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Olympic Partners Said to 'Fudge' Housing Claims
Critics, and a Tyee review, cast doubt on figure of 1,109 'new units.'
For homeless, it doesn't add up. Photo by Oker Chen.
2010: More Homeless than Athletes?
- More Homeless than Athletes in 2010
- Vancouver's SROs: 'Zero Vacancy'
- Homeless to Housed in One Day
- Province's Boasts of 'New' Homeless Units Don't Add Up
- Dobell Homeless Plan Stalled
- Homeless Solution Up for Vote
- Olympic Partners Said to 'Fudge' Housing Claims
- Vancouver Losing SROs Faster than It Can Replace Them
- No New Homes in Premier's Homelessness Plan
- Coleman 'Committed' to 12 Towers
The organizers of the 2010 Winter Games claim to have spurred the creation of 1,109 new units of social housing in Vancouver. But a Tyee review of the numbers shows little to justify the claim.
Yesterday, on the eve of a city council meeting where the numbers are slated to be presented, officials and activists argued over whether the public is being misled.
In a draft report circulated late last week, the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) and its governmental partners reported that they "have made good progress toward meeting the housing-related ICI Commitments since 2003, when the games were awarded to Vancouver."
But a Tyee review of the 1,109 units cited in the Olympic partners report finds shelter beds being counted as housing units, pre-existing units being claimed as new housing, and a double-counting of the 250 units of athlete housing at False Creek -- which will not necessarily become low-income housing after the Games.
The Tyee has also found that all but one of the remaining projects were approved and funded years before the Olympic bid was awarded in July of 2003.
"I don't see a single project on this list that is both new housing for low-income people in Vancouver, and was initiated in response to the Olympic bid," said David Eby, a housing watchdog at the non-profit Pivot Legal Society.
"VANOC and the partner governments have issued this misleading report in an attempt to fool the public," Eby said. "It's a public relations exercise. And it's one that's going to fail, because if the partners had actually built 1,100 units of new supportive housing, there would be a significant decrease in the homeless population. But there's not."
"I think it's incorrect to say the mayor is misleading people," replied David Hurford, director of communications for Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan. "It's a matter of degrees, of number, of which specific number are accurate."
"It's a profound embarrassment," said Vancouver City Councillor David Cadman. "The Olympic partners have failed to meet their binding commitments. And now we have an attempt to cover up that failure by fudging the numbers."
Shelter beds counted as 'units'
Vancouver City Council is scheduled to consider the VANOC report this afternoon, along with a city staff report that similarly asserts, "Since being awarded the Games in 2003, over 1,000 additional units of supportive and affordable housing for the homeless have been committed in Vancouver."
Use City's Big Profits: Pivot
The City of Vancouver will reap large profits from the Southeast False Creek development, according to documents to be released by Pivot Legal Society at a press conference this morning.
"The money to build new supportive housing is available," said Pivot's David Eby. "The province has $250 million earmarked for housing. VANOC has $44 million set aside to give themselves raises. And the city is going to make an estimated $64 million on the Southeast False Creek project."
Eby said that taken together, these funds are sufficient to build the 3,200 units of new supportive housing called for by the ICI Housing Table report.
-- Monte Paulsen
Both reports are based on the same data. But the Tyee's examination of that data does not support the claims in the report.
For example, the Olympic partners claim to have created "22 units" of new housing at the Kate Booth House.
The Salvation Army's renowned Kate Booth House has over its 22-year-history provided refuge for more than 4,000 women and children fleeing domestic abuse. Last November, The Salvation Army replaced its aging 12-bed house with a new facility that provides 25 beds in 12 rooms. There are no distinct units in the facility.
Likewise, the Olympic partners claim to have created an additional "117 beds/units" within Union Gospel Housing Society's proposed building at 601 E. Hastings. That facility would incorporate regional offices, a soup kitchen, a 43-bunk shelter and relocation of an existing 37-bunk treatment centre. The only new units there would be the creation of 36 small apartments for abstinence-based supportive housing.
