Shameless political advertising or serving in the job that he was elected to?

There was once a time where famed blogger and potential future NPA City Council candidate Mike Klassen thought that promoting the Olympics and Paralympics, and more specifically the free activities and events that populated the city during those periods, was a top priority:

“The Vision Vancouver Council seem to have had an aversion to promoting the Games since they were elected, so as to not upset part of their base who oppose the event.” – August 18, 2009

“Dwindling public dollars needn’t be the stumbling block for BC and Vancouver to sell itself to the world. Any savvy marketer knows there are a million opportunities to generate international buzz, and we only have to exploit them — NOW!” – August 18, 2009

“It wasn’t rocket science to understand that most of us can’t afford to attend Olympic events, but want to enjoy the party. How come bloggers are the ones making things happen?” – Jan 26, 2010

“Perhaps the best way that we get good value for our investment is to partake of the dozens of free events being staged during the Games. Think of the message we’d send to the world when thousands of us show up to celebrate in our own cities.” – February 23, 2010

“Then, almost as if the light went on, Canadians fell in love with hosting the Olympic & Paralympic Games. The change in mood was so sudden and so ebullient, that it came as a complete surprise to Games veterans. Even Jacques Rogge described Vancouver’s enthusiastic embrace as unprecedented.

Many theories exist now on why it worked so well, but there is no doubt in our minds that the key ingredient was the numerous free activities.” April 13, 2010

Klassen was also a supporter and web designer for Mayor Sam Sullivan around the time that the former Mayor appeared in the ad pictured above, designed to promote businesses who were facing disruption due to the Canada Line construction.

Yet from that point until the present, Klassen has had some political setbacks.  First, Klassen witnessed his own brethren within the NPA turn on their former fearless leader, supporting an adversary who at the time claimed that “a lot of people have lost confidence in Sam” and that there was “concern within the party that Sam may have been taking money for one purpose and using it for another” with regards to fundraising.

And then of course came Vision Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson, whose emergence on the municipal political scene rankled Klassen to no end, turning him and his writing partner into the new Mayor’s “biggest critics.”

Along this bumpy political journey in recent years, Klassen has developed a condition where he often forgets what he once advocated for.  Mike’s Mother’s Day post (linked to in the last paragraph) is a perfect example of this unfortunate syndrome.

Klassen takes issue with a city expenditure of $16,025 on a “radio ad campaign across several stations that “welcomed” and “thanked” citizens for enjoying the Games” and “reminded everyone to take advantage of all the “FREE” activities.”

Klassen asserts that the Mayor’s “invisibility” during the Olympics prompted this campaign, which he also claims representeed a “highly unusual and costly decision to help build his profile.”

In what has to be considered the height of conceit, Klassen also argues that the fact that his website went “viral during the Games” provided another motivating factor to “spend precious tax dollars to remind people to ‘have fun’ and to ‘enjoy all the free events’.”

The ludicrous and self-absorbed nature of such declarations needs to be exposed, as Klassen’s possible political aspirations seem to be the sun that is eclipsing any hope of rational thought:

