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Summer break and open forum on city issues

June 14th, 2011 · 34 Comments

Time to rest up for the campaign season ahead. As some of you know, I’m off to Italy for four weeks, spending all of my time observing urban issues, of course. I see some posters up for some kind of referendum that was voted on Sunday and Monday. I’m on it.

Just out for my first-ever walk around Rome in the balmy midnight air, envious as we North Americans so often are of the lively night life, infinite interesting urban spaces, and here, remnants of ancient Rome that sit half dug up and preserved next to banks and restaurants. (Gelato flavour #1: Pistachio and ricotta.)

If I’m feeling peppy, I’ll do occasional posts.

In the meantime, as I suggested at Christmas, please feel free to post about what’s going on in the city of note. The blog will be monitored for nastiness and long-windedness that discourages others from posting.

Categories: Uncategorized

  • Andrea Cordonier

    And may the spirit of Jane J. be with along with a teensy bit of La Dolce Vita (may I suggest, for posterity, pics of you leaping through the fountain?)

    That rascal, Berlusconi, got his butt (deservedly) kicked in the referendum of which you speak. I’m sure the streets will be abuzz.

    Have a great trip and a well-deserved rest and I look forward to plenty of your great writing when you get back.

  • Michelle

    Happy holidays Frances. I wish I was there too. I promise I’ll be a good girl. :-))

  • A. G. Tsakumis

    You should not post while on holiday except to concede that I was right about il Matriciano and that you have secretly left your blog in my hands until you get back.

    LOL! Be safe and enjoy the piazzas. Try to eat outside as much as possible. They serve you first and the food is always out of the service bay quicker as they’re big on mangiare al fresca!

  • Sean

    I see from Jeff Lee’s blog at:

    http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/civiclee/archive/2011/06/14/vancouver-upholds-its-freedom-of-information-release-policies.aspx

    That Barbara Van Fraassen is our new “Manager of Information and Privacy”. Does that title strike anyone else as “oxymoronic”?

  • mezzanine

    as a complete outsider/tourist with a hard copy guide and a wifi connection, i couldn’t find a non-touristy place to eat in rome. I had better luck in other cities in italy – i hope you can find a place in rome.

  • Lewis N. Villegas

    Here is my favourite tale from “Roma”: I was standing in front of the Pantheon with sketchbook, camera, map, and significant other all more or less in hand, at about 10 p.m. A woman approached me and asked if I knew where the “Piazza Navona” was. I said I did, and produced the map and started to explain how the “Trevi Fountain”; the “Pantheon”; and the “Piazza Navona” form a kind of “urban spine”.

    [Apologies for all the “quote marks”… ] She was energized by this, and said that if I could point her to Trevi Fountain, she would be able to find Navona all on her own. Hmmmm….. consider the following:

    A. Trevi Fountain
    B. Pantheon
    C. Navona

    We were standing at “B”. And she was suggesting that if I could get her to “A” she could go straight to “C” (not pass GO; not collect $200 dollars!).

    I showed her the route to Trevi and rested easy in the knowledge that her mental map of Roma would be re-drawn after she got to Trevi, and then found her way to Navona one more time.

    So, here’s my tour for Frances, and all the rest of us that love Roma:

    A. Trevi
    B. Pantheon
    C. Navona
    D. Piazza dei Fiori
    E. Piazza Farnese
    F. Ponte Pio
    G. Sta. Maria Trastevere

    Connect those seven “dots” in Roma, and you will have crossed 1.5 k.m and gone most of the way to unlocking the secrets of human-scale high-density urbanism.

  • gmgw

    I vividly remember Rome for having, along with so much great art and architecture, the most pressing and persistent would-be pickpockets and street thieves we’ve encountered in Europe (although Paris remains the only city where I’ve actually had my pocket successfully picked). Keep your radar at full alert, Frances, especially around the tourist sites.
    gmgw

  • IanS

    With respect to some of the comments above, IMO, the best way to enjoy Rome is not to “connect the dots” (although those sites are wonderful and not to be missed), but to wander the small side streets, getting lost.

    As for restaurants, yes, some of them are touristy, but if you avoid eating anywhere within sight of a major attraction, I don’t think you can go wrong. I don’t think I had a bad meal in Rome and we found it surprisingly affordable.

    Have a good time. Rome is great. Italy is great.

  • MB

    Very inspiring.

    Next year it’ll be a new roof, or Italy + France. Guess which way I’m leaning?

  • boohoo

    Rome–my favorite City on Earth.