Taking credit for 2001 facility
The Olympic partners claim to have "completed" another "85 units" of supportive housing at 595 East Hastings St. But in fact, that facility was built in 2001. The Salvation Army bought the 89-unit building earlier this year, and will convert four units into program space. So while the new Grace Mansion will undoubtedly become a worthwhile housing project, it represents not an addition of 85 units, but a net loss of four.
Similarly, the Olympic partners claim 46 new units under construction at Millennium Development's upscale L'Hermitage condominium project at 768 Richards St. L'Hermitage is being built on the site of a demolished 43-room SRO called the Passlin Hotel. Millennium agreed to develop 46 small self-contained units in exchange for some cash and a density bonus. But under the terms of the deal, the units must be offered first to former residents of the Passlin Hotel, an actual gain of three units.
Old projects reborn
Five of the 11 listed projects do qualify as "new units." But all five were in the works years before the Olympic bid was awarded.
Housing was promised on the Woodward's site by Premier Mike Harcourt in 1996. The site was purchased by the province in 2001 and was sold to the City of Vancouver in March 2003. Yet simply because the funding comes from a new program within B.C. Housing, the Olympic partners now claim the 200 units of non-market housing at the Woodwards redevelopment were not "allocated" until late 2003.
Triage Emergency Services and Care Society's recently opened 30-unit facility at 5616 Fraser St. is in the same situation. The City of Vancouver acquired the land in 2000 and named Triage as the site sponsor in 2001. The project was then killed by Premier Gordon Campbell's BC Liberals in 2002, then revived in the summer of 2003.
Same with Triage's 92-unit building under construction at 65 E. Hastings St. Vancouver purchased that site in 1998, rezoned it in 2000, and permitted a nine-storey social housing project in 2002. When the plan was revived in 2006, the city housing staff wrote, "The building design for this application is basically the same as the design proposed and approved on April 18, 2002."
In the same vein, construction was scheduled to begin at 1321 Richards St. in the summer of 2002 before it was killed. Likewise, the yet-to-be announced project at 966 Main St. appears to be a revival of a Portland Hotel Society project killed several years ago. All three were among the more than 1,189 units of social housing scrapped by the BC Liberals in the first year of Premier Gordon Campbell's government.
Olympic Village counted twice
About 250 units of athletes' housing in the Olympic Village at False Creek may or may not become homeless housing after the Games. (The developer gets to decide how many units to allot, after all capital costs are determined.)
Yet the uncertain future of those post-Games units did not stop the Olympic partners from listing those 250 units twice in their draft report -- once as new social housing available to alleviate homelessness during the Games (which they are not), and again as post-Games housing.
The draft report, which bears the cumbersome title Joint Partner Response to the Inner-City Inclusive Commitments (ICI) Housing Table Report, is a response by the federal government, the province, the city of Vancouver and VANOC to a report by a VANOC subcommittee called the ICI Housing Table. That earlier report called for the construction of 3,200 new units of non-market housing in Vancouver in order to ensure the Olympics would not contribute to rising homelessness.
Report's author: 'You have misunderstood'
Celine Mauboules, a planner at Vancouver's widely respected Housing Centre and the author of the report that goes to city council this afternoon, replied to The Tyee's concerns yesterday afternoon.
Mauboules confirmed that some beds were misrepresented as units and that there will be no net gain of units at some projects, and did not dispute the long histories of these projects. Without disputing any of The Tyee's concerns, she merely restated the criteria for inclusion on the list.
"You have misunderstood the term 'committed' to mean that a project has received development approvals or some other form of commitment [e.g., Harcourt committing to the creation of social housing in Woodward's in 1996]. Our focus is on projects where money has been allocated by the partners," Mauboules wrote in an e-mail.
"The inventory includes all non-market and supportive housing projects since 2003 that have received funding allocations," Mauboules wrote. "Appendix A of the Joint Draft Response includes units/beds with funding allocations that are either under construction, in process (going through the development approval process) or have been completed since 2003 when the Games were awarded."
