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< JUL 30 2010 > |
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Spirit Media Coverage Radio & TV Transcripts Global News (CKVU-TV), Vancouver, February 15, 2001 News Hour (BCTV-TV), Vancouver, February 15, 2001 Live@Five (VTV-TV), Vancouver, February 16, 2001 Rafe Mair Show (CKNW-AM), New Westminster, February 16, 2001 Early Edition 1 (CBU-AM), Vancouver, February 19, 2001 David Kincaid (Reporter): Remember this? Expo 86. Fifteen years later and we've dabbled with fireworks, toyed with sea festivals and even experimented with different kinds of big-time sporting events. But all of those things are either long gone, or soon going, and they seem to be taking Vancouver's can-do attitude with them. Apparently that must be stopped. Don Calder (Whistler 2010 Olympic Bid): We can become a catalyst for a lot of these things to start happening again in Vancouver and Whistler. They should have been happening over the last few years. Here's an opportunity to make them happen again. Kincaid: Apparently Vancouverites aren't the only ones who think a world-class city should offer more than just pretty pictures. The following are highlights from transcripts. Darcy Rezac (Managing Director, Vancouver Board of Trade): We've had dozens of calls. People are saying, "How can I participate? How can I be part of this?" It's time that somebody did something. There is a real will on the part of people who live and work in Vancouver to make it the place that it once was. Don Calder (Whistler 2010 Olympic Bid Committee): I think we tried to ride the crest of the post-Expo wave for too long. I mean, if you think back, Expo 86 was 15 years ago this year.
Victor Godin (Director, Vancouver Board of Trade): Well, we started to get feedback from our members, Mi-Jung, that they were concerned that a lot of the cultural and entertainment components of the city were starting to slip away. We don't approach planning for culture and entertainment like we approach planning for things like transportation and jobs. We sort of muddle through and just let it happen. And yes, Vancouver has great scenery, so does Lima, Peru and Kingston, Jamaica, but there are a lot of things that you have to add to a city as part of being a large city to keep the interest from outsiders and keep community spirit internally. Jim Sutherland (Vancouver Sun): We certainly have to work at building our community and keeping our community a wonderful place, and enhancing our community in many ways.
Taylor: ...business has really been whacked in the last 10 years, and I think as a result of it, we've been so focused on survival that we are losing a bit of the life and the spirit and the fun. Taylor: It's quite interesting to me that this is a really concrete example of how business and the community are totally interrelated. Sponsorships are made by companies that are in good shape - we've got a lot of industries, especially if you look at our natural resources side, that can't sponsor in the way that they used to. And so, I'm an optimist. I feel that we've kind of hit bottom here, and in terms of turning this thing around, we're going to have to put some energy back into our community, and the business community is part of it. We all want our Vancouver to be as good as it can be, so we're stepping forward and seeing what the response will be. Taylor: What we are trying to do is find a business response to the situation that we've been talking about, and initially we certainly don't know where this is going, other than to say that we believe that any time you've had cities or communities that have been through difficult times and start to revitalize and re-energize, always there's a strong business community involvement. So what I would like organizations to do is put the question out on the table - who has some good ideas and where do we start? And if we think that we start with one of the projects, then fine - let's see what are the dollars, and how do sponsors or volunteers go about participating - how can we pull it together? Taylor: If I can talk broadly about the convention centre, there's no question that Vancouver needs it. I've always felt that the best place is something tied to Canada Place, because you have such a wonderful asset there, and so easy to market, but it's out of step with the times, the facilities inside need updating, and the only way you could do it is through an expansion. Taylor: It's going to be a really tough job, and I don't think any of us should underestimate it or think that a change will immediately make investors feel that this is a good place to come back to. ...no matter how bad the books are right now, and I know they're not good, you've still got to deal with taxation. If we're not competitive, this flood of investment out of our economy will continue to happen. Second of all, with the regulations -and by that I mean, we heard story after story that on area of the government would say these are the rules, whether it was in mining or whatever, and so some small operator would start out in that direction, and low and behold, they'd make some of their capital investment, buy equipment, whatever, and another arm of the government would say - oh, so sorry, you can't do that there, and this individual would have a bankruptcy situation that nobody seemed to care about.