    One of the best days I had was wandering around side streets on a hot July day and escaping into a church (as they are always nice and cool). No signs, no nothing telling me this is anything other than a generic church. It’s nice, not outstanding–very churchlike.

    I look around and see a set of stairs going down. Down I go into a 13th century church upon which the existing one was built. Much less fancy, still very nice.

    Another set of stairs–down to a Roman temple. No signs, no nothing, just ho hum another Roman site. And another set of stairs.

    Down to a pre-roman ‘pagan’ site, basically just a cave with an etched out altar in the rock. Well over 2000 years worth of religious/spritiual history just sitting here, not in any guidebooks, no signs out front, nothing. Amazing.

    I spent 3 weeks in Rome that vacation and I never went to the Vatican, the Colisseum, or many of the other ‘must sees’. Just wander and explore, it is like nowhere else I’ve ever been.

  • boohoo

    Oh and I also had the best meal of my life in the Jewish quarter on our second night–just a mom and pop shop off a lane. She dragged us off the street (literally) and made us sit down for a delicious meal. Brilliant.

  • Mira

    Thanks for reminding me Frances, I’ll go rent Roman Holidays with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn one of my ‘top three’ movies shot on location. As it turns out that was about the exact time when I was in Rome. Not that long ago but close, it feels that way anyway. I still remember that trip, and the youth…Have a great vacation!

  • Frances

    So fun to get all your cheery messages. Alex, qhe restaurant is on my must-do list unless it turns out that the secondis are 40 euros. Boohoo, I want the name of that church. Email it if you don’t want to give it away in public. Gelato Two: sabore antique, whatever that is. Tasted kind of lemony

  • Glissando Remmy

    The Thought of The Day

    ‘During summer… when in Rome, do what the Romans do …get out of the Citta’

    Well, I know it’s not quite feasible for you to do that, but hey, the city is huge. Anywhere outside the city center and you are out…

    Following up on what boohoo wrote earlier, I’ll volunteer a guess:

    Try the Chapel of Pope Pius IX, located in Piazza del Verano, in the heart of San Lorenzo approx. 20-30 minutes walk from the Termini train station.

    For dinner, maybe just before leaving Italy, try La Terrazza in the Hotel Eden at the top of the Spanish Steps. Make sure you have enough money left for the cab to the airport, though.
    Stay away from pizza… small, thin, yet expensive, you pay for the Italian accent, the best pizza I ever had was right here in Vancouver. Go figure.

    Thinking of the Colosseum & comp… brought back memories, like the powerful smell, of the thousands of years of Roman piss on its majestic walls… Oh, wait, that’s the smell coming from under my window sills since the Game six in Vancouver. Buggers.

    Have a great relaxing experience, Frances!

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

  • Everyman

    At least if you flew Air Canada they’ll be ordered back to work by your return! Enjoy a well earned holiday. I’m jealous.

  • mezzanine

    It would be really good to be away from vancouver, like now. 🙁

  • Everyman

    Frances, be thankful you were out of Vancouver tonight and missed our city’s shame.

    There better be a full inquiry into the wisdom of letting so many people into downtown for such an event.

  • Glissando Remmy

    The Thought of The Night

    ‘Some very nice people in Vancouver do not want to assign blame… No problem. I blame Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver sycophants for what happened downtown. They Gambled… They Lost. Period.’

    We did this before, 17 years ago, and it didn’t turn out too well then either. It wasn’t pretty last year either, but we managed. But as I said before the Photo-ops the Free Advertising and PR was too juicy to pass.

    Why?
    Because those big TV’s and gathering areas, and Go Canucks Go brouhaha should not have happened, not on public money, no.
    Period.

    We did not have the money! I mean, the city did not have the money.
    The Orphanage keeper from ‘Annie’ – The Musical, and I am thinking Penny Ballem here, did cartwheels on camera when she explained to all of us peasants how they are going to come to the rescue of those said Hockey Fans.

    Mike Klassen bet on a ‘Klassy’ Vancouver the other day and he lost on this one too. MSM, bet on that, and pumped the spirits with all the arrogance that only they could manage to bring up into even the shyest Vancouverite.

    And I said it before…today was not going to be a Vancouver ‘only’ parade or riot, but a ‘Ratatouille of people’ flood from all over the Metro region. Why? Because they were invited, more like lured in. People watched peacefully in Burnaby – no incidents reported there.

    Gregor Robertson – Shoes Too Small for City Feet as big as Vancouver’s?
    You bet.

    ‘And we all know I am in no way a supporter of Robertson or Vision in any which way.’ said one commenter, she being too nice to bother the Laughable Gang residing in the Silly Hall.