Mayor Sullivan's 1,300 units
"You are raising legitimate questions," David Hurford, director of communications for Mayor Sam Sullivan, told The Tyee. "On Thursday, we'll have an open process by which these questions can be addressed."
However, Hurford also repeated the mayor's frequent assertion that there have been "more than 1,300 new units" of supportive housing committed in Vancouver in the 19 months since Sullivan took office. When asked to cite a list of these 1,300 units, Hurford referred to B.C. Housing claims that were shown in a previous Tyee report not to add up.
When this reporter challenged those claims, Hurford replied: "You may reasonably disagree with some of the items. That's your prerogative. I'm telling you there are 1,300 new units of non-market housing in this city. Actually, I think the 1,300 number is low."
When asked again for a simple list of the 1,300 new units of supportive housing promised Vancouver, Hurford replied, "I've just told you. There are 1,300 new units. Stop interrupting me."
Sullivan's spokesman did agree that the conflicting counts of new housing are confusing. "I do think you've put your finger on something," he said. "There needs to be a better way to measure our progress."
Fry: 'Hold feet to fire'
Neither provincial Housing Minister Rich Coleman, federal MP David Emerson (who oversees the Olympics portfolio) nor VANOC responded to The Tyee's requests for interviews.
MP Hedy Fry, the Liberal critic for sports and an MP from Vancouver, convened a homelessness roundtable in Vancouver last Tuesday.
"Certainly we need to hold all three levels of government's feet to the fire about these Olympic commitments," Fry said. "We also need to think beyond the Olympics, beyond Vancouver. This is a basic issue of health and rights affecting all Canadians."
Emergency meeting proposed
"I do think that the inclusion of all of these projects is misleading and that we should request further clarification," Vision Vancouver Councillor Raymond Louie said. "The mayor's outrageous claims need to be pushed back on, because they appear to be pure fabrications."
Louie added, "The bottom line is, how may people can we get off the streets? If we are indeed losing SRO rooms faster than we are building new supportive housing, it seems reasonable to assume that homelessness will continue to increase."
Vision Vancouver called for an emergency meeting to be held with senior levels of government, VANOC, and housing stakeholders. Vision's motion will be debated at this afternoon's council meeting.
"There was a clear, written commitment from the Olympic partners to build a social housing legacy, and it is unacceptable for them to break it," said Vision Councillor Heather Deal. "What does that say to the world when our governments are willing to spare no expense to build ice rinks, upgrade roads, but when it comes to housing they say 'sorry, but it costs too much?'"
Sullivan spokesman Hurford scoffed at Vision's call for a meeting.
"Wake up," Hurford said. "The emergency debate was the last election. The voters tossed you out because you didn't do the job." ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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- Alberta Fills Pipes with Corrosive Denial
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- How Our Immune Systems Exaggerate Fear
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- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
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- 'The Dictator'
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28
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verso
4 years ago
...
These numbers are so bogus even the spinmiesters won't touch them. How stupid do they think we are?
Bobby Peru
4 years ago
A Tale of Two Cities
There are so many priorities in BC and you think that the govt should spend precious resources on housing the homeless? There simply isn't enough money to house all of them. And even if you do, more will come because BC is such an attractive place for the homeless.
What about education, health care, the envrironment?
And what about the middle and working class tax payers who struggle with their own mortgages in the most expensive city in Canada? How much more taxes should they pay to support these lavish programmes and unrealistic ambitions?
verso
4 years ago
...
What are you talking about? These clowns are the ones who made the promises -- they set the priorities. Now they're trying to fleece the public.
And, for the record, yes, I do think we should be spending resources on the homeless.
What about them? We're running billions in surpluses, there is more than enough money to make an impact in those areas and others. And what about the environment? What has Campbell and his toadies done since talking up their latest priorities -- remember, the green ones?
With Campbell, it's all talk, photo ops, and back slapping with the likes of Arnold... that is, until next set of priorities come along.
Grumpy
4 years ago
Bullshit baffles Brains...always was, always will be
In BC, political promises are made to be broken. who believes politicians, liars the lot!