1. Vancouver hosted the largest event in Canadian history, with dozens and dozens of attractions and events available to experience for free.  Furthermore, the people in Vancouver were the main ambassadors to the world on behalf of the City, imbuing visitors with a sense of how friendly Canadians and Vancouverites truly are.  As such, how can an expenditure of $16,025 producing ads that informed and acknowledged these facts over a period of close to four weeks, across four different radio stations, “useless” and/or politically promotional?
2. In spite of Klassen’s claims about the Mayor being invisible, I have heard from many people that they saw Gregor everywhere.  Whether it was doing regular standups with NBC’s Today Show or any number of international media outlets, touring events and venues, or simply walking down the street where he was regularly mobbed by people simply wanting to say hello or congratulations, Robertson was one of the most prominent individuals in terms of exposure during the Games.  Then again, blogging and gushing over website traffic can lead to carpal and mental tunnel syndromes, disallowing accurate reflections of what is really happening in the real world, off of the internet.
3. Klassen is often critical of City Manager Penny Ballem hogging the spotlight when it comes to the dissmination of city-related information.  But when the Mayor gets on the horn to talk to residents of what is available to participate in, and how thankful and appreciative the city is for the unofficial hosting efforts delivered by the public, he continues to be critical.  So Mike, who else should have been featured in such ads?
4. And if Klassen is arguing that it is inappropriate for the Mayor to be engaging in such advertising at all, does that mean that Sam Sullivan’s appearance in an the above ad to spur business within Yaletown was also politically motivated and against protocol?  The City of Vancouver had to be a part of the mix in mitigating the damaging effects on business due to the Canada Line, in conjunction with the provincial and federal governments as well as VANOC.  The same goes for the City of Vancouver promoting free activities and encouraging good will by citizens within its geographic purview.  This kind of attack by Klassen is absolutely ridiculous – both Sullivan and Robertson were doing what should rightfully be expected of a Mayor…namely, to take responsibility and show leadership with regards to a pressing civic issue or event.
5. Mayors engage in promotion of their city all the time…just ask Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York, or Richard Daley, Mayor of Chicago.  Why are these the chosen individuals chosen as the face that promotes their respective cities?  Because by virtue of their job, they are clearly the main spokespeople on behalf of the citizens.  Just because Klassen’s guy Sullivan was diminutive and relatively shy by nature, making such promotion a real difficulty for him, doesn’t mean that future successors should take the same approach.  By contrast, whether it is developing and subsequently selling a distinct brand for the city, or standing by large-scale visions for his term in office (ending street homelessness, creating the greenest municipal environment in the world), Robertson is using his business-background inspired skill set to keep Vancouver in the global consciousness.

It is understandable that Klassen has such trouble with the concept of marketing in light of his staunch support for a party whose best idea for maintaining relevance is to change its name.

But if my prediction is correct and Klassen is indeed pining to run for a spot on City Council, he would be well advised to take a page out of Gregor Robertson’s playbook when it comes to promoting his wares beyond the world of blogging.

Civicscene.ca returns to the pages of the Vancouver Sun this morning with a column about the lack of quality opposition currently tarnishing Vancouver’s City Hall these days.

Gregor Robertson may be high in the polls at the moment, but he also faces little to no opposition, which has the possibility of damaging the credibility of his agenda.  As far as I am concerned, scrutiny and dissent is a necessary thing for an ambitious agenda like Robertson’s.

Here’s hoping that the three opposition councillors pick up their games in the second half of this election cycle, as I would love to see some fireworks return to council chambers.

As an example, go read “Showdown” Joe’s rebuttal, and my subsequent response, to yesterday’s piece for a little bit of the kind of tussle I am referring to, and check back later in the day for a post on the Vancouver Park Board’s new principles for the city’s community centres, and how the network of little fiefdoms attached to the community centre association presidents needs to be discontinued…in spite of their confusing objections.

]]> http://civicscene.ca/civicscene-returns-to-the-vancouver-sun/feed 2 http://civicscene.ca/showdown-joes-false-reporting-taps-out-to-the-facts http://civicscene.ca/showdown-joes-false-reporting-taps-out-to-the-facts#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:59:08 +0000 Jonathan Ross http://civicscene.ca/?p=3456

CTV Sportsnet's "Showdown" Joe Ferraro might have stepped into an empty octagon before, but that certainly didn't help his credibility last week after falsely reporting that the UFC Vancouver pay-per-view had been cancelled.

He calls himself “Showdown Joe” and ironically, the name of the show he hosts on CTV Sportsnet is entitled “MMA Connected.”  Yet, you would never have known that Joe Ferraro has any knowledge or connection to the sport with the way he inserted himself into the UFC-Vancouver courtship last week, which revolved  around his shoddy reporting that put the now-secured deal in serious jeopardy.

Before I get into the story of how everything went down last week, here are a couple of excerpts from a from an interview Joe did where he described how he broke into MMA broadcasting:

“From there, we started sponsoring fighters at various events and then I met up with some promoters. They fell in love with the knowledge that I had and how I could break down fights into what this guy needs to do to win and what that guy needs to do to win, and then during the fight I would explain what guys needed to do to get out of a position and they said, “Did you ever think about doing commentary?”

