A downtown office building landlord says the provincial government report into the Stanley Cup riot doesnt go far enough.
The Sept. 1 report blames alcohol-fuelled rioters, looters and onlookers for the events of June 15, but co-chairs John Furlong and Doug Keefe did not assign fault to politicians, police or staff.
I am disappointed that the report appears to be taking the attitude that no civic officials should be held accountable and that we should just move forward and learn from our mistakes, said Andy Molloy, president of West Pender Property Group, told the Courier.
West Pender owns or manages seven downtown office buildings. Molloy said his properties were fortunate to sustain only minor damage on June 15.
West Pender was among six organizations identified in the report that made submissions to the riot review between July 14 and Aug. 12 via email or post. In all, 85 letters were received, mostly from individuals. The report paraphrased unattributed comments about the shortcomings of police, politicians and staff, and the role of alcohol. None of the letters were reproduced and no direct quotes or names are mentioned. One person suggested beer gardens would have helped prevent over-drinking.
Molloy said he sent Furlong and Keefe a copy of his June 18 letter to Mayor Gregor Robertson with a note attached saying: I firmly believe that inadequate police preparation and poor decision making by VPD senior management allowed this situation to escalate to a point beyond which control was very difficulty, if not impossible.
If all this clear evidence of something sinister developing was obvious to ordinary citizens, why did the VPD not recognize the danger and mobilize more officers, earlier to deal with it?
In his June 18 letter, Molloy said the mindless actions of rioters cannot be used as an excuse for the authorities bad planning.
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Association of Restorative Justice, Downtown Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Business Improvement Association, Innovative Community Solutions Ltd., Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP and the Alliance of Beverage Licensees of B.C. were the other letter writers.
The report of an ABLE BC ad hoc task force was, however, included in the internal City of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»review released late Thursday.
ABLE BC, which represents bar and nightclub owners and private liquor retailers, summarized its members email survey and half-day roundtable. It claimed establishments were full, food sales were up but liquor sales were half the volume of Feb. 28, 2010 when Canada won the Olympic gold medal hockey game at Rogers Arena. The provincial report said there were eight Liquor Control and Licensing Branch inspectors downtown on June 15, but the ABLE BC report said only two members reported seeing an inspector.
ABLE BC didnt challenge the assertion that excess alcohol fueled rioters, but claimed its clients were not rioters.
Based on our review and discussions with others we do not believe our establishments contributed to or further inflamed the situation, it said.
ABLE BC, however, did not differentiate between the conditions of the Olympic final and Stanley Cup. In 2010, Canada was riding a three-game winning streak before beating the United States in overtime of the midday Sunday final. Vancouverites partied through the afternoon and into the evening on the closing day of the Games. In 2011, the Canucks had lost three of their previous four games by a 17-4 margin and were down 3-0 to the Boston Bruins after two periods of the 5 p.m. Monday night, Game 7 faceoff.