But we are the real fools, we keep voting these bastards in!
Cynic
4 years ago
"There was a clear, written
"There was a clear, written commitment from the Olympic partners to build a social housing legacy, and it is unacceptable for them to break it," said Vision Councillor Heather Deal. "What does that say to the world when our governments are willing to spare no expense to build ice rinks, upgrade roads, but when it comes to housing they say 'sorry, but it costs too much?'"
Good question. It says we don't live in a democracy, it says government is a tool of the elite who have no intention of sharing the wealth, it says we are clueless about money and continue to be bamboozled whenever we are told that there isn't enough to go around. It's pathetic and preposterous that we are controlled by numbers. Until the people wake up to the money scam, homelessness and poverty will increase while $100 million luge runs are built.
Skywalker
4 years ago
Remember it was Bobby Peru...
who coined the term "welfare cronyism". You can't do anything for the poor and homeless because they are a special interest group. It is OK to give tax breaks to the rich and corporations. They, for some reason, are not a special interest group.
Perhaps VANOC has taken a page from those who claimed that if you repeat a lie often enough, somebody is bound to believe it.
Realist
4 years ago
What a global disgrace
In the year 2007, when we are afloat in resource surplus cash, what have we learned. Do we start to create programs which work at the root of societies problems such as disenfranchisement and poverty, with the goal of reducing addictions, crime and their ever increasing cost to the taxpayer (I don't even talk about the cost to the human condition anymore, our leaders simply lack the ability to feel any form of compassion. Their only worry is not human life but dollars), or do we put out a big false sign that tries to convince the world how great we are by hosting the costly Olympic Games? Shame on every single politician who supports this attempt at hiding the truth, and shame on the Olympic Committee who condone these practices in their own attempt to self promote. Every day we neglect the real issues of financial inequalities and their resultant cost to society, brings us one step closer to the end as foretold by numerous sources and profits. We are sheep being led to the slaughter by our new false God: Money.
Working Memory
4 years ago
How Stupid?
Verso, you asked above, "How stupid do you think we are?" well let me tell you ...
The IOC and VANOC are counting on you to be stupid. Just the fact that you are only now recognizing how serious this housing problem is proves how stupid Vancouverites really are. Toronto rejected the Games for this very reason, among a few others.
Monte and The Tyee might be patting themselves on the back for bringing this issue to the fore today, but where the hell were you guys three years ago when you could have actually done something about it?
Oh, I know, you were all counting your paper millions as you watched house prices rise obscenely, all the while thinking you were growing rich.
This exact same housing crisis (regarding the homeless and otherwise) occurs in every Olympic region in the free world, and Vancouver had an opportunity years ago to do something about it, but instead most of you hoped that somehow you would benefit from the Olympics because somehow Vancouverites were smarter than all the other Olympic host communities that went before them.
When your head is in the sand your ass is in the air. It's a side effect of Utopia and insularity. Sooner or later Vancouverites will recognize it's not cool to be so insular, but unfortunately it won't be in time to do something positive about the fiasco 2010 has already created.
Whine about this issue all you want today. Vancouverites however already look like fools on the world stage because you were warned this would happen a long time ago, but you ignored it.
There is a solution, but first you have to accept that the IOC AND VANOC are counting on our Host community to be stupid, and you're meeting their expectations admirably.
There is still time to learn how to beat Olympic organizations at their own game, but time is running out quickly.
If The Tyee really wants to help they should start publishing solutions, and not simply stir the pot by whining. Mainstream news media whines. I was hoping for more from you, and from this group here.
Maurice Cardinal
Author: LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
verso
4 years ago
...
I hope you're speaking in general terms here, because this isn't news to me. I didn't support the bid then, I don't support it now. You only have to read the archived comments here to know how many of us saw this coming.
freebear
4 years ago
2 week party for the Haves!
Come on, do you really think the Olympics (oops sorry trademark!LOL!) cares about homeless people?
Its a party for the Have, not the have nots!
Also a real estate speculator's dream (see propoerty around Whistler/Squamish and along the Sea to Sky!