“About three or four month in, the guys from Sportsnet started getting into MMA, they started covering the UFC and they decided, “We need an analyst; someone who is involved in the sport and can pick up the phone and call Chuck Liddell or Randy Couture.” So they started looking around and realized that The Fan 590 is owned by the same company as Sportsnet – Rogers Communications – and said, “Who’s this Showdown Joe guy? Let’s bring him in.”

Humble and not at all self-absorbed, as you can clearly see.

Now let’s examine Joe’s breaking news from last week, and his supposed chat with UFC president Dana White, which he still will not confirm with any certainty in spite of repeated emails from me.

Last Monday, the UFC and the City of Vancouver were deep in meetings regarding the proposed June event after weeks of trying to get a deal done.  Now in spite of reports to the contrary (which I will cite in a second), the reason that things took so long is not because Council was holding things up, or that bureaucrats were running amok within the walls of City Hall.

Simply, the City of Vancouver will be the first host city of a UFC pay-per-view where a province or state sanctioning body does not exist.  As an example, there have been two successful UFC events held in Montreal, both of which were facilitated by the Quebec Alcohol Racing and Gaming Commission (QAC).  This provincial sanctioning body is responsible for the rules, regulations and parameters of such contests, which in turn insulates the City of Montreal from potential legal action.

Pretty simple stuff.  But in the midst of the talks about Vancouver’s UFC future, these are the kinds of headlines that started seeping out, unbeknownst to anyone involved in the negotiations at the time:

“Source says UFC Vancouver show is off, may be switched to Cincinnati”

“Vancouver UFC show likely moving to Cincy”

“UFC Vancouver show is off: source”

“UFC down for the count in Vancouver“

So who was this “source”?  Was it someone within the city?  Or maybe a representative from UFC like VP of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner or Lawrence Epstein, the organization’s general legal counsel?

No.  It was Showdown Joe, who allegedly received confirmation from Dana White.  As I mentioned, I sent Joe a few emails last week to find out what exactly White allegedly told him, and was greeted with complete silence.  No surprise there, I guess, in consideration of the fact that a deal was indeed reached just 3 days after Joe’s initial claims became public.

Now Joe was correct about one thing – the show in Vancouver would have been moved to Cincinnati if terms were not reached.

But I have deep reservations about what Ferraro is claiming Dana White told him.

And before Ferraro goes and claims that it was his reporting of White’s supposed utterance that changed the course of the negotiations, let me tell you that I hear it simply caused bitter feelings and miscommunication between the two parties rather than helping to speed the process along.

The fact is that talks never failed, and never stopped.  There were issues that came down to the wire, without a doubt, but at no point did the City of Vancouver back away from trying to make something happen.

As an example, the requests for indemnification and insurance protection for the city were drastically altered by City Manager Penny Ballem and her staff to ensure that Vancouver didn’t lose out on what could prove to be a cash infusion of approximately $20 million.

Take a look at this interview from Joe on the day that his network was looking for answers as to who was responsible for the “show being choked out in Vancouver.”

He claimed that “it’s the politicians over there that are apparently making this extremely difficult for the UFC and any mixed martial arts events in general from occurring on their soil.”

WRONG.  As soon as Council passed the motion lifting the ban back in December, they had little to do with the day-to-day negotiations.  Actually, the Mayor, from what I hear, was the only one who was actively encouraging, not obstructing, officials to get a deal signed.

When asked why Vancouver was any different than Montreal in terms of securing an event, Joe responded with “It’s very difficult to try figure out, only because…uh…I’m trying to understand what are the liabilities, because every commission out there, be it North America or around the world, that regulates mixed martial arts, they’ve got the same issues so why can they still hold these events?”

Well Joe, that is also WRONG.  As I mentioned above, Vancouver is breaking new ground because of the fact that the province of British Columbia has no sanctioning body for MMA, making it different from any other past UFC host city.

So no Joe, the City of Vancouver COULD NOT “follow the model that’s been successful for all these different states and provinces that continue to hold mixed martial arts events” – not without the provincial government.

Joe’s clearly one of those reporters that revels in the access he has in the big names of UFC, whether it is Dana White or Tito Ortiz.  In fact, as you can see above from the excerpt I posted from the print interview with Ferraro, he flashes his ability to “pick up the phone and call Chuck Liddell or Randy Couture” as one of his selling points.

