The Big O Faisco (Vancouver Olympics)
In my humble opinion
First of all, why would anyone think to hold them in the warmest spot in Canada? When people think "Canada" they think land of ice and snow. Vancouver and region is the only spot that ISN'T. Its climate is virtually identical to Seattle Washington and Portland Oregon. In a pinch I can watch a weather report on TV from there, and I know it will be basically the same here.
So not only is it ALWAYS mild here, but this year is the warmest on record. Ok, I know they had no control over that bit.
Not only that, in spite of its claims, Vancouver is a bit of a backwater. The powers that be like to claim it's very metropolitan, but you know when the nightlife closes by 2 and the visitors centres close from Labour Day to Victoria Day, a big city yer not!
There were lots of reasons to despise the Olympic people (committee and the Vancouver committee) right off that bat, hence my earlier post about not letting them come to your town. Make no mistake - the Olympic Committee RUNS a place they descend upon. Our bylaws went out the window with them overtaking everything, yes even government. That should make us all afraid. These are powerful people.
The first thing that made everyone hate them: they swanned into town and proclaimed that any business with an Olympic sounding name must change their name. WTH??? We have a "Little Greece" neighbourhood that has been there for decades, and OF COURSE there are Olympic names, after their ancient beliefs. People started to realize the corporate bulldozer had arrived.
There are SOOOO many transgressions against a people that the Olympic Organizing Committee has committed, I am remiss for not having documented all of them.
Apparently we have more soldiers here right now than we do in Afghanistan! It IS rightly called a military-occupied zone.
Streets that our taxes pay for are off limits to citizens. And I don't mean right in the thick of the events, I mean all over the city, not even *near* the events. This is (sorry, WAS) claimed to be a "green" Oly, but the Oly vehicles are SUVS and *they* get to use special lanes all over the city. As you might suspect, they are occupied by the driver only. Because of the measures taken to create snow, ship it in , and keep it frozen, it's not remotely a green Olympics any more.
The Olympic thugs had dictated that NO PROTEST SIGNS shall be allowed, ANYWHERE. Not even on private property. You could get fined AND put in jail! I'm tellin' ya, you DO NOT want these kids playing in your backyard!! The BC Civil Liberties Association took legal action against them on this issue, and only then did they back down. Like any good bully would.
Once the Olympics were a sure deal here, THEN the city decided it was time to help the homeless. They really wanted to get them the hell off the streets where visitors could see. Sadly, they didn't get their act together in time. I heard a couple weeks ago they would start handing out tents to the homeless. This is ironic considering a few years back a "tent city" sprung up on a large piece of property in the heart of the city that sat while waiting for development. Oh the city officials sure didn't like that idea back then. It was removed in good time.
In Whistler, the homeless were put on buses and shipped out to the next town!!! The residents of this town had officials getting them to open their homes to visitors to help the overflow from hotels, etc. Well, turns out the officials didn't realize that travel restrictions they themselves instigated would prevent travel from that town to the neighouring Olympic site. They demonstrate they are not the brightest bunch over and over again.
The road in question (the only one that can get you there) is riddled with checkpoints. I heard recently that as you pass one checkpoint to the other, they seal you into your car. BIG TROUBLE if the seal has been broken between one checkpoint and the next (heaven forbid anyone needs to get out for some reason).
You have to understand that in Canada (like most of the Western world, I imagine) you can travel freely anywhere, any time you want, so this sort of control is totally alien to us.
I love Vancouver, being my hometown, but they are good at doing things "tacky". I feared for the Olympic opening ceremonies, but it turned out very nicely. They hired an Aussie to do it. Too bad about the final lighting of the "flame". So, true to form, someone forgot they needed a Canada Pavillion. A few months ago they decided they better get cracking, but having left it so late, we got...
A TENT.
Countries, communities, they all put up some amazing stuff, by all accounts. Canada, the host country, dropped the ball. The Member of Parliament of my district was responsible for this c**k-up. I'm not surprised about that, either. The native Aboriginal cultures, The Four Host Nations, who get crapped on by government (in spite of the nice show the organizers gave the world at the opening ceremonies) put up a spectacular place. The entire country managed....a tent. Woo hoo!
I don't mind the sports of the Olympics, but the political and money-sucking disaster that it is, is quite frankly VERY SCARY.