Colin Metcalfe (Vancouver Field Sports Federation): We live in a beautiful city, and there are a lot of things to do, recreationally speaking. But as far as events go, I think we are losing more and more community spirit, and it's a shame that we are not seeing the City of Vancouver, the Province of British Columbia, and for that matter the federal government, coming to the plate to say look, let's do what we can to maybe revitalize the city. Metcalfe: ...We might lose the Grizzlies, we're going to lose the PNE, the Molson Indy, the Ford Centre...the Symphony of Fire is a probability, the triple A baseball team is gone, it's been replaced by another one, the new Days we lost, the Sea Festival we lost, there was a threat by the city police to not come down to Vancouver during the millennium celebrations-and it just goes on and on. I represent the Field Sport Federation, and every year, thousands and thousands of people are turned away because there is not enough field space for people to play on and hold events. Why? John Orsick (Jazz Festival): ...I see a great community spirit. We put on an amazing community event, the Jazz Festival, that has grown sizably. We bring in over 1,600 musicians from all over the world. It's a 10-day event, and it draws over 400,000 people from all over the world, and it continues to grow. Within that community, I see people just really enjoying themselves.... We did have some problems in terms of closing the street. We could use some spirit from the people in political power here in this city. But at the same time, I look around, I see us doing more activities-infrastructure. I look around at the clubs in this city and see the Commodore back and booming and packed all the time. Carole Taylor (Chair, Vancouver Community Leadership Task Force): I found myself, as a Vancouverite, sitting back saying why doesn't somebody do something. And I think as a citizen, you can only say that for so long before you step up to the plate and say let's give this a go. And I think that the issue of business in its relationship to the cultural and entertainment life of a city has become very apparent here. We've had a rough time in business, and one of the first things that gets cut out of a budget is either the contributions to non-profits or sponsorships. And so now is the opportunity, because I think things are turning around...let's all start working together and see what we can do. Taylor: I'd love to see some of these events revitalized. I'd certainly like to see stronger sponsorship support. One of the problems Vancouver has is that we don't have many head offices left, and some of those big dollar items, whether it's Symphony of Fire, or Indy, or eventually the Jazz Festival, you know you need some big dollars out of the head office. So as business people, we are going to have to figure out a way of doing this. This is assuming that community wants it, and I look at the Symphony of Fire, and I am in the West End, so technically I ...get inconvenienced, but in fact I love the life of that. I love seeing families and their little kids and their picnic baskets off to the beach... Metcalfe: ...there is a willingness to wanting to have community spirit, to want to have these events in Vancouver. Orsick: Well, I think if you look at European cities, culture is an integral element in life over there. From where I sit, I would really like to see governments involved. But governments have said to groups like us, go out to the private sector, and that is what we have done. As far as the Symphony of Fire is concerned, I mean they've been obvious to what the citizens of Vancouver want...But if you have a great product and you have great marketing skills, I think the people of Vancouver here are very sophisticated. I mean I have people that, critics for instance from New York who just can't wait to get here. They are on the phone saying when does the Jazz Festival start. I want to go see your library. I want to go see your Museum of Anthropology. I want to go check out some recreational opportunities. I mean this is a fantastic, marvelous city, but we need everybody pulling in the same direction. Taylor: No, it's going to take a lot of hard work. But I do think we are lacking in community leadership, and some of that is political without question. We get hung-up on all the problems. You know we hear about the noise of the Indy, or the parking problems of the Symphony of Fire, or there are always issues around big public events, and I think we have got to look at the bigger picture and lighten up a little to make this lively and fun for families. So not only liveable, but lively... Taylor: Well, I can't even pretend that I've got the answers, but what I can say is that the first step is start to pull community from various sectors together and start throwing ideas onto the table. And it's amazing the chord we've struck in the community because we are overloaded with e-mails and faxes. I think that this is the time and there is a feeling there and we're just going to have to be a rallying point if we can. |
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