Good for you Joe.  That is a real feather in the cap of an MMA reporter.

But next time you want to make use of those speed dial numbers you have programmed into your phone, maybe you should do a little more digging into the facts before you insert false stories into the mix and almost compromise an event of such importance – particuarly to your profession.

The City of Vancouver has the potential to do so much more with its property assets.

I am no expert on the Property Endowment Fund (PEF), which ambiguously is approximately $2.5 billion of indeterminate assets.  I know that it is a significant part of Vancouver’s financial profile, and that it is essential to our credit rating.  Outside of that, I am very unclear as to its purpose.  So, I started to do some basic reading to get up to speed.

Created by TEAM in the in the 1970s, the PEF took those properties and leases owned by the city which were not in the near term intended to be used for municipal purposes (roads, parks or non-market housing sites) and consolidated them.  It was operated through the real-estate division on a market basis (meaning they are able to provide a reasonable return as if they were privately held) and held within the fund to grow it into an endowment producing annual revenues.  It is also a means to stablize the city’s credit rating, which in turn allows the city to secure the lowest possible borrowing rate for any loans.

As described by the legendary May Brown:

“The city was selling land every year, putting money into general revenue to keep taxes down.  Art Phillips said this has got to stop. We’re cannibalizing our land . . . The value of the PEF in those days was $100 million. The rationale was simple: citizens should share in the profits from any increase in land value.”

A fantastic concept, to be sure.

But the PEF has now grown into a fund that has reached this seemingly untouchable status, with the only money utilized out on an annual basis (publicly, at least) is $7 million to offset increases in property taxes.

I feel there is so much more that the City of Vancouver could be doing with such a collection of assets.

As an example, Gregor Robertson is going to be fighting an uphill battle in finding partnership with his counterparts in Victoria and Ottawa when it comes to building new housing.

Both governments are in horrible financial shape.  One has completely removed itself from any responsibility over the housing file, and the other haggles every year about putting up a measly $4 million for winter shelters for the homeless, never mind building permanent new housing.

So here’s a question – why can’t the PEF be used to protect already existing housing, or leverage funds to build long-term affordable housing options in conjunction with the private sector?

What is stopping Mayor Gregor Robertson from saying “If the provincial and federal governments are not going to step up the plate, then it is time for the City of Vancouver to take matter into our own hands and begin to partner with housing non-profits and private developers to get more affordable and social housing into the city.”

Of course those on the right will come forward with claims that a left-of-centre government like Vision Vancouver’s is going to raid the fund without any kind of public accountability, and that the fund needs to be maintained for the future of the city’s finances.

Now don’t get me wrong – I am not advocating for such an arrangement.  A significant portion of the PEF must still be maintained as an anchor for the city’s financial health.

But here is where I agree with COPE, believe it or not, in the following suggestion:

“Vancouver City Council…[should] initiate a public process that could include an independent commissioner, or panel, to develop guidelines and policies around the use of the Fund. The process would involve thorough consultation with the public, with the financial community, with academics and with community organizations in developing guidelines.”

Open the fund up to scrutiny, and give those in charge of it a mandate to make the best use of it for major initiatives like housing.

Right now, three councillors and I believe the Mayor comprise of the PEF’s board.  In the past, the City Manager and/or the Director of Finance have also held seats with the elected representatives.

Many within the city humourously refer to the PEF as “Bayne’s Bank” in honour of General Manager of Business Planning and Services Ken Bayne.  Bayne has an enormous amount of control over the PEF in spite of board oversight.  I also hear many rumours regarding the instances where staff finding mysterious pockets of money from time to time to cover shortfalls or fund specific projects.

In a quote to the Georgia Straight a few years back, Bayne said this about the fund:

“It has an expectation that it will earn a return on its investment. When it spends money, it expects to get something back.”

Well, I like that set of criteria, although I am of the mind that this return on investment can’t always be considered in terms of dollars and cents.

It’s time that we start looking at the fund as more than a sacred cow controlled by bureaucrats.  It is time that we made the assets of the city work for a broader purpose.