Dear CTV, how about airing the Paralympic opening ceremonies live?
By Mike Klassen. Posted at CityCaucus.com on March 11, 2010
Audiences in China during Beijing's Games tuning in
As the Paralympics climb slowly toward respectability, it seems that even we enlightened Canucks know how to spoil the party. Tomorrow night's Paralympics Opening Ceremonies, which judging by the response we've been getting from readers, is going to be an exciting draw for Games fans. However, as others such as Vancouver Sun's Jeff Lee have reported, your TV schedule instead will feature the regular nightly newscast, and a bunch of the regularly scheduled programming like E-Talk Daily.
Can we change this? Well, time is not on our side. But if enough of you begin contacting CTV Television via phone and email, perhaps we can convince them to reconsider airing the Paralympics Ceremonies live. Note, it is going to be shown live on TVs set up at Robson and LiveCity Downtown, and it is supposed to be aired the following day on CTV.
If you think contacting the broadcaster might be fruitless, consider two things. First, the noise created about the fence around the Olympic cauldron forced a response from VANOC, and they moved the fence. And second, know that the Federal government just provided an additional $12 million in funding for broadcasters to improve coverage of the Paralympics. That's $12 million tax dollars, folks, and yet CTV is sticking with Ben Mulroney.
Here's the contact info we were able to dig up:
Continue reading Dear CTV, how about airing the Paralympic opening ceremonies live?.
Tagged: cbc early edition, ctv, gregor robertson, paralympic games, rick cluff, tv coverage, vancouver
Permalink | Filed under: 2010 Update | Comments (3)
Where to watch the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies
By Mike Klassen. Posted at CityCaucus.com on March 11, 2010
The LiveCity Downtown tent is now dubbed "Vancouver Paralympic House"
We've received several inquiries about where the public who do not have tickets can watch the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies Friday evening. Of course, if you want the full scale of the ceremonies, then you might be able to get a ticket for the show down at BC Place. But if you just want to be outside with everyone else to enjoy some of the Paralympic spirit on a Friday night, then you're in luck!
A screen is being set up at Robson Square beside the ice rink for a live viewing of the ceremonies, starting at 6pm. Prior to tomorrow’s show, the Jim Byrnes Band will play from 4:15-6pm to warm up the crowd.
Continue reading Where to watch the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies.
Tagged: livecity downtown, opening ceremonies, paralympic games, robson square
Permalink | Filed under: 2010 Update | Comments (4)
Let's re-imagine the VAG at Robson Square
By Mike Klassen. Posted at CityCaucus.com on March 11, 2010
Why can't this space become the cultural heart of the city? click for larger
When I attended Abraham Rogatnick's wake last summer, one of the speeches in his honour mentioned that he was a passionate advocate of keeping the Vancouver Art Gallery in its present location. Since this recent discussion erupted on the future of the VAG, I thought about how much we missed the feisty octogenarian, who never shied away from a good debate.
As it turns out, even from the grave Rogatnick manages to wade into the argument. In today's Vancouver Sun, a posthumously published editorial by him opines that we must keep the Gallery in its present location. The issue put forward by the VAG's board is the present location's lack of space. Rogatnick responds:
For a skillful architect the ample spaces available for expansion under the Georgia Street lawn as well as the space between the main building and the annex offer a great variety of possibilities for expansion to satisfy the gallery's needs for several decades to come. Please note the recent brilliant additions to world famous galleries housed in heritage buildings such as the Louvre in Paris, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Art Gallery of Ontario, to name just three. Many more could be cited.
As someone who spent a lot of time at Robson Square, both inside the former courthouse building and on the surrounding streets, I'm even further convinced that we must "re-imagine" this part of our city. What follows are my proposals on what we could do:
- Keep the Vancouver Art Gallery at its present location. Expand the Gallery underneath and into the space currently occupied by UBC's downtown campus. It is a contiguous and open space with a small 400-seat amphitheatre. It would be easily adapted for gallery space.
