Three charged after cabinet office trashed in anti-Olympics violence

Three protesters with the "Anti Poverty Committee" have been arrested after trashing a Vancouver cabinet office. Brendon Cunningham, 29, and Thomas Malenfant, 23 are both charged with two counts of mischief and one count of break and enter. A 17-year old girl who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act also faces two mischief charges.

The group tried to symbolically "evict" Ken Dobell, adviser to BC premier Gordon Campbell. He is also helping plan for Vancouver 2010. The idea was to draw attention to the city's homelessness issues or whatever but instead they drew attention to the city's numerous and widespread stupid hippie asshole problems!

Nice going idiots, you have really made everyone hate the Olympics!

Vancouver 2010 legacy plans outlined

The Olympics have a way of leaving a lasting mark where they are hosted, and the organizers of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics have every intention of that ringing true for British Columbia. Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) CEO John Furlong had the following comments in a press release by the committee today:

"Since the idea of hosting the 2010 Winter Games surfaced in Vancouver back in 1996, the vision has been consistently clear - in addition to hosting outstanding Games, they must create benefits and legacies for sport and communities."

Among the legacy goals outlined in the press release:

• $110M will be invested by the federal and provincial governments to create the 2010 Winter Games Operating Trust to maintain and keep viable sports facilities like the Whistler Nordic Venue, Whistler Sliding Centre, and Richmond Oval.
• After the games, the Vancouver Olympic village will become a mixed-use community with 1,100 residential units, including 250 non-market, supportive housing units.
• Likewise, the Whistler Olympic village will become a permanent mixed-use community.
• Whistler will see the construction of the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre.
• Medical and sports equipment used during the games will be donated to community organizations.

Source: VANOC press release

1,000 days until the Vancouver 2010 Olympics

With 1,000 days remaining until the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, the event is starting to take shape on the planning side of things. Canoe.ca's Terry Jones has an excellent article detailing the various construction and renovation activities planned for 2010, available here.

While it might be an Olympic feat to have the Games remain on time and on budget, VANOC appears to be doing everything right so far.

Former attorney general to curb panhandling, drug sales for 2010

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan has tapped former BC Attorney General Geoff Plant to clean up Vancouver proper in preparation for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. The Project Civil City initiative aims to reduce homelessness, open drug dealing, and panhandling by 50% for the Games.

Said Sullivan:

"I'm very conscious that in 2010, the world will be arriving. It's very important for us to use the Olympics and Paralympic Games as a catalyst to improve our city."

Plant said that good work has been done on "housing, drug addiction, mental health and enforcement," and said he will try to "bring this work together and knit it into a cohesive, integrated implementation plan."

Critic David Eby of the Pivot Legal Society called the plan an attempt to "harass poor people in the Downtown Eastside and get them off the streets and into other neighborhoods and into other cities before the Olympics."

Well, yeah, duh.

Source: SeattlePI.com

Vancouver encourages environmentally friendly taxis

Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon has said that Vancouver aims to have a green taxi fleet in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Falcon has directed the Passenger Transportation Board to issue new taxi permits only to hybrid and energy-efficient vehicles from now on in Vancouver and Victoria, and the Ministry will work with the taxi industry to replace the existing conventional fleet.

Will you be in one of those taxis in 2010? I know I will be!

Source: Globe and Mail

Dubreuil and Lauzon take a season off, vow to compete in Vancouver 2010

Canadian figure skating pair Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon have decided not to compete in ice dancing competitions this season, instead choosing to focus on the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The duo will continue to skate in artistic shows but will not compete on the advice of their coach. A press release quoted Lauzon as saying:

"[Coach Muriel Zazoui] feels that we are not finished with our career and that we should give the Olympics another try. So on her advice, we'll take a sabbatical and do shows, but we'll plan on doing the pre-Olympic and Olympic season."

The pair recently won gold at the Four Continents Championships in January in Colorado.

Source: Canada.com

Local businesses hit hard by Skytrain expasion

Foot traffic has slowed to such a crawl on a 14 block section of Cambie Street, and popular businesses are devoid of customers or closing altogether.

A new section of Skytrain is being constructed to connect the city center to the international airport at Richmond to efficiently move people during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, and it has meant heavy construction in the streets. Originally, tunnels were to be bored underground so as to allow business to continue as normal, but plans changed and now small business owners are finding themselves out of customers and out of luck. Six lanes of traffic have been cut down to two, causing traffic nightmares.

InTransitBC spokesman Steve Crombie noted that new businesses have opened where old ones have closed in the popular district:

"Going through 19 kilometres of busy urban area, there's no way you can do a project like this without causing disruption. Considering the complexity and size of the project, it's gone extremely well so far."

Source: Globe and Mail