Number 12 is not a bad number.
Vancouver Canucks’ legend Stan Smyl’s number 12 hangs from the rafters at Rogers Arena. Someday the B.C. Lions should retire quarterback Dave Dickenson’s number 12.
Someone at city hall thinks I’m a number 12, according to a leaked list of nattering nabobs of negativism and vile vexers of Vision Vancouver.
24 hours’ columnist Mike Klassen tops the list and his CityCaucus.com partner Daniel Fontaine is number three. Second place belongs to Alex G. Tsakumis, whose eponymous blog revealed the list. Global TV’s Marisa Thomas and The Province editor Wayne Moriarty are numbers four and five. CKNW’s Christy Clark, Jill Bennett and Janet Brown occupy six through eight. Next are Vancouver Sun’s Jeff Lee, ex-BCTV reporter Harvey Oberfeld, Georgia Straight editor Charlie Smith and me, lowly number 12.
Mayor Gregor Robertson and city manager Penny Ballem, why didn’t I make the top 10 and what can I do to climb the ladder? This demands explanation!
I do my best to keep city hall’s Freedom of Information office busy with my requests. I understand that’s one of the few offices actually still in city hall. Of course, you could make it easier for us all by going the proactive disclosure route. Transparency was promised in the Mayor’s 2008 swearing-in speech, but bike lanes, chicken coops and pricey office renovations are convenient distractions.
I revealed that Ballem met on the last Thursday of the Olympics with gambling and housing minister Rich Coleman and executives of Great Canadian Gaming. Apparently it was about the future of Hastings Racecourse, not gold medal hockey bets.
Then there were my stories about the Mayor’s meetings in Manhattan with New Yorkers who donated to Vision Vancouver and chief of staff Mike Magee’s expensive tabs at ABC Kitchen. Magee spent $441 over two nights at the same restaurant, but won’t reveal the names of his noshing partners.
Can’t forget the Mayor’s three-day rental of a Nissan hybrid in San Francisco for US$439.89. There had to be cheaper cars on the lot, but the Mayor had to be green. He then redefined the concept of carbon offsets by spending US$29.73 on almost 9 gallons of gas.
The list of my stories that must’ve proven unpopular with the “Visionaries” also includes those about the $239,000 cost of the Vancouver Green Capital logo and slogan, the $2,500 oversized keys for the Olympic Village handover ceremonies (hey, where’s the oversized lock?), and the $18,117.60 to design and manufacture 1,000 Olympic medallions and boxes.
Some of those trinkets were presented before a July city council meeting to cops and firefighters who served in the Afghanistan War.
Thanks for putting your lives at risk, boys. Have one of these $15 souvenirs we had left over from the Olympics!
bob.mackin@sunmedia.ca
