Which Would Sammy Choose.....

......Curling Rinks Or Sustainable Housing For All?

Gimme(Affordable)Shelter
NPA(Not)Ville

Remember back when Sam Sullivan and the NPA wrestled control of Vancouver City Hall away from Jim Green and a Vision/COPE coalition in the wake of a James Green-assisted election victory late last year?

And remember Smilin' Sammy's first big move?

Well, in case you've forgotten, he scrapped a long planned progressive and sustainable, 1:1:1 Market/MiddleIncome/Social Housing plan for the massive South East False Creek development.

Why?

Because, Sammy said, it would cost the city money, some $50 million dollars that would have come from the City's Property Endowment Fund that is leveraged from, guess who, developers.

Which brings us to curling rinks.

Apparently, Sammy now has no problem with us spending big money on them. Especially when the shortfall is going to be leveraged from, guess who, taxpayers.

Construction of three Olympic venues is still a good deal for the city of Vancouver even though their original price tag has soared by nearly $26 million, Mayor Sam Sullivan said Thursday.

"We are all going to be using these facilities for years into the future," said Sullivan. "We had to build them anyways."

Sullivan said the projects are "highly subsidized" -- a reference to Vanoc's contribution of $43 million toward the Hillcrest curling rink and two new practice ice rinks to be built at Killarney and Trout Lake community centres.

Now you could argue that $26 million 'extra' is a bargain for some much needed sheets of ice. And you might be right, but no matter how you add it up they sure are tough to sleep on.

And who said the number is going to stop at 26 + six zeroes anyway?

I mean, it's not like VANOC hasn't been a wee bit off before.

Right?

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