    Well, I am not a supporter either, but at least I am consistent. And this is what we need right now. Consistency. Flip-flopping never helped anybody.

    Again, Vision Vancouver & Gregor Robertson gambled with… our money and lost. And I am not changing the story. Consistent, eh!?

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

    PS.
    ‘ccrider’… my troglodyte friend, anything you would like to add to this?

  • Gassy Jack’s Ghost

    I recall mentioning here after the Olympics gold medal game something like, “All that separated thousands of happy, high-fiving drunk guys and a major riot like 1994 was one goal.”

    Of course, a subsequent commentator or two slammed me and told me stop being so negative. They sounded like Liberals.

    So, Glissy, if that had happened 15 months ago during the Olympics, would you have blamed Gregor or Gordo? (I know, I know, but I had to ask!)

    In 1994, the police and media told everyone to STAY OUT of downtown during Game 7, and the riot still happened with an estimated crowd of over 50,000 people.

    There was no gamble. We were guaranteed a massive crowd regardless. What’s the alternative, lock down the city and try to enforce a curfew? Seriously, what exactly would you do?

    Next year, Suzanne Anton will be mayor, the Canucks will lose the Cup final in 6 games to the Jets, and there will be another stupid riot in Vancouver.

    How much you wanna bet?

    *
    PS. Frances, can you get a photo of Umbilicus Urbis and send it to me? Please!!!

  • Joseph Jones

    “Vancouver is a world-class city and it is embarrassing and shameful to see the type of violence and disorder we’ve seen tonight.” — Gregor Robertson

    That logic of “and” wreaks havoc on my wetware. Say some more, GR, and really blow my mind.

  • The Fourth Horseman

    @Gassy Jack’s Ghost…

    …except that studies show that you are just as likely to get a riot with a win as with a loss.

    I would further suggest that social media (flash mobs, Twitter, #riot) are adding to the distinct possiblity that where there is entertainment hype and smoke, there will like be fire(s). Perhaps our event operational plans have not been adjusted sufficiently to the new communications reality?

    Crowd and riot control can only do so much to mitigate (before the game) and during the riot (escalating plan of operations). Once it starts, it starts. There have to be riot “entrepreneurs” as well as willing participants—as we saw, no lack of either of those tonight. Law enforcement manpower limitations due to sheer size of crowds and “triage” of the situation as it unfolds will also need to be taken into consideration during an ‘event’.

    What alarmed me was the Live Site itself. 100K people squashed together in one small area? Easy for noxious bastards to hide within and difficult for cops to disperse quickly and effectively (by breaking them up into smaller groups more quickly) when trouble breaks out.

    My questions:

    1)What were the nature of the discussions between the VPD and CoV over the Live Site, crowd control and riot prep?
    2)What were the contingency plans from the VPD?
    3)Were there any disagreements between VPD leadership and Hall operatives over the logistics and operations of Live Sites?
    4)Who gave the orders on how fast and where police resources were to be deployed once an event might be underway?
    5)Were property/retail owners near the Live Site area properly briefed by VPD or CoV on precautions to take during the series?

    In the end, I hope that politicians from both civic and provincial parties have learned a valuable lesson: leave the hype to the corporate interests. Your duty is to protect the city.

  • The Fourth Horseman

    First look at riot from Van Sun online:

    http://tinyurl.com/3fcx7st

    I would like to thank all the members of the VPD riot squad who had to face the mobs tonight. You will be pilloried for not being everywhere at once, but rest assured, it is clear that you followed a game plan based on need and escalation.

    Now, your Chief will have to fill us in on other details…

  • The Fourth Horseman

    Hope to meet you all downtown at the clean-up.

    Let’s get ‘er done.

  • mezzanine

    @GJG

    “I recall mentioning here after the Olympics gold medal game something like, “All that separated thousands of happy, high-fiving drunk guys and a major riot like 1994 was one goal.”

    Of course, a subsequent commentator or two slammed me and told me stop being so negative. They sounded like Liberals.”

    I would disagree with that. there some important differences between the olympics and the 2011 cup riot:

    -the 2010 live sites were designed to have a much smaller crowd size and had better crowd control. outside the sites you couldn’t really see anything.
    – the gold medal game was held in February. I’m not sure if you could get comparable crowds to watch a game outside.

    -i would agree with fourth, IMO that crowd mentality spawned from several smaller triggers from anti-civic morons that set this all off, exacerabated by the immense numbers downtown.

    i’m sure more perspective will come out as time goes on.

  • Tiktaalik

    Gregor Robertson was interviewed on the CBC this morning and offered some some thoughts about how this riot will affect future events.