- Remove the ice rink and sub-street level plaza, and level the whole south side of the courthouse plaza into a contiguous public square. As much as I admire Arthur Erickson's work, the network of stairs and the subterranean retail/office space next to the rink has been an abysmal failure. I would argue that our Games experience downtown would have been even more exciting if there were not so many obstructions caused by the poor design of this plaza. Take the space reclaimed by the rink and empty storefronts, and devote it to the expanded VAG.
- Close Robson Street between Howe and Hornby permanently. The only way to allow this square to live up to its full potential is to remove cars. Use the open space to showcase sculptures, similar to Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park, or the lovely revamped plaza on top of Queen Elizabeth Park with its Henry Moore sculpture.
- Retain the Ziptrek line, and accommodate more fun attractions. While Da Vinci drawings and thrill rides might seem incongruous, I disagree. The VAG benefits from the critical mass created by popular attractions, and visa versa. A fifteen-year old who wants to zip across the square may never want to see a Jeff Wall art piece, but at least you've got her down there. It then becomes the Gallery's job to attract non-traditional patrons inside.
- Re-open the Georgia Street entrance, and remove the fountain. The old Vancouver courthouse building has been hobbled by the Gallery since they moved in there, mainly because of the need to close the prominent entrances on Georgia and Robson Streets. They should be re-opened as proud and prominent doorways, as the original architect intended. The square on the Georgia Street side has one of the ugliest public fountains known to mankind – remove it. Replace the grass with a hard surface and keep the grounds as a continguous space for public gatherings – yes, celebrations AND protests. This is happening anyway, and we have to blow a budget to keep fixing the grass. This shady north side of the Gallery deserves to be as important as the sunny side.
- Use Larwill Park development to pay for VAG upgrades, invite a private partner. Seattle's lauded sculpture park is sponsored and managed with help from Microsoft as a corporate partner. Provide naming rights to the square as with GE Plaza to provide funding to devote to the rebuild of Vancouver's "art square".
The Larwill Park site should have at least 35 storeys of density (I would argue MUCH higher), and it could possibly accommodate a new UBC downtown campus. It would then place it right next to Vancouver Community College on Dunsmuir, and it would only be just a few blocks from SFU's Woodwards cultural campus. Having all three educational institutions clustered would give incentive for an exciting new district of social gathering spaces along, Hastings, Beatty or Cambie streets. It's also served well by Skytrain and public transit. - Retain the celebration space on the Gallery's top floor. For those who were lucky to get inside the Gallery and attend one of the many receptions held on the fourth floor, you can see how valuable the terrace – which was temporarily built for the duration of the Games – would be for future gatherings. The space could be kept, and rented out to sundry organizations who want to be in the 'centre of the action' downtown.
- Move the Vancouver Museum to Robson Square. Some have argued that the moribund Vancouver Museum at Vanier Park should be moved down to this location. We should explore this as an option.
Continue reading Let's re-imagine the VAG at Robson Square.
Tagged: abraham rogatnick, georgia street, robson square, robson street, vag, vancouver art gallery
Permalink | Filed under: Editorial | Comments (8)
Courier's Thomas blasts viaducts plan
By Mike Klassen. Posted at CityCaucus.com on March 10, 2010
Under the viaduct: is a Vision donor driving talk of demolition?
The Vancouver Courier's very good writer Sandra Thomas ably fills the paper's opinion page, and in today's paper she pulls no punches. Her op/ed titled Demolishing the viaducts benefits who exactly? explores the topic of tearing down the Georgia Viaducts, which has been promoted by Mayor "Geoff" Meggs. Thomas says the discussion has triggered the cynic within her, and she wonders aloud if the developer who stands to gain the most from the structure's removal, Concord Pacific, might be influencing the proceedings.
...if the proposal to permanently close the viaducts gets the go ahead, it will make Meggs' longtime goal of developing the land underneath one step closer. When that happens some developer (read Concord Pacific) is going to make a pile of money. Concord Pacific, which already owns much of the property near the Georgia Viaduct, and its subsidiary Pacific Place Developments Corp., donated $119,750 to Vision's 2005 and 2008 campaigns. That number doesn't include the money Concord gave Vision as a lead sponsor of the party's February 2009 fundraiser.