If I ever become homeless I will camp out on the legislature lawn!
munroe
4 years ago
Just wait
The proof of the pussing will be in the eating, as always. Vanoc and its promoters flim-flam on the housing question will be there for the "world" to see when the 2010 bread and circus begins. Someone will surely ask why is there so many homeless when the organizers were claiming such great success in meeting committments?
The real agenda is now being floated by the Province. The "solution" is to move the homeless out of the view of the Olympic "guests". Just watch - the problem isn't the homeless; its their visibility.
munroe
4 years ago
sorry
Pudding is spelled with two ds. Damn laptop!
Percy
4 years ago
Can't see Olympics link
Perhaps I'm missing something, but I can't see any connection between the Olympics and building subsidized housing. Nor is it clear to me why anyone chose to make that link. The only real link is the availability of public cash which--as we all know--gets gobbled up by interest groups with their own agenda.
G West
4 years ago
Did you not read the article Percy?
If not, please note the following excerpt:
"In a draft report circulated late last week, the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) and its governmental partners reported that they "have made good progress toward meeting the housing-related ICI Commitments since 2003, when the games were awarded to Vancouver." "
They (Vanoc) made the commitments - this isn't rocket science my friend. Just go back and carefully go over the material one more time.
BC Dude
4 years ago
Thank you Tyee for your
Thank you Tyee for your great Ivestigative reporting!
This is just a taste of what TILMA is all about, bottom line, shareholders first greed/power while the masses end up with maybe $4. an hour jobs
http://www.cancrc.org/english/ccrc10q.html
http://freedomfiles.org/
http://www.harperindex.ca/index.cfm
Working Memory
4 years ago
purge yourself verso
I was speaking in general terms verso, so please don't take it personally.
My point is that talking about it locally does nothing to improve the situation in Vancouver. These issues needed action years ago, but most of Vancouver was sleeping.
If you really want to send a message to VANOC that you don't support the Games, cut up your VISA card, quit shopping at HBC, Rona, etc., plus sell your GM vehicle and close your RBC account. Purge yourself of all Olympic sponsor products. After you do all this, let each company know why you did it, and don't forget to copy VANOC.
Also, tell your family and friends what you did, and ask them to do the same. Whatever you do though ... do not become an Olympic volunteer, either independently, and especially through work, and don't forget to refuse to allow your children to become Olympic volunteers at school. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the point.
If you really want to have an impact, go to online community forums and blogs in London, England (they're hosting the 2012 Games) and tell people in London what is happening here, and then Google a few community sites in cities around the world that "think" they want to host the Games, and fill them in too. There is an Olympic event planned for every two years somewhere in the world and each of them has at least three cities competing for the "honor."
Whining locally about Olympic issues at this late date has zero impact on the IOC, but they will get nervous if you start to turn off people in prospective host cities before they fall into the same trap. All this will cost you nothing but a bit of time.
Don't be concerned if someone claims that these actions will do nothing but sabotage the Games in 2010. Granted, it might do so marginally, but more importantly, it will give our community much needed leverage.
The most valuable commodity the Olympics has is its reputation. When they don't live up to it, tell the world. Send links of this Tyee article to everyone you know locally and abroad, but especially abroad.
One last thing, don't feel guilty, because the IOC doesn't feel one pang of guilt about turning our community upside down.
If you have to pay for it, you should benefit too - literally, not figuratively.
G West
4 years ago
And unsubscribe to CanWest papers
It's the least we can do.
SharingIsGood
4 years ago
can the west stand the irony
Ironic indeed that the Sun published this article listing the IOC on target and under budget:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=def97b60-a5b7-47f5-b399-1f2ae9838e1c&k=52432
And morosely Ironic in today's Sun:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=2acd99cd-3017-47ce-8e49-437d83bd7411&k=61909
I'd laugh, but the satire is as lost on me as it is the hapless souls living on the Eastside. Vancouver is sporting a big black eye, and it is shamelessly being paraded on the world stage. Perhaps the neocons are showing the Wall Street gang that Vancouver, Canada has finally arrived: it is now a city that carries on with the business of fascism, never mind the poor or the bleeding hearts running after them. Didn't Hitler have an Olympics in '36? The parallels...
