2 Days Until the Olympics
February 10th, 2010I had some troubles getting their network to work, but I’m at the now world famous Irish Heather on Carrall Street updating my blog. The big news is probably still the protests, the social media, and the lack of snow at least inside the city. On the mountains I think they’ll be OK, but some fresh snow wouldn’t hurt, it is trying to rain in the city, which is good, wouldn’t want the blue skies to ruin our reputation as a rainy city. When it rains in Vancouver it usually snows on the North shore mountains, such as Cypress where they have the concerns.
The Mayor went to W2 this morning, but I faked him out by sending Wes in my stead. W2 is officially the first citizen journalism centre to cover an Olympics, so if you fancy yourself one, you owe it to yourself to go down to Hastings Street and soak up the ambiance. They have regular briefings as well as daily wine and cheese hours. I’ve been supporting the W2 for a good long while.
The LA Times is the latest major US new agency to talk about our homeless and drug addiction problem, which truly is severe, but they claim that Vancouver had no homeless problem 15 years ago, and people blame the rise in house prices on Expo 86. My parents sold out well before Expo 86 and moved to Vancouver Island. I voted for the Olympics, and just like Expo 86 made a positive change to Vancouver, the Olympics will too. Both our major rapid transit lines were created in time for these major world events. That isn’t a coincidence.
Vancouver has been a magnet for Canada’s unemployed since at least the Great Depression and Vancouver’s DTES and addiction have gone in hand in hand for more than 15 years. See the CBC documentary by Allen King “Skid Row”.
The Denver Post had an article on all the great Chinese food visitors can eat in Vancouver. The author missed all the restaurants our staff recommended in Chinatown. Hon’s is a staple but you can eat at Hon’s in Richmond and on Robson street, there is only one Foo’s Ho Ho’s.
I saw the Blue Dragon at SFU Woodward’s which along with other positive changes in the DTES doesn’t seem to make the LA Times coverage. It is impressive, the special effects are the stars of the show. It has a cast of three, but the behind the scenes crew is more than triple that. It didn’t have as many song and dance numbers as I expected given that Robert LePage works with Cirque de Soleil. I went to the big “friends of SFU” performance, the Mayor was there, but I didn’t know too many people during the networking portion and I was under dressed. Irwin from W2 and Donna from the Firehall were also in attendence. Here are some pictures of the VIPs.
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