There is no suggestion that Concord Pacific does anything but good work in Vancouver's downtown core by Thomas. What she appears to take issue with is the anecdotal arguments being made for the thoroughfare's destruction. She says that Meggs' case was made by the lack of disruption caused by their closure to the public during the Olympic Games.
Meggs insists the high number of people finding other ways to get in and out of the city during the Olympics is proof the viaducts can be removed with little or no problem for commuters. And the city will likely hire someone in April to study just that.
More accurately, the Viaducts were used during the Games, but just not by you and me. The Olympic fleet of buses had many of their units parked there during February, and whenever the Prime Minister or members of the Olympic Family entered or exited GM Place, their limos drove along the viaducts.
No one has really bothered to analyze the gridlock experienced along Keefer and Pender streets in Chinatown, which we've heard was considerable as commuters who still wanted to get downtown chose this route.
Continue reading Courier's Thomas blasts viaducts plan.
Tagged: concord pacific, georgia viaducts, mayor meggs, sandra thomas, vancouver courier, vision vancouver are complete and utter wimps
Permalink | Filed under: City Focus | Comments (2)
The Hollyhock primer
By Mike Klassen. Posted at CityCaucus.com on March 10, 2010
"The environment here allows people to open up" - Joel Solomon, Renewal Partners
We've written a few times here at CityCaucus.com about the folks that Frances Bula once "jokingly" referred to as the Hollyhock Mafia. We think it would be worthwhile for more Vancouverites, and those who work at City Hall to get to know the organization and its supporters who now pull the levers of power in our city.
The video above provided by Hollyhock's Social Change Institute promotes their annual retreats done in the isolated surroundings of Cortes Island, where many recent City Hall hires have visited. We highly recommend to our readers to spend just over five minutes watching this, and make your own conclusions.
Featured speakers in the video include a who's who of political and environmental activism, such as Judy Rebick and Tzeporah Berman, who currently sits as a director for the Hollyhock board. There are a few interesting quotes in the video, which have the tone of a religious call to action:
"We need to gain power. People want to take action. People are excited and willing." – Merren Smith, ForestEthics
"What we're saying has a lot of receptivity. We actually have to be advancing things that can be implemented right away, that are tailor-made to be implemented by a receptive government." – Rick Smith, Environmental Defence
"We have an incredibly ambitious agenda we have to achieve, unprecented in the history of humanity. We have to transform the relationships with ourselves, with our neighbours and with the Earth. It's never been done before." – Will Horter, Dogwood Initiative
At almost the exact five minute mark of the video you see the matron of this movement, Carol Newell, whose inherited millions form the base of the Endswell Foundation and Renewal Partners, the organizations Kentucky-bred Joel Solomon leads on her behalf. After Newell's and Solomon's heavily edited quotes, a pre-city councillor Andrea Reimer mutters this rapture-filled and ominous statement:
"I have ridiculous faith that this project of life and global survival is so possible and so doable."
It would be interesting to know how that Project of Life is going for Andrea now that she's in government.
Continue reading The Hollyhock primer.
Tagged: andrea reimer, carol newell, cortes island, gregor robertson, hollyhock, joel solomon, mike magee, tzeporah berman
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Paralympic Torch Relay touches down in Vancouver Wednesday
By Mike Klassen. Posted at CityCaucus.com on March 9, 2010
Torchbearer 50 Matt Hallat lights the cauldron on stage in Whistler, BC
The second phase of our 2010 Games celebration is about to arrive here in Vancouver, beginning with the Paralympic Torch Relay touching down late Wednesday morning, then moving on later in the day to Maple Ridge. On Thursday, a 24-hour long passing of the Paralympic Torch begins in Downtown Vancouver. If you can be in the vicinity of the Hillcrest/Riley Community Centre on Wednesday, a celebration begins at 11am and lasts until 1pm.
A unique flame creation ceremony by the Tsleil’Waututh Nation will kick off the Paralympic Torch Relay. The Flame will travel in a circular route in Riley Park with exchanges taking place along the route and a street party on Ontario Street.
Continue reading Paralympic Torch Relay touches down in Vancouver Wednesday.
Tagged: hillcrest, paralympic games, riley park, vancouver
Permalink | Filed under: 2010 Update | Comments (1)