SharingIsGood
4 years ago
correction to above
"IOC" should read "VANOC"
Whoops!
Working Memory
4 years ago
irony of SharingIsGood
Ironically, VANOC is the IOC, and vice verse. They are only different in name. The IOC micromanages almost everything local Olympic organizations like VANOC do.
The IOC coaches VANOC how to deal with local protest, manage local media, conscript volunteers, manage the poor, gentrify neighborhoods, and many other things a promoter without experience needs to know.
It's referred to as "legacy information." Unfortunately, most residents in Olympic regions think “legacy” refers only to information that is good for the community, when the most important information the IOC shares is how to keep this woefully outdated business model from imploding.
It is critical for Vancouverites to realize that what you see happening here happens in all Olympic regions in the free world. The difference is how local politicians manage the issues. Some regions, like Sydney, Australia, fight back aggressively, while others like Vancouver are more laid back and go along for the ride. Even Salt Lake City residents put up more of a fuss. Vancouverites will eventually accept that BC's Auditor General was right when he reported that 2010 costs are $2.5 billion+, and nowhere near what John Furlong is claiming.
When regions fight back from the very beginning the IOC pays attention and "orders" local organizing committees like VANOC to work closer with the host city. As the big event approaches, people start to feel frustrated. Protesting increases proportionately as they realize they've been duped. (Cambie businesses)
I do NOT support traditional street protest. It's too violent. In this era, we have a much more powerful tool through global communication. Telling the world what the IOC is doing to the residents of beautiful BC will have great impact.
It is a new media tactic that VANOC and the IOC have never had to manage, which means they don't know how to deal with it. They are large, poorly managed organizations that cannot move quickly. Music consumers figured out how to stop recording companies cold, and there is no reason why people in Olympic regions cannot do the same.
The Vancouver Sun newspaper just announced they are now official Olympic boosters, which means they are out of the closet and officially on the VANOC payroll. The absolute biggest challenge for VANOC is how to conscript volunteers. It is their Achilles heel, and if Vancouverites manage it properly, and prevent the Sun from continuing to fool gullible residents, our community will do better.
If we continue to allow local mainstream news media and the IOC to manipulate us, the homeless will suffer, our taxes will go through the roof, and Olympic sponsors will continue to cart off bucket loads of cash.
Talk up the 2010 Games, but put your spin on it. If you want people to hear you, stay positive, be consistent, offer solutions, and above all, tell the truth.
Tell people around the world what John Furlong, VANOC and the IOC are really doing here, and do it now.
realisticman
4 years ago
Better hold off on social housing...
...just in case the plans to staunch the cadre of volunteers succeeds. Might need to spend the money on importing and housing volunteers instead.
realisticman
4 years ago
Hedy Fry is right
Fry said. "We also need to think beyond the Olympics, beyond Vancouver."
The idea floating around that a dedicated facility for homeless be built in somewhere like Fort St. John or in the Northwest Territories is probably a good one. Bringing work to remote places would also be beneficial.
Working Memory
4 years ago
good point realisticman, but ...
An overwhelming amount of volunteers in Olympic regions "always" arrive from out of town. It's one of the main reasons VANOC needs to convert SROs to backpacker hostels.
Many locals catch on to the game well in advance and never volunteer, and it is the reason that newspapers like the Vancouver Sun are so important. They fool gullible locals into thinking it's hard to become a volunteer, when the truth is that Olympic regions in the past have been so desperate that they were forced to conscript from welfare lists and prisons. (They don't do it any longer (prisons) due to terrorism issues, and the welfare scheme doesn't work either so they dropped that option too.)
Also, many volunteers train for two months or more (at their expense btw), and then never show up for day two of work. They show up on the first day to pick up their security pass and uniform, and are never seen again. Some complain that it takes too long to go back and forth for their shift, and others complain that they are treated disrespectfully.
