A little off the supposed $17,000/day we were being fed prior to the election. ($17,000/day, $168 K /day – what’s the difference…)

I am surprised this came out early in the week. This is the tpe of release Vision pushes out at 4:00 on a Friday.

How about we wait and see what the true costs will be once all the ‘overtime’ is factored in (no wonder CUPE was helping the Occupiers out, money in the pocket)

This will hit over $1M.

And then perhaps we can get an estimate on what the costs were to the businessess – all those that were forced to bring in added security, the food-carts that lost revenue, etc.

At the end of the day, $ 1 M is a jump off point.

And who gives a damn what other cities spent? Our concern is what happens here, not Seattle, not New York.

This memo reads like a Hallmark Card.

As you pointed out in an earlier post Frances, Vision is the master of releasing info at just the right time (for them).

Among all the high-fives why didn’t they point out Seattle managed to proactively manage their Occupy squatters at 60% of the cost of Moonbeam’s fatal do-nothing strategy?

It’s the cost of living in a democracy. Just add it to the list of expenses for elections, referenda, goverment advertising etc….

Sorry – did I just hear that AGAIN? Have you been at the VAG lately. No one. There is no one there. Ever. It is totally deserted.

And you call those travesties debates? Where the two candidates agreed with each other? Honestly. Maybe we deserve to live in Harper-topia!

“It’s the cost of living in a democracy.”

Bang on.

“What is apparent from the roll up data to December 15 2011 is the significant value of the approach that the city took in placing the VFRS crews on the ground as the key interface group with the protestors at the VAG.”

I really wish the report just gave the facts/conclusions rather than opinion….it reads more like a political piece than it does a memo.

That being said, I think it’s only fair to acknowledge that the strategy the city took appeared to work. Yes, they could have moved faster on the court injunctions, and I think they should have. However, had you told me that they were going to wait it out, and that there would be a non-violent peaceful resolution at the end, I wouldn’t have believed it. And quite frankly I’d rather be the city that is known for letting the protest go on longer than necessary, than the city that pepper sprayed and beat up the protestors.

What really amuses me is the hypocrisy we all display. Almost as soon as the Occupy tents were down, the city closed off Beatty street so that the we could erect several Grey Cup corporate beer tents. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed that aspect of a major event in town, just as I enjoyed the beer tents on Mainland during the olympics, but let’s not get all sanctimonious about a bunch of young people protesting. We are always moaning that kids don’t get engaged in the political process. Well these guys did!

The cost of the $1 million (democracy) should now be accounted for like any sound budget would do –
– paid from a contingency fund meant for such occurrences; or
– paid for by cutting back from other budget items.
so as to keep the overall budget intact – and not from raising property taxes.

Bill, sorry, can’t agree with your rationale at all. The hotdog cart vendors are on public property. Not private property.
Are you suggesting that if it rains outside the city needs to compensate the food cart vendors for loss of business?
How about if Central Heat needs to work on a steam main, is CHD Ltd now required to compensate hot dog cart vendors for forcing them to relocate?

The Thought of The Night

“Penny Ballem excels in her choreographed Power Point Presentations; Aufochs has a more practical approach… he writes letters of no combat and of no value, explaining in layman’s terms how someone, somehow, screwed Vancouver… again.”

What is sick about it, after reading this pitiful letter from Aufochs is the tone it is written in.
The complete detachment from all this, as if all these expenditure terms were dictated by God himself, and there was no arguing with it.
The impersonal conclusion, that yeah, we had some nuisances to deal with, some misdemeanors, here and there, one unfortunate death, yeah, yeah, we let them stay for a while, the costs are approx. $1,ooo, ooo, shut up, this is it, the boys are back in office, for three more yes, ha, ha, suck it up people, bye, bye, I’m busy LEED AP, LOL!

BTW, because Bill Lee #2 asked
“What’s LEED AP after Mr. Johnston’s name and does it matter at all here?”
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) AP (Accredited Professional)

This is a newly formed “Green” type of Association in North America, and as any Real Architect or Real Engineer would tell you, it’s the newest form of Party Carrying Card in Town.
In my opinion having this designation (after completing the BS course, and passing the multi-choice test) is nothing but a glorified Check List Checker! But…now, “Accredited” Checker!

No-Architectural-Team in town, that I know of, would have spent the money, for one or two of their staff members to go take this type of accreditation if it wasn’t forced down on their throats… by the City zealots, and “Green” agitators. (Planning, City Manager Office)

For all I know, Sadhu can now differentiate between Low Flush Dual Toilets and he might even know that by doing their laundry off site could give the applicant a point or two in the “Innovation in Design” Category.
Oh, and he gets one more point if he has one LEED AP on board (another imposition), on his way toward his Silver, Gold or Platinum LEED dream “accreditation”!

In all fairness, and with the same detachment from reality here’s my Proposal for covering the above loses to the City re. Occupy Vancouver… for 2011:

Penny Ballem – $ 314,795+
Sadhu Johnston – $214,769+
Dave McLellan – $ 198,243+
Brent Toderian – $ 180,558+
1 City Councillor -$65,317+
Mayor Gregor “Transportation Allowance” -$7421
TOTAL – $ 981, 103

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxmCCsMoD0&ob=av3n

Voila!
Don’t pay them… and it’s all good, it’s all good!

We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

I meant to say . . . As a real architect of some sixty years, “I can tell everyone“, Glissie knows of what he speaks!

BTW Who the hell is this guy Sadhu? We were fed some clap-trap about him cycling from Chicago: remember!

There’s a sub text to this guy . . .

Don’t tell me a local cannot fudge the numbers . . .

