Don’t blink, folks. Before you know it the 2010 Games are going to be over. How are you going to celebrate the biggest party our city has ever thrown?
You’d be forgiven for thinking nothing is really happening here given the low-key performance of civic leaders like Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson.
The Mayor of the Olympic Host City appears to be tolerating this monumental event rather than embracing it. Instead of beginning the sprint of his life after touching down with the Olympic flame last October, Robertson tripped out of the starting block, putting no effort into promoting the Games.
Even CBC Radio host Rick Cluff pressed Vancouver’s Mayor on this fact in a recent interview, noting that former Mayor Sam Sullivan has garnered more pre-Games press, such as a New York Times sports page cover story last weekend.
Political observers say that Mayor Robertson is caught between a rock and a hard place. His left-wing base abhors the Olympics. And many of his Vision Vancouver caucus voted against the Games in the city’s 2003 Olympic referendum. Even Robertson straddles the fence, saying he didn’t bother to vote in the referendum.
Perhaps it’s fitting that No Fun City being led by a No Fun Mayor.
Robertson has had a lot of help from VANOC dampening the 2010 fun factor. The Games organizers seem intent on scaring the bejeezus out of anyone who wants to leave their house with dire warnings
of long queues, bottlenecked transit and oppressive Big Brother security measures.
The Games bid process began a decade ago. There has been seven years of preparation since we won the bid. We’ve built sport venues, highways and community infrastructure at a breath-taking pace for four years. We’ve been marketing the Games abroad now for two years.
Hey VANOC, how about we add “let’s have a good time” to that list?
Eight weeks ago my CityCaucus.com colleague Daniel Fontaine and I cobbled together an online “Vancouver 2010 Free Events Guide”. For the first time you could read about, comment on and rate all the exciting live shows,
pin-trading venues, international and regional
pavilions happening downtown, as well as in Yaletown, Richmond, Surrey and all around Metro Vancouver.
It’s all listed in one place, and all of it is FREE.
To our amazement the online guide went viral. Over 200,000 page views per week and web traffic arriving from around the globe. We began to get calls and e-mails from Chilliwack to Chicago wanting to know more about hot spots like the Heineken House or the free Ziptrek line at Robson Square.
For our readers it was a game-changer.
The public is now realizing that all of us can afford a good time at the Games. The cost of admission is just getting to the
O Zone, Ontario Pavilion
or the House of Switzerland.
Let this be a lesson to any future Olympic host city. Don’t be strangled by the IOC’s formalities, and allow the people to let their hair down.
Maybe I’ll see you at the free Wilco concert next Saturday night?
Find out more at CityCaucus.com/2010free.