John Furlong was surprised when he went to Turin last year, and it took him 6 hours to do a two hour run. I'm surprised he was surprised. Chaotic transportation happens in ALL Olympic regions, and it is one of the most difficult challenges Olympic organizations face (except of course in Athens because no one showed up).
Volunteers quiting prematurely is such a challenge for Olympic organizations that they withhold pay (for all volunteers) until they serve their full time. If you quit a week into your schedule you only receive the "base pay," which is paltry.
The volunteer and paid worker churn rate in Olympic regions averages 3:1, and sometimes 4:1, which means that for every volunteer that stays full term, two quit. How expensive and insane is that? Your tax dollars pay for it. When a person can't even last for three weeks in a new job something is dreadfully wrong. It costs a fortune to train volunteers.
If Olympic organization treated volunteers and host communities with more respect they wouldn't have such a revolving door.
Locals who can afford it, abandon the region in droves during the event, which means that volunteers must be sought from beyond the region.
I'm suggesting that local prospective volunteers state now that they will not participate if Olympic organizations do not treat the community with more respect. Put the problem on the table and force VANOC to deal with it in the open, and not secretly behind closed doors.
Don't be surprised when the Feds make it very easy for people from Seattle and the Pacific Northwest to come here to volunteer.
Volunteer churn rate is one of the reasons VANOC lacks transparency. If people in the host community knew this happened they would revolt and force change.
You can read more here ...
http://www.olyblog.com/f/06/ShawLeeF09282006.shtml#VOLUNTEERS
Working Memory
4 years ago
oops
sorry, I meant to write;
(Paid workers) and volunteers quiting prematurely is such a challenge for Olympic organizations that they withhold pay (for all workers) until they serve their full time. If you quit a week into your schedule you only receive the "base pay," which is paltry.
BC Dude
4 years ago
I think this whole 2010
I think this whole 2010 thing has a rotting stench to it already (secrecy) and the UN's summery of the City of Vancouver (no compassion).
The amount of bucks spent "secretly" ($40+ million for job bonuses, slush fund?) on the 2010 Winter Olympics?
The plight of the non-working/homeless and the working poor who have to work two $8. an hour jobs just to "barley exist" and are still one paycheck away from becoming another so called lazy homeless person!
2010 Winter Olympics is just another venue I think to promote corporate/government greed.
Money as Debt documentry
http://circ2.home.mindspring.com/money_and_debt.htm
DPL
4 years ago
It seems the old retired cop
It seems the old retired cop now cabinet Minister Coleman has been bitching about the vancouver City Council re housing. His comments are typical Coleman, everyone but him is wrong. Got his name in the Globe and Mail today dunping on most everyone. social housing was part of the deal. I did notice the fleabag hotels they secretly negotiated ended up making for developers a whole bunch of money. That's what it's all about. Your friend flip a building, making money and to hell with the poor. and people keep electing these so called sharpies.
G West
4 years ago
DPL
Watch for coming indications of special deals for new SRO hotel owners - when it comes tax time - if these guys are going to keep rents down to a level where social welfare rates can pay the freight then you can be sure the system will cut them a deal somewhere else to preserve the sanctity of the bottom line.
This crew will find ways to look after THEIR OWN. They don’t just want to make money on the flip, after all.
michael777
4 years ago
Vancouver ICC Homelessness
I got a good view of that whole homeless scene in Vancouver. I was wildlife painting in my house when this evil force whipped up some American to shoot a gun in face in the window of my own house in my backyard. I ended up in Vancouver for 8 months in jail, waiting to get to Bella Bella Circuit court. The object to get me into the drug culture hippie kibbutz game was part of the RCMP and this whole polarity to keep people under wraps. Those people are caught in a dead end and the real solution is so hard to believe that I saw why they are being Picktonised. Keep them in heat with a joint or burn them out. Came back to Ocean Falls and they had a $16 million fish hatchery. The govt dole and this whole game is just that, a dead end game. The real reality is something else all together.