theleftcoast.ca

I have heard enough bullshit about the Vancouver Canucks Riot to last me a lifetime or two. Today I heard the sports talk knuckleheads talking and expressing their outrage that there were ONLY 500 cops assigned to the Vancouver downtown for the night of game seven.

Question for anyone thinking that there were not enough cops downtown for game seven; how many cops do you think it would have taken to keep 100,000 rabidly disappointed (or jubilant) fans under control? How many cops would you have had available? Do you honestly believe that 1000 cops could have prevented this mess? 2000 cops? 5000 cops?

And would we accept having 5000 cops on our downtown streets? Further, are there 2000, 3000 or 5000 cops we could call up for an afternoon?

And finally, never mind the fact that this type of behaviour happened 17 years ago and people are assuming that it won’t happen for another 17 years or so, what happens if the Vancouver Canucks make a run for the Stanley Cup next year? They have a very talented team in place and it is not inconceivable that they will make another run deep into the play-offs. Do we allow the city to celebrate or do we clamp down on the city and not allow any public display of joy?

Points to ponder. Thoughts?

The following was forwarded to us and we felt it worthy of sharing (source unknown…)

Late yesterday afternoon the police asked or forced or whatever the liquor stores in the downtown of Vancouver to close early. Their rationale was that Friday night’s revellers were getting a little too rowdy and borderline out of control. So in a preemptive move, the police closed the liquor stores early on Saturday.

Now make note that the bars, clubs and restaurants of the downtown stayed open and continued to serve alcohol. People were free to enjoy alcohol at those venues. Places where you have to go in, sit down, or at least settle in, before you can drink. Often, but not always, food is served with the alcohol.

Then yesterday in the twitterverse (did you know you can follow us on Twitter? @theleftcoastca) the conversation turned to “Vancouver is no-fun city” due to the fact that the liquor stores were closed.

The police reported that there were significant numbers of young people entering liquor stores, buying alcohol and then going back out, drinking their purchases right outside the store, in public and then going back in to buy more. They also reported numerous cases of public drunkenness.

Now I have been to Las Vegas and New Orleans where alcohol is openly consumed in public. Of course the Quarter gets pretty wild and Las Vegas, well, what happens there stays there, so I can’t say much about that, but I have never seen the crowds get ugly and out of control.

In Vancouver, every festival that we have where alcohol is served seems to be taken over by a group of young yobs who simply cannot handle their booze, get wildly drunk, and then out of control. So the police limit access to the bulk buying of alcohol. Does that make us a “no-fun city”?

I hardly think so. Anybody care to add to this discussion?

This morning there are protesters on the Lion’s Gate Bridge. The purpose of their protest is “Justice for Fathers.” Whatever…it is what it is. The protest is a disruption, an inconvenience and an annoyance. But it is peaceful. It is getting the world media’s attention. It is “effective.”

There is nothing wrong with protesting. There is nothing wrong with inconveniences and annoyances.

What took place downtown Vancouver was not a protest. That was outright thuggery and destruction. And there is no place in our society for fringe groups to hijack legitimate protests for the simple aim of acting like thugs. Thuggery is not protest. It is criminal behaviour that deserves a vigourous police response.

If you want to protest, do so. If you want to be a thug, get out of our city. NOW.

Well it is actually looking like the weather gods may bless the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games after all. If you look up at the North Shore mountains where some of the Games are going to take place, it is pretty grim…well actually, pretty green. Last week’s pineapple express weather system brought torrential rains from sea level to the tops of the mountains. However, the forecast for this coming week is bringing a change; a cool change.

The forecast for the next couple days calls for a heavy fall of snow, heaviest during Saturday night followed by freeze-thaw conditions (max 1°C on Sat night, min -2°C on Sat morning). The best part of the forecast is that the forecasted snow will be followed by cool temperatures, perfect for making snow.

People around Metro Vancouver are collectively pulling their hair out and predicting the end of Vancouver’s natural beauty because of the Squamish First Nations’ move to place advertising billboards at the end of the Burrard Street Bridge. As usual, a website has been set up to discuss how to stop this horrific blight that is settling on the city landscape.

On the weekend I traveled the Burrard Street Bridge and two things I noticed, the traffic was not being impacted by the lane of traffic that is dedicated to bicycles, and the billboards did not look bad at all. They actually look a little bit too brightly lit but overall, just fine. The funny thing though, who do you think the billboard was advertising for? The Squamish First Nation! Is this because no organization is brave enough to advertise on these controversial signs or have they just not yet had the opportunity to sign up? I t will be fun to see who decides to advertise here first. Stay tuned.