I can't recommend you having them come for a visit to your home town.
First of all, why would anyone think to hold them in the warmest spot in Canada? When people think "Canada" they think land of ice and snow. Vancouver and region is the only spot that ISN'T. Its climate is virtually identical to Seattle Washington and Portland Oregon. In a pinch I can watch a weather report on TV from there, and I know it will be basically the same here.
So not only is it ALWAYS mild here, but this year is the warmest on record. Ok, I know they had no control over that bit.
Not only that, in spite of its claims, Vancouver is a bit of a backwater. The powers that be like to claim it's very metropolitan, but you know when the nightlife closes by 2 and the visitors centres close from Labour Day to Victoria Day, a big city yer not!
There were lots of reasons to despise the Olympic people (committee and the Vancouver committee) right off that bat, hence my earlier post about not letting them come to your town. Make no mistake - the Olympic Committee RUNS a place they descend upon. Our bylaws went out the window with them overtaking everything, yes even government. That should make us all afraid. These are powerful people.
The first thing that made everyone hate them: they swanned into town and proclaimed that any business with an Olympic sounding name must change their name. WTH??? We have a "Little Greece" neighbourhood that has been there for decades, and OF COURSE there are Olympic names, after their ancient beliefs. People started to realize the corporate bulldozer had arrived.
There are SOOOO many transgressions against a people that the Olympic Organizing Committee has committed, I am remiss for not having documented all of them.
Apparently we have more soldiers here right now than we do in Afghanistan! It IS rightly called a military-occupied zone.
Streets that our taxes pay for are off limits to citizens. And I don't mean right in the thick of the events, I mean all over the city, not even *near* the events. This is (sorry, WAS) claimed to be a "green" Oly, but the Oly vehicles are SUVS and *they* get to use special lanes all over the city. As you might suspect, they are occupied by the driver only. Because of the measures taken to create snow, ship it in , and keep it frozen, it's not remotely a green Olympics any more.
The Olympic thugs had dictated that NO PROTEST SIGNS shall be allowed, ANYWHERE. Not even on private property. You could get fined AND put in jail! I'm tellin' ya, you DO NOT want these kids playing in your backyard!! The BC Civil Liberties Association took legal action against them on this issue, and only then did they back down. Like any good bully would.
Once the Olympics were a sure deal here, THEN the city decided it was time to help the homeless. They really wanted to get them the hell off the streets where visitors could see. Sadly, they didn't get their act together in time. I heard a couple weeks ago they would start handing out tents to the homeless. This is ironic considering a few years back a "tent city" sprung up on a large piece of property in the heart of the city that sat while waiting for development. Oh the city officials sure didn't like that idea back then. It was removed in good time.
In Whistler, the homeless were put on buses and shipped out to the next town!!! The residents of this town had officials getting them to open their homes to visitors to help the overflow from hotels, etc. Well, turns out the officials didn't realize that travel restrictions they themselves instigated would prevent travel from that town to the neighouring Olympic site. They demonstrate they are not the brightest bunch over and over again.
The road in question (the only one that can get you there) is riddled with checkpoints. I heard recently that as you pass one checkpoint to the other, they seal you into your car. BIG TROUBLE if the seal has been broken between one checkpoint and the next (heaven forbid anyone needs to get out for some reason).
You have to understand that in Canada (like most of the Western world, I imagine) you can travel freely anywhere, any time you want, so this sort of control is totally alien to us.
I love Vancouver, being my hometown, but they are good at doing things "tacky". I feared for the Olympic opening ceremonies, but it turned out very nicely. They hired an Aussie to do it. Too bad about the final lighting of the "flame". So, true to form, someone forgot they needed a Canada Pavillion. A few months ago they decided they better get cracking, but having left it so late, we got...
A TENT.
Countries, communities, they all put up some amazing stuff, by all accounts. Canada, the host country, dropped the ball. The Member of Parliament of my district was responsible for this c**k-up. I'm not surprised about that, either. The native Aboriginal cultures, The Four Host Nations, who get crapped on by government (in spite of the nice show the organizers gave the world at the opening ceremonies) put up a spectacular place. The entire country managed....a tent. Woo hoo!
I don't mind the sports of the Olympics, but the political and money-sucking disaster that it is, is quite frankly VERY SCARY.
I can't recommend you having them come for a visit to your home town.