March 10, 2010 - 1:21 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
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:
“Athletes Village balconies aren’t wheelchair accessible: Former mayor and Paralympic Games ambassador calls situation a ’scandal‘”
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.
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March 4, 2010 - 2:56 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
A fantastic success during the Games, but is it worth the cost after?
Yes, the ridership far exceeded expectations during the Olympic Games (as did most modes of transit within the City of Vancouver).
Yes, the dream of expasnion is intriguing in terms of the connections it could make from different transit nodes.
But with the province completely in the hole, Translink unable to see past its current fiscal year towards the inevitable reorganization that is coming, and the federal government done with kicking in additional cash for any of Metro Vancouver’s transit needs, the City of Vancouver is on its own if it wants to continue this service.
With a rumoured $90 million continuation commitment being thrown around by the City of Vancouver’s engineering department, that is completely insane to even consider.
Here is hoping that Vancouver City Council either gets a private operator to solely kick in that cash, or instead widely publicizes this proposed price tag and then kills the idea.
I loved the streetcar too, and would also love to see it expanded across the city.
But at $90 million, I can certainly do without it.
March 2, 2010 - 12:48 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Robertson's looking for another kind of handshake like this (minus the Conservative propaganda), but is unlikely to walk away with anything of substance from Harper this time around.
I have been delinquent during the Games, as unlike those who transformed themselves into “media”, I took some time away from the blog and municipal politics to enjoy the civic experience of a lifetime.
That being said, I am now back in the swing of things, and will be posting regularly from this point forward. CivicScene will also have some featured pieces coming out in one of Vancouver’s preeminent news outlets in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
Mayor Gregor Robertson has left himself little time to rest in between the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as he has made his trek eastward to Ottawa and Toronto in search of “a commitment to a national housing strategy” and more provincial and federal funding for transit.
Yet on the heels of Premier Gordon Campbell’s government preparing people for today’s budget which will dramatically “cut back on the operating budgets of government” as well as Prime Minister Stephen Harper prefacing his upcoming budget by calling it the “toughest of his career,” I can’t see the Vancouver Mayor walking away with anything at all in terms of financial commitments.
But the trip is significant for the way in which Robertson is graduating from his roles and responsibilities that are most often bound within the confines of Vancouver’s official boundaries.
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February 23, 2010 - 12:14 pm |
Posted by Jonathan Ross
Colbert brutalized Ujjal...and they both loved it.
Ujjal plays the straight man well and Colbert is excellent as usual. Although, the Himalayas most definitely extend into India, so I am not sure what he was talking about. I also liked the fact that Colbert was able to pronounce his name much better than many Canadian commentators, who regularly brutalize the delivery.
The second funny piece of the day comes from…OK, wait for it…the Georgia Straight’s Charlie Smith. What a surprise.
Smith takes issue with the fact that the City of Vancouver website has a portion of it devoted to…again, wait for it…the Mayor.
Oh the horror.
And get this…he has a video promoting Vancouver as a Green Capital to the world.
I know…a disgrace of epic proportions.
I mean, it’s not like other cities have profiles of their Mayor on their websites.
That would be ridiculous.
Great reporting, as per usual Charlie. Keep up the tough investigative journalism.
