful weather out there.