I recognize that when an economy goes FIRE, jobs have to be invented . . . or else . . . but!

This whole municipal, green, CO² planning ruse has no pay off: look around!

@Bobby Bees #17

Who said anything about compensation? I was pointing out you were wrong in suggesting that the unlawful actions at the VAG did not affect others who were lawfully using public space. In effect, the City chose to pay $1 million to accomodate the lawbreakers rather than protect the rights of citizens going about their lawful business.

@ Bill 6, 10 + 12

You’d’ve been happy with Augustine Pinochet. No public protest or other expressions of plurality in Chile under his rule.

Thanks Glissie for the explanation of LEED AP.

Given these are the only “credentials” cited by Sadhu Johnston, is it fair to infer that he has no other education and/or experience in relation to environmental matters, such as knowledge of federal or provincial environmental law and guidelines IN BC or IN CANADA??

@ brilliant 26: “…a smelly, junkie-infested mudpit isn’t a protest, its a squat.”

I’m going to agree with you for a change, Mr/s. B.

The squat existed and was removed. There was a cost attached.

And the junkies / what-have-you are still with us. They have become an unfortunate part of our society. They didn’t come from a spaceship; they are the daughters and sons of our neighbours and families, and some of them have become politicized.

Fulminating about them will not fix the reasons they are with us, nor will it stop some of them from squatting again.

I agree that the amount of money expended to deal with the Occupy squat is a relatively small amount in the larger scheme of things.

Still… it is sad to see about a million dollars wasted for no good purpose.

Mark Hume follows up on the “big expense” in Friday’s Grope and Flail.
—-
We’ll be back in the spring, Occupiers warn
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/well-be-back-in-the-spring-occupiers-warn/article2281518/

by Mark Hume
VANCOUVER— From Friday’s Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011 7:34PM EST
Last updated Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011 7:44PM EST
Stung by comments from city officials about the costs of policing a tent protest in the downtown core, Occupy Vancouver members are warning there will be more events like it come spring.

Sarah Beuhler of the Occupy Vancouver communications committee said at a press conference Thursday that many protesters have regrets about a decision to peacefully dismantle the tent encampment at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

She said the tent city provided a real focal point for the movement and there are discussions under way about a possible return to that site or another location.

“What I have heard from the Occupy Wall Street movement is that this spring is going to be an explosion of encampments and an explosion of political expression, and I believe we’ll be part of that,” she said.

“I believe the movement as a whole is taking this winter to think about this sort of thing … we’ve made our point. People are aware of us. We’ve really brought a lot of attention. We’ve changed the national conversation. What we need to do now is consolidate our processes, work together …[and] whatever is coming next, we have to be ready for it,” Ms. Beuhler said.

She said Occupy Vancouver members were outraged by comments from city staff that pegged the cost of policing and resolving the protest at nearly $1-million.
[ here follows the same memo numbers quoted above ]
But Ms. Beuhler disputed the Vancouver estimates, saying the city failed to take into account all of the services the protesters provided, such as feeding people and making medical treatment available in the tent city.

“So what that space provided was [a place] where no one had to go searching for food all the time; the medical tent was there to take care [of people and] we generated a community that allowed us to look at the issues,” she said.

Ms. Beuhler noted that the tent camp provided shelter for 80 people, about 30 of whom would have otherwise been defined as “street homeless,” thereby providing a housing service the city should have been taking care of.

She said the estimated cost per mat for emergency shelters is $83 per night, which means that over the 37 days of the Vancouver Art Gallery occupation, “the protest site provided approximately $92,130 worth of housing services.”

Ms. Beuhler said city officials had promised to help homeless protesters find places to live, but 13 still remain without homes.

The protest began in Vancouver in October and the tent camp was dismantled last month.

[ Mr. Hume has a very infrequent twitter account http://twitter.com/markhumeglobe only 3 times in 2011, but an active blog. http://http://ariverneversleeps.com/ ]

Season’s greetings from Toronto. The news item here was also about the costs of Occupy here, approx $700k, mostly policing overtime. When questioned about the amount, it was justified by a councillor in the news piece that it was in keeping with other city’s Occupy costs while suggesting to look at Vancouver as a more costly example.

The ward councillor went on to say that you can’t put a price on human safety and since the unions were big supporters of Occupy Toronto, perhaps they could pitch in to cover some of that cost.

Hmmm, wonder if Vancouver will follow (law) suit taken from ‘The Lone Republic’ bog site.

*****

The City of L.A. is considering suing Occupy L.A. for the $2.35 million in damages to the City Hall lawn and sounding area. I can’t imagine how the city will identify a group or even individuals to sue. The kicker is that the city is already going to run a deficit of $72 million in the next half-year. If I were in their shoes I would consider suing them too.

Via The LA Times:

The two-month encampment cost the city at least $2.35 million, not counting repairs to the lawn and fountain outside City Hall, according to a report issued Friday.

Much of that cost — more than $1.7 million — will be added to the growing pool of red ink in this year’s city budget. The Occupy bills will increase an anticipated $72-million shortfall over the next six months, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said.”

A representative of Occupy L.A. sees the situation differently:

Carlos Marroquin, a representative of Occupy L.A., called the figures “outrageous” and argued that the city should have set aside money for special events and protests. He accused city leaders of trying to make the Occupy movement a scapegoat and described the intense police response, which involved 1,400 officers, as unnecessary.

What kind of organization stages a protest without a permit for over a month, causes millions of dollars in damage, hundreds of people get arrested and then they say it’s the city’s fault that they didn’t have money already set aside of something like this? Now we can add “clean up after our messes for us” to the list of demands from Occupy.