    He said that he felt that in general the playoff celebrations downtown were a huge success, and that it was a small handful of hooligans at the end that ruined the last day. He said that this didn’t mean the end of large downtown events in the future.

    I suspect next year (if he’s reelected) we will see the same sort of downtown event celebrations as this year, but the last elimination days will be handled differently, likely with a more hands on police.

    Personally I agree with this viewpoint. I wouldn’t vote for a mayoral candidate that decided, based on last night, that the city is unable to host events downtown and shouldn’t try.

    One thing that was mentioned before the interview was how Boston handled their night. It was noted that Boston has more experience with sports riots and so they went beyond what Vancouver did in preperation. Apparently one thing they did was turn off inward rapid transit flow after 5:30, though I haven’t been able to find any articles that offered more detail about this.

  • Gassy Jack’s Ghost

    Mezz, I agree with your last point, but the first two, not so much. The reality of riots are that, as long as there are enough provocateurs willing to start doing damage, it doesn’t really matter how big the crowd is — anywhere from a couple thousand to 100,000 could have done significant damage.

    How many were in the protest march that ended up in the Olympic riot? A tiny fraction of last night’s total; a tiny fraction of 1994’s total. Even with a $1 billion security budget and the Army on call, it still happened.

    I just hope that the powers-that-be don’t overreact again and revert back to the “No fun city” mentality we got for 15 years after 1994. There have been many sports riots in other cities over the years, too. Like so many other problems, this is hardly a Vancouver-only issue.

    So let’s stop with the Vancouver “black eye” and “we’re not a mature enough city” crap, and focus on weeding out the small number of jerks who did the actual damage.

  • Tiktaalik

    Sports riots are nothing new. Vancouver is simply inexperienced. Montreal has had 5.

    I hope that next time the Police are more aggressive at targeting the folks who are blatantly there to loot after the game.

  • George

    Tiktaalik..
    Boston also cancelled the big screen TV for the event. They felt it was too dangerous.

  • mezzanine

    @GJG

    but a comparison of cup riot ’11 and the black-bloc riot would give us less information than comparing to 2011 and the gold-medal win.

    I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but I really don’t want vancouver to revert back to the late 90s thinking of ‘don’t even think about coming to DT l’ and i do want DT to be a convergence point for civic-minded celebration.

    and i certainly don’t want the 2011 riot to happen again.

  • Hazu Chan

    I wonder what all of this is going to cost?

  • Higgins

    Aah, George #28 glad to see you’re here!
    Few days back on a different post you said something like “Glissando Remmy…the voice of reason”. I read Glissando”s comments at the time but didn’t comment cause I was embarrassed too, as David Hadaway said a bit earlier on City Caucus I didn’t want to poop the party. But we were the cowards George! Glissando Remmy was the voice of reason, the Jiminy Cricket of this city if you may. Are we all wearing donkey years now, are we? Look in the mirror, peoplpe. Shame for this ‘millionaire’ incompetent city bureaucrats like Aufochs and Ballem and Judd and MacLallen…shame on the stupid full of themselves Robertson, Louie, Meggs, Jang, Reimer, Magee, Stevenson, Woodsworth, Cadman, Chow, Deal…shame!
    City Caucus, Mike Klassen, Fabula here, on Alex G Tsakumis and other blogs have in Glissando Remmy the best unacknowledged writer they never met. Period. People at my workplace are quoting from his ‘thoughts’ I will only copy/ paste the following cause I found it hilariously true and sad…

    “Again, Vision Vancouver & Gregor Robertson gambled with… our money and lost. And I am not changing the story. The people in charge of the city are a disgrace to their sex. They should be given jobs as eunuchs in an Arabian palace. Consistent with the reality, eh!? ”

    “for your listening pleasure …The Gregor’s Song:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leai60mKVjQ
    “We are not worthy, Gliss, we are not worthy!

  • Frances

    Believe me, I’ve been following every minute of what’s going on. I managed to get the CBC livestreaming onto my iPad starting first thing this morning (last night your time), when Stephen Quinn and Rick Cluff were managing the on-the-spot news coverage. Shocking, distressing, and more.

  • Mira

    I for one am not going downtown for a long time. Just walked a bit around lunch time. Wow! Too bad. We brought all this on to ourselves.
    What higgins #30 said. No comment.

  • Morven

    The Fourth Horseman # 21

    All good questions.

    If our city was doing a good job of managing risk, the elements you identify would have been flagged.

    Were they were they not?

    We wait the eventual answer
    -30-